The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent

Rev. Fr. H. J. Schroeder

• Publisher: TAN Books
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9781618905031
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This Council spanned the pontificates of five popes and shone as a beacon to all the world, condemning errors of the Protestant Reformation and making pronouncements on a vast number of Church doctrines and disciplines. Covers such topics as Holy Orders, Original Sin, Purgatory, Nicene Creed and much more! Fr. Schroeder's translation demonstrates the authority and clarity with which the Church makes her official pronouncements.

TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION

which is the ninth and last under the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IV, begun on the third and closed on the fourth day of December, 1563

DECREE CONCERNING PURGATORY

Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, following the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in this ecumenical council that there is a purgatory,¹ and that the souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and sacred councils,² be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached. The more difficult and subtle questions, however, and those that do not make for edification and from which there is for the most part no increase in piety, are to be excluded from popular instructions to uneducated people.³ Likewise, things that are uncertain or that have the appearance of falsehood they shall not permit to be made known publicly and discussed. But those things that tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or that savor of filthy lucre, they shall prohibit as scandals and stumblingblocks to the faithful. The bishops shall see to it that the suffrages of the living, that is, the sacrifice of the mass,⁴ prayers, alms and other works of piety which they have been accustomed to perform for the faithful departed, be piously and devoutly discharged in accordance with the laws of the Church, and that whatever is due on their behalf from testamentary bequests or other ways, be discharged by the priests and ministers of the Church and others who are bound to render this service not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately.

ON THE INVOCATION, VENERATION, AND RELICS OF SAINTS, AND ON SACRED IMAGES

The holy council commands all bishops and others who hold the office of teaching and have charge of the cura animarum, that in accordance with the usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, received from the primitive times of the Christian religion, and with the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers and the decrees of sacred councils, they above all instruct the faithful diligently in matters relating to intercession and invocation of the saints, the veneration of relics, and the legitimate use of images, teaching them that the saints who reign together with Christ offer up their prayers to God for men, that it is good and beneficial suppliantly to invoke them and to have recourse to their prayers, assistance and support in order to obtain favors from God through His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, who alone is our redeemer and saviour;⁵ and that they think impiously who deny that the saints who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven are to be invoked, or who assert that they do not pray for men, or that our invocation of them to pray for each of us individually is idolatry, or that it is opposed to the word of God and inconsistent with the honor of the one mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ,⁶ or that it is foolish to pray vocally or mentally to those who reign in heaven. Also, that the holy bodies of the holy martyrs and of others living with Christ, which were the living members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Ghost,⁷ to be awakened by Him to eternal life and to be glorified, are to be venerated by the faithful,⁸ through which many benefits are bestowed by God on men, so that those who maintain that veneration and honor are not due to the relics of the saints, or that these and other memorials are honored by the faithful without profit, and that the places dedicated to the memory of the saints for the purpose of obtaining their aid are visited in vain, are to be utterly condemned, as the Church has already long since condemned and now again condemns them. Moreover, that the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the other saints are to be placed and retained especially in the churches, and that due honor and veneration is to be given them; not, however, that any divinity or virtue is believed to be in them by reason of which they are to be venerated, or that something is to be asked of them, or that trust is to be placed in images, as was done of old by the Gentiles who placed their hope in idols;⁹ but because the honor which is shown them is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that by means of the images which we kiss and before which we uncover the head and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ and venerate the saints whose likeness they bear. That is what was defined by the decrees of the councils, especially of the Second Council of Nicaea,¹⁰ against the opponents of images.

Moreover, let the bishops diligently teach that by means of the stories of the mysteries of our redemption portrayed in paintings and other representations the people are instructed and confirmed in the articles of faith, which ought to be borne in mind and constantly reflected upon; also that great profit is derived from all holy images, not only because the people are thereby reminded of the benefits and gifts bestowed on them by Christ, but also because through the saints the miracles of God and salutary examples are set before the eyes of the faithful, so that they may give God thanks for those things, may fashion their own life and conduct in imitation of the saints and be moved to adore and love God and cultivate piety. But if anyone should teach or maintain anything contrary to these decrees, let him be anathema. If any abuses shall have found their way into these holy and salutary observances, the holy council desires earnestly that they be completely removed, so that no representation of false doctrines and such as might be the occasion of grave error to the uneducated be exhibited. And if at times it happens, when this is beneficial to the illiterate, that the stories and narratives of the Holy Scriptures are portrayed and exhibited, the people should be instructed that not for that reason is the divinity represented in picture as if it can be seen with bodily eyes or expressed in colors or figures. Furthermore, in the invocation of the saints, the veneration of relics, and the sacred use of images, all superstition shall be removed,¹¹ all filthy quest for gain eliminated, and all lasciviousness avoided, so that images shall not be painted and adorned with a seductive charm, or the celebration of saints and the visitation of relics be perverted by the people into boisterous festivities and drunkenness, as if the festivals in honor of the saints are to be celebrated with revelry and with no sense of decency.¹² Finally, such zeal and care should be exhibited by the bishops with regard to these things that nothing may appear that is disorderly or unbecoming and confusedly arranged, nothing that is profane, nothing disrespectful, since holiness becometh the house of God.¹³ That these things may be the more faithfully observed, the holy council decrees that no one is permitted to erect or cause to be erected in any place or church, howsoever exempt, any unusual image unless it has been approved by the bishop; also that no new miracles be accepted¹⁴ and no relics recognized¹⁵ unless they have been investigated and approved by the same bishop, who, as soon as he has obtained any knowledge of such matters, shall, after consulting the ologians and other pious men, act thereon as he shall judge consonant with truth and piety. But if any doubtful or grave abuse is to be eradicated, or if indeed any graver question concerning these matters should arise, the bishop, before he settles the controversy, shall await the decision of the metropolitan and of the bishops of the province in a provincial synod; so, however, that nothing new or anything that has not hitherto been in use in the Church, shall be decided upon without having first consulted the most holy Roman pontiff.

CONCERNING REGULARS AND NUNS

The same holy council, continuing the work of reform, has thought fit that the following matters be decided.

Chapter I

ALL REGULARS SHALL ADJUST THEIR LIFE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE RULE WHICH THEY HAVE PROFESSED; SUPERIORS SHALL SEDULOUSLY SEE TO IT THAT THIS IS DONE

Since the holy council is not ignorant of how great a splendor and usefulness accrues to the Church of God from monasteries piously regulated and properly administered, it has, to the end that the old and regular discipline may be the more easily and promptly restored where it has collapsed, and may be the more firmly maintained where it has been preserved, thought it necessary to command, as by this decree it does command, that all regulars, men as well as women, adjust and regulate their life in accordance with the requirements of the rule which they have professed, and especially that they observe faith fully whatever pertains to the perfection of their profession, as the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity,¹⁶ and any other vows and precepts peculiar to any rule and order and belonging to the essence thereof, as well as the preservation of the common life, food and clothing. Superiors shall use all care and diligence, in general and provincial chapters as well as in their visitations, which they shall not neglect to make at the proper times, that these things are not departed from, for it is evident that they cannot make any relaxations in those things that pertain to the substance of the regular life. For if those things that constitute the basis and foundation of all regular discipline are not strictly observed, the whole edifice must necessarily fall.

Chapter II

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IS ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN TO REGULARS

To no regular, therefore, whether man or woman, shall it be lawful to possess or to hold as his own or even in the name of the convent any movable or immovable property, of whatever nature it may be or in whatever manner acquired;¹⁷ but the same shall be handed over immediately to the superior and be incorporated in the convent. Neither shall it in the future be lawful for superiors to grant immovable property to any regular, not even the usufruct or use, or the administration thereof or as commendam. But the administration of the property of monasteries or convents shall belong to the officials thereof only, who are removable at the will of their superiors. Superiors shall so permit the use of movable goods that the furniture is consistent with the state of poverty which they have professed; there shall be nothing superfluous, neither shall anything that is necessary be denied them. But should anyone be discovered or convicted of possessing something in any other manner, he shall be deprived for two years of his active and passive voice and shall also be punished in accordance with the prescriptions of his rule and order.

Chapter III

ALL MONASTERIES, SAVE THOSE HEREIN EXCEPTED, MAY POSSESS IMMOVABLE PROPERTY, THE NUMBER OF PERSONS IN THEM IS TO BE DETERMINED BY THE AMOUNT OF REVENUES OR ALMS. NO MONASTERIES MAY BE ERECTED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE BISHOP

The holy council grants that all monasteries and houses, of men as well as of women, and of mendicants, even those that were forbidden by their constitutions or that had not received permission to this effect by Apostolic privilege, with the exception of the houses of the brethren of St. Francis,¹⁸ the Capuchins, and those called Minor Observants, may in the future possess immovable property. But if any of the afore said places, to which it has been granted by Apostolic authority to possess such property, have been deprived thereof, it decrees that the same shall be wholly restored to them. But in the aforesaid monasteries and houses, of men as well as of women, whether they do or do not possess immovable properties, only such a number of persons shall be determined upon and retained in the future as can be suitably maintained either from the revenues of the monasteries or from the customary alms;¹⁹ neither shall such places be erected in the future unless the permission of the bishop in whose diocese they are to be established has first been obtained.

Chapter IV

NO REGULAR SHALL WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF HIS SUPERIOR ENTER THE SERVICE EITHER OF ANOTHER PLACE OR PERSON, OR WITHDRAW FROM HIS MONASTERY, WHEN ABSENT BY REASON OF STUDY HE SHALL RESIDE IN A MONASTERY

The holy council forbids that any regular under the pretext of preaching or lecturing or of any pious work, place himself at the service of any prelate, prince, university, community, or of any other person or place whatsoever without the permission of his superior,²⁰ any privilege or authority obtained from others regarding these matters shall avail him nothing. Should he act in contravention of this he shall at the discretion of his superior be punished as disobedient. Neither shall it be lawful for regulars to leave their convents, even under pretext of going to their superiors, unless they have be...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Translator’s Foreword
• Contents
• Bull of the convocation of the Council of Trent under Pope Paul III
• FIRST SESSION
• SECOND SESSION
• THIRD SESSION
• FOURTH SESSION
• FIFTH SESSION
• SIXTH SESSION
• SEVENTH SESSION
• EIGHTH SESSION
• NINTH SESSION
• TENTH SESSION
• ELEVENTH SESSION
• TWELFTH SESSION
• THIRTEENTH SESSION
• FOURTEENTH SESSION
• FIFTEENTH SESSION
• SIXTEENTH SESSION
• SEVENTEENTH SESSION
• EIGHTEENTH SESSION
• NINETEENTH SESSION
• TWENTIETH SESSION
• TWENTY-FIRST SESSION
• TWENTY-SECOND SESSION
• TWENTY-THIRD SESSION
• TWENTY-FOURTH SESSION
• TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION
• Back Cover
• A Collection of Classic Artwork
• Brief Life of Christ
• Tan Classics
• Become a Tan Missionary!
• Share the Faith with Tan Books!
• Tan Books