The Reformation Definitions

Reformation A time of change in the Church in the sixteenth century

Tithe One tenth of yearly income to be given to the Church

Simony Buying and selling of important church positions

Nepotism The appointing of relatives to important church positions

Pluralism When a priest or bishop is in charge of more than one parish or diocese

Absenteeism When a priest or bishop failed to show up to work in his church or diocese

Indulgences An indulgence was a special prayer from the clergy. This meant that the Church accepted money in return for the forgiveness of sins. People were told by the church that when they died they went to purgatory so the donation of money sicured their place in heaven.

95 Theses Martin Luther’s 95 arguments against indulgences.

The Diet of Worms Meeting of all the German princes to decide what to do about Martin Luther and his ideas.

Justification by faith alone Martin Luther’s belief that you can get into heaven by belief and love in God alone and reading the Bible.

Pre-destination John Calvin’s belief that God decides the Elect before they are born to go to heaven

The Counter-reformation The Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant Reformation

Jesuits New order of Catholic priests who wanted to return Protestants to the Catholic faith

Heretic Anyone who went against the Catholic Church and its’ beliefs.

Inquistion The Church court that arrested and put on trial suspected heretics

Auto da fe An act of faith that often involved burning heretics at the stake

The Council of Trent A meeting of Catholic bishops held to solve the problems created by the Reformation The Council stated the Catholic beliefs ex. Faith and good works are needed for salvation The Council also issued orders to improve discipline within the Catholic Church ex. The abuses of the church were outlawed. Protestants rejected the religious ideas of the Council and so the Christian Churches became more divided.

However, standards improved within the Catholic Church as members accepted the Council’s decrees on discipline.

The Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) Many religious orders were founded to deal with the Reformation. The Jesuits was the most important. Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish soldier, experienced a conversion to Christ while recovering from his war wounds In 1534 he founded the Society of Jesus. Organised like an army, its members were highly trained teachers and preachers and they took a special vow of obedience to the pope.

Jesuits worked as missionaries in Asia and America They set up (the best) schools in Europe. They won back central Europe to the Catholic Church Jesuits became advisers to princes and kings

The Spanish Inquistion The Spanish Inquistion was a court set up to keep the Catholic religion dominant in Spain The Inquisition questioned anyone denounced as a heretic It released those it believed innocent but tortured those it suspected to be Protestants until they admitted their “guilt”. Such people were released if they recanted (gave up their beliefs)

They were burned to death at a public auto da fe (act of faith) if they did not recant. The Inquistion destroyed Protestantism in Spain but its secrecy and informers created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that lasted until it was finally abolished in The power of the Inquistion was absolute and it imprisoned important churchmen as well as writers, government officials and poor peasants.

The Reformation in Ireland A) The State of the Church The Church in Ireland was very corrupt at the beginning of the 16 th Century. 1) Irish chiefs or English kings appointed bishops, almost always for political or family reasons 2) Few priests were educated 3) The ordinary people were either superstitious or did not care about religion

4) However, Franciscan friars were very popular and influential in some parts of the county 5) Priests with a Gaelic background frequently quarrelled with priests from an English background. These quarrels often led to fighting.

The Anglican Reformation The Tudors brought the Reformation to Ireland but the Anglican Church had little success. 1) There were very few Protestant missionaries to spread the religion and very few of these could preach to the people in Irish. 2) Later, Protestantism became associated with the English conquest and people were unwilling to accept Protestant