A SUMMARY ON THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
INTRODUCTION
It is necessary we give a brief antecedent that led to the council of Trent. Meanwhile, on March 1517, the fifth council of the Lateran came to a close with the stated reform proposal that ranges from the “selection of bishop’s reform of the church, schism of the cardinals, the problem of pragmatic sanction by which French demanded recognition of the robber council of Basel, taxation censorship to preaching. The council of Trent was called by Julius III. It took place in the palace of Lateran and lasted for five full years, ending in the year of revolt by Martin Luther. This will lead to the council of Trent.
The council of Trent was convoked by Pope Paul III and it took place in Trent and Bologna between the years of 1545 and 1563. This council was basically one of the most paramount cum crucial ecumenical councils. It could be said that that the immediate cause of the calling of the council of Trent was as a result of Luther and the Protestant Revolution of 1517 that engulfed half of Europe. Three years after, Luther nailed the 95 theses to the wooden door of the church of Wittenburg, on June 15, 1520, Martin was condemned by the papal bull “Exsurge Domine” of Pope Leo X. He was given 60 days to recount his heretical teachings and summit to the Pope. But Luther with the protection of the prince of Saxony attacked the Pope in two pamphlets calling him the anti-Christ. Therefore, a General Council is the solution to this. The Council of Trent issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by Protestantism and there were basic clarifications made concerning the church’s doctrines and teachings. The council dealt and dwelt on wide range of issues on scripture, the sacred tradition, Biblical canon, original sin, justification, salvation, the sacraments, the mass, veneration of saints and the liturgy. It made the Vulgate the official example of the Biblical canon and the creation of a Standard version which was implemented latter in 1590s. We shall in this presentation, make a summary of each of the council’s adjudications on the church’s teachings.
The sacred council made many decrees. Some of them which concern the faith and church will be looked at.
DECREE TOUCHING THE MANNER OF LIVING AND OTHER MATTERS TO BE OBSERVED DURING THE COUNCIL
The council calls all to amend their evil ways and sins. To work in the presence of the Lord; not to fulfill the lost of the flesh; to be constant in prayer; to confess more frequently; to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist; to visit churches; to fulfill the commandments. Bishops and priests should heed themselves assiduously to the praises of God; to offer up victims, praises and prayers; to celebrate the sacrifice of the mass frequently. That Pope, emperors and high men of esteem should live a life of peace. All Christians should fast on Fridays in memory of Christ’s passion. The council made these pronouncements due to the fact that many faithful and clergy have not been faithful to their calling as a result of the challenges of the faith as at then.
DECREE TOUCHING THE SYMBOL OF FAITH
The council fathers also made a decree touching the symbol of faith. It stated clearly that it is for the sake of heresies that they gathered and to reform manners that are in contrary to the gospel. It ordains that there is need for the faith to be sustained especially the faith handed to us by the apostles. The apostle creed is the summary of our faith which we must live out and profess.
DECREE CONCERNING THE CANNONICAL SCRIPTURES AND THE USE OF THE SACRED BOOKS
The sacred synod held that errors being removed and the purity of the Gospel be preserved in the church. The Gospel promised through the prophets in the holy scriptures which our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God first promulgated with his own mouth, and then commanded to be preached by his Apostles to every creature, as the fountain of all, both saving truth, and moral discipline. These are contained in the written books and the unwritten traditions which was received by the Apostles by the mouth of Christ himself in the dictates of the Holy Spirit. This has come down to us transmitted as it were from hand to hand.
The synod set down books which were to be regarded as canonical books both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Similarly, she affirmed that in respect to the sacred books, the old vulgate edition which by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved by the church in public and private worship. No one should as a matter of fact either misinterpret the scripture for his own personal gain, advantage or use it for superstitious act.
DECREE CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN
The council stated clearly that anyone who refuses to believe in the doctrine of original sin which began from our first parents “Adam and Eve” and continues in his posterity and not for Adam and Eve alone, let him be anathema. It further stated that Jesus Christ is the one mediator who alone reconciled us to God the Father and freed us from original sins. Therefore, through our baptism, the sins of our first parents and our actual sins are blotted out. This includes children and adults alike who are baptized.
DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION
The council said that if anyone says that man be justified before God by his own works, weather done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ, be anathema. It further stated that base on this, we are not to fold our hands because we have been justified by God but we should corporate with the grace of God through works of love. So justification was declared to be offered upon the basis of human cooperation with divine grace as opposed to the protestant doctrine of passive reception of grace.
DECREE ON THE SACRAMENTS
It opined that Christ instituted the seven sacraments and they are means of salvation. They were not instituted to nourish faith alone but also to give grace and they differ from one another. The sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Holy Order give character and they cannot be repeated. Thus, in the seven sacraments, we rightly see the important role in all the aspects and stages of the Christian life. Through the sacraments, we experience new life of healing and the mission to the same Christian life of faith is regenerated and increased.
ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
The council adjudicated that the Lord is truly present in the most Hoy Eucharist after the consecration of bread and wine. That we are to do this in remembrance of his wonderful works and Christ asked that we do it in his memory. It stressed also on the Excellency of the most holy Eucharist over the rest of the sacraments. The sacred council talked on Transubstantiation when it stated that: “… because our Lord and redeemer said that it was truly his body and blood that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moments of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.”
ON PENANCE AND EXTREEM UNCTION
The council teaches that there would have not be need for another sacrament to be instituted for the remission of sins beside baptism as the faithful constantly preserve the justice of God in it. But because God rich in mercy, knows how frail we are, now bestow a remedy of life even on those who may, after baptism, have delivered themselves up to the servitude of sin and the power of the devil, instituted the sacrament of penance. Penitence is necessary at all times in order to attain to grace and justice, for all who have defiled themselves in mortal sin, even for those who begged to be washed by the sacrament of baptism. The council quickly made it clear that the sacrament of baptism is not the same as the sacrament of penance.
On the sacrament of Extreme Unction, it was Christ who also instituted this sacrament as the sacrament of the new law. It was insinuated in St. Mark but strongly recommended and promulgated to the faithful by St. James the Apostle, the brother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The council made a decree also on the choice of books in which the faithful are to read. These books must promote the catholic faith as against the trend of the immoral books that was widely disseminated as at then. Again, she granted safe-conduct to members of the German nation especially those who came to the ecumenical council. The same holy and sacred synod lawfully granted to all and each of all who hold communion with the faith, the same safe-conduct.
DECREE ON THE COMMUNION UNDER BOTH SPECIES AND THE COMMUNION OF CHILDREN : The council teaches that what relates to communion under both species and the communion of infants should be believed by all and should not be preached or taught other than what the council has taught. The council also emphasized that lay men and clerics, when not sacrificing, are not bound, of divine right to communion under both species. It further declares on the power of the church as regards the dispensation of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It stated that this power has ever been in the church that, in the dispensation of the sacraments, their substance is untouched. It more over declares that although as said by our Redeemer in the last supper instituted the Eucharist and delivered it to the apostles. This sacrament in two species is to be acknowledge that Christ is present whole and entirely in the sacrament and is received under either species alone; and that therefore, as regards the fruit thereof, they, who receive one species alone, are not defrauded of any grace necessary to salvation. Again, the council teaches that little children are not bound to sacramental communion as much as they have been baptized and catechized. These children must be at the age of reason.
ON THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
The sacred council upheld the fact that holy things be administered in a holy manner, and of all holy things the sacrifice of the mass is the most holy. From the beginning to the end that it might be worthily and reverently offered and received, the Catholic Church instituted, many years ago, the sacred Canon, so pure from every error, that nothing is contained therein which does not in the highest degree savior of a certain holiness and piety, and raise up unto God the minds of those that offer. For it is composed, out of the very words of the Lord, the traditions of the apostles, and the pious institutions also of holy pontiffs.
The council proclaimed the solemn way the mass is to be carried out when she that it is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot easily be raised to the meditation of divine things. Therefore, the holy Mother Church instituted certain rites, to which certain things be pronounced in the mass in a low, and others in a louder, tone. She has likewise employed ceremonies, such as mystic benedictions, lights, incense, vestments, and many other things of this kind, derived from an apostolic discipline and tradition, whereby both the majesty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended, and the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of those most sublime things which are hidden in this sacrifice. Furthermore, the council calls for active participation of the mass and that th holy mass should be celebrated with great care and reverence with the observation of all the rubrics.
DECREE ON THE SACRAMENT OF ORDER
The sacred council opined that sacrifice and priesthood are, by the ordinance of God, in such wise way conjoined. Both have existed in every law. Whereas, therefore, in the New Testament, the Catholic Church has received, from the institution of Christ, the holy visible sacrifice of the Eucharist; it must needs also be confessed, that there is, in that Church, a new, visible, and external priesthood, into which the old has been translated. And the sacred Scriptures show, and the tradition of the Catholic Church has always taught, that this priesthood was instituted by the same Lord our Savior, and that to the apostles, and their successors in the priesthood, was the power delivered of consecrating, offering, and administering His Body and Blood, as also of forgiving and of retaining sins. The fathers of the council affirmed again that there is need for the order of diaconate in the church. The council also stated the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the church and this are the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate while the supreme authority of the church lies in the hands of the supreme pontiff himself. In addition, the revered council gave a standard rules for the sacrament of order. For instance, it stated clearly that those to be ordained are to be examined by persons versed in divine and human laws; Prelates inferior to bishops shall not give the tonsure, or minor orders, save to Regulars their own subjects; neither shall they, nor any Chapters whatsoever, grant dimissoria letters; a more grievous penalty is enacted against those who offend against this decree; the bishop shall confer ordination in person unless he is sick. Etc.
DOCTRINE ON THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
The council stated the following concerning the sacrament of matrimony: The first parent of the human race, under the influence of the divine Spirit, pronounced the bond of matrimony perpetual and indissoluble, when he said: “This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”. Therefore, a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. But, that by this bond two only are united and joined together. Our Lord taught more plainly, when rehearsing those last words as having been uttered by God, He said, therefore now they are not two, but one flesh; and straightway confirmed the firmness of that tie, proclaimed so long before by Adam, by these words: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder”. But, the grace which might perfect that natural love, and confirm that indissoluble union, and sanctify the married, Christ Himself, the institutor and perfecta of the venerable sacraments, merited for us by His passion; as the Apostle Paul intimates, saying: Husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it. Matrimony, in the evangelical law, excels in grace, through Christ. it is numbered among the sacraments of the new law; against which, impious men of that age have not only had false notions touching this venerable sacrament, but, introducing according to their wont under the pretext of the Gospel, a carnal liberty, they have by word and writing asserted, not without great injury to the faithful of Christ, many things alien from the sentiment of the Catholic Church, and from the usage approved of since the times of the apostles. Therefore, the holy and universal Synod wishing to meet the rashness of these men, thought it proper, lest their pernicious contagion may draw more after it, that the more remarkable heresies and errors of the above-named schismatic’s be exterminated, by decreeing against the said heretics and their errors anathemas when they go against these pronouncements.
CONCLUSION
The council proclaims the following that: purgatory exists, and that the souls detained there are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that saints reigning with Christ are to be honored and prayed to, and that they offer prayers to God on our behalf, and their relics should be venerated. I resolutely assert that images of Christ and the ever virgin mother of God, and likewise those of the other saints, are to be kept and retained, and that due honor and reverence is to be shown them. Again, the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the church, and that their use is eminently beneficial to the Christian. Finally, the apostolic creed was recited and proclaimed by all as a way of affirming to the true faith of the church. 17 dogmatic decrees which cover all aspect of catholic faith were made. 255 fathers were in attendance during the final sessions. The final session was held on December4, 1563 and on that very day amidst the singing of the Te Deum, the Great Council of Trent came to a close.
Ovie Innocent Sdv
INTRODUCTION
It is necessary we give a brief antecedent that led to the council of Trent. Meanwhile, on March 1517, the fifth council of the Lateran came to a close with the stated reform proposal that ranges from the “selection of bishop’s reform of the church, schism of the cardinals, the problem of pragmatic sanction by which French demanded recognition of the robber council of Basel, taxation censorship to preaching. The council of Trent was called by Julius III. It took place in the palace of Lateran and lasted for five full years, ending in the year of revolt by Martin Luther. This will lead to the council of Trent.
The council of Trent was convoked by Pope Paul III and it took place in Trent and Bologna between the years of 1545 and 1563. This council was basically one of the most paramount cum crucial ecumenical councils. It could be said that that the immediate cause of the calling of the council of Trent was as a result of Luther and the Protestant Revolution of 1517 that engulfed half of Europe. Three years after, Luther nailed the 95 theses to the wooden door of the church of Wittenburg, on June 15, 1520, Martin was condemned by the papal bull “Exsurge Domine” of Pope Leo X. He was given 60 days to recount his heretical teachings and summit to the Pope. But Luther with the protection of the prince of Saxony attacked the Pope in two pamphlets calling him the anti-Christ. Therefore, a General Council is the solution to this. The Council of Trent issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by Protestantism and there were basic clarifications made concerning the church’s doctrines and teachings. The council dealt and dwelt on wide range of issues on scripture, the sacred tradition, Biblical canon, original sin, justification, salvation, the sacraments, the mass, veneration of saints and the liturgy. It made the Vulgate the official example of the Biblical canon and the creation of a Standard version which was implemented latter in 1590s. We shall in this presentation, make a summary of each of the council’s adjudications on the church’s teachings.
The sacred council made many decrees. Some of them which concern the faith and church will be looked at.
DECREE TOUCHING THE MANNER OF LIVING AND OTHER MATTERS TO BE OBSERVED DURING THE COUNCIL
The council calls all to amend their evil ways and sins. To work in the presence of the Lord; not to fulfill the lost of the flesh; to be constant in prayer; to confess more frequently; to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist; to visit churches; to fulfill the commandments. Bishops and priests should heed themselves assiduously to the praises of God; to offer up victims, praises and prayers; to celebrate the sacrifice of the mass frequently. That Pope, emperors and high men of esteem should live a life of peace. All Christians should fast on Fridays in memory of Christ’s passion. The council made these pronouncements due to the fact that many faithful and clergy have not been faithful to their calling as a result of the challenges of the faith as at then.
DECREE TOUCHING THE SYMBOL OF FAITH
The council fathers also made a decree touching the symbol of faith. It stated clearly that it is for the sake of heresies that they gathered and to reform manners that are in contrary to the gospel. It ordains that there is need for the faith to be sustained especially the faith handed to us by the apostles. The apostle creed is the summary of our faith which we must live out and profess.
DECREE CONCERNING THE CANNONICAL SCRIPTURES AND THE USE OF THE SACRED BOOKS
The sacred synod held that errors being removed and the purity of the Gospel be preserved in the church. The Gospel promised through the prophets in the holy scriptures which our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God first promulgated with his own mouth, and then commanded to be preached by his Apostles to every creature, as the fountain of all, both saving truth, and moral discipline. These are contained in the written books and the unwritten traditions which was received by the Apostles by the mouth of Christ himself in the dictates of the Holy Spirit. This has come down to us transmitted as it were from hand to hand.
The synod set down books which were to be regarded as canonical books both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Similarly, she affirmed that in respect to the sacred books, the old vulgate edition which by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved by the church in public and private worship. No one should as a matter of fact either misinterpret the scripture for his own personal gain, advantage or use it for superstitious act.
DECREE CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN
The council stated clearly that anyone who refuses to believe in the doctrine of original sin which began from our first parents “Adam and Eve” and continues in his posterity and not for Adam and Eve alone, let him be anathema. It further stated that Jesus Christ is the one mediator who alone reconciled us to God the Father and freed us from original sins. Therefore, through our baptism, the sins of our first parents and our actual sins are blotted out. This includes children and adults alike who are baptized.
DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION
The council said that if anyone says that man be justified before God by his own works, weather done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ, be anathema. It further stated that base on this, we are not to fold our hands because we have been justified by God but we should corporate with the grace of God through works of love. So justification was declared to be offered upon the basis of human cooperation with divine grace as opposed to the protestant doctrine of passive reception of grace.
DECREE ON THE SACRAMENTS
It opined that Christ instituted the seven sacraments and they are means of salvation. They were not instituted to nourish faith alone but also to give grace and they differ from one another. The sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Holy Order give character and they cannot be repeated. Thus, in the seven sacraments, we rightly see the important role in all the aspects and stages of the Christian life. Through the sacraments, we experience new life of healing and the mission to the same Christian life of faith is regenerated and increased.
ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
The council adjudicated that the Lord is truly present in the most Hoy Eucharist after the consecration of bread and wine. That we are to do this in remembrance of his wonderful works and Christ asked that we do it in his memory. It stressed also on the Excellency of the most holy Eucharist over the rest of the sacraments. The sacred council talked on Transubstantiation when it stated that: “… because our Lord and redeemer said that it was truly his body and blood that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moments of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.”
ON PENANCE AND EXTREEM UNCTION
The council teaches that there would have not be need for another sacrament to be instituted for the remission of sins beside baptism as the faithful constantly preserve the justice of God in it. But because God rich in mercy, knows how frail we are, now bestow a remedy of life even on those who may, after baptism, have delivered themselves up to the servitude of sin and the power of the devil, instituted the sacrament of penance. Penitence is necessary at all times in order to attain to grace and justice, for all who have defiled themselves in mortal sin, even for those who begged to be washed by the sacrament of baptism. The council quickly made it clear that the sacrament of baptism is not the same as the sacrament of penance.
On the sacrament of Extreme Unction, it was Christ who also instituted this sacrament as the sacrament of the new law. It was insinuated in St. Mark but strongly recommended and promulgated to the faithful by St. James the Apostle, the brother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The council made a decree also on the choice of books in which the faithful are to read. These books must promote the catholic faith as against the trend of the immoral books that was widely disseminated as at then. Again, she granted safe-conduct to members of the German nation especially those who came to the ecumenical council. The same holy and sacred synod lawfully granted to all and each of all who hold communion with the faith, the same safe-conduct.
DECREE ON THE COMMUNION UNDER BOTH SPECIES AND THE COMMUNION OF CHILDREN : The council teaches that what relates to communion under both species and the communion of infants should be believed by all and should not be preached or taught other than what the council has taught. The council also emphasized that lay men and clerics, when not sacrificing, are not bound, of divine right to communion under both species. It further declares on the power of the church as regards the dispensation of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It stated that this power has ever been in the church that, in the dispensation of the sacraments, their substance is untouched. It more over declares that although as said by our Redeemer in the last supper instituted the Eucharist and delivered it to the apostles. This sacrament in two species is to be acknowledge that Christ is present whole and entirely in the sacrament and is received under either species alone; and that therefore, as regards the fruit thereof, they, who receive one species alone, are not defrauded of any grace necessary to salvation. Again, the council teaches that little children are not bound to sacramental communion as much as they have been baptized and catechized. These children must be at the age of reason.
ON THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
The sacred council upheld the fact that holy things be administered in a holy manner, and of all holy things the sacrifice of the mass is the most holy. From the beginning to the end that it might be worthily and reverently offered and received, the Catholic Church instituted, many years ago, the sacred Canon, so pure from every error, that nothing is contained therein which does not in the highest degree savior of a certain holiness and piety, and raise up unto God the minds of those that offer. For it is composed, out of the very words of the Lord, the traditions of the apostles, and the pious institutions also of holy pontiffs.
The council proclaimed the solemn way the mass is to be carried out when she that it is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot easily be raised to the meditation of divine things. Therefore, the holy Mother Church instituted certain rites, to which certain things be pronounced in the mass in a low, and others in a louder, tone. She has likewise employed ceremonies, such as mystic benedictions, lights, incense, vestments, and many other things of this kind, derived from an apostolic discipline and tradition, whereby both the majesty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended, and the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of those most sublime things which are hidden in this sacrifice. Furthermore, the council calls for active participation of the mass and that th holy mass should be celebrated with great care and reverence with the observation of all the rubrics.
DECREE ON THE SACRAMENT OF ORDER
The sacred council opined that sacrifice and priesthood are, by the ordinance of God, in such wise way conjoined. Both have existed in every law. Whereas, therefore, in the New Testament, the Catholic Church has received, from the institution of Christ, the holy visible sacrifice of the Eucharist; it must needs also be confessed, that there is, in that Church, a new, visible, and external priesthood, into which the old has been translated. And the sacred Scriptures show, and the tradition of the Catholic Church has always taught, that this priesthood was instituted by the same Lord our Savior, and that to the apostles, and their successors in the priesthood, was the power delivered of consecrating, offering, and administering His Body and Blood, as also of forgiving and of retaining sins. The fathers of the council affirmed again that there is need for the order of diaconate in the church. The council also stated the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the church and this are the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate while the supreme authority of the church lies in the hands of the supreme pontiff himself. In addition, the revered council gave a standard rules for the sacrament of order. For instance, it stated clearly that those to be ordained are to be examined by persons versed in divine and human laws; Prelates inferior to bishops shall not give the tonsure, or minor orders, save to Regulars their own subjects; neither shall they, nor any Chapters whatsoever, grant dimissoria letters; a more grievous penalty is enacted against those who offend against this decree; the bishop shall confer ordination in person unless he is sick. Etc.
DOCTRINE ON THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
The council stated the following concerning the sacrament of matrimony: The first parent of the human race, under the influence of the divine Spirit, pronounced the bond of matrimony perpetual and indissoluble, when he said: “This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”. Therefore, a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. But, that by this bond two only are united and joined together. Our Lord taught more plainly, when rehearsing those last words as having been uttered by God, He said, therefore now they are not two, but one flesh; and straightway confirmed the firmness of that tie, proclaimed so long before by Adam, by these words: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder”. But, the grace which might perfect that natural love, and confirm that indissoluble union, and sanctify the married, Christ Himself, the institutor and perfecta of the venerable sacraments, merited for us by His passion; as the Apostle Paul intimates, saying: Husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it. Matrimony, in the evangelical law, excels in grace, through Christ. it is numbered among the sacraments of the new law; against which, impious men of that age have not only had false notions touching this venerable sacrament, but, introducing according to their wont under the pretext of the Gospel, a carnal liberty, they have by word and writing asserted, not without great injury to the faithful of Christ, many things alien from the sentiment of the Catholic Church, and from the usage approved of since the times of the apostles. Therefore, the holy and universal Synod wishing to meet the rashness of these men, thought it proper, lest their pernicious contagion may draw more after it, that the more remarkable heresies and errors of the above-named schismatic’s be exterminated, by decreeing against the said heretics and their errors anathemas when they go against these pronouncements.
CONCLUSION
The council proclaims the following that: purgatory exists, and that the souls detained there are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that saints reigning with Christ are to be honored and prayed to, and that they offer prayers to God on our behalf, and their relics should be venerated. I resolutely assert that images of Christ and the ever virgin mother of God, and likewise those of the other saints, are to be kept and retained, and that due honor and reverence is to be shown them. Again, the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the church, and that their use is eminently beneficial to the Christian. Finally, the apostolic creed was recited and proclaimed by all as a way of affirming to the true faith of the church. 17 dogmatic decrees which cover all aspect of catholic faith were made. 255 fathers were in attendance during the final sessions. The final session was held on December4, 1563 and on that very day amidst the singing of the Te Deum, the Great Council of Trent came to a close.
Ovie Innocent Sdv
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