CANNONS AND DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT

CANNONS AND DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT



anathema
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin anathemat-, anathema, from Greek, thing devoted
to evil, curse, from anatithenai to set up, dedicate, from ana- + tithenai to place, set

1 a: one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority b: someone or something intensely disliked or
loathed
2 a: a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by
excommunication b: the denunciation of something as accursed c: a vigorous denunciation
3: a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction.

























Following are excerpts from: Google Books - The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent:
Literally translated into English by Theodore Alois Buckley.
http://books.google.com/books?id=P_GDBjERbmUC&pg=PR1&dq=[the+canons+and+decrees+of+the+co
uncil+of+trent]&output=text



































SESSION THE FOURTH,
Celebrated on the eighth day of the month of April, 1546. DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL
SCRIPTURES.

---... But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, these same books entire with all their
parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the
old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately despise the traditions aforesaid; let him
be anathema.

DECREE CONCERNING THE EDITION AND THE USE OF THE SACKED BOOKS.

---...henceforth, the sacred Scripture, and especially the aforesaid old and vulgate edition, be
printed in the most correct manner possible; and that it shall not be lawful for any one to print,
or cause to be printed, any books whatever, on sacred matters, without the name of the author; nor
to sell them in future, or even to keep them by them, unless they shall have been first examined,
and approved of by the ordinary; under pain of the anathema and fane imposed in a canon of the last
Council of Lateran.



SESSION THE FIFTH.
Celebrated on the seventeenth day of the month of June, 1546. DECREE CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN.











---1. If any one does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he had transgressed the
commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice in which he had been
constituted and that he incurred, through the offence of such prevarication, the wrath and
indignation of God, and consequently death, which God had previously threatened to him, and,
together with death, captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the empire of death, that
is to say, the devil and that the entire Adam, through that offence of prevarication, was changed
as respects the body and soul, for the worse; let him be anathema.

---2. If any one asserts, that the prevarication of Adam injured himself alone, and not his
posterity; and that he lost for himself alone, and not for us also, the holiness and justice,
received of God, which he lost; or that he, defiled by the sin of disobedience, has only transfused
death, and pains of the body, into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of
the soul, let him be anathema

---3. If any one asserts that this sin of Adam, which in its origin is one, and being transfused
into all by propagation, not by imitation, is in each one as his own, is taken away either by the
powers of human nature, or by any other remedy than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath reconciled us to God in his own blood, made unto us righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption; or, if he denies that the same merit of Jesus Christ is applied, both to adults and
to infants, by the sacrament of baptism rightly administered in the form of the Church; let him be
anathema

---4. If any one denies that infants, newly born from their mothers' wombs, even though they be
sprung from baptized parents, are to be baptized; or says that they are baptized indeed for the
remission of sins, but that they draw nought of original sin from Adam, which has need to be
expiated by the laver of regeneration for the obtaining life everlasting,—whence it follows, as a
consequence, that in them the form of baptism, for the remission of sins, is understood to be not
true, but false,—let him be anathema.

---5. If any one denies, that, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in
baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even asserts that all that which has the true
and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only erased, or not imputed,—let
him be anathema.

---...This concupiscence, which the apostle sometimes calls sin, the holy synod declares that the
Catholic Church has never understood to be called sin, as being truly and properly sin in those
born again, but because it is of sin, and inclines to sin. And if any one is of a contrary opinion,
let him be anathema.



SESSION THE SIXTH,
Celebrated on the thirteenth day of the month of January, 1547. DECREE CONCERNING JUSTIFICATION.










CHAPTER XI.
On the Keeping of the Commandments, and on the Necessity and Possibility thereof.

---But no one, how much soever justified, ought to think of himself free from the observance of the
commandments; no one ought to make use of that rash saying, prohibited by the fathers under an
anathema

CHAPTER XVI.
On Thee Fruit of Justification, that is, on the Merit of Good Works and on the Marnier of that same
Merit.

ON JUSTIFICATION.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether
done through the strength of human nature, or through the teaching of the law, without the divine
grace through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that the divine grace through Jesus Christ is given only unto
this, that man may more easily be able to live justly, and to merit eternal life, as if, by free
will without grace, he were able [to do] both, though hardly and with difficulty; let him be
anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that without the preventing inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and
his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent, as he ought, so that the grace of
justification may be conferred upon him; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the free will of man moved and excited by God, by assenting
to God exciting and calling, nowise co-operates to the end that it should dispose and prepare
itself for obtaining the grace of justification; and that it cannot refuse
consent, if it would, but that, like something inanimate, it does nothing whatever, and is merely
in a passive state; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that, since Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and
extinguished; or, that it is a thing with a name only, yea, a title without a reality, a figment,
in fine, brought into the Church by Satan; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that it is not in the power of man to make his ways evil, but
that God worketh the works that are evil as well as those that are good, not by permission only,
but properly, and of Himself, in such wise that the treason of Judas be
no less His own proper work than the calling of Paul; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that all works which are done before justification, in what
manner soever they be done, are truly sins or deserve the hatred of God; or that, the more
earnestly one strive to dispose himself for grace, so much the more grievously be sins; let him be
anathema.










---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that the fear of hell, through which, by grieving for
our sins, we flee unto the mercy of God, or refrain from sinning, is a sin, or makes sinners worse
let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall say, that by faith alone the impious is justified; so as to mean that
nothing else is required to co-operate in order unto the obtaining the grace of justification, and
that it is not in any respect necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own
will; let him be anathema.

---Canon X. If any one shall say, that men are justified without the righteousness of Christ, by
which He merited for us to be justified; or that it is by that [justice] itself that they are
formally just; let him be anathema.

---Canon XI. If any one shall say, that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the
righteousness of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the
charity which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost and is inherent in them; or even
that the grace, by which we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him he anathema.

---Canon XII. If any one shall say, that justifying faith is nought else but confidence in the
divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or that it is this confidence alone by which we
are justified; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIII. If any one shall say, that it is necessary unto every one, for the obtaining the
remission of sins, that he believe for certain, and without any hesitation arising from his own
infirmity and indisposition, that his sins are remitted unto him; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIV. If any one shall say, that man is absolved from his sins and justified, because that
he assuredly believed himself to be absolved and justified; or that no one is truly justified save
he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are
perfected; let him be anathema.

---Canon XV. If any one shall say, that a man, who is born again and justified, is bound of faith
to believe that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinated; let him be anathema.

---Canon XVI. If any one shall say, that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible
certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end, unless that he have learnt this by a
special revelation; let him be anathema.

---Canon XVII. If any one shall say, that the grace of justification only befalleth those who are
predestined unto life; but that all others who are called, are called indeed, but receive not
grace, as being, by the divine power, predestined unto evil; let him be anathema.










---Canon XVIII. If any one shall say, that the commandments of God are, even for a man that is
justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIX. If any one shall say that nothing besides faith is commanded in the Gospel; that
other things are indifferent, neither commanded nor prohibited, but free; or, that the ten
commandments in nowise appertain to Christians; let him be anathema

---Canon XX. If any one shall say, that a man who is justified and how perfect soever, is not bound
to the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, but only to believe; as if,
forsooth, the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life, without the condition of
observation of the commandments; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXI. If any one shall say, that Christ Jesus was given of God unto men, as a redeemer, in
whom they should trust, and not also as a legislator, whom they should obey; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXII. If any one shall say, that the justified is able either to persevere, without the
special assistance of God, in the justice received; or that, with that [assistance], he is not
able; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXIII. If any one shall say, that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace,
and that therefore he that falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the other hand, that he
is able, throughout his whole life, to avoid all sins, even those that are venial, except by a
special privilege from God, as the Church holds respecting the Blessed Virgin; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXIV. If any one shall say, that the justice received is not preserved, and also increased
in the sight of God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of
justification received, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXV. If any one shall say, that, in every good work, the just sins venially at least, or,
which is still more intolerable, mortally, and therefore deserves eternal punishments; and that it
is only for this cause he is not damned, because God does not impute those works unto damnation;
let him be anathema.

---Canon XXVI. If any one shall say, that the just ought not, for their good works which have been
done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God, through His mercy and the merit
of Jesus Christ, if they persevere unto the end in well doing and in keeping the divine
commandments; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXVII. If any one shall say, that there is no deadly sin but that of infidelity; or, that
grace once received is not lost by any other sin, however grievous and enormous, save only by that
of infidelity; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXVIII. If any one shall say, that, grace being lost through sin, faith also is










always lost with it; or that the faith which remains is not a true faith, though it be not a lively
faith; or, that he, who has faith without charity, is not a Christian; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXIX. If any one shall say, that he, who has fallen after baptism, is not able by the
grace of God to rise again; or, that he is able indeed to recover the justice lost, but by faith
alone, without the sacrament of penance, contrary to what the holy Roman and universal Church,
instructed by Christ and his apostles, has hitherto professed, observed and taught; let him be
anathema.

---Canon XXX. If any one shall say, that, after the grace of justification received, unto every
penitent sinner the guilt is so remitted, and the penalty of eternal punishment so blotted out,
that there remains not any penalty of temporal punishment, to be discharged either in this world,
or in the next in purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be laid open; let him
be anathema.

---Canon XXXI. If any one shall say, that the justified sins when he doeth good works with a view
to an eternal recompense; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXXII. If any one shall say, that the good works of a man that is justified are in such
wise the gifts of God, as that they are not also the good merits of him that is
justified; or, that the said justified, by the good works which are performed by him through the
grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit
increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal life, so be, however, that he
depart in grace, and, moreover, an increase of glory; let him be anathema.

---Canon XXXIII. If any one shall say, that, by this Catholic doctrine touching justification, set
forth by this holy synod in this present decree, aught is derogated from the glory of God, or the
merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not rather that the truth of our faith, and the glory in fine
of God and of Christ Jesus are rendered illustrious; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE SEVENTH,
Celebrated on the third day of the month of March, 1547. DECREE CONCERNING THE SACRAMENTS.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by
Jesus Christ, our Lord; or, that they are more, or less than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation,
the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction Orders, and Matrimony; or even that any one of these seven
is not truly and properly a sacrament; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that these said sacraments of the New Law do not differ from the
sacraments of the Old Law, save that the ceremonies are different, and the










outward rites different; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that these seven sacraments are equal to each other in such
wise, as that one is not in any way more worthy than another; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto
salvation, but superfluous, and that without them, and without the desire thereof, men, through
faith alone, obtain of God the grace of justification; though all [the sacraments] be not necessary
for every individual; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that these sacraments were instituted for the sake of nourishing
faith alone; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace
which they signify; or, that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle in
the way; as though they were merely outward signs of grace or righteousness received through faith,
and certain marks of the Christian profession, by which the believers are distinguished amongst men
from the unbelievers; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that grace, as far as concerneth God's part, is not given
through the said sacraments, always, and to all men, even though they rightly receive them, but
[only] sometimes, and to some persons; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not
conferred through the act performed, but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for
obtaining grace; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall say, that, in the three sacraments, Baptism, to wit, Confirmation,
and Orders, there is not imprinted on the soul a character, that is, a certain spiritual and
indelible sign, on account of which they cannot be repeated; let him be anathema.

---Canon X. If any one shall say, that all Christians have power to administer the word, and all
the sacraments; let him be anathema.

---Canon XI. If any one shall say, that, in ministers, whilst they effect, and confer the
sacraments, there is not required the intention at least of doing what the Church does; let him he
anathema.

---Canon XII. If any one shall say, that a minister, being in deadly sin, provided that he observe
all the essentials which belong to the performance or conferring of the sacrament, neither performs
nor confers the sacrament; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIII. If any one shall say, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic
Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be










contemned, or without sin omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed by any pastor of the
churches into other new ones; let him be anathema.

TOUCHING BAPTISM.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that the baptism of John had the same force with the baptism of
Christ; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that true and natural water is not of necessity for baptism,
and, on that account, wrests to some sort of metaphor those words of our Lord Jesus Christ; Except
a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that in the Romish church, which is the mother and mistress of
all churches, there is not the true doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism; let him be
anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the baptism which is also given by heretics in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church
doth, is not true baptism; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that baptism is free, that is, not necessary unto salvation;
let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that one who has been baptized cannot, even if he wish, lose
grace, let him sin ever so much, unless he will not believe; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that the baptized are, by baptism itself, made debtors but to
faith only, and not to the observance of the whole law of Christ; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that the baptized are freed from all the precepts of the holy
Church, whether written or transmitted, so that they are not bound to observe them, unless they, of
their own accord, have chosen to submit themselves to them; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall soy, that men are so to be recalled unto the remembrance of the
baptism which they have received, as that they must understand that all vows which are made after
baptism are void, by virtue of the promise already made in that baptism; as if, by those [vows]
they both derogated from that faith which they have professed, and from baptism itself; let him be
anathema.

---Canon X. If any shall say, that, by the sole remembrance and faith of the baptism received, all
sins which are committed after baptism are either remitted, or made venial; let him be anathema.










---Canon XI If any one shall say, that baptism, true, and rightly conferred, is to be repeated for
him who, amongst Infidels, has denied the faith of Christ, when he is converted unto penitence; let
him be anathema.

---Canon XII. If any one shall say, that no one is to be baptized save at that age at which
Christ was baptized, or at the very point of death; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIII. If any one shall say, that infants, for that they have not actual faith, are not,
after having received baptism, to be reckoned amongst the faithful, and that, for this reason, they
are to be rebaptized, when they have arrived at years of discretion; or, that it is better that the
baptism of such be omitted, than that. they, while not believing by their own act, should be
baptized in the faith alone of the Church; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIV. If any one shall say, that those who have been thus baptized when infants, are, when
they have grown up, to be questioned whether they will ratify what their sponsors promised in their
name when they were baptized; and that, in case that they answer they will not, they are to be left
to their own will; and are not meanwhile to be compelled to a Christian life by any other penalty,
save that they be excluded from the participation of the Eucharist, and of the other sacraments,
until they repent; let him be anathema.

TOUCHING CONFIRMATION.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that the confirmation of those who have been baptized is an idle
ceremony, and not rather a true and proper sacrament; or that it was formerly nothing more than a
kind of catechism, whereby they who were near years of discretion, declared an account of their
faith in the face of the Church; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that they who ascribe any virtue to the sacred chrism of
confirmation, do an injury to the Holy Ghost; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that the ordinary minister of holy confirmation is not the
bishop only, but any simple priest soever; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE THIRTEENTH,
Being the third under tlie Sovereign Pontiff Julius III., celebrated on the eleventh day of
October, 1651.
DECREE TOUCHING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST.

CHAPTER III.
On the Excellency of the most holy Eucharist above the rest of Of The Sacraments. CONCERNING THE
MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST.
---Canon I. If any one shall deny, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are










verily, really, and substantially contained the body and blood, together with the soul and
divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but shall say that He is
only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the
substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and shall deny that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread
into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood, the species only of the bread
and wine remaining, which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls
Transubstantiation; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall deny, that, in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole
Christ is contained under each species, and under every part of each species, when separated; let
him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that, after the consecration is completed, the body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ are not in the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist, but are there only
during the use, whilst it is being taken, and not either before or after; and that, in the hosts,
or consecrated particles, which after communion are reserved or remain, the true body of the Lord
remaineth not; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, either that the chief fruit of the most holy Eucharist is the
remission of sins, or, that from it other effects do not result; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that, in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the only
begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with even the worship external of latria, and is,
consequently, neither to be venerated with a special festive celebration, nor to be solemnly borne
about in processions, according to the laudable and universal rite and custom of the holy Church;
or, is not to be proposed publicly to the people to be worshipped, and that the worshippers thereof
are idolaters; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that it is not lawful for the sacred Eucharist to be reserved
in the sacrarium, but that, immediately after consecration, it must necessarily be distributed
amongst those at hand; or that it is not lawful that it be carried honourably to the sick; let him
be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that Christ, presented in the Eucharist, is eaten spiritually
only, and not also sacramentally and really; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall deny, that all and each of Christ's faithful of both sexes are bound,
when they have attained to years of discretion, to communicate every year, at least at Easter, in
accordance with the precept of Holy Mother Church; let him be anathema.

---Canon X. If any one shall say, that it is not lawful for the priest celebrating to communicate
himself; let him be anathema.











---Canon XI. If any one shall say, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the
sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE FOURTEENTH,
Being the fourth under the Sovereign Pontiff Julius III., celebrated on the twenty-fifth of
November, 1551.

ON THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that in the Catholic Church penance is not truly and properly a
sacrament, instituted by Christ our Lord for reconciling the faithful unto God, as often as they
fall into sin after baptism; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one, confounding the sacraments, shall say, that baptism is itself the
sacrament of Penance, as though these two sacraments were not distinct, and that therefore penance
is not rightly called a second plank after shipwreck; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that those words of the Lord the Saviour, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose sins ye shall
retain, they are retained are not to be understood of the power of remitting and of retaining sins
in the sacrament of Penance, as the Catholic Church has always from the beginning understood them;
but wrests them, contrary to the institution of this sacrament, to the power of preaching the
Gospel; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall deny, that, unto the entire and perfect remission of sins, three acts
in the penitent, which are as it were the matter of the sacrament of Penance, are required, to wit,
contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which are called the three parts
of penance; or saith that there are only two parts of penance, to wit, the terrors which smite the
conscience upon being convinced of sin, and the faith, conceived by the Gospel, or by the
absolution, whereby one believes that his sins are remitted unto him through Christ; let him be
anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that the contrition which is acquired by means of the
examination, collection, and detestation of sins, whereby one thinks over his years in the
bitterness of his soul, by pondering on the grievousness, the multitude, the foulness of his sins,
the loss of eternal blessedness, and the having incurred eternal damnation, [joined] with the
purpose of a better life, is not a true and profitable sorrow, doth not prepare unto grace, but
maketh a man a hypocrite and a greater sinner; finally, that this is a forced and not a free and
voluntary sorrow; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall deny, either that sacramental confession was instituted, or is
necessary unto salvation, of divine right; or shall say, that the manner of confessing secretly to
a priest alone, which the Catholic Church hath ever observed from the










beginning, and doth observe, is alien from the institution and command of Christ, and is a human
invention; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that, in the sacrament of Penance, it is not, of divine right,
necessary unto the remission of sins, to confess all and individually the deadly sins, the memory
of which, after due and diligent previous meditation is held, even those
which are secret, and those which are opposed to the two last commandments of the Decalogue, as
also the circumstances which change the species of a sin; but [saith] that such confession is only
useful to instruct and console the penitent, and that it was of old only observed in order to
impose a canonical satisfaction; or shall say, that they, who strive to confess all their sins,
wish to leave nothing to the divine mercy to pardon; or, finally, that it is not lawful to confess
venial sins; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that the confession of all sins, such as the Church observes,
is impossible, and is a human tradition, to be abolished by the pious; or that all and each of the
faithful of Christ, of either sex, are not obliged thereunto once a year, according to the
constitution of the great Council of Lateran, and that, on this account, the faithful of Christ
must not be persuaded to confess during Lent; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall say, that the sacramental absolution of the priest is not a judicial
act, but a bare ministry of pronouncing and declaring sins to be remitted unto him who confesses;
provided only he believe himself to be absolved, or [even if] the priest absolve not in earnest,
but in joke; or saith, that the confession of the penitent is not required, in order that the
priest may be able to absolve him; let him be anathema.

---Canon X. If any ope shall say, that priests, who are in deadly sin, have not the power of
binding and of loosing; or, that not priests alone are the ministers of absolution, but that unto
all and each of the faithful of Christ is it said: Whatsoever ye shall bind upon earth, shall be
bound also in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven jc
and, whose sins ye shall remit, they shall be remitted unto them; and whose sins ye shall retain,
they are retained by virtue of which words every one is able to absolve sins, to wit, public [sins]
by rebuke only; provided the person rebuked yield thereto, and secret [sins] by a voluntary
confession; let him be anathema.

---Canon XI. If any one shall say, that bishops have not the right of reserving cases to
themselves, except as regards external polity, and that therefore the reservation of cases hinders
not but that a priest may truly absolve from reserved cases; let him be anathema.

---Canon XII. If any one shall say, that the whole punishment is always remitted by God, together
with the guilt, and that the satisfaction of penitents is no other than the faith whereby they
learn that Christ hath made satisfaction for them; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIII. If any one shall say, that satisfaction for sins, as regards their temporal
punishment, is in no wise made to God, through the merits of Christ, by the punishments inflicted
by Him, and patiently borne, or by those enjoined by the priest, nor even by those voluntarily
undertaken, as by fastings, prayers, almsgivings, or by other works also










of piety; and that, therefore, the best penance is merely a new life; let him be anathema.

---Canon XIV. If any one shall say, that the satisfactions, by which penitents redeem their sins
through Christ Jesus, are not a worship of God, but traditions of men, obscuring the doctrine of
grace, and the true worship of God, and the benefit itself of the death of
Christ; let him be anathema.

---Canon XV. If any one shall say, that the keys are given to the Church, only to loose,
not also to bind; and that, therefore, priests, when they impose punishments on those who confess,
act contrary to the end designed by the keys, and contrary to the institution of Christ; and that
it is a fiction, that, after eternal punishment has, by virtue of the keys, been removed, there for
the most part remains a temporal punishment to be discharged;
let him be anathema.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that extreme unction is not truly and properly a sacrament,
instituted by Christ our Lord, and promulgated by the blessed apostle James, but only a rite
received from the fathers, or a human invention; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that the sacred unction of the sick does not confer grace, nor
remit sins, nor alleviate the sick; but that it has already ceased, as though the grace of cures
were of old only; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If anyone shall say, that the rite and usage of extreme unction, which the holy Roman
Church observes, is repugnant to the declaration of the blessed apostle James, and that it is
therefore to be changed, and that it may, without sin, be contemned by Christians; let him be
anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the presbyters of the Church, whom the blessed James
exhorts to be brought to anoint the sick, are not the priests ordained by a bishop, but the seniors
in years in each community, and that for this reason a priest alone is not the proper minister of
extreme unction; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE TWENTY-FIRST,
Being the fifth under the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV., celebrated on the sixteenth day of the month
of July, 1562.

ON COMMUNION UNDER BOTH SPECIES, AND ON THE COMMUNION OF INFANTS.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that, by the precept of God, or, by necessity of salvation, all
and each of the faithful of Christ ought to receive both species of the most holy sacrament of the
Eucharist; let him be anathema.










---Canon II. If any one shall say, that the holy Catholic Church was not induced by just causes and
reasons to com municate, under the species of bread only, laymen, and also clerks when not
consecrating; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall deny, that Christ whole and entire, the fountain and author of all
graces, is received under the one species of bread; because that, as some falsely assert, he is not
received, according to the institution of Christ himself, under both species; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the communion of the Eucharist is necessary for little
children, before they have arrived at years of discretion; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE TWENTY-SECOND,
Being the sixth under the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV., celebrated on the seventeenth day of
September, 1562.
DOCTRINE TOUCHING THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. CHAPTER IX.

TOUCHING THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to
God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is given unto us to eat; let him be
anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that by those words, Do this in remembrance of me, Christ did
not institute the apostles priests; or, did not ordain that they, and other priests, should offer
His own body and blood; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of
praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice offered on the
cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it avails him only who receiveth; and that it
ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other
necessities; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that, by the sacrifice of the mass, a blasphemy is thrown upon
the most holy sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross; or, that it is thereby derogated from; let
him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that it is an imposture to celebrate masses in honour of the
saints, and for obtaining their intercession with God, as the Church intends; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that the canon of the mass contains errors, and is therefore to
be abrogated; let him be anathema.










---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, of which the
Catholic Church makes use in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety, rather than
offices of piety; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that masses, in which the priest alone communicates
sacramentally, are unlawful, and therefore to be abrogated; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall say, that the rite of the Homan Church, whereby a part of the canon
and the words of consecration are pronounced in a softened tone, is to be condemned; or, that the
mass ought only to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue; or, that water is not to be mixed with the
wine to be offered in the chalice, in that it is contrary to the institution of Christ; let him be
anathema.



CHAPTER XI.
Usurpers of the Property of any Church or pious Place soever are punished.

If any clerk, or layman, by what dignity soever, even that of emperor or king, pre- eminent, should
be so greatly possessed by covetousness, the root of all evils, as to presume to convert unto his
own use, and to usurp, by himself or by others, by force, or fear excited, or even by means of any
supposititious persons, whether lay or clerical, or by any artifice, or under any sought-for
colourable pretext soever, the jurisdictions, goods, incomes, and rights, even those held in fee or
under lease, the fruits, emoluments, or any revenues soever, belonging to any church, or to any
benefice, whether secular or regular, monts-de-piete, or to any other pious places, which ought to
be employed for the necessities of the ministers and the poor; or [shall presume] to hinder them
from being received by those unto whom they by right belong; he shall so long he under an anathema,
until he shall have entirely restored to the Church, and to the administrator or beneficiary
thereof, the jurisdictions, goods, effects, rights, fruits, and revenues which he has seized upon,
or in what manner soever they have come to him, even by way of gift from a supposititious person;
and, until he shall, furthermore, have obtained absolution from the Roman Pontiff.



SESSION THE TWENTY-THIRD,
Being tlue seventh under tlue Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV., celebrated on the fifteenth day of the
month of July, 1563.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF ORDERS.

---Canon I. If any one shall say, that there is not in the New Testament a visible and external
priesthood: or that there is not any power of consecrating and offering the true body and blood of
the Lord, and of remitting and retaining sins; but only an office and bare ministry of preaching
the Gospel; or that those who do not preach are not priests at all; let him be anathema.

---Canon II. If any one shall say, that, besides the priesthood, there are not in the Catholic
Church other orders, both greater and lesser, by which, as by certain steps, advance is made unto
the priesthood; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that orders, or sacred ordination, is not truly and properly a
sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord; or, that it is a certain human figment devised by men
unskilled in ecclesiastical matters; or, that it is only a certain kind for choosing ministers of
the word of God and of the sacraments; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that, by sacred ordination the Holy Ghost is not given; and that
the bishops do therefore vainly say, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; or, that a character is not thereby
imprinted; or, that he who has once been a priest, can again become a layman; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that the sacred unction which the Church makes use of in holy
ordination, is not only not required, but is to be despised and is pernicious, as likewise the
other ceremonies of Order; let him be anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that, in the Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy instituted
by divine ordination, consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that bishops are not superior to priests; or, that they have
not the power of confirming and ordaining; or, that that power which they possess is common to them
with the priests; or, that orders, conferred by them, without the consent or vocation of the
people, or of the secular power, are invalid; or, that those who have neither been rightly
ordained, nor sent, by ecclesiastical and canonical power, but come from elsewhere, are lawful
ministers of the word and of the sacraments; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that the bishops, who are assumed by authority of the lioman
Pontiff, are not legitimate and true bishops, but a human figment; let him be anathema.



SESSION THE TWENTY-FOURTH,
Being the eighth under the Sovereign Pontiff Pint IV., celebrated on the eleventh day of the month
of November, 1563.
DOCTRINE TOUCHING THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY. TOUCHING THK SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY.
---Canon I. If any one shall say, that matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven
sacraments of the evangelic law, instituted by Christ the Lord; but that it has been invented by
men in the Church, and that it does not confer grace; let him be anathema.










---Canon II. If any one shall say, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the
same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema.

---Canon III. If any one shall say, that those degrees only of consanguinity and affinity, which
are set down in Leviticus, can hinder matrimony from being contracted, and dissolve it when
contracted; and that the Church cannot dispense in some of those degrees, or ordain that others may
hinder and dissolve it; let him be anathema.

---Canon IV. If any one shall say, that the Church could not constitute impediments dissolving
marriage; or that she has erred in constituting them; let him be anathema.

---Canon V. If any one shall say, that on account of heresy, or irksome cohabitation, or
the intentional absence of one of the parties, the bond of matrimony may be dissolved; let him be
anathema.

---Canon VI. If any one shall say, that matrimony contracted, but not consummated, is not dissolved
by the solemn profession of religion by one of the parties married; let him be anathema.

---Canon VII. If any one shall say, that the Church doth err in that she hath taught, and doth
teach, according to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, that the bond of matrimony cannot be
dissolved on account of the adultery of one of the married parties; and that both, or even the
innocent party, who gave not occasion to the adultery, cannot contract another marriage during the
lifetime of the other married person; and, that he is guilty of adultery, who, having put away the
adulteress, shall marry another wife, as also she, who, having put away the adulterer, shall wed
another husband; let him be anathema.

---Canon VIII. If any one shall say, that the Church errs, in that she decrees that, for many
causes, a separation may take place between husband and wife, in regard of bed or cohabitation, for
a determinate or for an indeterminate period; let him be anathema.

---Canon IX. If any one shall say, that clerks constituted in sacred orders, or regulars, who have
solemnly professed chastity, are able to contract marriage, and that being contracted, it is valid,
the ecclesiastical law, or vow, notwithstanding; and that the contrary is nothing else than to
condemn marriage; and, that all who do not feel that they have the gift of chastity, even though
they have made, a vow thereof, may contract marriage; let him be anathema: seeing that God denieth
not that gift to them that ask it rightly, neither does He suffer us to be tempted above that we
are able.

---Canon X. If any one shall say, that the marriage state is to be preferred before a state of
virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity,
or in celibacy, than to be joined in matrimony; let him be anathema.

---Canon XI. If any one shall say, that the prohibition of the solemnization of marriages at
certain times of the year, is a tyrannical superstition, proceeding from the superstition of the
heathen; or shall condemn the benedictions and other ceremonies of which the










Church makes use therein; let him be anathema.

---Canon XII. If any one shall say, that matrimonial causes do not concern ecclesiastical judges;
let him be anathema.

DECREE TOUCHING THE REFORMATION OF MARRIAGE. CHAPTER I.
Although it is not to be doubted, that clandestine marriages, made with the free consent of the
parties contracting, are valid and true marriages, so long as the Church has not rendered them
invalid; and consequently, that those persons are justly to be condemned, as the holy synod doth
condemn them with anathema, who deny that such marriages are true and valid; as also those who
falsely affirm that marriages contracted by the children of a family, without the consent of their
parents, are invalid, and that parents can make such marriages either valid or invalid;
nevertheless,

CHAPTER IX.

…Wherefore, seeing it is a thing especially wicked to violate the liberty of matrimony, and that
wrongs proceed from those from whom right is expected, the holy synod enjoins on all, of what
degree, dignity, and condition soever they may be, under pain of anathema to be incurred by the
very act, that they do not in any way constrain, directly or indirectly, those subject to them, or
any others soever, so as to hinder them from freely contracting marriage.

TOUCHING THE INVOCATION, VENERATION, AND ON RELICS OF SAINTS, AND SACRED IMAGES.

And the bishops shall carefully teach this; that, by means of the histories of the mysteries of our
Redemption, depicted by paintings or other representations, the people are instructed, and
strengthened in remembering, and continually reflecting on the articles of faith; as also that
great profit is derived from all sacred images, not only because the people are thereby admonished
of the benefits gifts which have been bestowed upon them by Christ, but also because the miracles
of God through the means of the saints, and their salutarv examples, are set before the eyes of the
faithful; that so for those things they may give God thanks; may order their own life and manners
in imitation of the saints; and
may be excited to adore and love God, and to cultivate piety. But if any one shall teach or-think
contrary to these decrees; let him be anathema

CHAPTER XVI.

...Moreover, no renunciation, or obligation made earlier, even though upon oath, or in favour of
any pious object soever, shall have force, unless it bo made with the permission of the bishop, or
of his vicar, within the two months immediately preceding profession; and it shall not otherwise bo
understood to obtain its effect, unless the profession have










followed thereupon: but if made in any other manner, even though with the express renunciation of
this privilege, even upon oath, it shall be invalid and of no effect. When the period of the
noviciate is ended, the superiors shall admit those novices, whom they have found qualified, to
profession; or they shall dismiss them from the monastery. By these things, however, the holy synod
does not intend to make. any innovation, or to prohibit, but that the religious order of clerks of
the Society of Jesus be able to serve God and His Church, according to their pious institute,
approved by the holy Apostolic See. And, furthermore, before the profession of a novice, whether
male or female, nothing shall be given to the monastery out of the property of the same, either by
parents, or relatives, or guardians, under any pretext soever, except for food and clothing, for
the time in which they are under probation; lest [the said novice] be unable to leave on this
account, that the monastery is in possession of the whole, or of the greater part of his substance;
and he be not easily able to recover it, if he should leave. Yea rather the holy synod enjoins,
under the pain of anathema on the givers and receivers, that this be by no means done; and that, to
those who leave before their profession, all things that were theirs be restored to them. And the
bishop shall, if need be, enforce even by ecclesiastical censures that this be performed aright.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The holy synod subjects to anathema all and each those persons, of what quality or condition soever
they may be, whether clerks or laymen, seculars or regulars, or sustaining what dignity soever, who
shall, in any way soever, force any virgin, or widow, or any other woman soever, except in the
cases laid down in law, to enter a monastery against her will, or to assume the habit of any
religious order, or to declare her
profession; as also all those who shall lend their counsel, aid, or favour thereunto; and those
also who, knowing that she does not voluntarily enter into the monastery, or take the habit, or
declare her profession, shall, in any way, interfere in that act, either by their presence, or
consent, or authority. It also subjects to a like anathema those who shall, in any way, without a
just cause, hinder the holy wish of virgins, or other women, to take the veil or declare their
vows. And all and each of those things which ought to be done before profession, or at the
profession itself, shall be observed not only in monasteries subject to the bishop, but also in all
others soever. From these; [rules], however, are excepted those women who are called penitents, or
convertites; in regard to whom their constitutions shall be observed.

DECREE CONCERNING INDULGENCES.

Whereas the power of conferring indulgences was granted by Christ to the Church; and she has, even
in the most ancient times, used the said power, delivered unto her of God; the sacred and holy
synod teaches and enjoins, that the use of indulgences, most salutary for the Christian people, and
approved of by the authority of sacred councils, is to be retained in the Church; and it condemns
with anathema those who either assert that they are useless, or who deny that there is in the
Church the power of granting them. In granting them, however, it desires that, according to the
ancient and approved custom in the Church, moderation be observed, lest, by excessive facility,
ecclesiastical discipline










be enervated.

ON RECEIVING AND OBSERVING THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL.

So great has been the calamitousness of these times, and the inverate malice of the heretics, that
there has been nothing ever so clear in the statement of our faith, or so surely settled, which
they, at the persuasion of the enemy of the human race, have not defiled by some sort of error. For
which cause the holy synod hath taken especial care to condemn and anathematize the principal
errors of the heretics of our time, and to deliver and teach the true and Catholic doctrine; even
as it has condemned, anathematized, and defined. And whereas so many bishops, summoned from the
various provinces of the Christian world, cannot be absent for so long a time without great casting
away of the flock committed to them, and without universal danger; and whereas no hope remains that
the heretics, after having been so often invited, even with the public faith which they desired,
and so long expected, will come hither later; and as it is therefore necessary to put an end at
length to the sacred council: it now remains for it to admonish in the Lord all princes, as it
hereby does, so to afford their assistance as not to permit the things which it has decreed to be
corrupted or violated by heretics; but that they be by them and all others devoutly received and
faithfully observed.
ACCLAMATIONS OF THE FATHERS AT THE CLOSE OF THE COUNCIL. Cardinal. Anathema to all heretics.
Answer. Anathema, anathema.

THE BULL OF OUR HOLY LORD, THE LORD PIUS, BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE FOURTH POPE,

TOUCHING THE FORM OF THE OATH OF THE PROFESSION OF FAITH. Pius, bishop, servant of the servants of
God, for the perpetual memory hereof.
… I recognize the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all
churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman pontiff, successor of St. Peter,
prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ. All other things also delivered, defined, and
declared by the sacred canons and oecumenical councils, and particularly by the holy Synod of
Trent, I undoubtingly receive and profess, and at the same time all things contrary, and any
heresies soever condemned by the Church, and rejected and anathematized, I, in like manner,
condemn, reject, and anathematize. This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved,
which at present I readily profess and truly hold, I, N. promise, vow, and swear, that I will most
steadfastly retain and confess the same entire and undefiled to the last breath of life (with God's
help), and that I will take care, as far as shall be in my power, that it be held, taught, and
preached by my subjects, or those whose charge shall devolve on me in virtue of my office. So
help me God, and these holy gospels of God.










III.—CONDEMNATION OF THE ERRORS OF JANSENIUS. Bull of Innocentius X. against the Five Propositions.
The first of the aforesaid propositions: Some commandments of God are impossible to just men,
though willing and endeavouring, according to the present strength which they possess; they even
want the grace by which they may become possible: we declare to be rash, impious, blasphemous,
condemned with anathema and heretical, and as such we condemn it.

Source: Google Books - The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent: Literally translated into
English By Council of Trent, Theodore Alois Buckley.
http://books.google.com/books?id=P_GDBjERbmUC&pg=PR1&dq=[the+canons+and+decrees+of+the+co
uncil+of+trent]&output=text

The Heresy of Nestorius

Funmoods- Firefox Uninstall Tutorial

Taxi's Latka on what you need in life

TAXI - Jim at Harvard

The 21 Ecumenical Councils

I. FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA
Year: 325
Summary: The Council of Nicaea lasted two months and twelve days. Three hundred and eighteen bishops were present. Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, assisted as legate of Pope Sylvester. The Emperor Constantine was also present. To this council we owe the Nicene Creed, defining against Arius the true Divinity of the Son of God (homoousios), and the fixing of the date for keeping Easter (against the Quartodecimans).
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/11044a.htm
II. FIRST COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Year: 381
Summary: The First General Council of Constantinople, under Pope Damasus and the Emperor Theodosius I, was attended by 150 bishops. It was directed against the followers of Macedonius, who impugned the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. To the above-mentioned Nicene Creed it added the clauses referring to the Holy Ghost (qui simul adoratur) and all that follows to the end.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/04308a.htm
III. COUNCIL OF EPHESUS
Year: 431
Summary: The Council of Ephesus, of more than 200 bishops, presided over by St. Cyril of Alexandria representing Pope Celestine I, defined the true personal unity of Christ, declared Mary the Mother of God (theotokos) against Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and renewed the condemnation of Pelagius.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/05491a.htm
IV. COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON
Year: 451
Summary: The Council of Chalcedon -- 150 bishops under Pope Leo the Great and the Emperor Marcian -- defined the two natures (Divine and human) in Christ against Eutyches, who was excommunicated.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/03555a.htm
V. SECOND COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Year: 553
Summary: The Second General Council of Constantinople, of 165 bishops under Pope Vigilius and Emperor Justinian I, condemned the errors of Origen and certain writings (The Three Chapters) of Theodoret, of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia and of Ibas, Bishop of Edessa; it further confirmed the first four general councils, especially that of Chalcedon whose authority was contested by some heretics.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/04308b.htm
VI. THIRD COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Years: 680-681
Summary: The Third General Council of Constantinople, under Pope Agatho and the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, was attended by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and of Antioch, 174 bishops, and the emperor. It put an end to Monothelitism by defining two wills in Christ, the Divine and the human, as two distinct principles of operation. It anathematized Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, Macarius, and all their followers.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/04310a.htm
VII. SECOND COUNCIL OF NICAEA
Year: 787
Summary: The Second Council of Nicaea was convoked by Emperor Constantine VI and his mother Irene, under Pope Adrian I, and was presided over by the legates of Pope Adrian; it regulated the veneration of holy images. Between 300 and 367 bishops assisted.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/11045a.htm
VIII. FOURTH COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Year: 869
Summary: The Fourth General Council of Constantinople, under Pope Adrian II and Emperor Basil numbering 102 bishops, 3 papal legates, and 4 patriarchs, consigned to the flames the Acts of an irregular council (conciliabulum) brought together by Photius against Pope Nicholas and Ignatius the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople; it condemned Photius who had unlawfully seized the patriarchal dignity. The Photian Schism, however, triumphed in the Greek Church, and no other general council took place in the East.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/04310b.htm
IX. FIRST LATERAN COUNCIL
Year: 1123
Summary: The First Lateran Council, the first held at Rome, met under Pope Callistus II. About 900 bishops and abbots assisted. It abolished the right claimed by lay princes, of investiture with ring and crosier to ecclesiastical benefices and dealt with church discipline and the recovery of the Holy Land from the infidels.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09016b.htm
X. SECOND LATERAN COUNCIL
Year: 1139
Summary: The Second Lateran Council was held at Rome under Pope Innocent II, with an attendance of about 1000 prelates and the Emperor Conrad. Its object was to put an end to the errors of Arnold of Brescia.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09017a.htm
XI. THIRD LATERAN COUNCIL
Year: 1179
Summary: The Third Lateran Council took place under Pope Alexander III, Frederick I being emperor. There were 302 bishops present. It condemned the Albigenses and Waldenses and issued numerous decrees for the reformation of morals.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09017b.htm
XII. FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL
Year: 1215
Summary: The Fourth Lateran Council was held under Innocent III. There were present the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, 71 archbishops, 412 bishops, and 800 abbots the Primate of the Maronites, and St. Dominic. It issued an enlarged creed (symbol) against the Albigenses (Firmiter credimus), condemned the Trinitarian errors of Abbot Joachim, and published 70 important reformatory decrees. This is the most important council of the Middle Ages, and it marks the culminating point of ecclesiastical life and papal power.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018a.htm
XIII. FIRST COUNCIL OF LYONS
Year: 1245
Summary: The First General Council of Lyons was presided over by Innocent IV; the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Aquileia (Venice), 140 bishops, Baldwin II, Emperor of the East, and St. Louis, King of France, assisted. It excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II and directed a new crusade, under the command of St. Louis, against the Saracens and Mongols.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09476b.htm
XIV. SECOND COUNCIL OF LYONS
Year: 1274
Summary: The Second General Council of Lyons was held by Pope Gregory X, the Patriarchs of Antioch and Constantinople, 15 cardinals, 500 bishops, and more than 1000 other dignitaries. It effected a temporary reunion of the Greek Church with Rome. The word filioque was added to the symbol of Constantinople and means were sought for recovering Palestine from the Turks. It also laid down the rules for papal elections.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09476c.htm
XV. COUNCIL OF VIENNE
Years: 1311-1313
Summary: The Council of Vienne was held in that town in France by order of Clement V, the first of the Avignon popes. The Patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria, 300 bishops (114 according to some authorities), and 3 kings -- Philip IV of France, Edward II of England, and James II of Aragon -- were present. The synod dealt with the crimes and errors imputed to the Knights Templars, the Fraticelli, the Beghards, and the Beguines, with projects of a new crusade, the reformation of the clergy, and the teaching of Oriental languages in the universities.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/15423a.htm
XVI. COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE
Years: 1414-1418
The Council of Constance was held during the great Schism of the West, with the object of ending the divisions in the Church. It became legitimate only when Gregory XI had formally convoked it. Owing to this circumstance it succeeded in putting an end to the schism by the election of Pope Martin V, which the Council of Pisa (1403) had failed to accomplish on account of its illegality. The rightful pope confirmed the former decrees of the synod against Wyclif and Hus. This council is thus ecumenical only in its last sessions (42-45 inclusive) and with respect to the decrees of earlier sessions approved by Martin V.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/04288a.htm
XVII. COUNCIL OF BASLE/FERRARA/FLORENCE
Years: 1431-1439
Summary: The Council of Basle met first in that town, Eugene IV being pope, and Sigismund Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Its object was the religious pacification of Bohemia. Quarrels with the pope having arisen, the council was transferred first to Ferrara (1438), then to Florence (1439), where a short-lived union with the Greek Church was effected, the Greeks accepting the council's definition of controverted points. The Council of Basle is only ecumenical till the end of the twenty-fifth session, and of its decrees Eugene IV approved only such as dealt with the extirpation of heresy, the peace of Christendom, and the reform of the Church, and which at the same time did not derogate from the rights of the Holy See.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/06111a.htm
XVIII. FIFTH LATERAN COUNCIL
Years: 1512-1517
Summary: The Fifth Lateran Council sat from 1512 to 1517 under Popes Julius II and Leo X, the emperor being Maximilian I. Fifteen cardinals and about eighty archbishops and bishops took part in it. Its decrees are chiefly disciplinary. A new crusade against the Turks was also planned, but came to naught, owing to the religious upheaval in Germany caused by Luther.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018b.htm
XIX. COUNCIL OF TRENT
Years: 1545-1563
Summary: The Council of Trent lasted eighteen years (1545-1563) under five popes: Paul III, Julius III, Marcellus II, Paul IV and Pius IV, and under the Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand. There were present 5 cardinal legates of the Holy See, 3 patriarchs, 33 archbishops, 235 bishops, 7 abbots, 7 generals of monastic orders, and 160 doctors of divinity. It was convoked to examine and condemn the errors promulgated by Luther and other Reformers, and to reform the discipline of the Church. Of all councils it lasted longest, issued the largest number of dogmatic and reformatory decrees, and produced the most beneficial results.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/15030c.htm
XX. FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL
Years: 1869-1870
Summary: The Vatican Council was summoned by Pius IX. It met 8 December, 1869, and lasted till 18 July, 1870, when it was adjourned; it is still (1908) unfinished. There were present 6 archbishop-princes, 49 cardinals, 11 patriarchs, 680 archbishops and bishops, 28 abbots, 29 generals of orders, in all 803. Besides important canons relating to the Faith and the constitution of the Church, the council decreed the infallibility of the pope when speaking ex cathedra, i.e. when as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.
Further Reading: www.newadvent.org/cathen/15303a.htm
XXI. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Years: 1962-1965

13th Council, First Council of Lyons (A.D. 1245) On excommunication 1

9. {41} On excommunication 1

Since the aim of excommunication is healing and not death, correction and not destruction, as long as the one against whom it is pronounced does not treat it with contempt, let an ecclesiastical judge proceed with caution, so that in pronouncing It he may be seen as one who acts with a correcting and healing hand. Whoever pronounces an excommunication, therefore, should do this in writing and should write down expressly the reason why the excommunication was pronounced. He is bound to hand over a copy of this written document to the one excommunicated within a month after the date of sentence, if requested to do so. As to this request, we wish a public document to be drawn up or testimonial letters to be furnished, sealed with an official seal. If any judge rashly violates this constitution, let him know that he is suspended for one month from entering a church or attending divine services. The superior to whom the one excommunicated has recourse, should readily remove the excommunication and condemn the judge who pronounced it to repay the expenses and all losses, or punish him in other ways with a fitting penalty, so that judges may learn by the lesson of punishment how serious it is to hurl the bolt of excommunication without due consideration. We wish the same to be observed in sentences of suspension and interdict. Let prelates of churches and all judges take care that they do not incur the foresaid penalty of suspension. But if it happens that they take part m divine offices as before, they will not escape irregularity according to the canonical sanctions, in a matter where dispensation cannot be granted except by the sovereign pontiff.

20. {42} On excommunication 2

The question is sometimes asked whether, when a person who asks to be absolved by a superior by way of precaution, asserting that the sentence of excommunication pronounced against him is void, the act of absolution should be performed for him without objection; and whether one who declares before such absolution that he will prove in a court of law that he was excommunicated after a legitimate appeal, or that an intolerable mistake was clearly expressed in the sentence, should be avoided in all things except in what concerns the proof. To the first question we decree that the following is to be observed: absolution is not to be refused to the petitioner, even though the pronouncer of the sentence or the adversary opposes it, unless he says that the petitioner was excommunicated for a manifest offence, in which case a limit of eight days is to be granted to the one saying this. If he proves his objection, the sentence is not to be set aside unless there is sufficient guarantee of amendment or an adequate assurance that the petitioner will appear in court if the offence with which he is charged is still doubtful. To the second question, we decree that he who is allowed to submit a proof, as long as the matter of proof is in dispute, is to be avoided in all matters in the court in which he is engaged as an agent, but outside the court he may take part in offices, postulations, elections and other lawful acts.

21. {43} On excommunication 3

We decree {44} that no judge should presume to pronounce, before a canonical warning, a sentence of major excommunication upon persons who associate, in speech or other ways by which an associate incurs a minor excommunication, with persons already excommunicated by the judge; saving those decrees which have legitimately been promulgated against those who presume to associate with one condemned for grievous crime. But it the excommunicated person becomes hardened in speech or other ways by which an associate incurs a minor excommunication, the judge can, after canonical warning, condemn such associates with a similar censure. Otherwise excommunication pronounced against these associates is not to have any binding power, and those who pronounce it may fear the penalty of the law.

22. {45} On excommunication 4

Since there is danger that bishops and their superiors in the execution of their pontifical office, which is often their duty, may incur in some case an automatic sentence of interdict or suspension, we have thought it right, after careful consideration, to decree that bishops and other higher prelates in no way incur, because of any decree, sentence or order, the aforesaid sentence by reason of the law itself, unless there is express mention in them of bishops and superiors. In the constitution Solet a nonnullis, previously promulgated by us, it is laid down that when someone offers in court to prove that a sentence of excommunication was passed against him after a legitimate appeal, he is not to be avoided during the period of proof in matters which lie outside the court, such as elections, postulations and offices. To this we add that this constitution should not be extended to the sentences of bishops and archbishops, but what was previously observed in such actions should be observed in the future for these too.

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