As in the whole Church, the accumulation of benefits and the absence of the Bishops from their sees, together with other evils of the feudal regime, caused a decline and disorientation of religious life that had as a consequence the painful reaction of the Protestant Reformation and the vigorous Catholic response that began at the Council of Trent.

But in our diocese the true reform had already begun before with the arrival of Archbishop Saint Thomas of Villanova (+ 1555), Augustinian religious, a model of austerity and charity, who, helped by Valencian religious and priests such as the Venerable Agnesio, initiated the reform of the clergy and of the people, among other things with the foundation of the College of the Presentation of Our Lady, antecedent of the Tridentine seminaries, which still exists in Valencia. This reform work reached its peak with the long pontificate of Saint Juan de Ribera (+ 1611), during which the expulsion of the moriscoes and the Christian repopulation of many territories took place.

This holy archbishop wanted to leave a testimony of faith and Catholic devotion towards the Eucharist advocated in Trent and expressed in the liturgy at the time, founding the Royal Seminary College of Corpus Christi, which remains in Valencia as a spiritual and training centre for priests, being at the same time one of its most beautiful monuments, where the customs arranged by the holy Founder in his Constitutions are preserved.

The Church has recognized the saintliness of several religious people of this time, such as Blessed Nicolás Factor (+1583), Andrés Hibernón (+1602), Gaspar de Bono (+1604), Josefa María de Santa Inés (+1696) and the saints Luís Bertrán (+1581), evangelist and patron of Colombia and Pascual Bailón (+1592), patron of the Eucharistic associations.

Finally, among many Valencians who offered their lives for the Gospel in the Far East, are Blessed Francisco Gálvez (+1632) and Saint Jacinto María Castañeda (+1773).