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The Council of Trent:
Answering the Reformation
and Reforming the Church
Presented by Father John W. O’Malley, S.J., Ph.D.
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Table of Contents
Program Summary ............................................................................................................... 4
About Your Presenter ........................................................................................................... 5
Topic 1:
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 6
Topic 2:
The Fifteenth-Century Prelude to Trent, 1417–1517 .................................... 10
Topic 3:
The Big Question: How Bad Was It? ............................................................ 12
Topic 4:
The Struggle to Convoke the Council, 1523–1545 ....................................... 14
Topic 5:
The First Period of the Council of Trent, 1545–1547 (Part I) ...................... 17
Topic 6:
The First Period of the Council of Trent, 1545–1547 (Part II) ..................... 20
Topic 7:
The Middle Years, 1547–1562 ...................................................................... 23
Topic 8:
The Third Period of the Council of Trent, 1562–1563 (Part I) ..................... 26
Topic 9:
The Third Period of the Council of Trent, 1562–1563 (Part II).................... 29
Topic 10:
The Third Period of the Council of Trent, 1562–1563 (Part III) .................. 32
Topic 11:
What Happened at the Council of Trent? ...................................................... 35
Topic 12:
What Happened After the Council of Trent? ................................................ 38
The Twenty-Five Sessions of the Council of Trent ........................................................... 41
Suggested Readings ........................................................................................................... 44
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Program Summary
What really happened at the Council of Trent?
After Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII, the Council of Trent is one of the
most frequently invoked names regarding the Reformation and CounterReformation of the sixteenth century. Even so, few know much about it, and
textbooks, while acknowledging its importance, are notably sparse in providing
information. This does not stop people from attributing to it, in praise or blame,
many things that the council neither enacted nor intended.
As renowned Church historian Fr. John O’Malley demonstrates, the reality
of the Council of Trent differs radically from how you probably conceive it. In
his 12-lecture audio or video course, The Council of Trent, you will discover the
wide-reaching cultural and religious influence that the council has had over the
centuries. Although its decisions were directed toward members of the Catholic
Church, the council had repercussions throughout Europe.
The council itself was a colorful and tumultuous affair; war and conflict
troubled its history from beginning to end. It lurched from one major crisis to
the next, each of which was portentous not only for the Church but also for the
greater Western world. The leading political figures of Europe were deeply
involved, to say nothing of the five popes who reigned during the fateful
eighteen years over which the council stretched. All the major players, including
the popes, had something to lose, and they often used questionable means to
produce outcomes to their advantage.
Despite these political maneuvers, the council professedly concerned itself
with religion, and, more specifically, with Catholic doctrine and reform.
Although Trent is often described as a “doctrinal” council, few ecumenical
councils have devoted more time and effort to pastoral concerns, which in the
council were identical with its efforts to reform the Church. The debates
surrounding reform were dramatic, and the resulting decrees have had a lasting
impact on the Church.
The story of the council continues long after its implementation: indeed,
historians deem the four hundred years following the Council of Trent the
“Tridentine Era.” The legacy of Trent is vital to an understanding of the Church
today.
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About Your Presenter
Fr. O’Malley is University Professor at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C. He received his doctorate in history from Harvard University
and has taught and lectured at a number of institutions, including Harvard and
Oxford. One of the most respected and widely recognized church historians in
North America, he has held a number of prestigious fellowships, including those
awarded by the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Humanities. He is the past president of the American Catholic Historical
Association and of the Renaissance Society of America. Fr. O’Malley was
elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995 and to the
American Philosophical Society in 1997. He holds the Johannes Quasten Medal
from The Catholic University of America for distinguished achievement in
Religious Studies. In addition, he has won lifetime achievement awards from the
Society for Italian Historical Studies and from the Renaissance Society of
America. His books have won major prizes, and his best-known work, The First
Jesuits, has been translated into ten languages. Fr. O’Malley has been writing on
the councils of the Christian Church for many years, with special attention to the
Council of Trent and to the Second Vatican Council. His latest book, What
Happened at Vatican II, was published in 2008 by Harvard University Press.
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Topic 1:
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Introduction
The Council of Trent: Maybe Not What You Think
A) Two classic and opposed histories of the Council of Trent
B) The resulting myths and misconceptions
C) The work of Hubert Jedin (1900–1980)
II.
Definition of a council
A) A meeting principally of bishops gathered in Christ’s name to make decisions binding on the Church
1) “Meeting”: an assembly to accomplish an agenda
2) “Principally of bishops”: bishops have always had the decisive vote, but others, priests and laity,
have played important roles
3) “Decisions”: traditionally councils have dealt with questions of doctrine and the public behavior
of Christians, especially the clergy = “faith and morals”
4) “In Christ’s name”: acting with the authority with which Christ endowed the Church
5) “Binding”: the decisions of councils are considered final
B) Councils (until Vatican II) were essentially legislative and judicial bodies
III.
How does the Council of Trent fit in this pattern?
A) Types of councils: local and ecumenical (worldwide)
1) “Synod” as a synonym for both, but more generally applied to local
B) Origins in early Christian history
1) First ecumenical: Nicaea (325)
C) The Catholic Church semi-officially recognizes twenty-one ecumenical councils, of which Trent is
the nineteenth.
D) These twenty-one have met in different places, especially present-day Turkey and Rome.
E) The abundant sources from which to construct a history of the Council of Trent; the great collection
of documents, Concilium Tridentinum (18 vols)
IV.
Basic facts about the Council of Trent
A) Three periods: 1545-47, 1551-52, 1561-62, difficult times in Church history
B) The city of Trent at the time of the council, size and location, and problems
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1) Tridentinum: Latin name for Trent, hence “Tridentine”
C) Number of participants, compared with other councils
1) Heavily Italian and then Spanish, small numbers for beginning of each period
D) Large cast of important personages:
1) Three popes: Paul III, Julius III, Pius IV
2) Important rulers:
(a) Emperors: Charles V and Ferdinand I
(b) Kings: Francis I, Henry II, and Philip II
3) Papal legates: First Period: Giovanni Maria del Monte, Marcello Cervini, Reginald Pole (first
period); Marcello Cervini (second period); Giovanni Morone (third period), along with the
important Cardinal Charles de Guise
4) Envoys of great rulers, lay and clerical, as ambassadors to the council
5) Theologians, to help bishops with doctrinal decisions
E) Quality of the discussions, qualifications of the participants
V.
The popes and their legates
A) The popes’ dual role: secular ruler and head of Church on earth
B) Role of legates and relationship to pope
C) Difficulty of mode of communication
VI.
Setting the agenda
A) Luther’s role: his two-fold challenge:
1) Doctrine beginning with “justification by faith alone”
2) Reform of Church practices and behavior
B) The conflict between Pope Paul III and Emperor Charles V over these two topics
C) The precise focus of the council on both topics: two doctrines (justification and the sacraments) and
three reforms (papacy, episcopacy, pastorates)
D) The “canon”
VII. The
outstanding pastoral problem
A) The benefice system of funding Church offices
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B) The absence of bishops and pastors; examples
C) The temptation to hold more than one benefice; examples
D) The big loophole: papal dispensations from canon law requiring residence and forbidding multiple
benefices
E) Result: reform hit somebody’s pocketbook
VIII.
Issues Trent did not address
A) The caution and restraint of the council
B) Irony: the council did not issue a decree on the papacy (Trent, bishops-centered)
C) Nothing on missions, on confraternities, on new religious orders, etc.
D) Major pastoral issues deferred until last moment, e.g., indulgences
E) The issue-under-pastoral-issues: relationship of pope to bishops
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is a council? How did councils begin, what are the different kinds, and what do they deal with?
How does Trent fit in this pattern?
2. What different categories of persons took part in the Council of Trent?
3. What was the agenda at Trent? What was NOT on the agenda?
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The Fifteenth-Century Prelude to Trent,
1417–1517
The cry for a “free Christian council in German lands”
A) The Diet of Nuremberg (1523) calls for such a council.
B) Others take up the call for a council to resolve various problems, yet the Council of Trent did not
meet for another 22 years. Why?
II.
The Council of Constance, 1414–1418
A) The Great Western Schism and attempts to resolve it from 1378
B) Convocation of Constance, Pope John XXIII and Emperor Sigismund
C) Deposition of two claimants to papacy and forced resignation of the third
D) The reforms in doctrine and discipline of the Council of Constance
1) “Reform in head and members, in doctrine and discipline”
E) The decrees “Haec sancta” (This Holy Council) and “Frequens” (Frequent)
F) “Conciliarism,” a term with different meanings
G) Changed relationship between popes and councils
III.
The Council of Basel (1431–38) and Florence (1438–39)
A) The bad relationship between Pope Eugene IV and Basel
B) Eugene successfully convokes council of reunion at Ferrara, then Florence
C) Popes decree invalidity of appeals to a council
D) “Secularization” of the papal court/curia
IV.
Pope Julius II and the Fifth Lateran Council (1512–1517)
A) The character of Julius II and his military, political, and artistic programs
B) He is challenged by the “Council of Pisa,” (1511)
C) Convocation by Julius of Lateran Council V
D) Assessment of Lateran V in light of recent research
V.
The papacy on the eve of the Reformation, 1517: fear of councils
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the problem the Council of Constance resolved and the important steps it took.
2. What is “conciliarism” and what are the different ways of understanding it?
3. What is the significance for the papacy of the Council of Florence?
4. Assess the Fifth Lateran Council and the condition/situation of the papacy in 1517.
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The Big Question: How Bad Was It?
The traditional negative assessments
A) “The worst of times,” say reformers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
B) Until a few decades ago, historians tended to echo that assessment
II.
But on the other side of the ledger: reform “from below”
A) The “Observantist” movement in religious orders:
1) Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros in Spain
2) Catechism, preaching, end concubinage, etc., and especially the University of Alcalá
B) The Humanist Movement: Erasmus and others
1) Reform of education: “liberal” over professional
2) Reform of theological method: primacy of the Bible and Fathers of Church
3) Reform of piety: based on Scripture and early church
4) Reform of preaching
III.
The importance of confraternities (sodalities, brotherhoods-sisterhoods, etc.)
A) Definition: voluntary associations of Christians for religious purposes, similar to guilds for economic
purposes
B) Who were the members? What did then do? Relationship to authorities, civic and ecclesiastical
C) Their proliferation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
D) The quality of their piety
E) Their significance for the pastoral life on the eve of the Council of Trent
IV.
How bad—or how good—was it?
A) Is it possible to make such an assessment?
B) A few generalizations are possible
C) The new political situation, 1509–1519
V.
Were “abuses” the main problem? If not, what was?
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Name some of the reforms of Francisco Jiménez de Ciseneros and what they indicate more broadly.
2. Name the reforms that the Humanist movement, especially Erasmus, promoted.
3. What were confraternities and what was their significance for the religious aspirations of Catholics by the
time of the Council of Trent?
4. How bad was it?
5. How do you assess the role of “abuses” and scandals in igniting the Reformation?
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The Struggle to Convoke the Council, 1523–1545
Luther’s challenges, beginning in 1517
A) The doctrinal challenge: justification, the sacraments, the papacy and hierarchy
1) Luther accuses Catholics of “Pelagianism.”
B) Reform of Church practices and lifestyles
C) His prophetic mode of discourse made him, on some levels, difficult to understand.
II.
Luther is saved by the great political shift, 1509–1519
A) Three young monarchs come to the throne:
1) Henry VIII of England
2) Francis I of France
3) Charles I of Spain (Charles V of Holy Roman Empire)
B) The challenges to the potentially overwhelming power of Charles V
1) Importance of the League of Schmalkalden
C) The significance of this situation for convoking the Council of Trent
III.
Local councils meet to deal with the situation, especially the Council of Sens (Paris),
1528
IV.
The struggle to convoke the council, phase one: Charles V and Clement VII
A) Pope Clement VII (1523–34) (Giulio de’ Medici): his vacillating policies and his fear of Charles
1) He allies himself with Francis I in war against Charles
B) The Sack of Rome (1527)
C) The marriage of Catherine de’ Medici
D) The declaration of validity of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon
V.
The struggle to convoke the council, phase two: Pope Paul III (1534–49) and Charles,
uneasy companions on road to Trent
A) Background, family, and character of Paul III (Alessandro Farnese)
B) His encouragement of reform movements and measures, Contarini, Carafa, Loyola
C) “The Commission on the Reform of the Church”
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D) His determination to convoke a council faces obstacles, especially Francis I
E) Failure of Mantua, Vicenza, and the “The Colloquy at Ratisbon (Regensburg)”
F) Decision on Trent as the city; failure in 1542 and early 1545
G) The emperor’s “Great Plan”
H) The council opens, December 13, 1545
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the political configuration of Western Europe in 1523 and explain how it saved Luther from trial
and made the convocation of the council so difficult. What is the League of Schmalkalden?
2. Describe and explain the policy of Pope Clement VII regarding the council.
3. Describe the character and religious policies of Pope Paul III.
4. Describe the respective roles played by Paul III and Charles V in trying to convoke the council. What, for
instance, was Charles’s “Great Plan”?
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The First Period of the Council of Trent,
1545–1547 (Part I)
The first weeks
A) Who’s there and how many?
B) The difference between a General Congregation (working session) and a Session (one-day, formal,
and largely ceremonial session)
C) The slow beginning, without clear agenda or procedures
D) The assembly does not meekly follow the legates’ promptings
E) Was the council to deal with doctrine or reform, or both, and in what order?
II.
The procedures begin to fall into place
A) The legates control the agenda—proponentibus legatis (as the legates propose)
B) Who has the right to vote?
C) Different procedures for doctrine and for reform:
1) Doctrine
(a) Congregation of Theologians
(b) Bishops discuss “articles” submitted to them
(c) Drafts composed, debated by bishops, and revised
(d) Final vote in a Session
2) Reform:
(a) Document drawn up—by legates or by Congregation of Canonists
(b) The draft is debated (often relatively briefly), revised if necessary
(c) Final vote in a Session
3) Other committees and deputations as needed.
D) The role of the envoys of different political entities, especially of the emperor and the king of France
III.
The three legates, competent and supportive of the policies of Paul III
A) Giovanni Maria del Monte, the president of the legation (future Pope Julius III), canonist who
looked after reform measure
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B) Marcello Cervini (future Pope Marcellus II), humanistically trained but theologically sensitive,
looked after doctrinal measures
C) Reginald Pole, cousin of Henry VIII, minor role at Trent but large role later in his native England
Other important participants
IV.
A) Madruzzo
B) Pacheco
C) Seripando
The first substantive issues: Scripture and traditions
V.
A) How and why these items got on the agenda
B) Scripture: the “wide canon,” the Vulgate version, vernacular translations
C) Traditions: the debate and the definition
D) How these decisions of Trent have been misconstrued
E) Rome expresses dissatisfaction with the decree
The reform decrees on Scripture lectureships and the obligation to preach
VI.
A) The financial implications of reform; the significance of the “principal duty” of preaching
VII.
The council ready to move on
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the essential points of the procedures at the council. Why are they important?
2. Identify the legates and describe their role, their importance, and their relationship to Rome.
3. What did the council decree about Scripture: canon, Vulgate, translations, and reading?
4. What did the council decree about traditions?
5. What did the council at this point decide about pastoral reform?
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The First Period of the Council of Trent,
1545–1547 (Part II)
I.
Who’s now at the council, and who is not?
II.
The decree on Original Sin
A) Origin and definition of the doctrine
B) Areas in which Catholics and Lutherans agreed and those in which they disagreed
C) Legates want council to decree only the most essential points
D) The final decree, June 17, 1546
III.
The decree on residence for bishops and pastors, forbidding multiple benefices
A) The disputed vote revealing different assumptions
B) The primacy of “care of souls”
IV.
The decree on justification: June, 1546, to January, 1547
A) The legates put the theologians to work: origin of Congregation of Theologians, which lasted for six
days, bishops in silent attendance
B) Bishops debate for fourteen days; first draft of the decree
C) The agreement between the pope and the emperor on war against Schmalkalden
1) Panic at the council
D) Should the council be transferred to another city?
E) The decree redrafted and redrafted, as the months moved on
V.
The final version, approved January 13, 1547
A) The new form: “chapters” as well as “canons”
B) The Anti-Pelagian opening of the decree
C) But cautious affirmation of a measure of human responsibility
D) The strengths and weaknesses of the decree
E) Where does the issue stand today?
VI.
The council moves aheadthe sacraments
A) Luther’s position and the medieval tradition
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B) The decree on the sacraments in general, asserting sevenfold number and instituted by Christ
C) The decrees of baptism and confirmation
VII.
Major crisis: should the council be transferred to another city? (March, 1547)
A) The prospect of concluding the council within a few months now real
B) The prospect of Charles’s victory over Schmalkalden; Paul’s refusal to cooperate
C) The outbreak of typhus in Trent
D) The legates urge transfer; Pacheco leads the opposition
VIII.
The council decrees to move to Bologna (March 11, 1547)
E) Fourteen bishops refused to move and remain in Trent
F) Heavy consequences of the decision
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the decree on Original Sin.
2. Describe the decree on residence and multiple benefices. Why is it important?
3. What did the council teach on justification?
4. What did the council teach on the sacraments in general, on baptism, and on confirmation?
5. What is the significance of the move to Bologna?
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The Middle Years, 1547–1562
“The Council of Bologna,” 1547–1549
A) The advantages of Bologna for the council
B) The reaction of Charles V to the decision; the confirmation of it by Paul III; the acceptance of it by
Francis I
C) The council addresses the Eucharist, Penance, and other sacraments
1) The issues
2) Why impossible to hold a Session to confirm decrees
D) The murder of Pier Luigi Farnese, son of Pope Paul III: September 10, 1547
E) Charles V formally protests the move to Bologna: January 16, 1548
F) The conclusion of “The Council of Bologna”: September 4, 1549
II.
The new pope, del Monte as Julius III: January, 1550
A) His unexpected election, after the failure of Reginald Pole
B) The new pope decides to reconvene the council at Trent, but puts a crucial restriction on the agenda:
no limits to be put on the authority of the Holy See
C) The reconciliation with Charles results in opposition from the new king of France, Henry II, husband
of Catherine de’ Medici; the king allies with revived Lutheran military forces
D) The single legate, Marcello Crescenzio
E) Slow opening of the council, but eventually more prelates appear, including some Germans
III.
The Second Period, 1551–1552
A) The sacrament of the Eucharist
1) Special problem of granting the chalice to the laity
2) Chapters and canons on the Eucharist, reaffirms medieval teaching, confirmed in the Session on
October 11, 1551(Session 13)
B) Dissatisfaction with Crescenzio over his decree on reform
C) Arrival on October 22, 1551 of Lutheran envoys of Duke of Württemberg
D) Decree on penance and last anointing; dispute with Crescenzio over reform
E) The crisis over admitting Lutherans to the Session on January 25
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F) The gradual erosion of the council and decree of suspension
IV.
The pontificate of Paul IV, 1555–1559
A) Short pontificate of Marcellus II (Marcello Cervini), 1555
B) Election of Paul IV (Giampietro Carafa); his strengths, his weaknesses
C) His attitude toward the council and his war with Philip II, king of Spain
D) The Index of Forbidden Books, 1559
V.
The pontificate of Pius IV (Gianangelo de’ Medici), 1559–1565
A) Surprise election: his background and character. Contrast with Paul IV
B) The new political and religious situation: the perilous situation in France
C) Decision to convoke (re-convoke?) the council, to meet on Easter Sunday, 1561
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe how political situations influenced what happened to the council between 1547 and 1559.
2. What were the important decisions of the second period of the council, 1551-52?
3. Explain why ten years elapsed between the close of the second period and the opening of the third.
4. What most surprised you or intrigued you in this topic?
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The Third Period of the Council of Trent,
1562–1563 (Part I)
Pius works to make the council a reality
A) Invitations and orders to attend sent far and wide, even to Eastern Orthodox
B) Special problems with France: Catherine de’ Medici and Charles de Guise, “Cardinal of Lorraine”
C) The legates, especially Ercole Gonzaga, Girolamo Seripando, and Ludovico Simonetta: a difficult
“team”
II.
The difficult first months
A) Cloud on horizon: legates’ control of the agenda (proponentibus legatis)
B) Decision to begin with revision of the Index of Paul IV, 1559
C) Then decree on reform, especially concerning residence
1) Was the obligation of “divine law” (jus divinum)?
D) The “straw vote” on jus divinum, April 20, 1562, and its difficult aftermath
E) The French envoy arrives, a sign of a change in French attitude
F) Debate on granting chalice to laity: resolves question of whether the council was a continuation
G) The intervention of Sigismund Paumgartner (Baumgartner), layman, envoy of the Duke of Bavaria:
on granting the chalice, on establishing seminaries, on allowing married priests
H) Deciding not to decide on the chalice
III.
The sacrifice of the Mass, soft reform, the chalice (again!)
A) Luther rejects the Mass as a sacrifice
B) The easy passage of the decree: reaffirms traditional teaching
C) Some notable features of the decree on the Mass:
1) Vernacular liturgy is legitimate
2) Affirmation of sensual elements in ritual: vestments, incense, etc.
3) What music is appropriate?
(a) Polyphony implicitly allowed
D) Anger over reform decree; envoys demand to see the drafts
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E) Decision to remand question of the chalice to the pope to be decided
IV.
The great crisis, ten months between September, 1562, and July, 1563: irreconcilable
differences on Holy Orders and residence
A) The decree on Holy Orders: general agreement except on source of bishops’ authority. Did it derive
from their consecration (today, ordination) or was it conferred on them by the pope?
B) Residence: the same dispute over jus divinum
C) “Zealots,” led by the legate Simonetta, and reformers led by Pedro Guerrero, archbishop of Granada
D) In October delegation of 12 French bishops, 3 abbots, and 18 theologians under the leadership of
Charles de Guise, seen as reinforcement for the cause of the reformers
E) Stalemate at the council, with the pope siding every time with the “zealots”
V.
Ominous sign: in January, Emperor Ferdinand, successor to his brother Charles,
moves his capital to Innsbruck to monitor the council
A) Ferdinand gathers theologians to discuss the crisis. Duke of Bavaria joins.
B) Charles de Guise travels to Innsbruck and advises the emperor to intervene with the pope
C) Ferdinand agrees to take action. He writes two letters to Pius, one even stronger than the other,
March 3, 1563
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What were the problems facing the new pope regarding convoking the council?
2. Why did the council take up the revision of the Index?
3. What struck you about the decree on the sacrifice of the mass?
4. Why was residence “by divine law” such an important and divisive issue at the council?
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Topic 9:
I.
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The Third Period of the Council of Trent,
1562–1563 (Part II)
Pius IV’s worst week, March 8 – March 15, 1563
A) The two letters of Ferdinand, received March 8
B) A week letter he receives a letter from Philip II, concerned over fate of council
C) The specter of Spain, France, and the empire taking matters into their own hands
D) The death of two legates, Gonzaga and then Seripando
II.
Giovanni Morone, the new legate: his mission to Ferdinand
A) The pope replies to Philip II and restores his good will
B) Morone: his background and skills
C) After appearing briefly at Trent, he proceeds to Innsbruck, remains 3 weeks
D) The big issues: legate’s control of agenda, papal authority, commitment of Pius to reform and to the
council, etc.
E) The mission essentially successful
III.
Meanwhile, back at the council: the leadership of Charles de Guise, March – June 1563
A) Death of Duke François de Guise; the letter of Mary, Queen of Scots
B) The arrival of Count Luna, envoy of King Philip II
C) May 12, bishops address “Abuses in the Administration of Holy Orders”
D) The radical “Canon 1,” on how bishops are selected: envoys react
E) De Guise and the French express their strong support for radical change
F) The death of the canon
G) The crucial questions about residence and source of episcopal authority in limbo
IV.
The canon on seminaries
A) Training of future priests before Trent
B) Intent and major features of the canon
C) Importance and implementation
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Morone returns: the break of the deadlock, July 15, 1563 (Session 23)
A) The new canon one of the reform decree: on the obligation of residence, and uneasy compromise: its
great significance
B) The continuing contention over the source of episcopal authority
C) Morone’s strategy of convoking smaller groups; papal delay in responding
D) Another compromise: Laínez summary of the situation
E) The great Session: July 15
1) The council can move ahead
2) Pius presses for concluding the council as soon as possible
VI.
The sacrament of matrimony: “clandestine marriages” (Tametsi)
A) General agreement on almost all points in the draft
B) The problem of “clandestine marriages” hotly disputed
C) The history of the Church’s role in marriage
D) The council’s solution and its impact
E) Other aspects of the decree on matrimony
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the pope’s situation in early March, 1563, and Morone’s mission to the emperor. What does this
tell you about church-state relations in this period of history?
2. Describe the French-inspired “canon one” on the appointment of bishops. Is there any relevance for
today?
3. What did the council legislate about seminaries?
4. How was the ten-month deadlock broken?
5. What is the origin of Tametsi, and what is its significance?
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Topic 10: The Third Period of the Council of Trent,
1562–1563 (Part III)
I.
Clerical celibacy, an issue in the background
A) Discrepancy between the council’s focus and the problems in northern Europe
1) The legates’ neglect of the national reform memoranda
B) The petition of the emperor and the duke of Bavaria
C) Theologians’ opinions, the council’s non-solution
II.
Morone’s program of “general reform”
A) Contention over “the reform of the princes”
B) The council’s eventual solution to reform of princes; Assessment
C) Guise again insists on election of bishops by clergy, as in early Church
D) The “general reform” provides comprehensive job description
1) Visitation of institutions: physical plant
2) Diocesan and provincial synods
3) Preaching: bishops and pastors
E) Inclusion of cardinals in the reform; reaction from Rome
F) Session 24, November 11, 1563, a triumph for Morone
G) Morone’s plan to end the council on December 9
1) Excitement and objections
III.
The decree on male and female members of religious orders
A) What were the issues, and why did the council address them?
B) The decree, especially regarding women
IV.
The hectic final three working-days, November 29 – December 2
A) Morone’s plan to treat these urgent issues as “reform”
B) De Guise demands action, November 28
C) Decree on Purgatory
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D) Decree on veneration of saints, of their relics, and of sacred images
E) Decree on indulgences
F) Decree on foods and fasting
G) Decree on the Index, the breviary, and the missal
H) Decree on observing the council’s decrees
I) Decree asking for papal confirmation
V.
The council concludes, Session 25, December 3 and 4, 1563
A) The solemn ceremony in the cathedral
B) The envoys sign the decrees, December 6
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What happened at the council regarding clerical celibacy?
2. Describe the essential points in Morone’s “general reform.” Assess their importance.
3. Describe the “process” of the final three working days.
4. Which of the last-minute decrees do you consider most important and why?
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Topic 11: What Happened at the Council of Trent?
I.
The simplicity of the council’s program on “doctrine and discipline”
A) What it included and excluded
II.
Failure and success at reconciliation
A) No reconciliation with Protestants: firm lines of demarcation established
1) Strengths and weaknesses of Scholasticism
B) Reconciliation among Catholics through compromises
1) Papal confirmation of the decrees
2) Other political entitles confirm
3) Who’s to interpret and implement the council? Three major parties
III.
Was the council free?
A) Certainly not, by definition, in the Protestant sense
B) Pressure from secular rulers
C) Pressure from the papacy: an across-the-board issue, the tension between the council and “the head,”
especially on reform
D) The fate of the chalice and married clergy
IV.
The Council of Trent on doctrine
A) The decree on justification: strengths, weaknesses, and practical outcome
B) The decrees on the sacraments
1) The several decrees on the Eucharist, and practical outcome
(a) The issue of “frequent communion”
(b) Was there a “Tridentine mass?”
2) The decree on penance and practical outcome
3) The decree on matrimony (Tametsi) and practical outcome
C) Did Catholics get the altar and Protestants the pulpit?
V.
The Council of Trent on reform: was Trent doctrinal rather than pastoral?
A) The practical outcome of the controversy over residence
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B) The episcopal job description
C) The visitation and physical repair of churches
D) Preaching and the education of the clergy: Seminaries
E) The holding of diocesan and provincial synods on regular basis
VI.
Saint Charles Borromeo (1538–1584): “The Model Tridentine Bishop”
A) His background, relationship to the council, residency in Milan (1566-84)
B) His preaching and invitation to preachers; “ecclesiastical rhetorics”
C) Founds seminary, engages Jesuits, ambition for his clergy
D) Eleven diocesan and six provincial synods; “The Acts of the Church of Milan”
E) “The Instruction on Church Buildings and Furnishings”
F) His canonization, 1610
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How was or was not Trent a council of reconciliation?
2. What were Trent’s major doctrinal accomplishments?
3. What were Trent’s major pastoral accomplishments?
4. What is the significance of the episcopacy of Saint Charles Borromeo?
5. How is your “image” of Trent different now from before you heard these topics?
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Topic 12: What Happened After the Council of Trent?
I.
“Tridentine” publication #1: Borromeo, “Acts of Church of Milan”
A) Its character, content, diffusion, and importance
B) His volume on church art and architecture
II.
“Tridentine” publication #2: Catechism of Council of Trent
A) Its traditional four-fold structure; significance of it
B) How closely does it relate to the council’s teaching?
III.
“Tridentine” publication #3: Tridentine Profession of Faith
A) Its relationship to the council
B) Of special note:
1) Wider than the “apostolic traditions” of the council
2) Indeterminacy of the article on justification
3) Articles on Purgatory, indulgences, and veneration of saints and sacred images are considered as
doctrine, even though the council passed them as reform
IV.
“Tridentine” publication #4: Tridentine Index of Forbidden Books
A) Its relationship to the council
B) The problem of editions and translations of Scripture
V.
“Tridentine” publication #5: The Missal, Breviary, and other liturgical books
VI.
Instruments of interpretation and implementation
A) The fate of the official documents related to the council
B) The creation and function of the Congregation of the Council
C) The classic histories of the council, 17th century: Paolo Sarpi and Sforza Pallavicino
D) The twentieth-century scholars, Hubert Jedin
E) The myths and misunderstandings about The Council of Trent
F) The irony of the stronger papacy after Trent
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Aspects of the council’s impact
A) “Reform of the head” and episcopacy; systems resist
B) Two cultural influences: art and approach to history
C) Return to the basic distinction between what the council intended and enacted and how it was
afterwards interpreted and implemented
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What was the significance of Charles Borromeo after Trent?
2. Describe the five “Tridentine” publications published after the council and how they relate to the council.
3. Is there a “Tridentine” liturgy? If so, in what sense?
4. Describe the impact of the council—doctrinal, pastoral, and cultural.
5. Describe the history of interpretation of Trent and indicate why it took the turns it did.
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The Twenty-Five Sessions of the Council of Trent
First Period
Pope Paul III
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
December 13, 1545
January 7, 1546
February 4, 1546
April 8, 1546
Session 5
June 17, 1546
Session 6
January 13, 1547
Session 7
March 3, 1547
Session 8
March 11, 1547
+Decree declaring the council opened (660)*
+Decree on manner of living (660-661)
+Decree of acceptance of Nicene Creed (662)
+Decree on the “wide canon” of the Bible and on Scripture and
traditions (663-664)
+Decree on the Vulgate and interpretation of Scripture (664-665)
+Decree on Original Sin (665-667)
+Decree establishing lectureships in Scripture and on the
obligation of bishops to preach (667-670)
+Decree on justification (671-681)
+Decree on residence for bishops and others (681-683)
+Decree on the sacraments in general, on baptism, and on
confirmation (684-686)
+Decree on reform of the clergy, especially concerning multiple
benefices (686-689)
+Decree transferring the council to Bologna (690)
Bologna, 1547–1549
Pope Paul III
Session 9
Session 10
April 21, 1547
June 2, 1547
+Decree postponing the Session (690-691)
+Decree postponing the Session (691-692)
Second Period, 1551-1552
Pope Julius III
Session 11
Session 12
Session 13
May 1, 1551
September 1, 1551
October 11, 1551
Session 14
November 25, 1551
+Decree on resumption of the council (692)
+Decree postponing the Session (692-693)
+Decree on the sacrament of the Eucharist (693-698)
+Decree on reform, especially concerning bishops’ jurisdiction
and handling of lawsuits (698-701)
+Decree postponing articles concerning the Eucharistic cup and
children’s communion (701-702)
+Decree guaranteeing safe-conduct to Lutherans (702)
+Decree on the sacraments of penance & last anointing (703-713)
+Decree on reform, especially concerning various aspects
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Session 15
January 25, 1552
Session 16
April 28, 1552
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of clerical discipline (714-718)
+Decree postponing publication of further decrees (718-719)
+Decree further guaranteeing safe-conduct (719-721)
+Decree suspending the council (721-722)
Third Period, 1562-1563
Pope Pius IV
Session 17
Session 18
Session 19
Session 20
Session 21
Session 22
Session 23
Session 24
Session 25
January 18, 1562
February 26, 1562
+Decree declaring the council opened (722-723)
+Decree agreeing to undertake a review of the Index of Pope
Paul IV (723-724)
(In the General Congregation, March 4, 1562, the council renewed
the safe-conduct.)
May 14, 1562
+Decree postponing publication of decrees (725)
June 4, 1562
+Decree postponing publication of decrees (725)
July 16, 1562
+Decree on communion under both forms & of children (726-728)
+Decree on reform, especially concerning bishops’ authority to
correct abuses (728-732)
September 17, 1562 +Decree on the sacrifice of the mass (732-736)
+Decree concerning things to be observed and avoided in
celebrating mass (736-737)
+Decree on reform, especially concerning bishops’ authority
and the proper qualifications and behavior of clerics of all
all ranks (7-741)
+Decree on request for Eucharistic cup (741)
July 15, 1563
+Decree on holy orders (742-743)
+Decree on reform, especially concerning the obligation of
residence, the conferring of holy orders, and the erection of
seminaries (744-753)
November 14, 1563 +Decree on the sacrament of matrimony (753-755)
+Decree on the reform of matrimony, including clandestine
marriages (Tametsi) (755-759)
+Decree on reform, the first part of the “the general reform,”
concerning especially the duties of bishops to preach and
teach, to visit institutions of the diocese, to hold synods, etc
(759-773)
December 3-4, 1563 +Decree on Purgatory (774)
+Decree on the veneration of saints, of their relics, and of sacred
images (774-776)
+Decree on “regulars” and nuns, i.e., religious orders of men and
women (776-784)
+Decree on reform, the second part of the “general reform,”
including prohibition of dueling and reform of
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“the princes” (784-796)
+Decree on continuing the Session the next day (796)
+Decree on indulgences (796-797)
+Decree on choice of foods and fasting (797)
+Decree on the Index, catechism, breviary, and missal (797)
+Decree on protocol regarding envoys to the council (797-798)
+Decree on the reception and observance of the council’s decrees
and charging princes to receive and enforce them (798)
+Decree ordering the reading during the Session of the decrees
passed in the first two periods of the council, 1545-1547,
1551-1552 (798)
+Decree declaring the council concluded and request for
confirmation of the decrees by the pope (799)
*The numbers in parenthesis refer to pages in volume 2 of Norman Tanner, ed., Decrees of the
Ecumenical Councils (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press).
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Suggested Readings
Bulman, Raymond F., and Frederick J. Parrella, eds. From Trent to Vatican II: Historical and
Theological Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Jedin, Hubert. Crisis and Closure of the Council of Trent: A Retrospectrive View from the Second
Vatican Council. London: Sheed and Ward, 1967.
-----. A History of the Council of Trent. 2 vols. London: Thomas Nelson, 1957, 1961.
(Unfortunately, only these first two volumes of Jedin’s standard history of the council
have been translated into English.)
O’Malley, John W. “The Council of Trent: Myths, Misunderstandings, and Misinformation.” Spirit,
Style, Story: Essays in Honor of John W. Padberg, S.J. Thomas M. Lucas, ed. Chicago: Loyola
Press, 2002, pp. 205-226.
-----. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Pastor, Ludwig von. The History of the Popes. Vols. 9 to 17. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder, 1910-1929.
Schroeder, H. J., ed. and trans. The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent. Charlotte, NC:
Tan Books, 1978.
Tanner, Norman P. The Councils of the Church: A Short History. New York: Crossroad, 2001.
-----, ed. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Georgetown University
Press, 1990.
-----. New Short History of the Catholic Church. London: Burns and Oates, 2011.
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