The Council of Trent

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The Council of Trent
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Oratory of Divine Love

• Founded in 1497, it was dedicated to personal
  spiritual renewal through the practice of regular
  religious devotions and the works of mercy.

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Pope Paul III (d. 1549)

• He was able to surmount much opposition by his
  dogged perseverance and finally convoke a
  general council that opened on December 13,
  1545.

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A Conservative Council

• This council bequeathed to modern Catholics a
  highly authoritarian, centralized structure that
  was still basically medieval.

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Tridentine Mass

• It failed radically to restore to the people a
  sense of participation--forcing them to run after
  a multitude of extraliturgical devotions.

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Tridentine Spirituality

• It was humanistic--at least in its assumption
  that each person had it in his power, to some
  degree, to determine his own fate.

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Saint Teresa of Avila

• Teresa was the first to give a scientific
  description of the entire life of prayer-from
  meditation to the mystical marriage.

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Summary

• In the end, they corrected many of the abuses
  outlined by Luther, but not any of his dogmatic
  issues.