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 TRENT

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TRENT

tained nine chapters on tlie dogma of the Church respecting the Sacrament of Penance and three chap- ters on extreme unction. To the chapters on penance were added fifteen canons condemning heretical teachings on this point, and four canons condemning heresies to the chapters on unction. The decree on reform treated the disciphne of the clergy and various matters respecting ecclesiastical benefices. In the meantime, ambassadors from several Protestant princes and cities reached Trent. They made various demands, as: that the earlier decisions which were contrary to the Aug.sbiu'g Confession should be re- called; "that debates on questions in dispute between Cathohcs and Protestants should be deferred; that the subordination of the pope to an oecumenical coun- cil should be defined; and other propositions which the council could not accept. Since the close of the last session both the theologians and the general congre- gations had been occupied in numerous assemblies with the dogma of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of the ordination of priests, as well as with plans for new reformatory decrees. At the fifteenth session (25 January, 1552), in order to make some advances to the ambassadors of the Protestants, the decisions in regard to the subjects under consideration were postponed and a new safe-conduct, such as they had desired, was drawn up for them. Besides the three papal legates and Cardinal Madruzzo, there were pres- ent at Trent ten archbishops and fifty-four bishops, most of them from the countries ruled by the emperor. On account of the treacherous attack made by Mau- rice of Saxony on Charles V, the city of Trent and the members of the council were placed in danger; con- sequently, at the sixteenth session (23 April, 1552) a decree suspending the coimcil for two years was pro- mulgated. However, a considerably longer period of time elapsed before it could resume its sessions.

D. Third Period at Trent. — Julius III did not live to call the council together again. He was followed by MarceOus II (1555), a former cardinal legate at Trent, Marcello Cervino; Marcellus died twenty- two days after his election. His successor, the austere Paul IV (1555-9), energetically carried out internal reforms both in Rome and in the other parts of the Church ; but he did not seriously consider reconvening the council. Pius IV (1559-65) announced to the cardi- nals shortly after his election his intention of reopen- ing the council. Indeed, he had found the right man, his nephew, the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo, to complete the important work and to bring its decisions into customary usage in the Church. Great difficulties were raised once more on various sides. The Emperor Ferdinand de- sired the council, but wished it to be held in some German city, and not at Trent; moreover he desired it to meet not as a continuation of the earlier assem- bly but as a new council. The King of France also desired the assembling of a new council, but he did not wish it at Trent. The Protestants of Germany worked in every way against the assembling of the Council. After long negotiations Ferdinand, the Kings of Spain and Portugal, CathoUc Switzerland, and Venice left the matter to the pope. On 29 Nov., 1560, the Bull "Ad ecclesise regimen", by which the council was ordered to meet again at Trent at Easter, 1561, was published. Notwithstand- ing all the efforts of the papal nuncios, Delfino and Commendone, the German Protestants persisted in their opposition. Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga was appointed president of the council; he was to be assisted by the cardinal legates Stanislaus Hosius, Jacobus Puteus (du I'uy), HieronjTnus Seripando, Luigi Simonetta, and Slarcus Siticus of Altemps. As the bishops madt^ their appearance very slowly, the opening of the council was delayed. Finally on 18 Jan., 1.562, the seventeenth session was held; it proclaimed the revocation of the suspension of the

council and appointed the date for the next session. There were present, besides the four cardinal legates, one cardinal, three patriarchs, eleven archbishops, forty bishops, four abbots, and four generals of orders; in addition thirtj^-four theologians were in attendance. The ambassadors of the princes were a source of much trouble to the presidents of the council and made demands which were in part im- possible. The Protestants continued to calum- niate the assembly. Emperor Ferdinand wished to have the discussion of dogmatic questions deferred.

At the eighteenth session (25 Feb., 1562) the only matters decided were the pubhcation of a decree concerning the drawing up of a list of forbidden books and an agreement as to a safe-conduct for Protestants. At the next two sessions, the nineteenth on 14 May, and the twentieth on 4 June, 1562, only decrees proroguing the council were issued. The number of members had, it is true, increased, and various ambassadors of Catholic rulers had arrived at Trent, but some princes continued to raise obstacles both as to the character of the council and the place of meeting. Emperor Ferdinand sent an exhaustive plan of church reform which contained many articles impossible to accept. The legates, however, con- tinued the work of the assembly, and presented the draft of the decree on Holy Communion, which treated especially the question of Communion under both species, as weU as drafts of several disciplinary decrees. These questions were subjected to the usual discussions. At the twent}'-first session (16 July, 1562) the decree on Communion under both species and on the Communion of children was pro- mulgated in four chapters and four canons. A decree upon reformation in nine chapters was also promul- gated; it treated ordination to the priesthood, the revenues of canons, the founding of new parishes, and the collectors of alms. Articles on the Sacrifice of the Mass were now laid before the congregations for discussion; in the following months there were long and animated debates over the dogma. At the twenty-second session, which was not held until 17 Sept., 1562, four decrees were promulgated: the first contained the dogma of the Church on the Sacrifice of the Mass (in nine chapters and nine canons) ; the second directed the suppression of abuses in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice; a third (in eleven chapters) treated reform, especially in regard to the morals of the clergy, the requirements necessary before ecclesiastical offices could be assumed, wills, the administration of religious foundations; the fourth treated the granting of the cup to the laity at Com- munion, which was left to the discretion of the pope.

The council had hardly ever been in as difficult a position as that in which it now found itself. The secular rulers made contradictory and, in part, im- possible demands. At the same time warm debates were held by the fathers on the questions of the duty of residence and the relation of the bishops to the pope. The French bishops who arrived on 13 Novem- ber made several dubious propositions. Cardinals Gonzaga and Seripando, who were of the number of cardinal legates, died. The two new legates and presidents, Morone and Navagero, gradually mastered the difficulties. The various points of the dogma concerning the ordination of priests were discussed both in the congregations of the eighty- four theologians, among whom Salmeron, Soto, and Lainez were the most prominent, and in the general congregations. Finally, on 15 July, 1563, the twenty- third session was held. It promulgated the decree on the Sacrament of Orders and on the ecclesiastical hierarchy (in four chapters and eight canons), and a decree on reform (in eighteen chapters). This disciplinary decree treated the obligation of residence, the conferring of the different grades of ordination, and the education of young clerics (seminarists).