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Line 4: + + − One of the main weapons used by the Counter Reformation Church to discipline its faithful was excommunication. In theory, this was the gravest spiritual punishment because it meant not only deprivation of the sacraments but also the termination of communication and human relations--no good Catholic was supposed to talk to an excommunicated one. However, the abuse of excommunication from the late Middle Ages onward led to its discredit; no one paid much attention anymore. In 1563, the Council of Trent made a decisive move to reestablish excommunication as a punishment for disobedience, rebelliousness, or contumacy, no matter what the reasons were for the contumacy. It became a powerful weapon across Europe.
→Jesuits
===Jesuits===
===Jesuits===
The Jesuits fostered traditional beliefs and practices associated with saints, relics, and sacramentals and used exorcisms and visions for didactic and proselytizing purposes. They tried to purge popular piety of its "superstitious" elements.
The Jesuits fostered traditional beliefs and practices associated with saints, relics, and sacramentals and used exorcisms and visions for didactic and proselytizing purposes. They tried to purge popular piety of its "superstitious" elements.
===Excommunication===
One of the main weapons used by the Counter Reformation Church to discipline its faithful was excommunication. In theory, this was the gravest spiritual punishment because it meant not only deprivation of the sacraments but also the termination of communication and human relations--no good Catholic was supposed to talk to an excommunicated one. However, the abuse of excommunication from the late Middle Ages onward led to its discredit; no one paid much attention anymore. In 1563, the Council of Trent made a decisive move to reestablish excommunication as a punishment for disobedience, rebelliousness, or contumacy, no matter what the reasons were for the contumacy. It became a powerful weapon across Europe.
===Spain===
===Spain===
The aristocratic archbishop of Valencia Juan de Ribera (1532-1611) was frustrated in his initial attempts to institute the Counter Reformation in his diocese. He established a Tridentine seminary, the Colegio de Corpus Christi (1583-1604), to reform the clergy, promote popular piety, and serve also as his personal chapel, reliquary, museum, and mausoleum. Since the municipal government had resisted his call for them to loosen their control over the university, Ribera's seminary became a center for urban reform in Valencia. The bishop co-opted popular devotion (for example, to Dominican missionary Luis Bertrán) to serve his agenda. New saints whose devotions he could shape provided a tool for implementing his vision of the Church. He used sacred objects such as the holy relics in his treasury to gain cooperation aristocrats when he donate the relics to their favored churches.
The aristocratic archbishop of Valencia Juan de Ribera (1532-1611) was frustrated in his initial attempts to institute the Counter Reformation in his diocese. He established a Tridentine seminary, the Colegio de Corpus Christi (1583-1604), to reform the clergy, promote popular piety, and serve also as his personal chapel, reliquary, museum, and mausoleum. Since the municipal government had resisted his call for them to loosen their control over the university, Ribera's seminary became a center for urban reform in Valencia. The bishop co-opted popular devotion (for example, to Dominican missionary Luis Bertrán) to serve his agenda. New saints whose devotions he could shape provided a tool for implementing his vision of the Church. He used sacred objects such as the holy relics in his treasury to gain cooperation aristocrats when he donate the relics to their favored churches.