Trent, Council of

Trent, Council of (1545–63). Reckoned by RCs the 19th Oecumenical Council, it embodied the ideals of the Counter-Reformation and established a solid base for the renewal of discipline and spiritual life in the RC Church. The spread of Protestantism and the need for moral and administrative reforms had led to widespread demands for a General Council. Summoned by Paul III in 1537, it eventually met at Trent in 1545.

PERIOD I (1545–7). The Council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed as the basis of faith; it upheld the validity of both Scripture and unwritten traditions as sources of religious truth, the sole right of the Church to interpret the Bible, and the authority of the Vulgate; and it defined the theology of the Sacraments in general. Its decrees on Original Sin and on justification and merit struck at the root of the Protestant system.

PERIOD II(1551–2). Reconvoked by Julius III, the Council reached important decisions on the Eucharist, on Penance, and on Extreme Unction. Transubstantiation was affirmed and the Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian Eucharistic doctrines repudiated.

PERIOD III(1562–3). When the Council reassembled under Pius IV, all hope of conciliating the Protestants had gone. The doctrine of concomitance and the adequacy of Communion in one kind was affirmed, and there were various definitions on the sacrificial character of the Mass. Other decrees dealt with Orders and Matrimony, established seminaries in each diocese, and regulated the appointment of bishops. Various works recommended or initiated by the Council were handed over to the Pope for completion. These included the revision of Vulgate, publication of the ‘Roman Catechism’, and reform of the Breviary and Missal.