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The Council of Trent: Reform and Controversy in Europe and Beyond (1545-1700)

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Waere Afbeeldinghe der sittinge der Vaderen des vermaerden Consiliums in de stadt Trenten
(Ingekleurde gravure, 17de eeuw, © OeStA/HHStA Hs W 231/9)
 

International Conference

On the 4th of December 2013, it will be 450 years since the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was solemnly brought to a close. This Council had an enormous impact on developments in religion and politics, not only in Europe but also beyond. An international conference, to be held in Leuven on the occasion of this anniversary, from the 4th to the 6th of December 2013, will first shed light on the Tridentine theology and perspective on pastoral care, as the consequence of both the internal struggle to bring about reform within the Catholic Church and the controversy with Protestant Reformation. Along the same lines, attention will be paid to initiatives subsequently taken by Rome in order to interpret and implement the Council, while at the same time giving shape to the Catholic identity, in confrontation with the Protestant confessions. Further, the conference focuses on three key questions: What kind of changes in the local religious life may be considered as the outcome of the Council? To what degree has the Council contributed, on a European level, to political polarization and confessionalisation? And finally, how were the Tridentine reforms implemented on a more global level, through mission and evangelization? In each of the abovementioned questions, special attention is given to the contribution of the religious orders, in addition to the interplay between the Catholic and the Protestant Reformation. It is the explicit aim of the conference to bring together junior and senior researchers from different disciplines and confessional backgrounds.
Date and location
  • The conference will run from Wednesday 4 December 11 am until Friday 6 December around 6 pm across the buildings of the University of Leuven.
Conference program
  • The program will be finalized in October. The call is now closed; letters of acceptance have been sent out.
Keynote speakers include
  • Robert Bireley (Loyola University Chicago), Emidio Campi (Universität Zürich), Pierre-Antoine Fabre (EHESS, Paris), Ignasi Fernández Terricabras (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona), John O'Malley (Georgetown University, Washington), Adriano Prosperi (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), Alain Tallon (Paris-Sorbonne), Marc Venard (Paris X, Nanterre), and Günther Wassilowsky (Katholisch Theologische Privatuniversität Linz).
Registration (is now open!)
  • Participants can register here.
    • €100 for regular participants
    • €85 for Refo500 members
    • Free for members of the organizing institutions KU Leuven, UC Louvain, Melanchthon Akademie Bretten and FSCIRE.
  • You can pay by credit card through the application module: link.
  • You can pay by bank transfer:
    • KU Leuven, Krakenstraat 3, B-3000 LEUVEN
    • IBAN: BE60 7340 0666 0370, BIC: KREDBEBB mentioning the structured number 400/0008/42828.
Travel information and hotel accomodation
Organizing committee
  • Wim François (KU Leuven) & Violet Soen (KU Leuven)
  • Jean-Pierre Delville (Université Catholique de Louvain), Günter Frank (Europäische Melanchthon-Akademie Bretten), Alberto Melloni (Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII), Silvia Mostaccio (Université Catholique de Louvain), Herman Selderhuis (RefoRC).
Conference secretariate
Steering committee
  • Robert Bireley (Loyala University Chicago), Sylvène Edouard (Université Lyon 3), Pierre-Antoine Fabre (EHESS, Paris), Ignasi Fernández Terricabras (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona), Joseph Freitag (Universität Erfurt), Nicole Lemaitre (Paris I, Sorbonne), Guido Marnef (Universiteit Antwerpen), John O'Malley (Georgetown University), Adriano Prosperi (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), Alain Tallon (Paris-Sorbonne), Marc Venard (Paris X, Nanterre).

Concert Encantar

  • The vocal ensemble Encantar has opened the 450th anniversary year of the Council of Trent with a concert of polyphonic and Gregorian music. This concert took place on Thursday, March 7, at 8 p.m. at the St.-John-the-Baptist Church, Groot Begijnhof, Leuven. You find some pictures here.
  • The ensemble will bring this unique concert for the conference participants only on Thursday the 5th of December.
  

Press

  • Some articles have appeared in the local press, but mainly in Dutch. You can read them here.

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