Council of Trent

Bible Scholarship Historical Theology
tomgaston

In addition to the Response below from Claude.ai see A Reformation Timeline and the post on this site, Comparative Canon Lists: Marcion to Trent.

Prompt: Provide information about the Council of Trent in the 1500s, its sessions, their purposes and context with all sources in-line and with a link when available.

The Council of Trent (1545–1563)

Overview and Context

The Council of Trent was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convened in the northern Italian city of Trent (Trento) as the Church’s formal response to the Protestant Reformation. It met for twenty-five sessions between 13 December 1545 and 4 December 1563, and was the last time a Catholic ecumenical council was organized outside Rome. Trent was convoked by Pope Paul III for the city of Trento, chosen precisely so that the emperor could get to it while the pope could deny it was on Italian soil, and it met under three popes: Paul III (to 1549), Julius III (1550–1555), and Pius IV (1559–1565). (Wikipedia; Garrett Ham) WikipediaGarrett Ham

Background: Early calls for reform grew out of criticism of the worldly attitudes of the Renaissance popes, but there was little significant papal reaction to the Protestants or to internal reform demands before mid-century. Protestantism was spreading rapidly, threatening both political and religious stability in central Europe, which led to demands for internal Church reform, and it was generally believed a general council could exert more pressure for reform than isolated papal decrees. In 1537 Paul III appointed a committee of cardinals to study Church abuses; their report was uncompromisingly critical, but convening a council was postponed several times before finally opening in 1545. (EBSCO Research Starters) Encyclopedia Britannica + 2

The council faced two major, sometimes competing tasks: reform of abuses in the Church, and a restatement of Catholic doctrine in clear distinction to Protestantism. Charles V was most concerned with reform and hoped doctrinal issues would be left undefined so as not to further antagonize Protestants, while the papal legates pushed to settle doctrine decisively. EBSCO

Attendance: The council was small at first, opening with only about 30 bishops; the decrees were finally signed in 1563 by 255 members, the highest attendance of the whole council, including four papal legates, two cardinals, three patriarchs, twenty-five archbishops, and 168 bishops — two-thirds of whom were Italian. Italian and Spanish prelates vastly predominated in power and numbers, and at the passage of the most important decrees, no more than sixty prelates were typically present. The French monarchy boycotted the council entirely until a delegation led by the Cardinal of Lorraine finally arrived in November 1562. (Wikipedia) Wikipedia + 2

The Three Periods

The council’s history divides into three distinct periods: 1545–1549, 1551–1552, and 1562–1563, corresponding to the three popes who oversaw it. Wikipedia

Period I — Under Paul III (1545–1547), Sessions 1–8

  • Session 1 (13 Dec 1545): Formal opening — a procedural vote declaring “the sacred and general Council of Trent do begin, and hath begun,” for “the increase and exaltation of the Christian faith… the extirpation of heresies… the reformation of the Christian clergy and people”. (CapDox) CapDox
  • Session 3 (4 Feb 1546): Adoption of the Nicene Creed as the council’s doctrinal foundation, framed as the extirpation of heresies and reform of morals, since “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the spirits of wickedness in high places”.
  • Session 4 (8 Apr 1546): Two landmark decrees.
    • Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures: This decree, De Canonicis Scripturis, issued an anathema against dissenters from the affirmed biblical list, confirming the same canon already locally approved by the Council of Florence in 1442. It placed the deuterocanonical books on par with the rest of the canon (against Luther’s relegation of them to an Apocrypha) and, for the first time in Church history, made the contents of the Bible an absolute article of faith by a vote of 24 to 15, with 16 abstentions. (Wikipedia – Canon of Trent) Wikipedia
    • Decree Concerning the Edition and Use of the Sacred Books: This decree declared the old Latin Vulgate, in use for centuries, to be held as authentic in public lectures, disputations, sermons, and expositions, and forbade anyone to interpret Scripture against the sense held by “holy mother Church” or contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. One scholarly reading emphasizes that the primary intent was to standardize the proliferating Latin editions circulating in medieval Europe, not to suppress vernacular translation or the Greek/Hebrew originals — the decree also mandated a corrected, more accurate printing of the Vulgate going forward. (Catholic Culture; Called to Communion) Catholic Culture + 2
  • Session 5 (17 Jun 1546): Decree on Original Sin, responding to what the council called “old” and “new” dissensions concerning original sin and its remedy; also established lectureships in Scripture in cathedral churches.
  • Session 6 (13 Jan 1547): Decree on Justification — the council’s central doctrinal answer to Luther. It was framed as a response to “a certain erroneous doctrine concerning justification” being disseminated “not without the loss of many souls,” intending to expound “the true and salutary doctrine of justification”. It taught that through Adam’s sin all people lost their innocence and became servants of sin, unable to be freed either by the force of nature (Gentiles) or the letter of the Mosaic law (Jews) — though free will, though weakened, was not extinguished. Canon 1 declared anathema anyone who says man can be justified by his own works, done by natural powers or the law, without divine grace through Christ; Canon 33 insisted the Tridentine doctrine of justification illustrates rather than derogates from the glory of God and the merits of Christ. This directly rejected the Lutheran sola fide formula. A companion Decree on Reformation was issued the same session. (EWTN; Papal Encyclicals) EWTN + 2
  • Session 7 (3 Mar 1547): Decree on the Sacraments, affirming the seven sacraments and beginning sweeping reform decrees, including that bishops must reside in their own dioceses “for the integrity of those who govern is the safety of the governed,” with penalties revived against absentee prelates. EWTN
  • Session 8 (Mar 1547): The council was controversially transferred to Bologna amid a plague scare and political tension with Charles V; a rump group continued sessions there (sometimes counted separately) before Paul III effectively suspended proceedings.

Period II — Under Julius III (1551–1552), Sessions 11–16

  • Session 13 (11 Oct 1551): Decree Concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist — defining transubstantiation and Real Presence doctrine. University of Oregon
  • Session 14 (25 Nov 1551): Decree on the Most Holy Sacrament of Penance, extended to also cover Extreme Unction. (Oregon excerpts) University of Oregon
  • Session 15 (25 Jan 1552): Decree on the Most Holy Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction. The Catholic University of America
  • Session 16 (28 Apr 1552): The period closed prematurely — a Decree for the Prorogation of the Session was issued as German Protestant princes, backed by Maurice of Saxony’s military campaign against Charles V, forced another suspension. The council would not reconvene for a decade. The Catholic University of America

Period III — Under Pius IV (1562–1563), Sessions 17–25

The council was reconvened by Pius IV for the last time, meeting from 18 January 1562, and continuing until final adjournment on 4 December 1563. Wikipedia

  • Session 19 (14 May 1562): Decree Concerning the Prorogation of the Session — procedural, amid ongoing negotiations over French and Imperial participation. The Catholic University of America
  • Session 20 (4 Jun 1562): Decree Concerning Purgatory (an early version; the fuller purgatory decree came in Session 25). The Catholic University of America
  • Session 21 (16 Jul 1562): “On Communion under Both Species, and on the Communion of Infants” — this session, per Pius IV’s summons, issued a decree on the Mass declaring it the same sacrifice as Christ’s sacrifice at the Crucifixion, plus a decree on marriage, and renewed (without exception) the requirement of episcopal residency, while attempts to curb secular rulers’ influence over church appointments had to be dropped. (EBSCO) University of OregonEBSCO
  • Session 22 (17 Sep 1562): Decree on the Sacrifice of the Mass, along with reform decrees on clerical conduct and Mass stipends.
  • Session 23 (15 Jul 1563): On the Sacrament of Order — affirming that “sacrifice and priesthood are, by the ordinance of God, in such wise conjoined, as that both have existed in every law,” and that Christ instituted a new visible priesthood for consecrating and administering the Eucharist and forgiving sins. This session also produced restrictions on unlicensed printing of Scripture and commentary. (Hanover History excerpts) Hanover College
  • Session 24 (11 Nov 1563): Doctrine Concerning the Sacrament of Matrimony, including the Tametsi decree requiring canonical form (a priest and witnesses) for a valid marriage — aimed at curbing clandestine marriages.
  • Session 25 (3–4 Dec 1563), the final session, closing on multiple fronts simultaneously:
    • A decree on Communion under Both Kinds and the Communion of Little Children. Hanover College
    • A decree on the manner of proceeding against clerics who keep concubines, condemning such conduct as unworthy “of the name of clerics who have devoted themselves to the service of God”. Hanover College
    • A decree affirming the retention of Indulgences as “for the Christian people most salutary,” while condemning abuses and calling for moderation in their granting. Hanover College
    • Decrees on Purgatory and on the veneration/invocation of saints, relics, and sacred images — direct doctrinal rejoinders to Protestant iconoclasm.
    • Mandates establishing the Index of Prohibited Books, and commissioning a revised Catechism, Breviary, and Missal.
    • The council closed with ritual acclamations honoring the reigning pope, the popes who had convoked it, the emperor, supportive kings, the legates, cardinals, ambassadors, and bishops, followed by acclamations of acceptance of the council’s faith and decrees and anathema against all heretics. Wikipedia

Lasting Consequences

Beyond doctrine, Trent issued sweeping disciplinary decrees: the seminary decree (Cum adolescentium aetas) mandating clergy training, the residence requirement for bishops, the Tametsi marriage decree, abolition of the indulgence-preaching “quaestor” system, and mandates producing the Roman Missal (1570), Roman Catechism (1566), Roman Breviary (1568), and the 1564 Index of Forbidden Books. Key outcomes included affirming the Latin Vulgate as the official Bible, declaring the seven sacraments, establishing clerical residency requirements, and articulating that salvation requires both faith and good works — directly contrasting the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone. What emerged was a chastened but consolidated Church and papacy — the Roman Catholicism of modern history. Garrett Ham + 2

Interestingly, the council’s most unexpected sequel came over four centuries later: the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between Lutherans and Catholics concluded that Trent’s Session 6 condemnations do not fall on the mutual understanding of justification articulated there — without modifying a single Tridentine canon. (Garrett Ham) Garrett Ham

Sources

Given your work on second-century textual history and canon formation, you may find it useful to compare Trent’s De Canonicis Scripturis (Session 4) against earlier canon lists (Florence 1442, Carthage/Rome in the 4th century) — happy to pull together a comparative table of canon lists if that would help your research.

Response was Yes and the 2nd Response is Comparative Canon Lists: Marcion to Trent

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