The Council of Trent The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent, Ed. and trans. J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848) Hanover Historical Texts Project Scanned by Hanover College students in 1995. Notes and J. Waterworth's Preface The Complete Text By Session Bull of Indiction The First Session ● Decree touching the opening of the Council ● Indiction of the next session The Second Session ● Decree touching the manner of living, and other matters to be observed, during the Council ● Indiction of the next session The Third Session ● Decree touching the symbol of faith ● Indiction of the next session The Fourth Session ● Decree concerning canonical Scriptures ● Decree concerning the edition, and the use, of the sacred books ● Indiction of the next session The Fifth Session ● Decree concerning original sin ● Decree on reformation ● Indiction of the next session The Sixth Session ● Decree on justification ● On justification ● Decree on reformation ● Indiction of the next session The Seventh Session ● Decree on the Sacraments ● Decree on Reformation ● Indiction of the next session ● Bull with faculty to transfer the Council The Eighth Session ● Decree concerning the translation of the Council The Ninth Session ● Decree for the prorogation of the session The Tenth Session ● Decree for the prorogation of the session ● Bull for the resumption of the Council of Trent, under the Sovereign Pontiff, Julius III The Eleventh Session ● Decree for resuming the Council ● Indiction of the next session The Twelfth Session The Thirteenth Session ● Decree concerning the most holy sacrament of the eucharist ● On the most holy sacrament of the eucharist ● Decree on reformation ● Decree for postponing the definition of four articles touching the sacrament of the eucharist, and for giving a safe-conduct to Protestants ● Safe-conduct granted to Protestants The Fourteenth Session ● On the most holy sacraments of penance and extreme unction ● On the most holy sacrament of penance ● On the sacrament of extreme unction ● Decree on reformation The Fifteenth Session ● Decree for proroguing the session ● Safe-conduct given to the Protestants The Sixteenth Session ● Decree for the suspension of the Council ● Bull for the celebration of the Council of Trent, under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV The Seventeenth Session ● Decree for celebrating the Council ● Indiction of the next session The Eighteenth Session ● Decree on the choice of books, and for inviting all men on the public faith to the Council ● Indiction of the next session ● Safe-conduct granted to the German nation ● Extension thereof to other nations The Nineteenth Session ● Decree for the prorogation of the session The Twentieth Session ● Decree for the prorogation of the session The Twenty-First Session ● [Decree on communion under both species, and the communion of infants] ● On communion under both species, and on the communion of infants ● Decree on reformation ● Indiction of the next session The Twenty-Second Session ● Doctrine on the sacrifice of the mass ● On the sacrifice of the mass ● Decree concerning the things to be observed, and to be avoided, in the celebration of the mass ● Decree on reformation ● Decree touching the petition for the concession of the chalice ● Indiction of the next session The Twenty-Third Session ● The true and catholic doctrine, touching the sacrament of order, decreed and published by the Holy Synod of Trent, in the seventh session, in condemnation of the errors of our time ● On the sacrament of order ● Decree on reformation ● Indiction of the next session The Twenty-Fourth Session ● Doctrine on the sacrament of matrimony ● On the sacrament of matrimony ● Decree on the reformation of marriage ● Decree on reformation ● Indiction of the next session The Twenty-Fifth Session ● Decree concerning purgatory ● On the invocation, veneration, and relics, or saints, and other sacred images ● On regulars and nuns ● Decree on reformation ● Decree for continuing the session on the following day ● Decree concerning indulgences ● On choice of meats; on fasts, and festival days ● On the index of books; on the catechism, breviary, and missal ● On the place of ambassadors ● On receiving and observing the decrees of the Council ● On reciting, in session, the decrees of the Council under Paul III and Julius III ● On the close of the Council, and on suing for confirmation from Our Most Holy Lord ● Acclamations of the Fathers at the close of the Council ● Confirmation of the Council ● Bull of Our Most Holy Lord Pius IV, by the providence of God, Pope, touching the confirmation of the oecumenical (and) general Council of Trent Hanover Historical Texts Project Hanover College Department of History Please send comments to: [email protected] The Council of Trent The Bull of Indiction The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent, Trans. J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848), 1-12. Hanover Historical Texts Project Scanned by Hanover College students in 1995. The page numbers of Waterworth's translation appear in brackets. [Page 1] THE BULL OF INDICTION OF THE SACRED OECUMENICAL AND GENERAL COUNCIL OF TRENT UNDER THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF, PAUL III PAUL, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the future memory hereof. At the beginning of this our pontificate,--which, not for any merits of our own, but of its own great goodness, the providence of Almighty God hath committed unto us,--already perceiving unto what troubled times, and unto how many embarrassments in almost all our affairs, our pastoral solicitude and watchfulness were called; we would fain indeed have remedied the evils wherewith the Christian commonweal had been long afflicted, and well-nigh overwhelmed; but we too, as men compassed with infirmity, felt our strength unequal to take upon us so heavy a burthen. For, whereas we saw that peace was needful to free and preserve the commonweal from the many impending dangers, we found all replete with enmities and dissensions; and, above all, the (two) princes, to whom God has entrusted well-nigh the whole direction of events, at enmity with each other. Whereas we deemed it necessary that there should be one fold and one shepherd, for the Lord's flock in order to [Page 2] maintain the Christian religion in its integrity, and to confirm within us the hope of heavenly things; the unity of the Christian name was rent and well-nigh torn asunder by schisms, dissensions, heresies. Whereas we could have wished to see the commonwealth safe and guarded against the arms and insidious designs of the Infidels, yet, through our transgressions and the guilt of us all,--the wrath of God assuredly hanging over our sins,--Rhodes had been lost; Hungary ravaged; war both by land and sea had been contemplated and planned against Italy, Austria, and Illyria; whilst our impious and ruthless enemy the Turk was never at rest, and looked upon our mutual enmities and dissensions as his fitting opportunity for carrying out his designs with success. Wherefore, having been, as we have said, called upon to guide and govern the bark of Peter, in so great a tempest, and in the midst of so violent an agitation of the waves of heresies, dissensions, and wars; and, not relying sufficiently on our own strength, we, first of all, cast our cares upon the Lord, that He might sustain us, and furnish our soul with firmness and strength, our understanding with prudence and wisdom. Then, recalling to mind that our predecessors, men endowed with admirable wisdom and sanctity, had often, in the extremest perils of the Christian commonweal, had recourse to ecumenical councils and general assemblies of bishops, as the best and most opportune remedy, we also fixed our mind on holding a general council; and having consulted the opinions of those princes whose consent seemed to us to be specially useful and opportune for this our project; when we found them, at that time, not averse from so holy a work, we, as our letters and records attest, indicted an ecumenical council, and a general assembly of those bishops and other Fathers whose duty it is to assist thereat, to be opened at the city of Mantua, on the tenth of the calends of June, in the year 1537 of our Lord's Incarnation, and the third of our pontificate; having an almost assured hope that, when assembled there in the name of the Lord, He, as He promised, would be in the midst of us, and, in His goodness and mercy, easily dispel, by the breath of His [Page 3] mouth, all the storms and dangers of the times. But,--as the enemy of mankind ever sets his snares against holy enterprises, --at the very outset, contrary to all our hopes and expectations, the city of Mantua was refused us, unless we would submit to certain conditions,-- as described in other letters of ours,--which conditions were utterly alien to the institutes of our predecessors, to the state of the times, to our own dignity and liberty, that of this holy see, and of the ecclesiastical character. We were, therefore, necessitated to find another place, and to make choice of some other city ; andwhereas one fit and suitable did not immediately present itself, we were obliged to prorogue the celebration of the council unto the ensuing calends of November. Meanwhile the Turk, our cruel and perpetual enemy, attacked Italy with a vast fleet; took, sacked, ravaged several cities of Apulia, and carried off numbers into captivity; whilst we, in the midst of the greatest alarm, and the general danger, were engaged in fortifying our shores, and in furnishing assistance to the neighbouring states. But not therefore did we meanwhile cease to consult with the Christian princes, and to exhort them to inform us, what, in their opinion, would be a suitable place wherein to hold the council: and whereas their opinions were various and wavering, and there seemed to be needless delay, we, with the best intentions, and, as we also think, with the most judicious prudence, fixed on Vicenza, a wealthy city granted to us by the Venetians, and which, by their valour, authority, and power, offered in a special manner both unobstructed access, and a safe and free place of residence for all.