Barnabite Origins 1. Historical-Religious Context: Catholic Reform  3. Ferments of Reform

St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria [by Cristina Bellazzi]

Ferments of Church reform were at work for two hundred years before the Protestant Reformation. Suffice it to mention English reformer John Wycliffe (c. 1328-1384) and Bohemian reformer Jan Hus (c. 1369- 1415), both of whom largely foreshadowed Luther’s theses. It must also be remembered that a number of contemporary Catholic saints endeavored to renew the Church from within, for instance, Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444), and John Capistrano (1386-1456). The Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517), convoked to condemn the abusive council (conciliabulum) of Pisa (1511), also tackled the question of Church reform. In his opening address, Augustinian Giles of Viterbo called for personal renewal as a way toward institutional reform. In 1513 two Camaldolese monks, Paolo Giustiniani and Vincenzo Quirini, drew up a lofty and concrete reform program and presented it to the new Pope Leo X urging him to intervene. However, the Pope was not up to the task. In 1537, two decades after the failed Lateran Council, and as the Protestant tide had risen beyond the falling-point, a commission of cardinals, appointed by Pope Paul III, drew up fresh reform proposals. In the same year, a general council, open to both Catholic and Protestants, was supposed to convene but never did. At long last, to his enormous credit, Pope Paul III was able to convoke the council that opened on December 13, 1545, in the northern Italian city of Trent, with some thirty Catholic bishops in attendance. On and off, the Council of Trent lasted until 1563. The humanistic mentality, characterized by a historical and above all critical point of view, gave rise to an authentic Christian Humanism. Its major representative was Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536), who devoted his life to laying the groundwork for a new theology based on the study of the sources: Scripture and Church Fathers, especially. The principal spiritual current of Christian Humanism is without a doubt Devotio Moderna. Born in the Netherlands, it spread to Western Germany. In Italy, its influence was limited, except in Venetian territory. Devotio Moderna called for a return to Christian interiority and emphasized the affective dimension of Christian life. An outstanding contribution to the work of such personal renewal was made by the Canons of St. Augustine of Windesheim and the Brethren of the Common Life. They owed their beginnings to Geert Groote and Florentius Radewijns. The masterpiece of Devotio Moderna is the Imitation of Christ, a work ascribed to Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471). In France, a pre-Lutheran and orthodox reform movement was represented by the so-called Evangelism. This movement, akin to Christian Humanism and Devotio Moderna, called for a return to the spirit of the Gospel. Its center was the Circle of Meaux, founded about 1521 by Bishop Guillaume Briçonnet (1472-1534) and made famous by his vicar general, Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples (c. 1461-1536). In Italy, as well as in other parts of Europe, and reaching back to the 14th century, the so-called Observances took hold. In older religious communities, Observance meant returning to the original ideals of the order. For instance, the above mentioned Bernardine of Siena and John Capistrano were members of the Franciscan Observantines. In 1404 the general chapter of the Servites decreed the revitalization of eremitical life at Monte Senario in Tuscany under the direction of Blessed Anthony of Siena. Through the energetic leadership of Nicholas of Perugia, superior general, (d. 1460), the restored eremitical life at Monte Senario gave rise to the Congregation of the Observance. The Camaldolese experienced this renewal through the Congregation of Hermits of Monte Corona founded by the above mentioned Paolo Giustiniani. Serafino Aceti da Fermo (1469-1540) led a similar renewal for the Canons Regular of the Lateran Congregation. Other religious communities who experienced the same revival were: the Augustinians, with the above mentioned Giles of Viterbo and Girolamo Seripando; the Dominicans, with Sebastiano Maggi in Lombardy and Girolamo Savonarola in Tuscany; above all, the Franciscans: in 1517 the separation between Conventuals and Observants became final and complete and in 1528 the new Franciscan Order of the Capuchins was formed. In Spain (in the wake of the Council of Trent) the Carmelites were reformed through Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Reforms associated with the diocesan clergy are still inadequately known, but, for instance, historians list a number of reforming German bishops of the 15th century. Still other reform movements were the Oratories. The main idea of their members (clergy and laity) was to achieve personal sanctity by means of good works on behalf of others. Self-reform was to precede Church reform. In 1497 the Oratory of Divine Love, the first organized form of this movement, was founded in Genoa, by a layman, Ettore Vernazza (d. 1524), a disciple of St. Catherine of Genoa (d. 1510). Similar groups were then formed in Rome, Naples, and in the Venetian territory. In 1500 the Augustinian Giovanni Antonio Bellotti (d. 1528) founded the Oratory of Eternal Wisdom in Milan, which was eventually led by Venerable Arcangela Panigarola (d. 1525). An outstanding manifestation of this movement was the Roman Oratory that rose around St. Philip Neri in 1552. By 1575 a new religious community was established, the Congregation of the Oratory (Oratorians or Filippini). The ground where the Observant and the Oratorian movements met gave rise to new religious orders. On the one hand, the revitalization of Monastic and Mendicant orders appeared to be inadequate for Church reform; on the other hand, Oratorian communities seemed to be too elitist and inward looking. There was a need for new associations. They would keep the basic values of traditional monasticism and would build on the Oratorian experience. In addition, they would adopt innovative forms of spiritual and apostolic activities. Thus it was that Oratories, unawares, primed many of their numbers for future religious foundations. At times, the Oratories themselves evolved into new religious orders. This was the case of the Clerics Regular (Theatines), founded in Rome by Saint Cajetan Thiene in 1524; the Sons of Saint Paul (later known as Clerics Regular of Saint Paul or Barnabites), founded in Milan by St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, in 1532; the Servants of the Poor (later known as Clerics Regular of Somasca or Somascans), founded in Venice by St. Jerome Emiliani in 1534; the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), founded in Paris by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1534; the Reformed Priests of the Most Holy Virgin (later known as Clerics Regular of the Mother of God or Leonardini), founded in Lucca by St. John Leonardi in 1574; the Clerics Regular Servants of the Sick (Camillians) founded in Rome by St. Camillus de Lellis in 1582; the Minor Clerics Regular (Caracciolini) founded in Naples by St. Francis Caracciolo in 1588; the Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Piarists or Scolopi), founded in Rome by St. Joseph Calasanz in 1597. Similarly, women felt the need for new forms of Gospel living that would enable them freely to serve God and neighbor outside the confines of the cloister. In the early 1530’s the Angelics of Saint Paul were founded in Milan by Countess Ludovica Torelli of Guastalla and St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria. The Society of St. Ursula (Ursulines) was founded in Brescia by St. Angela Merici in 1535. Conclusion Two points can be made: First, in the words of an American Catholic historian: "The general picture of reform activity before Luther shows a number of bright spots. Individual Christians - laymen and priests - anxiously pursued reform in many and various ways" (Thomas Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church, 185). A Catholic Reform was underway before the Protestant Reformation. Unfortunately, in the words of a German Catholic historian, "The Protestant Reformation owed its success to the fact that the attempts at reform which sprouted from the soil of the Church did not come to maturity" (Hubert Jedin, A History of the Council of Trent, 2.165).

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