Agenda S. Coloniensis : the exorcism rituals of Ferdinand von Bayern

Abstract

"By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was already well underway in Europe. While Catholic reform had been taking place long before Luther and his ninety-five theses, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was an integral part of the revitalization of Catholic doctrine and the Church's attempts at regaining ground lost to the Protestant reformers. Called to begin on March 15th with Pope Paul III's bull Laetare Jerusalem, the purpose of the meeting was threefold: heal the schism, reform, and retake cities in the Levant.1 In fact, the council solidified the schism between Catholics and Protestants, though it is debatable whether the divide was already too great by December 1545 when the meeting actually began."--Introduction.