The series of events which form the history of Catholicism in the mid sixteenth century are most often depicted as follows. A violent shockcauses the very foundations of Christendom to tremble, and whole sectionsof the Church's ancient edifice are swallowed up in heresy. Her rulersthen drag themselves from their lethal indifference; they determine tooppose the Protestant menace, and at last take steps that should have beentaken long ago. Such is the pattern implied by the word `counter-reformation.' Theterm, however, though common, is misleading: it cannot rightly be applied,logically or chronologically, to that sudden awakening as of a startledgiant, that wonderful effort of rejuvenation and reorganization, which ina space of thirty years gave to the Church an altogether new appearance.What happened was a true renascence in the fullest etymological sense,more impressive from a Christian point of view than the Renaissance of artand letters upon which contemporary Europe was priding itself. Theso-called `counter-reformation' did not begin with the Council of Trent,long after Luther; its origins and initial achievements were much anteriorto the fame of Wittenberg. It was undertaken, not by way of answering the`reformers,' but in obedience to demands and principles that are part ofthe unalterable tradition of the Church and proceed from her mostfundamental loyalties... Protestantism played a part, dialectically, in the Catholicrenascence. "Oportet haereses esse," as St. Paul says; and heresy obligedthe Church to devise an exact statement of her doctrine upon certainpoints, to establish her position more securely than she would, in allprobability, have been led to do, had she not been confronted with thechallenge of error. But the impetus which enabled herto join battle withher enemies was generated long before the Lutheran assault, and can in noway be considered a result of the upheaval caused by that event. A gene...
