'i·

2;32 SESSJON XXV. ON THE INVOCATION OF SA1NTS, &C. 233

intention, that, by the foregoing words, the usual manner of but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; the treating matters in general Councils should be in any respect holy Synod enjoins .on bish.oPs that they diligent,ly endeavour changed; or that anything new, besides that which has been that the sound d.octrine concerning Purgatory, transmitted by heretofore established by the sacred canons, or by the form of the holy Fathers and sacred c.ouncils, be believed, maintained, general COlpll:)ils, sllOuld be added to, or taken from, anyone. taught, and every where pr.oclaimed by the faithful of Christ. But let the more difficult and subtle questi.ons, and which tend JNDICTWN .oF THE NEXT SESSION, n.ot to edification, and from which f.or the most part there is no increase .of piety, be excluded from popular discourses before Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod ordains and de­ the uneducated (i) multitude. In like manner, such things as crees, that the next ensuing Session be held on the Thursday are uncertain, or which lab.our under an appearance .of err.or,(k) after the Conception ofthe Blessed Virgin Mary, which will be let them not allow t.o be made public and treated of. While the ninth day of December next, with the power also of abridg­ th.olie things which tend t.o a certain kind .of curi.osity or super­ ing that term. In which Session there wiU be treated of the stiti.on, or which savour .of filthy lucre, let them prohibit as the sixth ch"l.pter(l) which is now deferred till then, and the re­ scandals and stumbling-blocks .of the faithful. But let the lIlaining chapters on Reformation which have been already set bish.oPs take care, that the euffrages .of the faithful wh.o are forth, and other matters whieh relate thereunto. And ifit shall living, t.o wit the sacrifices .of masses, prayers, alms, and otber seem advisable, and the time will allow thereof, certain dQgmas w.orks .of piety, which have been w.ont t.o be performed by the may also be treated .of, as in their prQper season they shall be faithful for the .other faithful departed, be pi.ously and devoutly proposed in the congregati.ons. .. perf.ormed, in accordance with the institutes .of the churc!l; and that whatsoever is due on their behalf, from thc end.owments of Tke term fixed for the Session was abridged. testators, or in .other way, be discharged, n.ot in a pel'ftIDctory manner, but diligently and accurately, by the priests and ministers of the church, and .otllers wh.o are b.ound t.o render SESSION THE TWENTY-FIPTH. this (service).

day f!J Begun on tlte third, mid terminated on tlte folt1·th, ON THE INVOCATION, VENERATION, AND RELICS, OF SAINTS, Decembet', MDLXIII., being the ninth a1~d la8t u1.~der the Sove­ reign Pontiff, Pius IV. AND ON SACRED IMAGES. The h.oly Syn.od enj.oins on aU bish.oPs, and .others who sus­ DECREE CONCERNING PURGAT.oRY, tain the office and charge of teaching, that, agreeably t.o the Wherel:\>S the Cath.olic Church, instructed by the H.oly Gh.ost, usage .of the Catholic and Ap.ost.olic Church, received fr.om the bas, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the primitive times .of the Christian religi.on, and agreeably t.o the :Fathers, taught, in sacred c.ouncils, and very recently(g) in this consent of the holy Fathers, and to the decrees .of sacred Coun­ <'ecumenical Syn.od, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls cils, they especially instntct the faithful diligently concerning there detained are heJped(h) by the suffrages .of the faithful, the intercessi.on and invocati.on .of saints; the h.onour (paid) to

(I) On Exemptions of Chapters. -.------.---­ (r) See Se6!l. VI., can. 30; Sess, XXlI. cap. 2, 3. (h) Juval'i, relieved, (i) Rudem. (k) SpecI!! falsi laboranL y~

234 SESSION XXV. ON THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS, &c. 235

relics; and the legitimate use of images: teaching them, that the their hope in idols; but because. the honour which is shown saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own them is referred to the prototypes which those images repre­ prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly . sent; in such wise that by(') the images which we kiss, and to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) before which we uncover the head, and prostrate ourselves, we help (I) for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus adore Christ; and we venerate the saints, whose similitude they Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour; but bear: as, by the decrees of Councils, and especially of the second that they think impiously, who deny that the saints, who enjoy ~ynod of Nicrea, has been defined against the opponents 0:J eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invocated; or who assert Images. either that they do not pray for men; or, that the invocation of And the bishops shall carefully tea.ch this,-tbat, by meansl them to pray for each of us' even in particular, is idolatry; or, of the histories of the mysteries of our Redemption, portrayed that it is repugnant to the word of God; and is opposed to the by paintings or other representations, the people is instructed, hononr of the one mediator 0/ God and men, Ghrist Jesus; (m) and confirmed in (the habit of) remembering, and contli.llially or, that it is foolish to supplicate, vocally, or mentally,(") tbose revolving in mind the articles of faith; as also that great profit who reign in heaven. Also, that the holy bodies of holy is derived from all sacred images, not only because the people martyrs, and of others now living with Christ,-which bodies are thereby admonished of the benefits and gifts bestowed upon were the living members of Christ, and the temple 0/ the Holy them by Christ, but also because the miracles which God has Ghost,(o) and which are by Him to be raised unto eternal life, performed by means ofthe saints, and their salutary examples, and to be glorified,-are to be venerated by the faithful; are set before the eyes of the faithful; that so they may give through which (bodies) many benefits are bestowed by God on God thanks for those things; may order their own lives and men; so that they who affirm that veneration and honour are manners in imitation of the saints; and may be excited to ad~ not due to the relics of saints; or, that these, and other sacred and love God, and to cultivate piety. But if anyone shall monuments, are uselessly honoured by the faithful; and that tea.ch, or entertain sentiments, contrary to these decrees; let the places dedicated to the memories of the saints are in vain him be anathema. visited with the view of obtaining their aid; are wholly to be And if any abuses have crept in amongst these holy and salu­ condemned, as the Church has already long since condemned, tary observances, the holy Synod ardently desires that they be and now also condemns them. utterly abolished; iu such wise that no images, (suggestive) of r- Moreover, that the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of false doctrine, and furnishing occasion of dangerous error to the I God, and of the other saints, are to be had(p) and retained par­ uneducated, be set up. And if at times, when expedient for ticularly in temples, and that due honour and veneration are to the unlettered people ;(,) it happen that the facts and narra­ be given them; not that any divinity, or virtue, is believed to be tives of sacred Scripture are portrayed and represented; the in them, on account ofwhich they are to be worshipped;(q) or people shall be taught, that not thereby is the Divinity repre­ that anything is to be asked of them; or, that trust is to be re­ sented, as though it could be seen by the eyes of the body, or posed in images, as was of old done by the Gentiles who placed be portrayed by colours or figures. Moreover, in the invocation of saints, the veneration of relics, and the sacred use of images, every superstition shall be re­ moved, all filthy IUCl'e be abolished; finally, all lasciviousness be (1) Ad eorum oratioues, opem, auxilium confugere. (In) 1 Tim. ii.5. (n) Voce, yel mente. (0) 1 Cor iii. 6. (p) Habendas. (q) Oolenda'. (r) Per. (s) Indoitre. plebi, an ufllearned multitude. 236 SESSION XXV. ON REFORMATION. 237 avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust; nor the celebration of CHAPTER I. the saints, and the visitation of relics be by any perverted into revellings and drunkenness; as if festivals are celebrated to the AU Regulars shall order their lives in accordance with wh.at honour of the saints by luxury and wantonness. is prescribed by the rule whicll t/ley have professed; Superim's In fine, let so great care and diligence be used herein by shall sedulously pro'llide tl,at tMs be done. bishops, as that there be nothing seen that is disorderly, or that is unbecomingly or confusedly arranged, nothing that is pro­ Forasmuch as the holy Synod is not ignorant how much fane, nothing indecorous, seeing that holiness becometlt the splendour and utility accrue to the Church of God, from monas­ house 0/ God.(') teries piously instituted and rightIy administered; It has,-to And that these things may be the more faithfully observed, the end that the ancient and regular discipline ma.y be the more the holy Synod ordains, that no one be allowed to place, or easily and promptly restored, where it has fallen away, and may cause to be placed, any unusual image, in any place, or church, be the more firmly maintained, where it has been preserved,­ howsoever exempted, except that image have been appl'Oved of thought it necessary to enjoin, as by this decree It doth injoin, by the bishop: also, that no new miracles are to be acknow­ that all Regulars, as well men, as women, shall order and regu­ ledged, or new relics recognised, unless tIle said bishop has late their lives in accordance '\'lith the requirements of the rule taken cognizance and approved thereof; who, as soon as he has which they have professed; and above all that tlley shall faith­ obtained some certain information ill regard of these matters, fully observe whatsoever belongs to the perfection of their pro­ shall, after having taken the advice of theologians, and of other fession, such as the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, pious men, act therein as he shall judge to be consonant with as also all other vows and precepts that may be peculiar to any truth and piety. But if any dOUbtful, or difficult abuse has to rule or order, respectively appertaining to the essential charac­ be extirpated; or, in fine, if any more gI'ave question shan arise ter of each, and which regard the observance of a common(Y) touching these matters, the bishop, before deciding the Cont.m­ mode of living, food, and dress. And all care and diligence versy, shall await the sentence of the metropolitan and of tbe shall be used by the Superiors, both in tIle general and ill the bishops of the province, in a provincial Council; yet so, that provincial Ohapters, and in their visitations, which they shall nothing new, or that previously has not been usual in the not omit to make in their proper seasons, that these things be Ohurch, shan be resolved on, without having Hrst consulted the not departed from; it being certain, that those tIlings which most holy Roman Pontiff. belong to the substance of a regular life cannot be by them re­ laxed. For if those things which are the basis and the founda­ tion of all regular discipline be not strictly preserved, tIle whole ON REGULARS AND NUNS. edifice must needs fan.

CHAPTER II. The same sacred and holy Synod, prosecuting the subject of reformation, bas thought fit that the things following be ordained. Property is wholly p1'ohibited to Regulars. For no Regular, therefore, whether man, or woman, shall it be lawful to possess, or hold as his own, or even in the name of . (t) Pa. xcii. 5. '> (v) Communem vitam, living ill common.