Saints and Leaders of the Counter Reformation

Popular Saints and Religious Leaders of the Counter Reformation

What began as an era of disintegration, division and turmoil in the Western world of the sixteenth century, turned out to be an era of spiritual revival led by great saints and religious leaders of the Catholic reformation movement.

The Reformation defined

The Reformation is a movement in the Catholic Church that began at the beginning of the fifteenth century and lasted until the end of the seventeenth century. It can be divided into four stages:

• the reform councils until the Sacco di Roma,
  1527
• the actual antecedents of the Council of Trent
• the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
• the implementation of the Tridentine decrees

This reform movement grew out of discontent from those outside the Church and from its own midst. This discontent produced religious leaders who led the reform of their religious orders or became founders of new religious institutions that embodied their reform.

Great saints and leaders of the Reformation

St. Philip Neri (1515-1595) founded the Oratory (1552), became the apostle to the city of Rome, and succeeded in starting a religious and ethical revival.

St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) rejuvenated the Carmelite Order. Together with St. John of the Cross (d. 1591), they influenced positively the spirituality of both Spain and France in the seventeenth century.

St. Angela Merici (d. 1540) founded the Ursulines in Brescia. This religious order was approved in 1544 and soon became a congregation of women for the fostering of charity and the education of girls.

St. John of God (d. 1550) founded the Hospitaller Order (Fate Bene Brothers) in 1572. This developed out of an association of devout laymen.

St. Camillus of Lellis (d. 1614) founded the Camillians in 1584 for the nursing of the sick and dying.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal (d. 1641) in 1610 created the Order of the Visitation with the help of St. Francis de Sales. The duties of the Visitation nuns was the nursing of the sick and the education of girls.

Peter of Bérulle (d. 1629) founded the French Oratory in 1611. They were devoted particularly to the education of the clergy.

St. John Eudes (d. 1680) was schooled in the spirituality of Cardinal Bérulle. In 1643, he left the Oratory and founded his own congregation of secular priests.

St. Vincent de Paul (d. 1660) founded the Vincentians, whose concern was the spiritual care of the common people. Together with St. Louise de Marillac, they also founded the Daughters of Charity, who devoted themselves to the care of the poor and the sick.

Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé (d. 1700) founded the Strict Order of the Trappists - the religious order where Thomas Merton belongs.

St. John Baptist de la Salle (d. 1719) founded in 1681, the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools - a religious institute whose mission is the education of boys and young men.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (d. 1556) founded the Society of Jesus. This religious order was approved by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, and has apostolic works in the field of education, retreats and foreign missions.

Conclusion

All the abovementioned saints and leaders, new religious orders, and new forms of works of charity, re-awakened Catholic life - which was morally stagnating in the sixteenth century. What began as a long-term process of disintegration, division, and turmoil throughout the Western Catholic world, turned out to be an era that produced a revitalization of inner spiritual life. New structures were raised to help with the active work of ministering to the people, educating the clergy and the general populace, and caring for the poor and the sick. Spiritual regeneration in both monastic and active life found its fruition and fulfillment during these times.

Related resources:

• "A History of the Church", by August Franzen and John P. Dolan
• "The New Concise Catholic Dictionary", by Reynolds R. Ekstrom
• Book review: Saints for Our Time

St. Paul Miki (feast Feb 6) and Companion Martyrs

Three Missionary Martyrs and their Stories of Courage

Introduction

This blog post features three missionary martyrs: St. Paul Miki and companion martyrs of Japan; St. Charles Lwanga and companion martyrs of Uganda; and St. Peter Mary Chanel, a missionary to Oceania;

St. Paul Miki and Companion Martyrs

Paul Miki was the son of a Japanese military leader. He was born in 1562 in Tounucumada, Japan. Educated by the Jesuits, he entered the Society in 1580 at a young age. As a Jesuit, he was known for his eloquent preaching of the Gospel.


In 1588, Emperor Cambacundono claimed that he was god, and ordered all missionaries to leave Japan within six months. Some obeyed this order, but Bro. Paul Miki and many others remained secretly behind. In 1597, Paul Miki was discovered and arrested along with twenty-five companions. Paul Miki was crucified on February 5 with his companions. They were all canonized as the Martyrs of Japan in 1862.


The story of their suffering and death tell us of their great faith, fidelity, and very rare courage. It was said that the martyrs were paraded through the towns with part of their left ears cut off to terrify other Christians. Then they were chained to crosses with iron collars around their neck. Each of these twenty-six martyrs was killed by the thrusts of the lance by twenty-six separate executioners.


Before St. Paul Miki passed away, he said to the people: "I am a Japanese by birth and a Jesuit by vocation. I am dying for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I do gladly pardon the Emperor and all who have sought my death. I beg them to seek baptism and be Christians themselves."

St. Charles Lwanga and Companion Martyrs

St. Charles Lwanga is one of the twenty-two Catholic martyrs of Uganda in East Central Africa who belonged to the Bantu tribe. They were martyred for their Catholic faith by Mwanga, a debauched king, who burned most of them to death on a flaming pyre. Half of these martyrs were teenage pages of the royal court.


The story of these twenty-two protomartyrs of Uganda begins when the Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the 'White Fathers', came to evangelize Uganda in 1879. King Mutesa, who welcomed them, was soon succeeded by King Mwanga, who was the opposite of Mutesa; Mwanga despised the Christians and feared them as a threat to his power. King Mwanga's household was headed by Mukasa, who was a Catholic convert. Mukasa, true to his Catholic faith, dared to reproach Mwanga for his seduction of some of the young pages at his court and for the murder of a Protestant missionary bishop. Because of this, Mukasa was burned alive on November 15, 1865.


After Mukasa's death, the Christians looked to Charles Lwanga for leadership, since Charles was the 20 year old master of the pages. Charles continued to protect the pages and encouraged them to embrace the Faith. But King Mwanga's anger eventually led to the savage attack of Sebuggwawa, his personal attendant, because Sebuggwawa dared to teach catechism to one of the king's favorite pages. Sebuggwawa was speared to death by Mwanga himself.


The king assembled all his pages and ordered the Christians to form a separate group. Charles Lwanga was the first to step forward, together with Kizito, a 13 year old page who was one of those Lwanga baptized the night before. Fifteen, all under twenty five year of age, joined them; so did others and some soldiers. King Mwanga asked them if they wished to remain Christians. They answered, "until death!" All twenty-two were then taken to Namugongo, wrapped in mats of reeds, and burned alive on June 3, 1886. These twenty-two martyrs were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI as the protomartyrs of Uganda.

St. Peter Mary Chanel

Peter Chanel was born in 1803 of peasant stock at Cluet, near Belley in France, and was a shepherd boy. The parish priest of nearby Cras took Peter as a pupil because of his intelligence and piety. Peter studied until he was ordained a priest in 1827.


Because Peter longed for the life of a foreign missionary, he joined the recently founded Marist Fathers in 1831. After teaching five years at the seminary in Belley, Peter was sent together with a few companions to the Marist mission in the New Hebrides Islands of Oceania in 1836.


Journey at sea at that time was more than six months. Eventually Fr. Chanel and a Marist brother reached the island of Futuna on November 12, 1887. His apostolate would last only three years because there were two warring factions on the island and the missionaries were caught in the middle.


On the eve before St. Peter Chanel's death, there were signs that their preaching had begun to bear fruit. The chief's son asked to be baptized. News of this angered the chief that he sent warriors with orders to kill. One of them clubbed Peter to the ground and the others cut up his body with axes and knives. That was April 28, 1841.


On the day before his martyrdom, St. Peter Chanel was noted to have said: "It does not matter if I die. Christ's religion is so deeply rooted on this island that it cannot be destroyed by my death."


Less than a year later the whole of Futuna became Christian.
St. Peter Chanel was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954 - the first Marist martyr and the first martyr of Oceania.

Pope Benedict XV's Peace Plan for World War I

Peace is the Fruit of Mutual Charity

Pope Benedict XV was elected pope a month after World War I began. Upon his shoulders was the task of peacemaking among warring nations.

A Pope for World War I

Pope Benedict XV (Cardinal Giacomo Della Chiesa, archbishop of Bologna) was elected pope on September 3, 1914, a month after the start of World War I. He is the pope to whom the late Pope emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) also referred to (in name succession) when he took the name of Benedict for his papacy (aside from referring primarily to St. Benedict of Nursia, a patron saint of Europe).

Working for peace

Pope Benedict XV wrote an encyclical that stressed the need to follow the rule of law so that the world can free itself from a direction towards violence. With this encyclical, he was preparing the grounds upon which peace would be built - a peace protected by the rights of people and not by force. A "Peace Plan" was readied by him on August 1917. It called for a negotiated peace - without winners or losers. This "Peace Plan" was based on six principles, the three major ones being:

• mutual condonation of the damages of war
• withdrawal from occupied territories
• special discussion on the territorial problems: Poland, the Balkans, and Armenia

This "Peace Plan" however failed because some governments did not approve it. Others were even hostile towards it.

Despite all that transpired, Pope Benedict XV worked hard to foster works of charity towards all the victims of war. Through his mediation, prisoners of war were interchanged by the warring nations so as to help them re-establish contacts with their families.

Appealing to Christ and His authority

All the diplomatic work and mediation efforts of Benedict XV were really based on what he wrote in that first encyclical entitled, "Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum". In this encyclical, he outlines the sad reality of a loss of charity among nations. He outlines this loss of charity in terms of race hatred, divisions wrought about by jealousies, class warfare within societies, and a self-love over-ruling law. He also states that another cause of war was the absence of respect for the authority of those exercising ruling powers. This cause, according to his encyclical, found its way also in the home - the natural origin of all ruling power. To solve this problem, Pope Benedict XV points to Romans 13:1 as a guide to all: "There is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God". As regards the loss of charity among peoples, Pope Benedict XV points everyone to the universal message of Christ: "This is my commandment that you love one another" (John 15:12) [also Jn 14:34, Jn 15:17].

World War I is a lesson in history for all of us. Pope Benedict XV, as a world leader a the time, was involved a War through his peacemaking. That War had these statistics:

• 8 countries invaded
• 10 million dead
• 20 million wounded

That was World War I. World War II had even more damages. World War II's statistics are as follows:

• 70 nations involved
• 24 countries invaded
• 55 million dead
• 70 million wounded
• 40 million homeless

[source of statistics: J.L. Comellas Garcia-Llera, GER (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, S.A., 1981), XI, 440-448]

Related resources:

• Theological Centrum Documentation Service, Vol IV, Number 3, "The Church Speaks on War and Peace"
• "Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum", by Pope Benedict XV