counterreformer

English

Etymology

From counterreform +‎ -er or counter- +‎ reformer.

Noun

counterreformer (plural counterreformers)

1. One who supports counterreform and is therefore opposed to reform.
2. (historical, Roman Catholicism) Alternative spelling of Counter-Reformer (“proponent of the Counter-Reformation”).
   • 1986, Joseph H. Lynch, Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe, →ISBN, page 26:

     According to John Bossy, the Catholic counterreformers attempted to make the parish the primary focus of religious life […]

   • 2008, Steven R. Guthrie, “Theology and Music”, in The Encyclopedia of Christianity, volume 5, Eerdmans-Brill, →ISBN, page 371:

     The council [of Trent] also urged caution in the use of vocal polyphony […] Notably, the counterreformers did not follow Luther and Calvin in advocating congregational song in the vernacular.

   • 2020, Brendan Thomas Sammon, “Beauty and the Good in Dionysius the Areopagite”, in Alice M. Ramos, editor, Beauty and the Good: Recovering the Classical Tradition from Plato to Duns Scotus, →ISBN, page 204:

     This stands in significant contrast, for example, to the Catholic counterreformer Ignatius of Loyola who, in his Spiritual Exercises, requires that the retreatant consider the idea that God created the whole world for her.