670 



TRENT, COUNCIL OF. 



tirely in the spirit of Gregory VII. ; yet the em- 

 peror gained his object, and, in the fifteenth session, 

 January 25, this decree was not published, but only 

 a postponement of the deliberations was resolved 

 upon till the arrival of the Protestant divines. Un- 

 der the imperial protection, the divines of Wiirtem- 

 berg and Upper Germany (from the cities) now also 

 came to Trent, and the Saxons were already on 

 their way thither, under the conduct of Melanch- 

 thon. These measures, however, were only a 

 stratagem on the part of Saxony, in order to lull 

 the emperor into security, as was soon evinced by 

 the sudden commencement of hostilities on the part 

 of the elector, Maurice, who forced the emperor to 

 fly, and the members of the council to disperse. 

 They resolved, accordingly, in the sixteenth session, 

 April 8, upon its adjournment for two years, with- 

 out having even commenced negotiations with the 

 Protestants. Amidst these circumstances, of the 

 greatest disadvantage for the authority of the pope, 

 the treaty of Passau, and the religious peace of 

 Augsburg, were concluded, and two Catholic 

 princes, the Roman king Ferdinand, and the duke 

 of Bavaria, even ventured, at their own risk, to 

 grant to their Protestant subjects the privilege of 

 the cup, though the council had refused them per- 

 mission so to do. In France, the increasing power 

 of the Protestants threatened to extort similar, and 

 still greater privileges ; and because pope Paul IV. 

 (1555 59) would hear nothing of any council held 

 without the city of Rome, the French bishops 

 thought of summoning a national synod, for the 

 settlement of the religious disputes. Paul's succes- 

 sor, Pius IV., saw himself compelled, in 1560 and 

 1561, to reassemble the general council. Although 

 the Protestants did not accept the invitation, and 

 the French government, rejecting the previous de- 

 crees of the council, demanded an entirely new and 

 independent council, yet it was re-opened, January 

 8, 1562, by six legates of the pope, under the pre- 

 sidency of the cardinal, prince Hercules Gonzaga, 

 of Mantua, with 1 12 bishops, mostly Italians, four 

 abbots, and four generals of religious orders. In 

 the eighteenth session, February 26, a decree was 

 merely published for preparing an index of prohi- 

 bited books ; but, in the nineteenth, May 4, and in 

 the twentieth, June 14, it was again resolved to 

 delay the publication of new decrees. This delay- 

 ing was a common means of the Roman policy to 

 avoid opposition ; for France, as well as the em- 

 peror and Bavaria, repeated their propositions for 

 the reformation of the church, and for the admis- 

 sion of the laity to the cup in the Lord's supper, 

 the marriage of the priests, and a revision of the 

 laws concerning forbidden meat ; and, besides, all 

 the bishops, except those from Italy, agreed in the 

 opinion so odious to the pope, that the episcopal 

 power and rights were not of papal but of divine 

 origin. But, in consequence of the majority of the 

 Italian bishops, the results of the votes were always 

 in favour of the views of the Roman court. Thus 

 there were passed, in the twenty-first and twenty- 

 second sessions, July 16 and September 17, 1562, 

 the decrees respecting the celebration of the Lord's 

 supper, and the sacrifice of mass, allowing prepara- 

 tory explanations in the vernacular languages ; but 

 the laity were referred to the pope, as respected 

 their demand for the cup in the Lord's supper. In 

 these sessions, there were present 230 prelates, be- 

 sides the ambassadors of the Catholic courts ; and 

 the number was increased, November 13, by the 

 arrival of the cardinal of Lorraine, with fourteen 



bishops, three abbots and eighteen theologians, from 

 France, who not only gave new strength to the op- 

 position, but also proposed thirty-four articles of 

 reformation, which could not but be exceedingly 

 offensive to the Papal party. This party, there- 

 fore, resorted again to delays, and postponed the 

 next session from one month to another. Gonzaga, 

 who was generally esteemed for his uprightness, but 

 who was fettered in every step by the directions 

 which he received from the Roman court, died 

 meanwhile, March 2, 1563 ; and, in his place, the 

 new legates Moroni and Stavageri presided, who 

 amused the fathers with empty formalities and theo- 

 logical disputes, so that at length the imperial and 

 French courts were convinced that no reformation 

 of the church waste be expected from this council, 

 and still less a peace with the Protestants, who en- 

 tirely rejected the council. Moreover, the cardinal of 

 Lorraine was won over to the Papal party by secret 

 promises of personal advantage ; and, although the 

 German, Spanish and French bishops had hitherto 

 zealously maintained the divine origin of their 

 power, yet, at length, either tired out by length of 

 time, or influenced by intrigues, they consented to 

 a decree respecting the consecration of the priests 

 and the hierarchy, entirely in accordance with the 

 views of the pope, which received public confirma- 

 tion in eight canons, in the twenty-third session, 

 July 15, 1562. With equal pliability, they suffered 

 to be passed, in the twenty-fourth session, November 

 11, the decree respecting the sacrament of matri- 

 mony, in twelve canons, in which the celibacy of 

 the clergy was enjoined: and, in the twenty-fifth 

 and last sessions, December 3 and 4, the hastily- 

 composed decrees respecting purgatory, the worship 

 of saints, relics and images, the monastic vows, in- 

 dulgences, fasts, prohibition of certain kinds of food, 

 and an index of prohibited books ; the last of which, 

 together with the composition of a catechism and 

 breviary, was left to the pope. In the decrees of 

 reformation, published in these List five sessions, 

 which contained mostly insignificant or self-evident 

 ordinances, or at least the same repeated only with 

 different words, provision was made for the removal 

 of the prevailing abuses, for the conferment and ad- 

 ministration of spiritual offices and sinecures, &c. 

 The most useful provision was that for founding 

 seminaries for the education of the clergy, and the 

 examination of those to be ordained. At the 

 of the last session, the cardinal of Lorraine exclaim- 

 ed, " Cursed be all heretics!" and the prelates joined 

 in the cry, " Cursed, cursed !" so that the dome re- 

 sounded with their imprecations. Thus ended the 

 council of Trent, the decrees of which, signed by 

 255 prelates, perpetuated the separation of the Pro- 

 testants from the Catholic church, and acquired, 

 with the latter, the authority of a symbolical book. 

 The pope confirmed them, January 26, 1564, in 

 their whole extent. The chief object of this coun- 

 cil, the gaining back of the Protestants to the 

 Catholic church, was not attained, and the points 

 of dissension between the Roman and the Greek 

 churches were marked out so distinctly, as to leave 

 no hope of any future reconciliation. By its de- 

 crees, the Catholic doctrines were more exactly de- 

 termined, and many abuses remedied, though the 

 worst and most pernicious were left. These de- 

 crees were received without limitation in Italy, 

 Portugal and Poland ; in the Spanish dominions 

 they were restricted by the statutes of the kingdom ; 

 in France, Germany and Hungary, on the contrarj . 

 they met with an opposition which gradually le 



