The Catholic Reformation
The Catholic Reformation, more commonly known as the Counter Reformation until recently, took place in the second half of the 16th century and continued well into the 17th. It involved the revival of the Roman Catholic Church and the fight back of Catholicism against Protestantism.
The groundings of the Catholic Reformation are disputed:
Most Catholic historians will claim that its foundings are in the humanist movement of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. There is much evidence to suggest that through societies such as the oratory of divine love and the writings of humanist thinkers such as Erasmus the Catholic reformation does indeed have its groundings in pre-Lutheran ideas.
However most protestant historians will subscribe to the counter reformation argument. That being that the catholic reformation was merely a reaction to the Lutheran and protestant reformations in Germany and Switzerland. There is no doubt that the main movement of reform was first instigated by the Lutheran reformers and there was little or no effort made by Rome to reform until 1534 and the pontificate of Paul III.
Some key figures of the Catholic reformation are:
Some key organisations of the Reformation were:
I personally believe that the catholic reformation is the correct term as I believe that the Roman Catholic Church was moving inevitably towards reform before Luther and his 95 theses. However that opinion is biased as I am, myself, a catholic.