The Council of Trent

The story

A council to answer Luther

When Luther and the other reformers began to break away from the Church of Rome, many people, even among Catholics, thought that a great council was needed, that is, an assembly of bishops and theologians, to discuss the problems and decide what to do. Emperor Charles V pressed for one, hoping to restore the unity of Christians in Germany. The popes, on the other hand, were very cautious: they feared that a council would limit their power, and for years they put it off.

In the end Pope Paul III agreed. The place chosen was Trent, a mountain city that belonged to the Empire but was close to Italy: it was a compromise between the emperor, who wanted it held on German territory, and the pope, who wanted a city that was easy to reach and to keep an eye on. The council was opened on 13 December 1545 in the Cathedral of Saint Vigilius.

Eighteen years, three stages

The council lasted eighteen years in all, but with long breaks because of wars, epidemics, disputes between rulers and changes of pope. It took place in three periods. The first (1545–1547) was under Paul III; the second (1551–1552) under Julius III; the third (1562–1563) under Pius IV. At the start there were few participants: at the first session there were about thirty bishops. In the end, in 1563, more than two hundred signed the acts.

The Protestants, though invited, hardly came at all: a few delegates turned up in the second period, but no agreement was reached. The council was therefore an assembly of the Catholic Church alone. The discussions on individual points were long, and sometimes heated. They dealt with the Bible, the sacraments and the difference between faith and works.

What was decided

The council set out Catholic doctrine more precisely, rejecting the Protestant claims. It confirmed the seven sacraments, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the value of tradition alongside the Bible, and it laid down that the Latin Bible, the Vulgate, was the official text. It also restated the authority of the pope.

It then decided on many practical reforms. Bishops had to live in their own dioceses, visit the parishes and preach. Every diocese had to have a seminary, that is, a school where future priests trained for years: before this, many priests knew little more than their congregations. The sale of Church offices was forbidden. In 1563 it was laid down that, to be valid, a marriage had to be celebrated in front of a priest and two or three witnesses, and that parishes had to keep registers of baptisms and marriages (those of deaths were added in 1614): today they are a precious source for historians and for anyone tracing their family tree.

After Trent

After the council the pope published a new catechism (1566), a new breviary (1568) and a new missal (1570), that is, the books for prayer and Mass, the same for the whole Latin Church. The Index of Forbidden Books, the list of books Catholics were not allowed to read, was strengthened. New religious orders appeared, or existing ones grew, such as the Jesuits, founded in 1540, who opened schools all over Europe.

One of the bishops who applied the decisions most energetically was Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan: he visited the parishes in person, even in the most remote valleys, founded seminaries and schools for poor children, and during the plague of 1576 he cared for the sick.

This period is often called the Counter-Reformation or the Catholic Reformation. Art changed too: churches filled with images meant to move and teach people, and sacred music had to make the words easy to understand. A legend credits the composer Palestrina with having “saved” polyphony after the council's criticisms, but historians do not think it is true.