Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/566

Rh ; the conclusion arrived at was that a secret examination of the evidence should be made, but not suffered to appear in the public acts of the council. The third question was decided negatively. These congregations were the first wherein theological experts and canonists, not being members of the council, were admitted to a share in the discussions. The nature and function of tradition was also debated at this time, and the legates informed the pope that there was a strong tendency in the council to set it aside altogether, and to make Scripture the sole standard of appeal. Another burning question debated was that of vernacular translation and lay study of Scripture. The result, in the fourth session (April 8, 1546), was the promulgation of two decrees, the first of which enacts, under anathema, that Scripture and tradition are to be received and venerated equally, and that the deutero-canonical books are part of the canon of Scripture. The second decree declared the Vulgate to be the sole authentic and standard Latin version, and gave it such authority as to supersede the original texts; forbade the interpretation of Scripture contrary to the sense received by the church, "or even contrary to the unanimous con sent of the fathers "; imposed various restrictions upon printers and vendors of Bibles; made licences to read any Biblical manuscript or publication compulsory; and prohibited the application of Scripture language to profane and superstitious purposes. The subjects next taken up were the doctrine of original sin and the reformation of abuses concerned with preachers and lecturers, which were made the matter of two decrees in the fifth session (June 17, 1546). The most noticeable point in the former is the saving clause, whereby the tenet of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is excepted from decision, and left open; the latter enjoins the erection of a lectureship of Scripture in all cathedrals, collegiate churches, and monasteries, imposes the duty of preaching upon all bishops and persons with cure of souls, lays down stringent rules as to preaching licences, and forbids the " questors " (that is, the collectors of alms commissioned by the mendicant orders) to preach anywhere. There was a treaty concluded between the pope and the emperor a few days after this session, to make war against the German Protestants on the express ground of their refusal to submit to the council, and from this may be dated the end of any serious effort in the council itself to deal with the question of reconciliation, although the original motive for its convocation. Moreover, so little interest was felt even by the Roman episcopate in the proceedings at Trent that, instead of fresh accessions coming to recruit the small numbers present, constant defections took place, and a proposal to stop this by forbidding any bishop to quit Trent without formal permission was carried. The doctrine of Justification, made a burning question by the prominence given to it in Lutheran theology, was next taken up, and, this being, so to speak, a new controversy, with few precedents to guide the council, the discussion was proportionably protracted. It is noteworthy that Luther's views found some supporters, and the resignation of the legateship at this time by Reginald Pole, and his departure from the council, never to return, is attributed to his dissatisfaction with the conclusions arrived at upon this subject in its decree. The disciplinary question discussed at this time was that of the obligation of residence, especially as regards bishops; and decrees upon both these subjects were promulgated in the sixth session (January 13, 1547), that on Justification being a formal dogmatic treatise in sixteen chapters, thirty-three canons; that on residence reviving former canons, and imposing new penalties, but avoiding the solution of a question hotly debated in the council, whether the residence of bishops was obligatory jure divino, or merely by ecclesiastical precept. Meanwhile, Charles V. was victorious in his war with the Protestants, and had all Germany in his power, but, instead of using the opportunity, as the pope expected, to put down the Reformers, he alleged that the recent war had not been one of religion, and assumed an attitude of toleration. Hereupon Paul III., in order to break up this truce, sent instructions to the legates to press on decrees displeasing to the Protestants, judging that the emperor's well-known interest in the council would cause him to be accounted responsible for its measures, and thus lose all credit for his recent forbearance. In the seventh session, held on March 3, 1547, two decrees were promulgated, one defining the sacraments as seven in number, and as being all channels of grace, also adding special canons concerning baptism and confirmation; the other dealing with pluralities, unions of benefices, repair of churches, and kindred matters, but with no great stringency. A more important part of the business of this session was the open declaration of a measure which the pope and the legates had been privately planning for some time, the transference of the council from Trent to some city more directly under papal control; for, while Trent sufficed for headquarters as against Protestants, yet it was found that a virtual coalition between the Spanish, French, and German bishops to resist the Italians interfered with the intentions of the papal court, and could be most effectively broken up by a change of place. Occasion was accordingly taken from an outbreak of disease, alleged to be infectious, at Trent to issue a bull transferring the council to Bologna, which was read in the seventh session, while the promulgation of a decree in accordance with it formed the whole business of the eighth session (March 11, 1547). When it had been passed, the legates produced a brief which they had obtained more than two years before, empowering them to transfer the council as they pleased. But, while they themselves quitted Trent the next day, and were followed by the majority of the bishops, those of the emperor's party continued in session at Trent, and refused to leave it without the permission of their sovereign, though they abstained from all conciliar action, in order to avoid the charge of schism. Charles V., incensed at the pope's action, sent a mandate approving ami confirming their conduct. The ninth session, held at Bologna (April 21, 1547), and the tenth also (June 2, 1547), were merely formal, nothing being done save to prorogue the council. The practical result of this split in the council was to relieve the Protestants from imminent peril; for, while the emperor's successes enabled him to put severe pressure upon them to submit to its decrees, it was itself incapacitated for valid action, as neither the bishops at Bologna nor those at Trent could claim to be the whole council, nor demand acceptance of their acts as binding. Hence Charles V. was urgent for the return of the entire body to Trent, and threatened, in case of refusal, to go to Rome, and hold the council there himself. And he took an even more peremptory step by constituting himself arbiter of the whole controversy, appointing Julius Pflug, bishop of Naumburg, a prelate known to be friendly to the Lutherans, Michael Holding, called Sidonius, afterwards bishop of Merseburg, and John Agricola, a Lutheran writer of some mark, to draft an eirenicon upon the points in dispute, which was published under the title of the " Interim," by the emperor's authority, at the diet of Augsburg, May 15, 1548. It proved, however, inefficacious, and was formally repudiated and answered by the Catholic princes and states of the empire, and yet more peremptorily by the Protestants, its only result being the " Interimistic controversy." It was succeeded by another formulary concerning reformation, accepted by the diet. While the emperor was endeavouring to force the " Interim " upon his dominions, the pope, on his part, strove to remove the dead-lock of the divided council, and convoked a committee to consist of members of both the Bolognese and the Trideutine sections to confer upon ecclesiastical reforms. But the bishops at Trent, having communicated with the emperor, and waited three weeks for his sanction, re fused to leave that city, and the pope was compelled to direct the legates at Bologna to dismiss the bishops assembled there, and to announce the suspension of the council, which was accordingly done upon September 17, 1549. Paul III. died on November 10, 1549, and was succeeded on February 7, 1550, by Cardinal del Moiite, the chief legate at the council, who took the title of Julius III. The break in the continuity of the council occasioned by these proceedings lasted till May 1, 1551, when the eleventh session was held at Trent under the presidency of Cardinal Crescenzio, sole legate in title, but with two nuncios, Pighini and Lippomani, as co-ordinate assessors. It was merely formal, as was also the twelfth session, on September 1, 1551. Just at this time Henry II., king of France, having quarrelled with the pope about the duchy 01 Parma, sent an envoy to the council at Trent, with letters styling it a "convention," denying its oecumenical character, declaring that it was not accessible to himself or to the French bishops, and notifying a protest against the validity of its proceedings, which he desired might be registered, and a copy of the register returned to him. No reply was made to this demand; so Henry dismissed the papal nuncio from his court, and published a manifesto to justify himself, at the same time that, in order to repel any charge of sympathy with the Protestants, he promulgated a severe edict against them. But the absence of French bishops, and the comparatively scanty attendance from Germany, threw matters more than ever into the hands of the Italian majority, as appeared from the decrees promulgated in the thirteenth session (October 11, 1551), and indeed from the attitude taken up by the legates just before it. For the obstinate refusal of the Protestants to attend or even recognize the council was on the point of giving way, and the imperial ambassadors demanded a safe-conduct for such as might present themselves, with some warranty that it should be really safe. They also desired the postponement of any decision on the doctrine of the Eucharist, and especially as regards the communion of the laity in the chalice. The pope expressed himself willing to grant both these demands, but no real attention was paid to either of them. As respects the attendance of the Protestants, the letters of Francis Vargas, fiscal (attorney-general) in Spain to Charles V., and his agent at the council, state plainly that the legates merely pretended to desire it, and were secretly doing everything to prevent it, while the very points as to which delay had been promised were made the subject of the decrees in the above-named session. The decree on the Eucharist was specially directed against Lutheran and Zwinglian opinions then recently broached, and was couched in eight chapters with eleven canons appended. It reasserted the doctrine of Transubstantiation, already defined by the fourth Lateran council in 1216, while, by