Page:Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Buckley.djvu/36

4 been firmly settled and decreed; considering,—whilst we were making ready ourselves, and all other matters for fitly conducting and celebrating that assembly under the help of God,—that it was a point of the greatest importance, both as regards the celebration of the council, and the general weal of Christendom, that the Christian princes should be united together in peace and concord; we ceased not to implore and conjure our most beloved sons in Christ, Charles, ever august, the emperor of the Romans, and Francis, the most Christian king, the two main supports and defences of the Christian name, to meet together for a conference between them and us; and, with both of them, by letters, nuncios, and our legates a latere selected from the number of our venerable brethren, did we very often urge that they should, instead of their jealousies and animosities, unite in one alliance and holy friendship, and succour the tottering cause of Christendom: for whereas it was to preserve this especially, that their power had been bestowed on them by God, if they neglected to do this, and directed not their counsels to the common weal of Christians, a sharp and severe account would they have to render unto that God. They, yielding at last to our prayers, betook themselves to Nice; whither we also, for the cause of God, and to bring about peace, undertook a long journey, though greatly unsuited to our advanced age. Meanwhile, as the time fixed for the council, the calends, to wit, of May, drew nigh, we did not omit to send to Vicenza three legates a latere,—men of the greatest virtue and authority, chosen from the number of the aforesaid our own brethren, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church,—to open the council; to receive the prelates as they arrived from various quarters; and to transact and manage such matters as they should deem necessary, until we, returning from our journey and message of peace, should be able to direct everything with greater precision. In the mean time, we applied ourselves to that holy and most necessary work, to wit, the negotiation of peace between the princes; and this with all the zeal, the affection, and the earnestness of our soul. God is our witness, relying on whose clemency we exposed ourselves to the dangers of that journey to the peril of our life: our conscience is our witness, which herein, at least, cannot