THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 2
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of the plague; indefinitely prorogued, Sept. 17, 1549; reopened at Trent, May 1, 1551, by Pope Julius III.; broken up by the sudden victory of Elector Maurice of Saxony over the Emperor Charles V., and his march into Tyrol, Apr. 28, 1552; and recalled by Pius IV. for the last time, Jan. 18, 1562, when it continued to its final adjournment, Dec. 4, 1563. It closed with ‘“‘ Anathema to all heretics, anathema, anathema.” The history of the council is divided into three distinct periods; from 1545 to 1549, from 1551 to 1552, and from 1562 to 1563. The last was the most important. The number of attending members in the three periods varied considerably. It increased toward the close, but never reached the number of the first ecumenical council at Nica (which had 318 members), nor of the last of the Vatican (which numbered 764). The decrees were signed by 255 members, including four papal legates, two cardinals, three patriarchs, twenty-five archbishops, 168 bishops, two-thirds of them being Italians. Lists of the signers are added to the best editions of the decrees. England was represented by Cardinal Reginald Pole, Richard Pate, bishop of Worcester, and after 1562 by Thomas Goldwell, bishop of St. Asaph; Ireland by three bishops, and Germany at no time by more than eight. The Italian and Spanish prelates were vastly preponderant in power and numbers. At the passage of the most important decrees not more than sixty
prelates were present. The object of the council was twofold: (1) to condemn the principles and doctrines of Protestantism, and to define the doctrines of the
2. Objects Roman Catholic Church on all disand puted points. It is true the emperor General intended it to be a strictly general or Results. truly ecumenical council, at which the
Protestants should have a fair hearing. He secured, during the council’s second period, 1551-52, an invitation, twice given, to the Protestants to be present, and the council issued a letter of safe-conduct (thirteenth session) and offered them the right of discussion, but denied them a vote. Melanchthon and Johann Brenz (qq.v.), with some other German Lutherans, actually started in 1552 on the journey to Trent. Brenz offered a confession, and Melanchthon, who got no farther than Nuremberg, took with him the irenic statement known as the Confessio Sazxonica. But the refusal to give to the Protestants the right to vote and the consternation produced by the success of Maurice in his campaign against Charles V. in 1552 effectually put an end to Protestant cooperation. (2) To effect a reformation in discipline or administration. This object had been one of the causes calling forth the reformatory councils, and had been lightly touched upon by the Fifth Lateran under Julius II. and Leo X. The corrupt administration of the Church was one of the secondary causes of the Reformation. ‘Twenty-five public sessions were held, but nearly half of them were spent in solemn formalities. The chief work was done in committees or congregations. The entire management was in the hands of the papal legates. The court of Rome, by diplomacy and intrigue, outwitted all the liberal
elements. The council abolished some crying abuses, and introduced or recommended disciplinary reforms affecting the sale of indulgences, the morals of convents, the education of the clergy, the non-residence of bishops, and the careless fulmination of censures, and forbade the duel. These deliverances had a salutary influence on the church. But in regard to the department of doctrine, although liberal evangelical sentiments were uttered by some of the ablest members in favor of the supreme authority of the Scriptures, and justification by faith, no concession whatever was made to Protestantism. The doctrinal decisions of the council are divided into decrees (decreta), which contain the positive statement of the Roman dogmas, and into short canons (canones), which condemn the dissenting Protestant views with the concluding ‘anathema sit.” They are stated with great clearness, precision, and wisdom. The decree on justification betrays special ability and theological circumspection. The Protestant doctrines, however, are almost always exhibited in an exaggerated form, and mixed up with real heresies, which Protestants condemn as emphatically as the Church of Rome.
The doctrinal acts are as follows: after reaffirming the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (third session), the decree was passed (fourth session) placing the Apocrypha on a par with the other books of
the canon and coordinating church
3. The tradition with the Scriptures as a rule Canons and of faith. The Vulgate translation was Decrees. affirmed to be authoritative for the text of Scripture. Justification (sixth
session) was declared to be offered upon the basis of faith and good works as opposed to the Protestant doctrine of faith alone, and faith was treated as a progressive work. The sacramental character of the seven sacraments was affirmed and the eucharist pronounced a veritable propitiatory sacrifice as well as a sacrament, in which the bread and wine were converted into the body and blood of Christ (thirteenth and twenty-second sessions). It is to be offered for dead and living alike and in giving to the apostles the command “‘ do this in remembrance of me,” Christ conferred upon them a sacerdotal power. The practise of withholding the cup from the laity was confirmed (twenty-first session) as one which the Church had commanded from of old for good and sufficient reasons; yet in certain cases the pope was made the supreme arbiter as to whether the rule should be strictly maintained. Ordination (twenty-third session) was given an indelible character. The priesthood of the New Testament takes the place of the Levitical priesthood. To the performance of its functions, the consent of the people is not necessary. In the decrees on marriage (twenty-fourth session) the excellence of the celibate state was reaffirmed, concubinage condemned, and the validity of marriage made dependent upon its being performed before a priest and two witnesses. In the case of a divorce the right of the innocent party to marry again is denied so long as the guilty party is alive, even though the other have committed adultery. In the twenty-fifth and last session,