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• Counter Reformation
  Counter Reformation

  noun

  the movement within the Roman Catholic Church that followed the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
• Counter-Reformation
  Counter-Reformation

  noun

  the reform movement of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th and early 17th centuries considered as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation

Counter Reformation

American  

noun

1. the movement within the Roman Catholic Church that followed the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

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Counter-Reformation British  

/ ˌkaʊntəˌrɛfəˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. the reform movement of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th and early 17th centuries considered as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation

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Counter Reformation ¹ Cultural  

1. The reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation. The chief aims of the Counter Reformation were to increase faith among church members, get rid of some of the abuses to which the leaders of the Reformation objected, and affirm some of the principles rejected by the Protestant churches, such as veneration of the saints and acceptance of the authority of the pope. Many Jesuits were leaders of the Counter Reformation.

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Counter Reformation ² Cultural  

1. The reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation. The chief aims of the Counter Reformation were to increase faith among church members, end many of the abuses to which the leaders of the Reformation objected, and affirm some of the principles rejected by the Protestant churches, such as veneration of the saints and acceptance of the authority of the pope. Many Jesuits were leaders of the Counter Reformation.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Counter Reformation Counter-Reformation

Historians once referred to it as the Counter Reformation.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

The Counter Reformation succeeded in its principal purposes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Said Canadian Father Gregory Baum, a council theologian: "This day will go down in history as the end of the Counter Reformation."

From Time Magazine Archive

A jewel-box city over the Tagus river, Toledo was also a center of the Counter Reformation, which sought to mobilize the faithful and harden the lines of Roman Catholic dogma.

From Time Magazine Archive

Another agency in the Counter Reformation was the great Church Council summoned by Pope Paul III.

From Early European History by Hutton Webster

However, Chávez-Bárcenas said the technique has always been controversial, with the best known policies against it coming during the Counter-Reformation.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2024

The early decades of the Counter-Reformation thus saw an “opening up” of the Church to its followers and a greater emphasis on the duties of the Church to laypeople.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

The imposing drawing is as theatrical as a Counter-Reformation Baroque painting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2018

“Sudden Death” proposes the devastations of the Counter-Reformation and the conquest of Mexico as both cause and image of our violent present, similarly devastated by globalization and the ruthlessness of financiers rather than popes.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2016

What Protestant and Counter-Reformation reforms meant, more or less whoever you were, was a simplifying of church music so that the words could be heard more clearly.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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