1545–1563 · Trent and Bologna
Council of Trent
Why this council matters
Trent is a major source for Catholic teaching after the Reformation, but it is neither the first council nor the only council relevant to Catholic faith. Its twenty-five sessions cover Scripture and Tradition, original sin, justification, sacraments and extensive ecclesiastical reform.
The public-domain Waterworth reader below supplies the actual text, rather than a few lines about the Real Presence. Historical disciplinary provisions require their own context and must not be assumed to describe current practice unchanged.
Read and investigate
Begin with a subject
- Session IV: Scripture and Tradition
- Session VI: justification
- Session VII: sacraments
- Session XIII: the Eucharist
- Session XIV: penance and anointing
- Session XXII: sacrifice of the Mass
- Session XXIII: Holy Orders
- Session XXIV: marriage
- Session XXV: purgatory, saints and images
Read from the beginning. All sessions and the bull of indiction in the selected 1848 translation are included; the translator’s preface is excluded.
Controversies
Reformation controversies over Scripture, justification, the sacraments and Church reform.
Decrees
Twenty-five sessions across three periods addressed doctrine and reform; the decrees extend far beyond Eucharistic teaching.
Definitions
Key subjects include original sin, justification, the seven sacraments, Eucharistic presence and sacrifice, and the reform of pastoral ministry.