Trent, Council of

In 1545 Pope Paul III called bishops and theologians* together in the northern Italian city of Trent to respond to the challenges raised by Protestants and by reformers within the Roman Catholic Church. This meeting, known as the Council of Trent, met over three distinct periods between 1545 and 1563. The decisions it reached had a major impact on the later history of the church.

Political, military, and religious conflicts threatened the council throughout its duration. When its first session opened in 1545, only 31 prelates* attended, and the number present never exceeded 200. Although papal* delegates presided over the council, the popes were only partly successful in controlling its agenda. Moreover, the council was often torn by conflict and sharp debate. The council's first session broke up in 1547; the second session, which met in 1551, ended a year later, and the council took ten years to regroup. Many people believed it would never end successfully.

Reforms of the Council of Trent. The council's two chief goals were to respond to questions of religious doctrine raised by Protestant reformers, especially Martin LUTHER, and to deal with demands from both Catholics and Protestants for church reform. By the time the council met, any real chance of healing religious divisions between Protestants and Catholics had faded. Instead, the council reaffirmed the Catholic position on disputed issues, making the break with Protestants final.

The Council of Trent did not try to issue a full statement of Catholic belief. Instead, it responded only to questions raised by the Protestant reformers. One of these concerned Martin Luther's view of the Scriptures as the only proper basis for religious teachings. The council's response to this issue was twofold. It established an official body of religious texts for Catholics, but it also affirmed the importance of church traditions in addition to Scripture. Next, the council dealt with Luther's idea that humans were saved solely through their faith in Christ and not through good works. The council declared that salvation involved both God's grace and human responsibility. Finally, the council discussed the sacraments*. Luther had reduced the number of sacraments from the traditional seven to two and had redefined the nature of those two. The Council of Trent reemphasized the traditional sacraments and declared that Christ had established all seven of them.

The council also had a clear goal of reforming the offices of popes, bishops, and priests. Attempts to reform the papacy met with little success, but the council set many new requirements for bishops. It issued a decree insisting that bishops live in their dioceses* and forbidding them to hold more than one office at a time. The council also tried to establish a closer relationship between bishops and the local clergy. It required bishops to hold regular meetings with their clergy, visit and oversee local parishes, be selective in choosing priests, and promote preaching on Sundays and feast days. The council emphasized the role of the parish as the proper site for tending to a congregation's spiritual needs and required every diocese to establish a seminary to train poor boys for the priesthood.

The Council of Trent and the Renaissance. The Council of Trent gave the Catholic Church an opportunity to react to the new ideas of the Renaissance. Although the council issued no statement about the new humanist* learning, it focused on medieval* traditions in the language used in its own decrees. It also based its debates on the Latin Vulgate Bible, the version used throughout the Middle Ages. Many saw this decision as a warning against the new humanist emphasis on returning to original Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible. The council also failed to make any mention of new vernacular* Bibles, opening the door to later efforts to suppress such works. At the same time, its decision to keep Latin as the language of church ritual helped promote the study of classical* languages among Catholics.

At the same time, the Council of Trent reflected the influence of Renaissance ideas. The council said little about the humanist goal of applying principles of classical rhetoric* to the practice of preaching, but it did stress preaching as the chief duty of bishops and pastors. This emphasis contributed to a revival of preaching and to the writing of treatises* on how to preach that were based on humanist principles. The council also reaffirmed the value of "holy images," which many Protestants had criticized. This decision gave support to the outpouring of art, especially religious art, during the late Renaissance. At the same time, the council issued warnings about superstition and sexual elements in painting. These statements led to treatises on what was appropriate in "sacred art" and to attempts to censor it.