France and the Low Countries

While the teachings of Luther were circulated in France, it was Calvinism that took root there. The strategic location of Geneva, along with the fact that Calvin was French, no doubt contributed greatly to the success of Calvinism in France. During the second half of the 16^th Century, French Protestants (called Huguenots) fought a series of bloody civil wars with the Catholics. Yet, Protestantism was not wiped out.

If anything, the Reformed faith had an even more severe test in the Netherlands. Thousands were slain, but Dutch Protestantism (now in the form of Calvinism) continued to grow. The Dutch Reformed Church, Calvinistic in doctrine, became the state church in the Netherlands.

The “Radical” Reformers

We will now look at what has been classified by historians as “radical” reformers. We are most familiar, probably, with the major wings of the Reformation—Lutheran, the Reformed (Calvinism is often referred to as the “Reformed”), and the Anglican, which we will study in a future lesson as we begin to look at the Reformation in the British Isles. But there some other reformers, often collectively referred to as “radical” reformers or “left-wing” reformers. The Anabaptists were the most numerous of these radical reformers.

The Anabaptists received their name from the fact that since they insisted on the baptism of believers only, they re-baptized those whose only baptism had been by sprinkling in infancy. The Anabaptists were a varied lot, and because of the excesses of a few of them, they early got a bad name and they were persecuted by the Protestants and Catholics alike. Anabaptists practiced believers’ baptism, and often—not exclusively—but they would often practice baptism by immersion. They believed in the separation of church and state and ordinarily refused to bear arms—refused to be a part of any police or military-type organization—and also refused to serve in any kind of a public service civil government-type position, or office. The largest group of the Anabaptists that survived the persecutions that they underwent was the Mennonites. Their leader was one named Menno Simmons. He had been a Catholic priest originally, but in 1536 he renounced his priesthood and he cast his lot with the Anabaptists. Through His teaching and through his writing, this movement began to spread more widely. Anabaptists were numerous not only in the Low Countries, the southern part of Germany, the northern part of France, but also they became numerous in Switzerland where they were vigorously opposed, by the way, by Zwingli. Many later groups, such as Baptists, the English Separatists, the Quakers and the German Brethren were influenced by these people who were considered to be quite simple, but quite pious.

The Catholic Counter Reformation

During the 16^th Century we’ve considered the prominent reformers; we’ve considered some who were not so prominent, but during this period there was also a Catholic Counter Reformation. Not everyone who was in the reforming business was willing to break with the Roman Catholic church. Many believed that reform was needed, but their desire was to remain within the Catholic church and do their reforming from within. The Council of Trent was called in 1545 and held sessions for the next eighteen years. In part, this Council took measures to counter Protestantism, but it also took steps at the same time to bring about reforms within the Roman Catholic church. Unfortunately, the Council of Trent ended up really spawning and further defining many dogmas such that there came a further rift between Catholicism and Protestantism. And rather than stopping the Protestant movement, this had the effect making it permanent.

This period also gave birth to a Catholic order that soon became the most powerful in the Roman church. This Catholic order was called the Society of Jesus. They were more widely known as the Jesuits. Its founder was Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, whose conversion led him to obedience to the Roman church rather than to the Reformation. Interestingly, both Calvin and Loyola were students at the University of Paris at the same time. However, they apparently never knew each other. The Jesuit order was given official papal approval in 1540 and it grew very rapidly. It was a missionary order, and they would have a great deal of zeal in their efforts to reach out and to do mission work, a zeal that would rival the Franciscans, who we have talked about earlier. Francis Xavier was the most famous of those during this period. The Jesuit order, led by Francis Xavier, would do mission work in India, Japan and in other areas of the Far East.