Editing Reformation (section)

====Partial and failed institutional reforms====

The necessity of a church reform {{lang|la|in capite et membris}} ('in head and limbs') was frequently discussed at the ecumenical councils from the late {{nowrap|13th century}}. However, many high stakeholders—popes, prelates, abbots and kings—preferred the {{lang|la|status quo}} because they did not want to lose privileges or revenues.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=44–45}} The system of papal dispensations proved a continual obstacle to the implementation of each revived reform attempt, as the [[Holy See]] had regularly granted privileges or immunities.{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|p=39}}

Within regular clergy, the so-called "[[Congregation (group of houses)|congregations]] of strict observance" spread. These were monastic communities that returned to the strict interpretation of their order's rule.{{refn|group=note|A good example is the Benedictine congregation that began with the reform of monastic life at the [[Abbey of Santa Giustina]] in [[Padua]] under the auspices of the Venetian nobleman [[Ludovico Barbo]] (d. 1443). By 1505, the congregation included nearly 50 abbeys, and had an effect on the reform of further monasteries, such as [[Fontevraud Abbey]] and [[Marmoutier Abbey, Tours|Marmoutier Abbey]] in France.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=47–48}}}} Reformist bishops tried to discipline their clergy through regular [[canonical visitation]]s but their attempts mainly failed due to the resistance of autonomous institutions such as [[cathedral chapter]]s. Neither could they exercise authority over non-resident clerics who had received their benefice from the papacy.{{sfn|Cameron|2012|pp=47–53}} On the eve of the Reformation, the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] was the last occasion when efforts to introduce a far-reaching reform from above could have achieved but it was dissolved in 1517 without making decisions on the issues that would soon come to the fore.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=84–85}}