ABSTRACT
The long-prevailing division of the history of the European Reformation into 'Reformation' and 'Counter-Reformation' has been overtaken by more recent research. The common image of the peasant origin of Catholic priests has given way to a much more differentiated one as a result of numerous studies of the pastoral clergy in the Old Reich since the late sixteenth century. Most of these deficiencies clashed with even the medieval ideal of a priest. The observations on the social origins of the new pastoral clergy apply to France and Italy as well. Over the course of the early modern period, the ideal of the clerical office was being realized within all three Christian confessions in similar ways, however long it took to achieve this goal. The relationship between pastor and parishioners was not as deeply affected by these theological divergences as one might expect.
