The Council of Trent (1545-1563).

1. An auto-da-fe, or public burning of heretics by the Spanish Inquisition. The Holy Office of the Inquisition was a religious tribunal originally set up to combat the 11-12th -century Albigensian heresy. The rigid beliefs of Albigensians came from a Persian teacher, Mani, and spread along trade routes to Europe. During the Reformation the Inquisition saw new life, especially in Spain, where various kinds of torture and execution were used against Protestant heretics. In this image the victims of the Inquisition wear tall caps.

2. The "Image of the true Catholic Church of Christ." English Protestants watched the bishops of Rome degenerate from the pious martyrs of the early days of Christianity to the wealthy and frequently corrupt temporal rulers who controlled kings and kingdoms. During the Reformation, episcopacy (the government of the Church by the bishops) was repudiated by many of the Protestant churches on grounds of corruption, and because that institution had no justification in tradition.

3. PAUL III(1468-1549), pope (1534-49), who initiated the COUNTER REFORMATION, (q.v.). Born Alessandro Farnese, he was a vocal supporter of reform in the Roman Catholic church. He revived the Inquisition, but many considered his nepotistic appointments a sign of weakness. Under his orders Michelangelo began his work on the Sistine Chapel, and other major structures were commissioned.Politically, Paul strengthened the papal hold on central Italy. He negotiated the Treaty of Nice (1538) between the Holy Roman emperor Charles V and King Francis I of France, and he excommunicated Henry VIII of England in that same year. Paul called the Council of Trent, but failed to retain the support of the European monarchs. He also authorized the establishment of the JESUITS , or Society of Jesus, an important element in the Counter Reformation.

4. PAUL IV(1476-1559), pope (1555-59), who vigorously carried out the COUNTER REFORMATION, Born Gian Pietro Carafa, he was placed in charge of the INQUISITION, in Rome. After his election to the papacy over the veto of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, he alienated Protestants and Roman Catholics alike with his zeal for reform. Among his projects was the compilation and publication (1559) of the first INDEX OF FORBIDDEN BOOKS, (q.v.). Paul allied with France to drive the Spanish from Italy in 1555, but Spain was victorious. The pontiff denounced the Peace of Augsburg, between the Holy Roman Empire and the Lutheran states, and he would not recognize the abdication of Charles in favor of his brother Ferdinand I. His hatred of Spain led him to quarrel with Mary I, queen of England and wife of Philip II, king of Spain.

5. PIUS V, Saint(1504-72), pope (1566-72), whose austere reforms and repressive measures against dissenters strengthened the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, (q.v.) at the time of the COUNTER REFORMATION, Born Antonio Ghislieri near Alessandria in northern Italy, he became a Dominican friar at the age of 14 and subsequently worked zealously for the INQUISITION, eventually rising to the position of grand inquisitor; he was made a cardinal in 1557. As pope he enforced the reforming decrees of the Council of Trent ; aided French Roman Catholics in their persecution of the HUGUENOTS, (q.v.); expelled many Jews from the PAPAL STATES, (q.v.); excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England; and used the Inquisition relentlessly to punish heretics. In 1570 he formed the Holy League in alliance with Spain and Venice against the Turks, and the league won a great naval victory in the Battle of Lepanto (1571). His personal asceticism, opposition to nepotism, and severe reforms raised the morale of the church; and his reliance on the Inquisition virtually eliminated Protestantism from Italy. His intolerance and harshness, however, were often counterproductive in foreign relations, and he antagonized France and the Holy Roman Empire as well as England. He was canonized in 1712; his feast day is April 30.

6. The Council of Trent (1545-1563). The Church council requested by both sides in the Reformation controversy was belatedly called by Pope Paul III. It opened in 1545 in Trent, in northern Italy, and lasted with several interruptions until 1563. While the Council acknowledged the existence of certain excesses within the Church and instituted some reforms, it also condemned the key doctrines of Protestantism. Its lasting effect was a reaffirmation of the authority of Rome.

7. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Born into the Spanish nobility, Ignatius was wounded in the battle of Pamplona, and during his recovery he underwent a conversion which changed his life. He organized a new religious order, the Society of Jesus, along military lines and with the same rigid discipline. As the shock troops of the Catholic-Reformation, the Jesuits became instruments of the absolute authority of Rome. Painting by Daniel Seghers.

8. The Duke of Alva persecutes the Protestants of the Netherlands. Philip II of Spain continued his father's policy of rooting out the Protestant heresy. As a means to that end, he sent the Duke of Alva as regent to the Low Countries, which were under Spanish rule. Alva's rule lasted from 1567 to 1573, and it was so repressive that in 1568 a revolt, led by William of Orange, broke out in protest. Alva retaliated by persecuting the leaders.

9. The Spanish execute Protestants in Haarlem, 1573. Despite the Duke of Alva's repression of the Protestant revolt in the Low Countries in 1568, the Dutch continued to resist. After a seven-month siege of Haarlem, the city was forced to yield to Spain. Many of those who did not die of starvation during the siege were executed, some by being tied back to back and thrown into the Sparne River.