Page:Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Buckley.djvu/46

14 apostle, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks, for our most holy lord the pope, for the emperor, for kings, and the rest who are placed in authority, and for all men, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, may enjoy peace, and see an increase of faith. Furthermore, it exhorts that they fast at least on every Friday, in memory of the passion of the Lord, and bestow alms on the poor. Furthermore, on every Thursday there shall be celebrated, in the cathedral church, the mass of the Holy Ghost, with the litanies and other prayers appointed to this end; and on the same day there shall be said, in the other churches, at least the litanies and prayers. And during the time that the sacred services are being performed, let there be no talkings or conversations together, but, with mouth and mind, association with the celebrant. And inasmuch as It behoveth bishops to be blameless, sober, chaste, ruling well their own household, [the council] exhorts also that, above all things, each observe sobriety at table, and moderation in diet; further, that since idle conversations are often wont to arise there, the reading of the divine Scriptures be introduced, even at the tables of bishops; and let each teach and instruct his servants not to be quarrelsome, given to wine, immodest, covetous, haughty, blasphemous, and lovers of pleasures; in fine, let them shun vice and embrace virtue, and in dress, appearance, and in all their actions show forth modesty, as becomes the servants of the servants of God.

Moreover, whereas it is the chief care, solicitude, and intention of this sacred and holy council, that, the darkness of heresies, which during so many years has covered the earth, being dispelled, the light, brightness, and purity of Catholic truth may, by the aid of Jesus Christ, who is the true light, shine forth; and that those things which need reformation may be reformed; the same synod exhorts all Catholics here assembled, and to be assembled, and especially those who are skilled in the sacred letters, that by sedulous meditation they diligently reflect within themselves, by what ways and means the intention of the synod may be best directed, and obtain the desired effect; that, in the most