The Pietà ( Italian pronunciation: [pjeˈta] ; meaning " pity ", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross . It is most often found in sculpture . The Pietà is a specific form of the Lamentation of Christ in which Jesus is mourned by the Virgin Mary alone. However, in practice works called a Pietà may include angels, the other figures usual in Lamentations , and even donor portraits .
47-708: An image consisting only of a dead Christ with angels is also called a Pietà, at least in German, where Engelpietà (literally "Angel Pietà") is the term for what is usually called Dead Christ supported by angels in English. Several Pietà images have received a pontifical decree of coronation , including the Pieta of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, those in the Marienthal Basilica in France,
94-459: A Christ who is clearly dead (in Man of Sorrows images he tens to have his eyes open). Typically the half-length body of the dead Christ sits on a ledge, held up by smaller angels at each side. Christ is naked down to a loin-cloth and his wounds are visible. But there are many variants of this composition, especially after about 1500. It was common in both sculpture and painting from the 14th century until
141-912: A man holding the corpse of the singer in a Piéta-like pose. The ending to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is often interpreted to symbolize a pietà, with Rose of Sharon cradling a dying old man. Canonical coronation Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 29983817 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 04:53:32 GMT Counter Reformation Artists Clergy Monarchs Popes Electors of Saxony Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Counter-Reformation ( Latin : Contrareformatio ), also sometimes called
188-684: A par with the 39 books found in the Masoretic Text . This reaffirmed the previous Council of Rome and Synods of Carthage (both held in the 4th century AD), which had affirmed the Deuterocanon as scripture. The council also commissioned the Roman Catechism , which served as authoritative Church teaching until the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). While the traditional fundamentals of
235-509: A saint, set an example by visiting the remotest parishes and instilling high standards. The 1559–1967 Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a directory of prohibited books which was updated twenty times during the next four centuries as books were added or removed from the list by the Sacred Congregation of the Index . It was divided into three classes. The first class listed heretical writers,
282-835: A specific parish or area like a vicar or canon. In Italy, the first congregation of regular clergy was the Theatines founded in 1524 by Gaetano and Cardinal Gian Caraffa . This was followed by the Somaschi Fathers in 1528, the Barnabites in 1530, the Ursulines in 1535, the Jesuits , canonically recognised in 1540, the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca in 1583, the Camillians in 1584,
329-666: A spiritual revival in Europe, incubated by the rise of preaching friars , the standardization of the Paris Bible , lay spiritual movements (such as the devotio moderna ), the examples of nascent saints such as Catherine of Bologna , Antoninus of Florence , Rita of Cascia and Catherine of Genoa , printing, Christian humanism , an urbanized laity who could not flee the towns for monasteries, and other reasons. A series of ecumenical councils were held with reformist agendas: The kinds of positive reforms considered were not necessarily
376-478: A vigorous campaign of reform, inspired by earlier Catholic reform movements: humanism , devotionalism , and observantism . The council, by virtue of its actions, repudiated the pluralism of the secular Renaissance that had previously plagued the Church: the organization of religious institutions was tightened, discipline was improved, and the parish was emphasized. The appointment of bishops for political reasons
423-615: Is also known as the Florentine Pietà . A generation later, the Spanish painter Luis de Morales painted a number of highly emotional Pietàs, with examples in the Louvre and Museo del Prado . This related subject is called Engelpietà (literally "Angel Pietà") in German, and included here for that reason. It is a variant of the Man of Sorrows ( Imago Pietatis ) type of andachtsbilder, but showing
470-586: Is called Vesperbild ) about 1300, reached Italy about 1400, and was especially popular in Central European Andachtsbilder . Many German and Polish 15th-century examples in wood greatly emphasise Christ's wounds. Although the subject was known in Italy, the name may have been slower to be adopted, and the Florentine diarist Luca Landucci, after describing a painting in an entry for June 1482, added "which
517-862: Is called by some a Pietà". The Deposition of Christ and the Lamentation or Pietà form the 13th of the Stations of the Cross , as well as one of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin . Although the Pietà most often shows the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, there are other compositions, including those where God the Father participates in holding Jesus Christ. In Spain the Virgin often holds up one or both hands, sometimes with Christ's body slumped to
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#1732856011803564-524: Is misleading: it cannot rightly be applied, logically or chronologically, to that sudden awakening as of a startled giant, that wonderful effort of rejuvenation and reorganization, which in a space of thirty years gave to the Church an altogether new appearance. … The so-called 'counter-reformation' did not begin with the Council of Trent, long after Luther; its origins and initial achievements were much anterior to
611-478: Is one of the closest to God, and because the exterior is thought as the revelation of the interior; therefore, the virgin is morally beautiful. Michelangelo's Pieta sculpture is also unique in the fact that it is the only one of his works that he ever signed. Upon hearing that visitors thought it had been sculpted by Cristoforo Solari , a competitor, he carved his signature into Mary's sash as "MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA[T]": "Michelangelo Buonarroti
658-564: The Adorno Fathers in 1588, and finally the Piarists in 1621. At the end of the 1400s, a reform movement inspired by St Catherine of Genoa 's hospital ministry started spreading: in Rome, starting 1514, the Oratory of Divine Love attracted an aristocratic membership of priests and laymen to perform anonymous acts of charity and to discuss reform; the members subsequently became the key players in
705-490: The Capuchins , recognized by the pope in 1619. This order was well known to the laity and played an important role in public preaching. To respond to the new needs of evangelism, clergy formed into religious congregations , taking special vows but with no obligation to assist in a monastery's religious offices. These regular clergy taught, preached and took confession but were under a bishop's direct authority and not linked to
752-693: The Catholic Revival , was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It is frequently dated to have begun with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and to end with the conclusion of the European wars of religion in 1648, though this is controversial. The broader term Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica ) also encompasses reforms and movements within
799-514: The Counter Reformation , but found through the Baroque period as well. The iconography of Piéta, with a figure holding a body in their arms, has been regularly used in comic book art, especially on covers. One of the most famous examples is the cover for Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, which features the death of Supergirl . Lana Del Rey 's 2012 music video Born to Die features the scene of
846-573: The French Jansenist theologian Pasquier Quesnel (1634–1719). Jansenism was a Protestant-leaning or mediating movement within Catholicism, in France and the Spanish Netherlands, that was criticized for being crypto-Calvinist, denying that Christ died for all, promoting that Holy Communion should be received very infrequently, and more. After Jansenist propositions were condemned it led to
893-596: The Observantist faction of the monastic orders (that less slackness regarding external observances would aid fervour in internal piety) or to promote a top-down ("head and body") institution-centric focus that reform needed to start at and from the Pope, or bishops, or councils, or princes, or canon law. There was considerable support for the evangelical counsels ' ideal of poverty as a way to short-circuit careerism, though John Wycliffe 's doctrine of mandatory apostolic poverty
940-557: The medieval church , its sacramental system, religious orders, and doctrine . It recommended that the form of Mass should be standardised, and this took place in 1570, when Pope Pius V made the Tridentine Mass obligatory. It rejected all compromise with Protestants, restating basic tenets of the Catholic Faith . The council upheld salvation appropriated by grace through faith and works of that faith (not just by faith , as
987-816: The "Red Book". This launched the Liturgical Struggle , which pitted John III of Sweden against his younger brother Charles . During this time, Jesuit Laurentius Nicolai came to lead the Collegium regium Stockholmense . This theatre of the Counter-Reformation was called the Missio Suetica . The 1578 Defensio Tridentinæ fidei was the Catholic response to the Examination of the Council of Trent . The 1713 papal bull Unigenitus condemned 101 propositions of
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#17328560118031034-707: The 14th century. The 'Benedictine Bull' of 1336 reformed the Benedictines and Cistercians . In 1523, the Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona were recognized as a separate congregation of monks. In 1435, Francis of Paola founded the Poor Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, who became the Minim Friars. In 1526, Matteo de Bascio suggested reforming the Franciscan rule of life to its original purity, giving birth to
1081-497: The Church in the periods immediately before Protestantism or Trent and lasting later. Initiated in part to address the challenges of the Protestant Reformations, the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort arising from the decrees of the Council of Trent. The effort produced apologetic and polemical documents, heresy trials, anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, the promotion of new religious orders, and
1128-523: The Church were reaffirmed, there were noticeable changes to answer complaints that the Counter-Reformers were, tacitly, willing to admit were legitimate. Among the conditions to be corrected by Catholic reformers was the growing divide between the clerics and the laity; many members of the clergy in the rural parishes had been poorly educated. Often, these rural priests did not know Latin and lacked opportunities for proper theological training. Addressing
1175-593: The Council of Trent attempted to improve the discipline and administration of the Church. The worldly excesses of the secular Renaissance Church, epitomized by the era of Alexander VI (1492–1503), intensified during the Reformation under Pope Leo X (1513–1521), whose campaign to raise funds for the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica by supporting use of indulgences served as a key impetus for Martin Luther 's 95 Theses . The Catholic Church responded to these problems by
1222-501: The Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and also try to reconvert nations such as Sweden and England that once were Catholic from the time of the Christianisation of Europe , but had been lost to the Reformation. Various Counter-Reformation theologians focused only on defending doctrinal positions such as the sacraments and pious practices that were attacked by
1269-589: The Florentine made this". In a lesser known Michelangelo Pietà, The Deposition ( c. 1547–1555 ), it is not the Virgin Mary who is holding Christ's body, but rather Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea ), Mary Magdalene , and the Virgin Mary. There is some indication that the man in the hood is based on a self-portrait of the artist. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence and
1316-842: The Franciscan church in Leuven, Belgium , Kamp-Bornhofen , Germany, and Our Lady of Charity in Cartagena, Spain . The Pietà is one of the three common artistic representations of a sorrowful Virgin Mary, the other two being the Mater Dolorosa ("dolorous mother") and the Stabat Mater ("standing mother"). The other two representations are most commonly found in paintings, rather than sculpture, although combined forms exist. The Pietà developed in Germany (where it
1363-618: The Hail Mary with the Pater Noster prayer, and made available vernacular French versions of the Gospels and Epistles. Conservative and reforming parties still survived within the Catholic Church even as the Protestant Reformations spread. Protestants decisively broke from the Catholic Church in the 1520s. The two distinct dogmatic positions within the Catholic Church solidified in the 1560s. The regular orders made their first attempts at reform in
1410-579: The Protestant reformers, up to the Second Vatican Council in 1962–1965. 'Counter-Reformation’ is a translation of German : Gegenreformation . Protestant historians have tended to speak in terms of Catholic reform as part of the Counter-Reformation, itself a response to the Reformation. In nineteenth-century Germany, the term became part of the German : Kulturkampf : ‘Counter-Reformation’
1457-519: The Protestants insisted) because "faith without works is dead", as the Epistle of James states (2:22–26). Transubstantiation , according to which the consecrated bread and wine are held to have been transformed really and substantially into the body , blood , soul and divinity of Christ, was also reaffirmed, as were the traditional seven sacraments of the Catholic Church . Other practices that drew
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1504-534: The church handling the Reformation. In 1548, then-layman Philip Neri founded a Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents : this developed into the relatively-free religious community the Oratorians , who were given their constitutions in 1564 and recognized as a religious order by the pope in 1575. They used music and singing to attract the faithful. The 1530 Confutatio Augustana
1551-467: The education of priests had been a fundamental focus of the humanist reformers in the past. Parish priests were to be better educated in matters of theology and apologetics , while Papal authorities sought to educate the faithful about the meaning, nature and value of art and liturgy, particularly in monastic churches (Protestants had criticised them as "distracting"). Handbooks became more common, describing how to be good priests and confessors. Thus,
1598-403: The fame of Wittenberg. It was undertaken, not by way of answering the 'reformers,' but in obedience to demands and principles that are part of the unalterable tradition of the Church and proceed from her most fundamental loyalties. The Italian historian Massimo Firpo has distinguished "Catholic Reformation" from "Counter-Reformation" by their issues. In his view, the general "Catholic Reformation"
1645-586: The floor. A famous example by the Italian sculptor Michelangelo in marble is in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City . The body of Christ is different from most earlier Pietà statues, which were usually smaller and in wood. The Virgin is also unusually youthful, and in repose, rather than the older, sorrowing Mary of most Pietàs. She is shown as youthful for two reasons: God is the source of all beauty and she
1692-516: The flourishing of new art and musical styles. Such policies (e.g., by the Imperial Diets of the Holy Roman Empire ) had long-lasting effects in European history with exiles of Protestants continuing until the 1781 Patent of Toleration , although smaller expulsions took place in the 19th century. Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in
1739-551: The half-century before the reformation, the phenomenon of Bishops closing down decadent monasteries or convents had become more common, as had programs to educate parish priests. In the half-century before the Council of Trent, various evangelical Catholic leaders had experimented with reforms that came to be associated with Protestants: for example, Guillaume Briçonnet (bishop of Meaux) in Paris, with his former teacher Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples , had statues other than Christ removed from his churches (though not destroyed ), replaced
1786-436: The ire of Protestant reformers, such as pilgrimages , the veneration of saints and relics , the use of venerable images and statuary , and the veneration of the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually commendable practices. The council, in the Canon of Trent , officially accepted the Vulgate listing of the Old Testament Bible, which included the deuterocanonical works (called apocrypha by Protestants) on
1833-416: The ones that pre-occupied the Hussites (e.g., communion under both kinds , married priests) and later Protestants (e.g., indulgences , justification). Ending schism and war (especially papal war) was regarded by some prelates as the pre-condition for reformation. At times, the reform talk in the councils tended to lack enough specificity to result in an effective program—except for a tendency to follow
1880-442: The second class listed heretical works, and the third class listed forbidden writings which were published without the name of the author. The Index was finally suspended on 29 March 1967. The 1566 Roman Catechism provided material in Latin to help the clergy catechize in the vernacular. The 1575 Nova ordinantia ecclesiastica was an addendum to the Liturgia Svecanæ Ecclesiæ catholicæ & orthodoxæ conformia , also called
1927-426: The spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ , including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality . It also involved political activities and used the regional Inquisitions . A primary emphasis of
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1974-566: The subject. The term ‘Catholic Reformation’ appealed to Catholic historians because it offered them the possibility of avoiding the term ‘Counter-Reformation’, with its problematic connotation of a mere reaction to Protestantism. But it was rejected by Protestant historians – largely because they did not want the term ‘Reformation’ to be used for anything other than the Protestant Reformation. Catholic historians tend to emphasize them as different. The French historian Henri Daniel-Rops wrote: The term ('counter-reformation'), however, though common,
2021-418: Was "centered on the care of souls ..., episcopal residence, the renewal of the clergy, together with the charitable and educational roles of the new religious orders", whereas the specific "Counter-Reformation" was "founded upon the defence of orthodoxy, the repression of dissent, the reassertion of ecclesiastical authority". Other relevant terms that may be encountered: The 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries saw
2068-477: Was decisively rejected at the Council of Constance. Issues such as papal nepotism and the wealth, dioscese-absenteeism, and pre-occupation with secular power of important bishops were recognized as perennial and scandalous problems. These resisted serious reform (by successive popes and councils with those bishops, unable to compromise their own interests) for centuries, causing friction as radical reformers periodically arose in response, such as Savonarola . In
2115-510: Was no longer tolerated. In the past, the large landholdings forced many bishops to be "absent bishops" who at times were property managers trained in administration. Thus, the Council of Trent combated " absenteeism ", which was the practice of bishops living in Rome or on landed estates rather than in their dioceses. The Council of Trent gave bishops greater power to supervise all aspects of religious life. Zealous prelates, such as Milan 's Archbishop Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584), later canonized as
2162-418: Was the Catholic response to the Lutheran Augsburg Confession . Pope Paul III (1534–1549) is considered the first pope of the Counter-Reformation, and he also initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), tasked with institutional reform, addressing contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests , the sale of indulgences , and other financial abuses. The council upheld the basic structure of
2209-423: Was used by Protestant historians as a negative and one-dimensional concept that stressed the aspect of reaction and resistance to Protestantism and neglected that of reform within Catholicism. The term was understandably shunned by Catholic historians. Even when the Protestant historian Wilhelm Maurenbrecher introduced the term ‘Catholic Reformation’ in 1880, German historiography remained confessionally divided on
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