Council of Trent

The Fourth Session (1546) holds that the truth and discipline of the Gospel are contained "in the written books, and the unwritten traditions" received from the apostles, and that the council receives both "with an equal affection of piety, and reverence." A second decree forbids anyone to interpret Scripture against the sense held by "holy mother Church" or "contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers."

WORTH CORRECTINGA common simplification says Trent taught that revelation comes "partly" in Scripture and "partly" in tradition. An earlier draft of the decree used that partim…partim wording; the decree as passed says "and" (et). Whether that change mattered is itself debated, so this cell quotes the decree as passed.

receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety, and reverenceSession IV (1546), Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures

The Fourth Session lists the books of Scripture by name, including Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the two books of the Machabees, and binds the list with an anathema on anyone who does not receive those books, entire and with all their parts, as sacred and canonical.

But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their partsSession IV (1546), Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures

The Third Session (1546) adds no new trinitarian teaching. It recites in full "the Symbol of faith which the holy Roman Church makes use of", the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed in its Western form, with the Spirit proceeding "from the Father and the Son." The council calls the creed "that firm and alone foundation against which the gates of hell shall never prevail."

consubstantial with the FatherSession III (1546), Decree touching the Symbol of Faith

As with the Trinity, Trent's Christology is the creed it recites in the Third Session, not a new definition. The session says it opens with the Symbol as "the most sacred councils" before it had done, and it does not reopen any christological question.

WORTH CORRECTINGThe quoted clause confesses the incarnation; it does not use Chalcedon's two-natures language, and the sessions read for this entry do not name Chalcedon. The stance rests on the creed Trent confesses and its general reception of the earlier councils, which is why the state is leans-toward.

was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made manSession III (1546), Decree touching the Symbol of Faith

The Fifth Session (1546) teaches that Adam's sin is passed to all "by propagation, not by imitation," and condemns the view that he passed on only death and bodily pains. The Sixth Session sets the limit on the other side: fallen free will is weakened and bent, but not destroyed. Its canon 5 condemns anyone who says "that, since Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished."

although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in themSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 1

Trent speaks of predestination but does not say on what basis God chooses. Chapter 12 of the decree on justification warns that no one should presume to know, without a special revelation, that they are among the predestined. Canon 17 closes one door: it condemns the view that grace is given only to the predestined to life while the rest are "by the divine power, predestined unto evil." Between free choice and foreseen faith as the ground of election, the council does not decide, and the Catholic schools went on differing after it.

WORTH CORRECTINGTrent does address predestination, so this blank is not a sign that the decree is silent on the subject. What was not located is a ruling on the ground of election, which is the question this locus asks.

ought so far to presume as regards the secret mystery of divine predestinationSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 12

Faith "is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification" (chapter 8), but faith alone does not unite a person perfectly with Christ unless hope and charity are joined to it. Canon 12 condemns the view that justifying faith is nothing but trust in God's mercy forgiving sins for Christ's sake.

For faith, unless hope and charity be added thereto, neither unites man perfectly with ChristSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 7

Justification is not only the forgiveness of sins but the inward renewal of the person. Chapter 7 names baptism, "the sacrament of faith," as its instrumental cause, and says God's charity is poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit "and is inherent therein." Canon 11 condemns the view that people are justified "by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins."

WORTH CORRECTINGTrent does not teach that people earn their first justification. Chapter 8 says "none of those things which precede justification-whether faith or works-merit the grace itself of justification." The difference from the Reformers lies chiefly in what justification is, and also in the will's cooperation (canon 4), assurance (chapter 9, canons 13 and 14) and the merit of growth in grace and of eternal life (canons 24 and 32). It does not lie in whether justification begins in grace.

which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward manSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 7

Christ died for all, but only those to whom the merit of his passion is communicated receive its benefit. The same chapter says people would never be justified "if they were not born again in Christ." That is the distinction between the death's worth, which reaches all, and its fruit, which reaches those reborn. The decree does not limit Christ's death to the elect.

WORTH CORRECTINGThe stance label says "efficient for the elect"; Trent says "those only unto whom the merit of His passion is communicated" and does not use the word elect here. The cell takes suff-eff for the substance, the value/fruit distinction, and matches Pius V's Roman Catechism, which teaches the same distinction in the same terms of value and fruit. The universal stance was considered and set aside because its label applies the death "on faith", where Trent applies it through rebirth and the "laver of regeneration."

But, though He died for all, yet do not all receive the benefit of His death, but those only unto whom the merit of His passion is communicated.Session VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 3

The grace of justification is lost not only by unbelief but by any mortal sin, and can be recovered through the sacrament of penance. Canon 23 condemns the view that a person once justified can no longer sin or lose grace.

WORTH CORRECTINGTrent also calls final perseverance a distinct gift. Chapter 13 speaks of "the gift of perseverance," and canon 16 of "that great gift of perseverance unto the end," which no one can know they have "of an absolute and infallible certainty" "unless he have learned this by special revelation." The cell holds can-fall because the decree's operative teaching is that grace can be lost; the persev-gift strand is real and is recorded here rather than lost.

the received grace of Justification is lost, not only by infidelity whereby even faith itself is lost, but also by any other mortal sin whateverSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 15

Chapter 7 names baptism as the instrumental cause of justification. In the same act of justification, God's charity is poured out by the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those justified and inheres in them. Chapter 4 adds that justification "cannot be effected, without the laver of regeneration, or the desire thereof", so baptism is the ordinary means, and the desire for it can stand in its place.

the charity of God is poured forth, by the Holy Spirit, in the heartsSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 7

The Twenty-third Session (1563) names exorcist among the minor orders through which a cleric advances to the priesthood. An order of exorcists presupposes that the church exorcises. Trent itself does not describe the rite or explain it.

to wit those of subdeacon, acolyth, exorcist, lector, and door-keeperSession XXIII (1563), Doctrine touching the Sacrament of Order, chapter 2

Canon 4 of the Fifth Session's decree on original sin condemns anyone who denies that newborn infants, even of baptized parents, are to be baptized. They are baptized truly for the remission of sins, "that in them that may be cleansed away by regeneration, which they have contracted by generation." The Sixth Session names baptism the instrumental cause of justification.

are for this cause truly baptized for the remission of sinsSession V (1546), Decree concerning Original Sin, canon 4

The Thirteenth Session (1551) teaches that consecration changes the whole substance of the bread into the body of Christ and the whole substance of the wine into his blood. It adopts "Transubstantiation" as the proper name for that change.

by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the breadSession XIII (1551), Decree concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, chapter 4

Trent does not define the final state of the lost as a doctrine of its own. It takes eternal punishment as given: chapter 14 of the decree on justification distinguishes "the eternal punishment,-which is, together with the guilt, remitted" from the temporal punishment that is "not always wholly remitted."

the eternal punishmentSession VI (1547), Decree on Justification, chapter 14