Confraternities & Catholic Reform in Italy, France, & Spain ed. by John Patrick Donnelly, S. J. and Michael W. Maher, S.J.

Abstract

Confraternities & Catholic Reform in Italy, France, & Spain. Edited by John Patrick Donnelly, S. J., and Michael W Maher, S.J. [Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies, Vol. XLIV] (Kirksville, Missouri: Thomas Jefferson University Press,Truman State University. 1999. Pp. x, 262. $40.00.) In the preface to this volume entitled Confraternities FJ Catholic Reform the editors recount that they had asked the contributors specific questions on the effects of the Council of Trent on the of Italy, France, and Spain in the period 1500 to 1650. Though the editors note that the contributors had not always answered these queries, the volume does possess a unity deriving from the focus on as they passed through the attempts of church and state authorities to implement the Tridentine reforms. The editors' contention that `Trent had little direct effect on confraternities (p. vii) underestimates the persuasive and substantial authority of church officials in executing the decrees of Trent. The essays make evident that were vastly different in 1600 from what they had been in 1500. This transformation resulted from several factors, including Tridentine reforms, as the essays of Maureen Flynn on Spain, Konrad Eisenbichler on Florence, and Susan Dinan on France demonstrate. The editors' position doubtless privileged Christopher Black's excellent essay that shows Italian often resisting attempts of parish priests to implement Trent. My only other criticism of the volume is that it would have been highly useful had the editors added to their preface a summary of the decrees of the Council of Trent pertinent to confraternities. The volume contains six essays on Italian and four and two essays on French and Spanish respectively, but there are reoccurring themes in the three national contexts. Ecclesiastical officials encouraged the formation of three types of confraternities: those of the rosary, the holy sacrament, and Christian doctrine. To implement the decrees of Trent ecclesiastical authorities exhorted the to teach Christian doctrine and respect for the sacrament. Most of the twelve contributors document the growing authority of Catholic elites in the confraternal organizations and the attempts of bishops and parish priests to implement Tridentine decrees to supervise the lay groups more closely The twelve also note or show the growing power of local elites and that ecclesiastical supervision began prior to the convening of the Council of Trent. It has been widely recognized that were highly adaptive and often integrated diverse impulses into their members' purposes. These essays amply demonstrate the point that in the three national traditions and within each of the traditions responded to Tridentine reforms according to local traditions and purposes. Though the writers seldom directly address the historiographic problems of relating social to religious history, some subsume religious change under broader problems of social transformations. …