Council of Trent (Renaissance and Reformation)

Introduction

Comprised of three major meeting periods between 1545 and 1563, the Council of Trent marks a turning point in the history of early modern Catholicism, one consciously differentiating Roman Catholicism from every Protestant confession. The origins of the Council arise from many diverse events and movements; most immediately was the excommunication on doctrinal grounds of Martin Luther (15 June 1520), which many Christians believed was not final because it had not been confirmed by an ecumenical council. A new general council was seen as an opportunity to resolve controversial theological disputes on matters of faith and morals and come to closure. However, contrary to the aspirations of many Catholic clergy and lay persons who had hoped for a different idea of Christian unity, as well as of many Protestants throughout Europe, by the end of the Council it had rejected that opportunity. Many Catholics, on the other hand, welcomed it for its unambiguous affirmation of Catholic teaching and long-needed reform of ecclesiastical discipline. The Council took up doctrinal and reformatory issues alternately (side by side), giving particular attention to issues raised by Protestant doctrines: the principle of “scripture alone” (sola scriptura), the sources of revelation, the authenticity of the Latin Vulgate, original sin and justification, residence and jurisdiction of bishops, the sacraments (both doctrinal and disciplinary aspects), purgatory, veneration of the saints, monastic vows, Communion under both species, the sacrifice of the Mass, and so on; more briefly it issued statements reaffirming the church’s position on indulgences, invocation of the saints, and the veneration of relics and images at the same time it issued guidelines regulating these practices. Despite enormous challenges, the Council was brought to a close on 5 December 1563, and on 26 January 1564 Pope Pius IV issued the bull Benedictus Deus (published 30 June 1564) confirming all decrees without exception or modification. At the same time the pope directed that the authentic interpretation of the Council’s decrees be reserved to the Holy See and forbad that any commentaries on the Council be published without the authorization of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, which was established for these purposes on 2 August 1564. Finally, the unfinished work of the Council was remanded to Rome, which over the next years undertook a revision of the Index of Forbidden Books; the publication of the Roman Catechism, the Roman Breviary, and the Roman Missal; and a revision of the Latin Vulgate.

General Overviews

O’Malley (2013) is now the primary starting point for all wishing a clear overview of the Council’s complex history, an understanding of the wide range of issues it addressed, and useful scholarly footnotes. Iserloh, et al. (1980–1982) provides an extended though compressed presentation of the Council with broad perspectives on Trent from noted scholars of the Council. Many shorter, though highly useful, overviews of the Council appeared in the past three decades; Jedin 2000–2003, sympathetic to the papal side, gives a very brief but valuable sketch of Trent in its essential outlines. More expanded presentations can be found in Black 2004, Gleason 1995, Bireley 1999, and Hsia 1999. Alberigo 1988 provides a useful bibliographical introduction to scholarship on the Council up to 1988, but this work now needs updating.

Alberigo, Giuseppe. “The Council of Trent.” In Catholicism in Early Modern History: A Guide to Research. Edited by John W. O’Malley, 211–226. St. Louis, MO: Center for Reformation Research, 1988.
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Thoughtful overview and introduction to a basic bibliography for the now-revised image of the Council, the problems facing each period of the Council, achievements and limitations of Trent, the struggle over interpretation, the example of Carlo Borromeo as the ideal of Tridentine reform, and the reception of the Council.
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Bireley, Robert. “The Council of Trent and the Papacy.” In The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450–1700: A Reassessment of the Counter Reformation. By Robert Bireley, 45–69. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1999.
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Chapter 3 of this informative work sets forth the interaction of the papacy and the Council of Trent; sets the Council against its historical background; looks at key connections between political events, princely ambitions, and doctrinal issues; and provides a brief but clear exposition of theological controversies.
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Black, Christopher F. “The Council of Trent and Bases for Continuing Reform.” In Church, Religion, and Society in Early Modern Italy. By Christopher F. Black, 19–36. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
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Brief introduction to Trent’s significance and unappreciated complexity in shaping confessional divisions in early modern Europe. Focuses on the Council’s decrees as guides for the institutional life of Roman Catholicism on “what it taught and believed, [and] how Catholics at all social levels might subsequently behave” (p. 19).
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Gleason, Elisabeth G. “Catholic Reformation, Counterreformation and Papal Reform in the Sixteenth Century.” In Handbook of European History, 1400–1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation. Vol. 2, Visions, Programs and Outcomes. Edited by Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, 317–345. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1995.
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Key and highly charged are the concepts in the scholarship of the Council of Trent, the Catholic Reformation, Counterreformation, and Papal Reform. Gleason illuminates their meanings in the context of confessional differences, above all whether there was a true Catholic Reformation or if such was essentially a reaction to Protestantism.
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Hsia, R. Po-chia “The Council of Trent.” In The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540–1770. By R. Po-chia Hsia, 10–25. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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A general narrative of the Council of Trent from opening day to its close. Brief look at moments of crisis and resolution, popes and other major characters, attendance, and reform and doctrinal matters (justification, obligation of bishops’ residences, Scripture and tradition, clerical reform, etc.). Touches on decrees and matters left unfinished.
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Iserloh, Erwin, Josef Glazik, and Hubert Jedin. History of the Church. Vol. 5, Reformation and Counter Reformation. Translated by Anselm Biggs and Peter W. Becker. New York: Seabury, 1980–1982.
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A comprehensive, detailed survey of the church and the crucial issues facing it from the late Middle Ages to the Counterreformation, with rich bibliographical information relevant to every era and major event engaging the papacy. Clearly written, fully documented, well-organized subject matter.
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Jedin, Hubert. “The Council of Trent.” In The New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2d ed., Vol. 14. Edited by Thomas Carson and Joann Cerrito, 168–176. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2000–2003.
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Concise summary by the late doyen of the history of the Council of Trent; presents the Council’s origins and foundations, crucial issues of reform and doctrine, three meeting periods, some leading personalities, implementation, and historical significance (with useful bibliography).
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O’Malley, John W.. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2013.
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Fresh, reliable, indispensible study in English of Trent following upon Jedin’s history; for generalists and specialists: the only extensive “overview of the council” there is (p. 11); reviews conciliar history leading to Trent, its three phrases, and conclusion; offers “a framework for understanding the council as a single, though extraordinarily complex event” (p. 12); extensive, helpful footnotes.
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Reference Works

While many reference works have been published covering this era of early modern European history in general, works dealing with the Council of Trent and especially with the theological issues debated and resolved are generally less accessible. Hillerbrand 1996 offers the widest selection of topics covering the Reformation era, many of which had a direct impact on the Council, and Mullett 2010 provides a handy complement to Hillerbrand with valuable entries covering political, social, and cultural environments. The remaining works offer insightful presentations of the often complex theological issues before the Council. Marthaler 2003 contains many first-rate entries (like that of Jedin 2003, cited under General Overviews) and is often a good place to start for expanded and understandable expositions of doctrinal issues. Generally more detailed treatments are found in Viller, et al. 1932–1995; Rahner 1968–1970; and Buchberger 1993–2001; though these often focus more on the state of specific doctrinal questions today. Jedin 1948 differs from the above; though often inaccessible, it looks at the state of scholarship prior to 1948, a matter of much importance for the historiography of the Council.

Buchberger, Michael, ed. Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. Rev. ed. 11 vols. Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1993–2001.
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Recently updated, with abundant discussion on all aspects of the Catholic Church and thorough coverage of theological controversies, doctrines, and institutional offices and functions of the Roman Catholic Church. Replete with pertinent bibliography.
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Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. 4 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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Valuable resource for ideas, persons, movements, and many other items pertaining to the Reformation era. Alberigo’s entry on “The Council of Trent” (Vol. 4, pp. 173–177) provides a useful summary of the Council, its three meeting periods, and important debates.
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Jedin, Hubert. Das Konzil von Trient: Ein Überblick über die Erforschung seiner Geschichte. Rome: Storia e letteratura, 1948.
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Though hard to find, this work gives a clear picture of the past and present (up to 1948) state of research on the Council of Trent, looking back to writers like Sarpi and Pallavicino and their methods in composing their histories of the Council’s proceedings and outcome.
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Marthaler, Bernard L., ed. New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2d ed. 15 vols. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2003.
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Originally published in 1967; comprehensive resource on Roman Catholic and other Christian churches. Does not match the Dictionnaiure de spiritualité or Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. Helpful for arcane ecclesiastical items and essential bibliography at the end of each article, such as that provided by Jedin on the Council of Trent.
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Mullett, Michael A. Historical Dictionary of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2010.
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Handy reference work with entries on virtually all principal individuals, cities and other geographical locations, ideas, terminology, wars, religious groups, reformers, popes, bishops, preachers, emperors, kings, and so on with a good introduction to the work, “The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation in Context.”
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Rahner, Karl, ed. Sacramentum Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology. 6 vols. New York: Herder and Herder, 1968–1970.
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Covers all topics of Catholic systematic theology, many of which were given precise definitions or clarified by the Council of Trent. Useful for understanding Catholic teaching on the nature of God, trinitarian theology, grace, justification, free will, works, the seven sacraments, and other concepts.
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Viller, Marcel, Charles Baumgartner, and André Rayez, et al., eds. Dictionnaire de spiritualité: Ascétique et mystique, doctrine et histoire. 17 vols. Paris: Beauchesne, 1932–1995.
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Standard reference work on theological topics; dedicates more space to theological ideas than English and German equivalents. Articles cover all aspects of ascetical, mystical, and dogmatic theology; full bibliography for each entry; later volumes are more up-to-date than early ones. Useful for doctrinal and ecclesiastical disciplinary issues at Trent.
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Databases

Scholars of the Council of Trent have available a number of excellent databases for finding studies on all aspects of the doctrinal and disciplinary debates, as well as on the political, social, economic, and cultural events occurring in Europe and the world at this time. Crucial is the CLCLT Library of Latin Texts, which allows for Latin word searches of all Tridentine reform decrees. Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance allows queries on most topics related to Trent in all major scholarly languages; data searches go back to the 18th century and are accessible through a well-designed search engine. For research on topics related to Trent relating to education, religion, the classical tradition, and so on, the International Medieval Bibliography and L’Année philologique are especially useful. For queries on specific theological questions, ATLA Religion Database is an indispensable resource.

ATLA Religion Database.
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Produced by the American Theological Association, this vast database provides “journal articles, essays, papers, and some books on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues.” Useful for searches in English and other scholarly languages for key doctrinal issues debated at Trent.
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CLCLT Library of Latin Texts, Series A.
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The Latin text of the decrees of Trent available at this site is the edition Concilium Tridentinum 1545–1563 (Concilia oecumenica et generalia ecclesiae catholicae). Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, curantibus J. Alberigo, J. A. Dossetti, P. P. Joannou, C. Leonardi, P. Prodi, consultante H. Jedin, 1973 (pp. 660–799).
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International Medieval Bibliography.
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Brepols’ for-profit database, “Multidisciplinary Bibliography of the Middle Ages, 300–1500,” can be searched for books and articles in many languages and with many search criteria. Indexes approximately 860 journals and 150 festschriften, conference proceedings, and collected essays on topics pertaining to the period from 450 to 1500 AD.
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Internet Archive of Texts and Documents.
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Created by the faculty and students of the History Department of Hanover College, this database provides a good number of documents on early modern Europe. Of interest here is an early English translation of The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Oecumenical Council of Trent, ed. and trans. J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848).
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Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance.
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Published under the auspices of the University of Toronto Libraries, this extensive, not-for-profit database is dedicated to the teaching of and research on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400–1700). Contains more than 1.1 million entries on secondary source material.
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L’Année philologique.
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Published by the Société Internationale de Bibliographie Classique, the American Philological Association, and the Database of Classical Bibliography and supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Important for the classical tradition and its impact on councils from Constance to Trent.
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Journals

Articles dealing with the Council of Trent and with many aspects of the past that had some bearing on events leading up to the Council can be found in a wide number of journals across the spectrum of academic disciplines. The single journal dedicated to the Council of Trent (broadly conceived) is the Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico di Trento, an indispensable resource for scholars who focus on Trent in its many dimensions. A few other scholarly journals often feature entries relating to the many-faceted history of the Council of Trent, among which are the Annuarium historiae conciliorum and the Archivum historiae pontificiae. Many other scholarly journals focusing on theological themes present articles relating to the Council’s many-faceted history, but a better way to find these is through database searches in the ATLA Religion Database, Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance, or the International Medieval Bibliography (all cited under Databases).

Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico di Trento/Jahrbuch des italienish-deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient.
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This multilingual review has been publishing the results of the research conducted by the Italian-Germanic History Institute of Trento as well as prominent scholarship from Italy and Germany since 1975.
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Annuarium historiae conciliorum: Internationale Zeitschrift für Konziliengeschichtsforschung.
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Begun in 1969 and published annually at Paderborn by Catholic Church historians Walter Brandmüller and (the late) Remigius Bäumer. Covers all aspects of the history of the councils of the western and eastern churches. Features articles and reviews of scholarship on all aspects of conciliar history.
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Archivum historiae pontificiae.
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Covers all aspects of the history of the papacy, much of which involves the role of the popes in church councils. The periodical began in 1963 at the Pontifical Gregorian University under the direction of the Faculty of the History and Cultural Patrimony of the Church.
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Primary Sources

Of greatest importance is the massive scholarly edition of virtually all sources on the Council of Trent undertaken by the Görresgesellschaft in Bonn, Germany (Societas Goerresiana 1901–2001), an organization founded in 1893 by Catholic bishops and scholars in defense of Catholicism during German chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s Kulturkampf. With this complete collection of so many and various types of documents, scholars today have available fresh and unprecedented opportunities to revisit and research the Council in its manifold complexity. These volumes are indispensable for any scholarly treatment of Trent. For the texts alone, Alberigo 2010 is now the standard; Volume 2 contains the Tridentine decrees. For a translation of the Council’s canons and decrees, Tanner 1990 is now the standard English text, with the advantage that it contains all conciliar documents before and after Trent. Schroeder 1950 is still a good reference, and, like Tanner 1990, also includes both the Latin text along with a translation of the conciliar decrees. An efficient approach to querying items in the decrees of Trent and other councils is now available with Brepols’ online searchable database (CLCLT Library of Latin Texts, Series A, cited under Databases). Other than the diaries, acts, letters, and treatises in the Görresgesellschaft’s Bäumer 1979 (cited under Collections of Scholarly Essays on Trent and Its Aftermath), a variety of pertinent primary sources, above all non-Roman ones, have been published over the past hundred years or more that throw much additional light on the Council’s agenda and proceedings. The Catechism of the Council of Trent is also an important document for the post-Tridentine Catholic world; a good translation of this is still Donovan 1914. Finally, of key importance for the work of the Roman Curia under Pius IV during the last stage of the Council is Šusta 1909–1914.

Alberigo, Giuseppe, ed. Oecumenicorum et generalium decreta. Vol. 3, The Oecumenical Councils of the Roman Catholic Church From Trent to Vatican II (1545-1965). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2010.
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Critical collection of all the decrees of the councils formally considered as “ecumenical” and “general.” The four volumes (when complete) promise the most up-to-date, accurate texts of all church councils. This volume contains the text of all conciliar decrees from Trent to the Second Vatican Council.
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Donovan, J., trans. The Catechism of the Council of Trent. Dublin, Ireland: James Duffy, 1914.
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Though not completed until 1566 under Pope Pius V, the widely published Roman Catechism became one of the most important means for communicating succinctly the vast work of the Council in a positive and straightforward way, not merely to the laity but also to clergy.
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Schroeder, Henry Joseph, ed. Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent: Original Text with English Translation. St Louis, MO: Herder, 1950.
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Widely available collection of the canons and decrees issued by Trent, with the original Latin text and an English translation. Translation is based on the Latin text of the 1859 Neapolitan edition; thus it may lack the accuracy of the text produced by the Görres-Gesellschaft edition (Societas Goerresiana 1901–2001) and Tanner 1990. First published in 1941.
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Societas Goerresiana, ed. Concilium Tridentinum: Diariorum, actorum, epistolarum, tractatuum nova collectio. 13 vols. Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1901–2001.
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This vast collection produced by the Görres-Gesellschaft in Bonn, Germany, contains extant diaries, acts, letters, treatises, and other sources (mostly Latin). Scholars now have access to the complete record of the Council of Trent from its inception to its conclusion (Vol. XIII/2). Some libraries offer online access to these volumes.
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Šusta, Josef. Die Römische Curie und das Concil von Trient unter Pius IV: Actenstücke zur Geschichte des Concils von Trient. 4 vols. Vienna: A. Hölder, 1909–1914.
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Vast collection of correspondence of the papal legates with the pope and Roman Curia during the third period of Trent. Important for Pius IV’s role in bringing the Council to a close and for evaluating Sarpi’s and Pallavicino’s history of the Council, especially their analyses of this last meeting period.
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Tanner, Norman P., ed. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990.
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Contains all decrees of the ecumenical councils beginning with the Council of Nicea (325) and ending with Vatican II (1962–1965). Documents appear in English translation with Latin versions (and Greek or other pertinent languages, e.g., Armenian or Arabic, when used by a council). Copious footnotes and bibliography.
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The First Historians of Trent (Paolo Sarpi and Sforza Pallavicino)

The struggle to establish the legitimacy of the Council of Trent (and to delegitimize it) began in the very first years of the council itself and continued in full force once two major histories of Trent defined in strikingly different ways the nature, outcome, and historical significance of the Council. The first major study of the Council, which gained international acclaim, was composed by the Venetian Servite priest Paolo Sarpi and published in Italian in London in 1619 under the nom de plume Pietro Soave Polano (an anagram of Paolo Sarpio, Veneto). Sarpi 2000 laid down the challenge to Rome, arguing that Trent had been engineered by the papacy, which sent its mandates in legates’ satchels to put through an exclusively Rome-centered agenda, and that the Council, “a closely packed conciliabulum, from which Protestants were excluded,” (Yates 1944, p. 192) had failed altogether as an instrument of reform and a means to reunite Christendom. Though some works on the Council from a pro-papal perspective appeared after Sarpi’s work, the full papal response came from the Jesuit Sforza Pallavicino (Pallavicino 1968), who attacked Sarpi and his history and sought to efface its influence. Both Sarpi’s and Pallavicino’s works gained adherents mostly along confessional lines, and the effects of this were felt well into the latter half of the twentieth century. Jedin 1940 seeks to vindicate the legitimacy of Pallavicino’s history and Ulianich 1979 to discredit Sarpi by uncovering his bias in favor of princes and negative bias toward the papacy, while Bouwsma 1968 reads Sarpi sympathetically, though mostly for the excellence of the Servite’s method of doing history in the tradition of Renaissance historians like Francesco Guicciardini and Niccolò Machiavelli. Yates 1944 reads Sarpi’s work in much the same way while looking at the wider popularity and influence of the work, especially in England in the reign of James I.

Bouwsma, William J. Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance Values in the Age of the Counter Reformation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
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Sees in Sarpi’s skepticism, critical analysis of the sources available to him, and rejection of the papacy’s fundamental principles of order, clerical privilege, and exclusion of lay participation a scathing critique of the Council’s victory for clericalism.
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Jedin, Hubert. Der Quellenapparat der Konzilsgeschichte Pallavicinos: das Pabsttum und die Widerlegung Sarpis im Lichte neuerschlossener Archivalien. Rome: Casa Editrice S.A.L.E.R., 1940.
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Investigates the archival sources and Pallavicino’s scholarly methods in his history of the Council of Trent to refute Sarpi’s account. Jedin seeks to rebut what he views are Sarpi’s unfounded charges about Trent as the heavy-handed work of the popes. Useful for the history of the Council’s historiography.
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Pallavicino, Pietro Sforza. Storia del Concilio di Trento ed altri scritti di Sforza Pallavicino. 2d rev. ed. Edited by Mario Scotti. Turin, Italy: Unione tipografico-editrice torinese, 1968.
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First published in 1656/1657, at the request of Pope Alexander VII, by a Jesuit teacher of philosophy and theology at the Jesuit Roman College, later made a cardinal, typifies the papal view of the Council. Seeks to counter Sarpi’s history by vilifying its author as criminal, hostile, and worthless.
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Sarpi, Paolo. “Istoria del Concilio di Trento.” In Paolo Sarpi. Edited by Corrado Vivanti, 91–1140. Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 2000.
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Anti-papal, humanist history of Trent. First published in London in 1619, it counters papal accounts of church history and their understanding of change over time. Views corruption in the church as resulting from powerful and subtle changing circumstances over time and Trent as an instrument of papal domination. Vivanti’s edition also includes Sarpi’s other polemical writings.
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Ulianich, Boris. “Il significato politico della Istoria del Concilio Tridentino di Paolo Sarpi.” In Il Concilio di Trento come crocevia della politica europea: Atti della settimana di studio, 12–17 settembre 1977. Edited by Hubert Jedin and Paola Prodi, 179–212. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 1979.
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Examines Sarpi’s picture of the papacy as politically motivated and centered on reestablishing papal authority at the expense of true reform. Looks at Sarpi’s positive assessment of the political motivations of the princes of Europe; emphasizes Sarpi’s glorification of the princes in contrast with his condemnation of the papacy’s actions.
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Yates, Frances A. “Paolo Sarpi’s ‘History of the Council of Trent.’” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 7 (1944): 123–143.
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Discusses Venice’s triumphant struggle on juridical grounds against the papacy’s interdict of 1606. Presents Sarpi’s life and career; sees his history as “a landmark of historical composition, though written with a bias” (p. 125). Details England’s eager reception of Sarpi’s works and their importance for James I’s understanding of the Anglican church.
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Early Responses

To many Catholics of Europe, the Council of Trent was seen as a sign of contradiction: A general council had been called, but the Protestants showed little interest in participating; indeed, in the first conciliar period, none came. Martin Luther died on 18 February 1546, as the first period of the Council was well underway, but even before its commencement he had expressed himself in the strongest terms about there being no need for a council (Against the Roman Papacy Founded by the Devil, 1545) though without formally protesting against the Council of Trent itself (see Iserloh 1983). Many reformers regarded the Council as wrong-headed in its foundations and origins, a view Chemnitz 1971–1986 made manifest. Calvin 1983 provided the first critical examination of the canons of the first conciliar period, making clear the author’s fundamental disagreement on many issues and the vast differences between the Roman teaching and that of the Reformers. Casteel 1970 nicely sets forth Calvin’s views on the Council. Yet the Protestants’ relationship to the Council was complicated. Lutherans, after the defeat of John Frederick of Saxony at Mühlberg, were compelled to attend the second period at Bologna; however, their demands for reform were weighty and unacceptable. Melanchthon did not show up. Iserloh 1983 examines the Council fathers’ understanding of the Protestants’ teaching and positions.

Calvin, John. Antidote to the Council of Trent. Vol. 3, Selected Works of John Calvin: Tracts and Letters. Edited by Henry Beveridge and Jules Bonnet, 30–188. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1983.
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Calvin’s examination of the first session’s canons and decrees underscores the chasm between Roman and Reform understandings of the fundamental issues of the Christian faith (justification, role of Scripture, etc.). Calvin asserts that councils do err (and have erred) and that all judgments on doctrine be plainly established from Scripture.
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Casteel, Theodore W. “Calvin and Trent: Calvin’s Reaction to the Council of Trent in the Context of His Conciliar Thought.” Harvard Theological Review 63.1 (1970): 91–117.
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Examines Calvin’s criticism of Rome and his rejection of the Council of Trent (though not opposed to councils per se). Calvin’s criticisms arise out of the conciliarist movement, which Trent seemed strongly intent on repudiating, as well as his conviction that the Council be guided by the norm of Scripture.
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Chemnitz, Martin. Examination of the Council of Trent. 4 vols. Translated by Fred Kramer. St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1971–1986.
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The classic statement and presentation of the Council of Trent from the Protestant (Lutheran) perspective by Martin Chemnitz (b. 1522–d. 1586). Counters papal claims; examines Trent’s decrees and canons; demonstrates from Scripture the Council fathers’ Trent’s aberrations; argues that Scripture alone (not Scripture and tradition) is the basis of the Christian church.
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Iserloh, Erwin. “Luther and the Council of Trent.” Catholic Historical Review 69.4 (1983): 563–567.
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Careful examination of the Council fathers’ knowledge of the theological teachings of the Reformers, the sources they had available for this understanding, and the reluctance to condemn any teaching unless it had been thoroughly reviewed. At the same time, he shows certain shortcomings in their approaches.
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Recent Major Scholarly Histories

The number of resources for investigating the Council of Trent has grown considerably since the 1930s as more and more documents relating to the council have become widely available. Many excellent studies (even those somewhat dated now) have greatly advanced our picture of the Council’s history, its role in the Reformation era, and its extensive impact not only on the immediate post-conciliar era but indeed down to the Second Vatican Council and beyond. Most histories have a fundamental bias, whether favoring papal power or conciliar power, or rejecting the council for its not being truly representative of all Christendom, or for other particular reasons. Despite numerous biases, the best in-depth comprehensive study today is still Jedin 1957–1961, which covers the crucial background in the long period beginning with the councils of Constance and Basle to the first period of Trent. Jedin 1957–1975 remains untranslated but is fundamental for the last two Tridentine periods. Along with their extensive bibliographies Jedin 1957–1961 and Jedin 1957–1975 provide an in-depth look at three major periods of the Council, including the actors, agenda, conflicts, and changing political and theological ambience, as do La Brosse, et al. 1975; Lecler, et al. 1981; and Bernhard, et al. 1989. Ever valuable, though apologetic and now superseded by Jedin and others, is Pastor 1936–1953, whose many volumes from the Renaissance papacy to the close of the Early Modern era highlight the preparation for Trent, the Council’s activities, and the effects of the Council on Catholic and Protestant Europe. Finally, of monumental importance is the life-long work of the Spanish Jesuit Constancio Gutiérrez (Gutiérrez 1951) published in the series Corpus Tridentinum Hispanicum, which began with the author’s Españoles in Trento and is now in its eleventh volume (2000). These volumes contain rich Spanish sources relating to Trent along with studies of their interpretative significance. Tallon 1997 is a major contribution to our understanding of France’s role and positions at Trent, especially during its third meeting period. Tallon 2000 considers broader questions for understanding the background of the Council and provides some key conciliar documents for comprehending the central issues at Trent and their final outcome.

Bernhard, Jean, Charles Lefebvre, and Francis Rapp. Histoire du droit et des institutions de l’Eglise en Occident. T. 14, L’Époque de la réforme et du Concile de Trente. Paris: Éditions Cujas, 1989.
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Part 1 of this work focuses on the economic, social, cultural, political, and religious picture of Europe; Part 2 provides a summary and analysis of the proceedings of the Fifth Lateran Council (1513–1517); and Part 3 covers the Council of Trent. Valuable for its treatment of Trent’s decrees on the seven sacraments.
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Gutiérrez, Constancio. Españoles en Trento. Valladolid, Spain: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1951.
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The author’s biographical studies of the Spanish hierarchy’s key personalities at Trent has been followed up with numerous works providing primary sources and studies interpreting them; the latest volume in the series is Trento, un problema: la última convocación del Concilio (1552–1562), V: Fuentes (1561–1562). Four remain to be published.
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Jedin, Hubert. A History of the Council of Trent. 2 vols. Translated by Ernest Graf. London: Thomas Nelson, 1957–1961.
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This essential history of the Council of Trent, though modified in some respects, remains unsurpassed; Jedin’s massive account (five volumes in German) has been only partially translated; two volumes in English examine the period from the Council of Basel to the change of venue of the Tridentine Council to Bologna in 1547.
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Jedin, Hubert. Geschichte des Konzils von Trient. 4 vols. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1957–1975.
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The German edition of Jedin 1957–1961 not only completes his study of the Council down to its conclusion but also contains the complete documentation that parts of the English volumes omit. This work should be consulted by every scholar.
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La Brosse, Olivier de, Joseph Lecler, Henri Holstein, and Charles Lefebvre. Latran V et Trente. Histoire des conciles oecuméniques 10. Paris: Éditions de l’Orante, 1975.
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Multiauthored volume with essential conciliar documents covers the two major church councils of the 16th century (Lateran V and Trent up to its fifth session). A readable, more digested account than the somewhat clumsy account of the council by Jedin. The text should be read in the light of newer scholarship on the Council.
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Lecler, Joseph, Henri Holstein, Pierre Adnés, and Charles Lefebvre. Trente. Histoire des conciles oecuméniques 11. Paris: Éditions de L’Orante, 1981.
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Lecler et al. continue their study of Trent from Session 6 (where Volume 10 ended) to its closure in 1563. Focuses on doctrinal and disciplinary debates as well as the changing political events affecting all parties engaged. Like Vol. 10, it offers abundant documents, references, chronologies, and bibliographies.
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Pastor, Ludwig von, Freiherr. History of the Popes. 40 vols. Edited by Frederick Ignatius Antrobus, Ralph Francis Kerr, Ernest Graf, and E. F. Peeler. St. Louis, MO: Herder, 1936–1953.
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Published first in 16 volumes, 1886–1933. Pastor’s history begins with Martin V (1417–1431), the sole pope after the Western Schism and the Council of Constance (1414–1418); ends with Pius VI (d. 1799); covers the papacy’s involvement in church councils throughout the era of the Renaissance and into the post-Tridentine era.
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Tallon, Alain. La France et le Concile de Trente (1518–1563). Rome: École française de Rome, 1997.
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Close examination of sources on the French monarchy and its political, diplomatic, and theological negotiations with respect to a church council from the early Reformation era to the close of Trent. Focuses on the importance for the French monarchy of controlling the conciliar agenda, checking Charles V, the theological crises among the French and in France by the time of Trent’s third meeting period, and the role of the Cardinal of Lorraine and other French personalities.
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Tallon, Alain. Le concile de Trente. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2000.
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Looks at the Council as a historical question and explores broader considerations: why the Council began so late and lasted so long; the conciliar milieu; the counterreformatory, counterrenaissance intent of Tridentine reform; and the application of the Council’s decrees and subsequent fate of the Council. With brief chronology and key conciliar documents.
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Studies on the Three Meeting Periods

Pope Paul III summoned the Council of Trent on 22 May 1542, but due to political circumstances, the threat of the Turks, and other inhibiting factors, the Council did not open formally until 13 December 1545. After meeting at Trent from 1545–1547, the Council fathers voted to move the Council to Bologna, within the Papal States, where it met again from 1551 to 1552, due to an outbreak of plague and the military situation in Germany resulting from Charles V’s wars against the Protestant princes. Then, in April 1561, after an interruption of nearly ten years and two more pontificates (Marcellus II and Paul IV), Pope Pius IV reconvened the council at Trent, which opened its third period in January 1562. Because each period occurred in often dramatically different political and religious circumstances and each produced its own significant results, the question was raised whether the three meeting periods should be seen as one continuing council or two or three different ones (a question which from the French monarchy’s perspective bore heavily on its negotiations with the Huguenots). In the end the Council fathers agreed that the third phase would continue the first two phases. The last phase concluded on 3–4 December 1563; the decrees of the Council were affirmed in their entirety, without exception, by Pope Pius IV on 26 January and confirmed with the bull Benedictus Deus (published 30 June 1564). Because of the singular importance of each meeting period, some scholarly studies have focused primarily on one or another of the three phases. Certainly Jedin (Jedin 1957–1961 and Jedin 1957–1975) and Pastor 1936–1953 (all cited under Recent Major Scholarly Histories) fill in the details on these three phases. Of special recent interest is Trent’s third meeting period; for this Jedin 1967 offers a concise summary of the theological issues at the Council’s close. Firpo and Niccoli 2010 cast much light and bring the scholarship up to date, and Gutiérrez 1995 looks at the problem with a wider lens.

Firpo, Massimo, and Ottavia Niccoli, eds. Il Cardinale Giovanni Morone e l’ultima fase del Concilio di Trento. Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico: Quaderni 80. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 2010.
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Conference papers given at Trent, Italy (5–6 June 2009) on the key papal legate who, though earlier imprisoned for heresy by the Inquisition under Paul IV, presided over Trent through difficult debates (ius divinum of episcopal residence) amid many conflicting interests and successfully brought the Council to a conclusion.
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Gutiérrez, Constancio. Trento, un problema: La última convocación del Concilio (1552–1562), I: Estudio. Corpus Tridentinum Hispanicum 5. Madrid: Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 1995.
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Focuses on the practical, political, and ecclesiastical difficulties Pius IV faced in reconvening the Council at Trent, for example, the relationship between this last assembly (1562–1563) and the first two meeting periods, resistance to the council by France and Spain, episcopal residency and power, and Paul IV’s pontificate in arresting conciliar momentum.
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Jedin, Hubert. Crisis and Closure of the Council of Trent: A Retrospective View from the Second Vatican Council. Translated by N. D. Smith. London: Sheed & Ward, 1967.
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Concise summary of the closure of the Council of Trent. Reviews Pius IV’s effort to reconvene the Council at Trent and the central theological and disciplinary questions that needed to be addressed before the Council could be completed. (Lacks footnotes.)
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Collections of Scholarly Essays on Trent and Its Aftermath

The Council of Trent has received considerable attention from scholars of many nations whose conference presentations and scholarly essays have been made accessible in volume collections. Most works are from the most distinguished scholars from the last to the present century, such as Jedin, Lortz, Gutiérrez, Alberigo, and Rogger. Among the more important essays are those addressing conciliar procedures, goals, agendas, Protestant concerns, questions of doctrinal and disciplinary reform, and the effects of the Council on German dioceses, bishops’ responses to the decrees, papal control over the interpretation of the Council’s decrees, seminary legislation, and so on. Valuable in the more recent studies are the broader disciplinary perspectives and, in most cases, the absence of apologetic or confessional interests. The earliest collections of such studies, such as Schreiber 1951, Bäumer 1979, and Il concilio di Trento e la riforma tridentina focus almost exclusively on theological issues, debates, and outcomes at Trent. Later collections take up many of the same issues, though considered broadly or within their social, political, economic, and cultural contexts, such as Jedin and Prodi 1979, Prodi and Reinhard 1996, Mozzarelli and Zardin 1997, and Ganzer 1997; the latter presents all of Ganzer’s essential papers on the Council. Of special note is the most recent collection of this kind, Trento: I tempi del Concilio, which contains a range of outstanding, well-documented essays on topics particularly current in modern scholarship on Trent.

Alberigo, Giuseppe, and Iginio Rogger, eds. Il Concilio di Trento: Nella prospettiva del Terzo Millennio: Atti del convegno tenuto a Trento il, 25–28 settembre 1995. Brescia, Italy: Morcelliana, 1997.
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Essays by leading scholars reassessing the crucial debates and issues at Trent, now seen from a less controversial, indeed even ecumenical, perspective. Scholars address the Council’s significance, ecclesiology, intentions, polemics, anthropology, orthodoxy, sacraments, canon law, and other aspects. Of special importance is Grossi’s entry on Augustine’s impact at Trent.
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Bäumer, Remigius, ed. Concilium Tridentinum. Darmstadt, West Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1979.
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Important as a supplement to Jedin’s lengthy study of Trent, this collection (in German) presents sixteen previously published articles by prominent scholars (Bäumer, Lortz, Jedin, Alberigo, Oberman, Kuttner, Merkle, Tüchle, and others) on Trent’s agenda, prehistory, German participants, Protestants’ aims, and so on. Useful bibliography up to 1979 (Literaturverzeichnis, pp. 541–553).
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Ganzer, Klaus. Kirche auf dem Weg durch die Zeit: Institutionelles Werden und theologisches Ringen: Ausgewählte Aufsätze und Vorträge. Edited by Heribert Smolinsky and Johannes Meier. Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte, Supplementband 4. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 1997.
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Well-documented essays and university lectures of an eminent church historian, most of which take up important aspects of Trent’s activities (e.g., reform, annates, ecclesiology, representation at the Council, oecumenicity, Gallican and Roman concepts of primacy, seminaries, piety, etc.).
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Il concilio di Trento e la riforma tridentina: Atti del convegno storico internazionale, Trento, 2–6 settembre 1963. 2 vols. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1965.
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Seventeen essays in Italian, German, Spanish, English, and French on numerous aspects of the Council by leading scholars (Jedin, Creytens, Villoslada, O’Donohoe, Lutz, Iserloh, Alberigo, etc.), focusing on episcopal residence, women’s monasteries, ideals of the parish priest, seminary legislation, Protestants’ relationship to the Council, art, the Mass as sacrifice, and more.
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Jedin, Hubert, and Paolo Prodi, eds. Il Concilio di Trento come crocevia della politica europea. Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico: Quaderno 4. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 1979.
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Essays from 1977 convention at Trent focusing on the political and juridical background of the states and the church at the time of Trent (e.g., institutional structure of the episcopal principality of Trent, Charles V and the Council, papal temporal sovereignty, Philip II, Poland, the reform of the princes, Sarpi).
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Mozzarelli, Cesare, and Danilo Zardin. I tempi del Concilio: Religione, cultura e società nell’Europa tridentina. Rome: Bulzoni, 1997.
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Numerous informative essays on Trent and its impact on lay, religious, clerical, and secular life. Well-known scholars (e.g., Fragnito, Borromeo, Zardin, Plongeron, Villegas, Sodano, Tellechea Idígoras, Firpo, Tedeschi, etc.) cover bishops, religious orders, confraternities, sainthood, the ideal bishop, the ideal state, the Roman Inquisition, art, theater, sacred music, architecture, and so on.
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Prodi, Paolo, and Wolfgang Reinhard, eds. Il concilio di Trento e il moderno. Annali dell’ istituto storico italo-germanico: Quaderno 45. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 1996.
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Eminent scholars (e.g., Prodi, Reinhard, Châtelier, Ganzer, Prosperi, Repgen, Mazzone, Burschel, Turchini, Nubola, Zarri, etc.) address the impact of Trent on Catholicism and the states of Europe. Topics range from modern state formation, modernization of the church, confessionalization, religious life, sainthood, parish organization, social discipline, confession, the Inquisition, and marriage.
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Schreiber, Georg, ed. Das Weltkonzil von Trient: Sein Werden und Wirken. 2 vols. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1951.
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The first major collection of scholarly essays on Trent; commemorates the 400th anniversary of its opening. Covers the Council’s establishment, activities, personalities, doctrinal debates, ecclesiastical practices and reforms, and impact on clerical, religious, and lay life. Essays by Jedin, Brück, Schreiber, Allgeier, Grabmann, Stegmüller, Jungmann, Franzen, Tüchle, and others.
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Trento: i tempi del Concilio: Società, religione e cultura agli inizi dell’Éuropa moderna: Atti, Trento, 27–30 ottobre 1994. Trent, Italy: Camera di commercio, industria, artigianato e agricolutra di Trento, 1995.
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A supplement to Prodi and Reinhard 1996. Looks at Trent’s aftermath, the work of bishops to implement the decrees in dioceses throughout the Catholic world, new and old, and the obstacles they faced. Features essays on sanctity, the Inquisition, family and society, politics and society, art, liturgy, sacred music, and more.
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Major Figures and Groups

Participants at the Council of Trent included many major groups and individual personalities in the political and religious affairs of Europe precisely because kings and princes understood the Council’s potential impact on their control of the church in their lands with all that this implied.

Group Participants

Jedin 1957–1961 (cited under Recent Major Scholarly Histories) provides an abundant bibliography on Council participants (theological schools, Dominicans, Conventual Franciscans, Franciscans, Hermits of St. Augustine, Carmelites, etc.; see especially p. 60, footnote 1), and Schreiber 1951 (cited under Collections of Scholarly Essays on Trent and Its Aftermath) offers numerous articles on the participation of religious orders at Trent (Benedictines, Cistercians, Premonstratensians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Hermits of Saint Augustine, and Capuchins), as does Evennett 1959 for three major Benedictine abbots and Walz 1961 for the Dominican order. Gutiérrez 1951 covers the Spanish bishops’ contributions at Trent. Two prominent Jesuits, Diego Laínez and Alfonso Salmeron, participated in conciliar debates as papal theologians, but little scholarly attention has been given to them, apart from Jedin 1957–1961 and Jedin 1957–1975 (cited under Recent Major Scholarly Histories) and Gutiérrez 1951). Alberigo 1956 offers a complete list of Council participants and Alberigo 1959 an extensive study of the Italian bishops at Trent. Rogger 1952 examines the change at Trent allowing voting by head rather than by nation.

Alberigo, Giuseppe. “Cataloghi dei partecipanti al Concilio di Trento editi durante il medesimo.” Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia 10 (1956): 345–373.
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Continued in vol. 11 (1957), pages 49–94. A useful list with pertinent biographical information of participants at the Council of Trent.
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Alberigo, Giuseppe. I vescovi Italiani al Concilio di Trento (1545–1547). Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1959.
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Comprehensive sociohistorical study of the ecclesiastical ambience at the time of Trent and the seventy-one bishops from the regions of Italy (Venetian, northern, Tuscan, Papal States, Spanish-controlled lands) participating in the first conciliar period. Examines their work and their lives, educations, careers, and differing ecclesiastical views.
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Evennett, H. Outram. “Three Benedictine Abbots at the Council of Trent, 1545–1547.” Studia monastica 1 (1959): 343–377.
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Studies the Benedictine Cassinense abbots Isidoro Chiari (abbot of Pontida, bishop of Foligno in 1547), Luciano degli Ottoni (Abbot of Pomposa), and Crisostomo Calvino (bishop of Ragusa in 1564) who were among the members of the various religious orders admitted to participate in the Council’s deliberations.
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Gutiérrez, Constancio. Españoles en Trento. Valladolid, Spain: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1951.
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The first volume of Gutiérrez’s nine-volume production of sources, studies, and biographies of Spanish participants at Trent. Provides rich details on Spain’s numerous prelates, theologians, and others who went to the Council (next to the Italians, the largest national membership).
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Rogger, Iginio. Le nazioni al Concilio di Trento durante la sua epoca imperiale, 1545–1552. Rome: Orbis Catholicus, 1952.
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At Trent participants deliberated and voted as individuals, not as members of a nation, contrary to the earlier conciliar practice (beginning with the first Council of Lyons in 1274). Setting this direction was Paul III’s bull Decet nos (17 April 1545).
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Walz, Angelus. I Domenicani al Concilio di Trento. Rome: Herder, 1961.
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Foundation study for the role of religious orders and the contribution of many prominent theologians of the Dominican order (some were bishops) who shaped the debates, agenda, and doctrinal and disciplinary decrees. Some of Walz’s studies leading to this book are among the collected essays dedicated to the Council.
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Individual Participants

A number of individuals at the Council stood out prominently, whether for theological expertise, organizational abilities, political skills, or leadership. Evennett 1930 studies the towering importance of the French cardinal of Lorraine, as does González 1974 the imperial and Spanish prelate Pacheco. Mayer 2000 provides a splendid study of the English cardinal Pole, Wojtyska 1967 of the Polish cardinal Hosius, and Jedin 1947 of cardinal Seripando, as well as of the curialist behind the scenes, Tommaso Campeggio (Jedin 1958). Firpo and Niccoli 2010 presents well-documented essays with fresh perspectives on Cardinal Morone’s role at the close of the Council.

Evennett, H. Outram. The Cardinal of Lorraine and the Council of Trent: A Study in the Counter-Reformation. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1930.
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Charles of Guise, cardinal of Lorraine, was instrumental in moving France’s bishops to participate in the final stage of the Council. He understood the importance of aligning France with the papacy because of the rising influence of the Huguenots and wanted Trent’s third period to be considered a new council.
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Firpo, Massimo, and Ottavia Niccoli, eds. Il cardinale Giovanni Morone e l’ultima fase del concilio di Trento: Atti del convegno “Il cardinale Giovanni Morone e l’ultima fase del Concilio di Trento,” Trento, 3–6 giugno 2009. Annali dell’istituto storico italo-germanico, Quaderno 80. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino, 2010
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Important essays focusing on the career, activities, and ultimate triumph of Cardinal Giovanni Morone, papal legate credited for his political and diplomatic skills in bringing to close the last period of Trent, after having weathered the relentless persecution of the Inquisition under Pope Paul IV on suspicions of heresy.
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González, Martín Angel. El cardenal Don Pedro Pacheco, obispo de Jaén, en el Concilio de Trento (Un prelado que personificó la política imperial de Carlos V). 2 vols. Jaén, Spain: Instituto de Estudios Giennenses, Excma. Diputación Provincial, 1974.
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Rich, detailed biography of Cardinal Pedro Pacheco, the emperor Charles V’s and later Philip II of Spain’s senior prelate at Trent and diplomat at Rome until his death in 1560. Pushed the imperial, then the Spanish, agenda through the Council, participated in key doctrinal debates (e.g., original sin, justification).
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Jedin, Hubert. Papal Legate at the Council of Trent: Cardinal Seripando. Translated by Frederic C. Eckhoff. St. Louis, MO: Herder, 1947.
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Jedin’s signal work (ineptly abridged from the original German version) on the Augustinian friar, theologian, and archbishop of Salerno, Girolamo Seripando from Naples, who participated in the first conciliar periods and with Hosius served as papal legate to the third period of the Council, only to die before its closure. Originally published as Girolamo Seripando: Sein Leben und Denken im Geisteskampf des 16. Jahrhunderts. 2 vols. (Würzburg, Germany: Rita-Verlag, 1937).
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Jedin, Hubert. Tommaso Campeggio, 1483–1564: Tridentinische Reform und kuriale Tradition. Münster, West Germany: Aschendorff, 1958.
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Short, informative study of a key member of the Roman curia, diplomat, moderate reformer, outstanding administrator, bishop of Feltri with a plurality of benefices, and close observer of the Council of Trent from the papacy’s perspective. Reflects the papal approach to conciliar reforms—deliberate, thoughtful, strategic, minding papal prerogatives.
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Mayer, Thomas F. Reginald Pole: Prince and Prophet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
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Superb study of a central yet highly enigmatic figure among the spirituali and the Italian reformation in the first two conciliar periods. Examines Pole’s involvement, influence, and theological positions at Trent, especially in the crucial debate in the first period on justification. Particularly useful is chapter 4 on Trent.
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Wojtyska, Henry Damien. Cardinal Hosius: Legate to the Council of Trent. Rome: Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies, 1967.
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Pius IV selected the Polish prelate Stanislaus Hosius, bishop of Ermland, and Seripando as papal legates to Trent’s third meeting period. Hosius adhered scrupulously to papal positions (“the safe traditional position”) in doctrine and discipline. Only one of two northern European prelates; sole representative of Poland in the third period.
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Major Doctrinal and Disciplinary Debates and Decrees

Doctrinal and disciplinary issues lay at the heart of the Council of Trent’s deliberations, and it was remarkable that shortly after the close of the Council the pope (who had taken ill with a stroke), without delay and without amendments, promulgated the canons and decrees in their entirety (26 January 1563). The doctrinal decrees involved clarifying not only the Catholic understanding of the seven sacraments of the Roman church but also questions on the sources of revelation, the authentic character of the Latin Vulgate, the role of grace and free will, the role of good works (pilgrimages, indulgences, charitable giving, prayers for the dead, etc.), purgatory, the veneration of images, and the role of the bishop. On the disciplinary side, the Protestants had not only urged the abolition of so many abuses in the Church’s liturgical and organizational practices but had embraced a wide range of ecclesiastical practices they believed were squarely in line with the early Christian church and so had reformed the way believers approached the reception of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, hearing of the word of God, confession, and so on. Most of these issues are treated extensively in the rich collections of essays on Trent; some of those not appearing in such collections and relied on by scholars include the following titles.

Scripture and Tradition (and Traditions)

Of momentous importance in Reformation theology is the principle of “Scripture alone,” which every Reformer insisted is to guide the Church and against which all theologies and ecclesiastical practices were to be tested. The question challenged directly the authority of the papacy, whose position insisted on the essential role of tradition in the interpretation of Scripture and ecclesiastical life. Brandmüller 1987 lays out well the role of Councils in the interpretation of Scripture down to the Council of Trent. Bénevot 1963 is a clear and informative presentation of the problem and offers keen distinctions on the question; Geiselmann 1966 likewise seeks to lay out this crucial problem in a systematic way. Barbeau 2001 reopens the question, seeking further light on the fathers’ deliberations at Trent. Letis 2002 delves into the problem of how and why the fathers at Trent understood Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of the Scriptures as “authentic” as opposed to newer editions of sacred Scripture based on the best scholarship of humanist editors.

Barbeau, Jeffrey W. “Scripture and Tradition at the Council of Trent: Reapplying the ‘Conciliar Hermeneutic.’” Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 33.1 (2001): 127–146.
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Reexamination and analysis of the much-commented-on fourth decree of Trent in its many strata; investigates the idea of two sources of revelation (Scripture and tradition); examines how Trent’s interpretation was received. Employs Kenneth Hagen’s approach (“conciliar hermeneutic”) for a fuller understanding of the intent and consequences of the decree.
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Bénevot, Maurice. “Traditiones in the Council of Trent.” The Heythrop Journal 4.4 (1963): 331–347.
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Thoughtful analysis of the Council’s dealing with the many, often differently observed, traditions (“observances”) of the Church, some of which derived from the Apostolic Age, “practices traditional in the Church.” Distinguishes clearly between the concept of “tradition” and what are often called today “traditions.”
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Brandmüller, Walter. “Traditio scripturae interpres: The Teaching of the Councils on the Right Interpretation of Scripture up to the Council of Trent.” Catholic Historical Review 73.4 (1987): 523–540.
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Crucial study explaining the nature of the debate before Trent on the interpretation of Scripture, its relationship to Church tradition (as opposed to “traditions”), the role of the Holy Spirit guiding its interpretation, and the role of the papacy in the finality of judgment.
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Geiselmann, Josef Rupert. The Meaning of Tradition. New York: Herder and Herder, 1966.
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Examines the debate at the fourth session of Trent on the nature and relationship of Scripture and tradition. Analyzes the two important alternatives on the nature of revelation (i.e., that it is found “partly in Scripture and partly in revelation” or “both in Scripture and revelation).” Trent chose the latter. Originally published as Die Heilige Schrift und die Tradition (Quaestiones disputatae 18. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1962).
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Letis, Theodore P. “The Vulgata Latina as Sacred Text: What Did the Council of Trent Mean When It Claimed Jerome’s Bible Was Authentica?” Reformation 7 (2002): 1–22.
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Argues that the Council of Trent reacted strongly to Erasmus’s production of a Greek text of the New Testament and its being regarded as more authentic than the Latin Vulgate, the standard Bible of the Western Church. Trent asserted the Vulgate’s primacy over all recently published Greek and Hebrew editions.
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Sacraments in General

The Church has generally viewed dispensation of the sacraments (the “channels of grace”) as the prerogative of the ordained clergy, particularly in the matter of confession, the Eucharist, confirmation, orders, and the last rites. Baptism, on the other hand, could in emergencies be performed by a layman or laywoman, and marriage was a sacrament conferred on each other by each of the two consenting parties. The Reformers’ challenge to the ordained hierarchy in the administration of sacraments—as well as in the number and nature of the sacraments—went to the heart of the institutional Church. To counter the reformers, Trent upheld the seven-fold number of the sacraments against the Protestant teachings that in general recognized the scriptural basis for only two sacraments as instituted by Christ (baptism and the Lord’s Supper); the others, while supported by some scriptural references, did not rest on the same incontestable foundations and so were regarded as of lesser importance. Jedin and many other authors take up the sacraments in their accounts on Trent. Specifically noteworthy are Duval 1985, which gives a good presentation of the sacraments at Trent. Other works examine debates on the individual sacraments, as Wohlmuth 1975 for the Mass, Brundage 1987 for marriage, Arendt 1981 for penance, and Ott 1969 and Minnich 2007 for holy orders (ordination). Baptism, confirmation, and extreme unction (last anointing) generated none of the controversy as did the others.

Arendt, Hans-Peter. Bussakrament und Einzelbeichte: Die tridentinischen Lehraussagen über das Sündenbekenntnis und ihre Verbindlichkeit für die Reform des Bussakramentes. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1981.
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A fully documented, in-depth historical and systematic examination and analysis of the doctrine of penance and all related topics (words of absolution, satisfaction, attrition, confession, contrition, etc.) as propounded at Trent.
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Brundage, James A. “Sexual Issues in the Age of the Reformation: From the Ninety-Five Theses to Tametsi, 1517–1563.” In Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. By James A. Brundage, 551–575. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226077895.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Overview of church teaching and practice on marriage from the Middle Ages to Trent. Helpful for why Reformers denied marriage its sacramental character. Looks at marriage reform at Trent, marital sex, Tridentine Catholicism, divorce, separation, remarriage, sex and the clergy, extramarital sex among the laity, deviant sexuality, jurisdiction, and courts.
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Duval, André. Des sacrements au Concile de Trente. Rites et symboles 16. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1985.
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Examines the seven sacraments taken up by Trent, stressing the major importance given to the Eucharist and sacrifice of the Mass (which involved the authority of the Church); weak on the debate about the historical background of the Last Supper as sacrifice and on the patristic background of the debate.
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Minnich, Nelson H. “The Priesthood of All Believers at the Council of Trent.” The Jurist 67.2 (2007): 341–363.
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Although Reformers had made much of the priesthood of all believers, Minnich argues that Trent did not deny this but the fathers’ progress on the issue was minimal, mostly little more than culling some scriptural texts and not advancing much beyond countering the teachings of Luther and others.
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Ott, Ludwig. Das Weihesakrament. Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte 4, Fasicle 5. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1969.
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Comprehensive presentation of the dogmatic aspects of the sacrament of orders as conceived by the fathers of Trent in response to the Reformers, emphasizing the visible and external priesthood and the divinely ordained hierarchy comprised of those who have received priestly orders, the teaching that Jesus instituted it.
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Wohlmuth, Josef. Realpräsenz und Transsubstantiation im Konzil von Trient: Eine historisch-kritische Analyse der Canones 1–4 der Sessio XIII. 2 vols. Europäische Hochschulschriften 37. Bern, Switzerland: H. Lang, 1975.
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Retrospective, in-depth examination of the debates at Trent in Session 13, which resulted in the canons on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the doctrine of transubstantiation. Seeks to understand what the Council fathers intended with the term transubstantiation. Volume 2 provides abundant source documentation and references.
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Bishops and Episcopal Residency

The bishop stands at the center of the Council’s deliberations, both as participant and as beneficiary of conciliar decisions. Because of this weighty importance, many parties believed it was a matter of divine law (ius divinum) that the bishop permanently reside in his diocese. Both Jedin 1965 and Alberigo 1965 explore the debate, especially its most engaging phase in the Council’s third meeting period. Council fathers understood clearly that the work of reform depended on the bishop and that the bishop should serve as a model of Christ. They understood his role as one of pastor (teacher) who is to feed his flock daily with the word of God, provide education for clergy, inquire into their worthiness for the office, provide excellent ministers for his diocese by establishing seminaries, provide each parish with a priest, call provincial synods every three years (if he were an archbishop), and, as bishop, call a diocesan synod annually and visit each parish in his diocese regularly. They affirmed his authority over the preaching and hearing of confession by mendicant orders. Clearly provided for too was his authority over the convents of religious women in his diocese. In this sense, the Council went far in asserting an authority and independence for the bishop in his diocese, one that arguably understood his status within his own diocese as being on the same level as the bishop of Rome, who would be “first among equals” (primus inter pares). Alberigo 1959 (cited under Group Participants) provides a useful study of Italian bishops at the time of the Council. Headley and Tomaro 1988, a collection of essays from prominent scholars (Trisco, Tomaro, [Agostino] Borromeo, Prosperi, O’Malley, Wright, Venard, Voelker, Alberigo), though centered on Borromeo, focuses on the ideal, role, and place of the bishop in post-Tridentine Italy.

Alberigo, Giuseppe. “Le potestà episcopali nei dibattiti tridentini.” In Il Concilio di Trento e la Riforma Tridentina. Vol. 2. Edited by Iginio Rogger. 471–523. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1965.
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Examines the debate in the final meeting period at Trent on episcopal power: the papal position, that the power of orders derived from God directly and the power of jurisdiction from the pope (its implications for the episcopacy as a collegial body were enormous); episcopal position, both directly from God.
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Jedin, Hubert. “Der Kampf um die bischöfliche Residenzpflicht, 1562/63.” In Il Concilio di Trento e la Riforma Tridentina. Vol. 1. Edited by Iginio Rogger, 1–25. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1965.
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Analyzes the debate that left unresolved the question whether it was a matter of divine law (ius divinum) that bishops reside in their dioceses, a position advocated for by most Spanish, French, and some Italian prelates, the implication being that popes had no authority to dispense bishops from this obligation.
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Tomaro, John B. “San Carlo Borromeo and the Implementation of the Council of Trent.” In San Carlo Borromeo: Catholic Reform and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century. Edited by John M. Headley and John B. Tomaro, 67–84. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1988.
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Analyzes the style and strategy of reform of Carlo Borromeo, archbishop of Milan. Looks specifically at Borromeo’s conception and carrying out of the role of the bishop in his diocese (synods, visitations, etc.) and all its implications.
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Implementation in the Catholic World

Of greatest importance for the papacy was generating the momentum not only to keep the Council alive after its first meeting period but to push for the implementation of Trent’s decrees after its closure in the many Catholic dioceses of Europe under the leadership of their bishops. Crucial too, and perhaps above all, was the singular role of the papacy in determining how the conciliar decrees should be interpreted, a function popes reserved exclusively for themselves at the close of the Council with the establishment of the Congregation of the Council. Essentially the bishop of Rome became the arbiter of Trent’s meaning and would henceforth control all manner of writing or interpretation of the Council and its decrees, which was made clear in the bull Benedictus deus, which it promulgated when confirming Trent’s decrees. Many scholars have examined the implementation of Trent’s decrees in various dioceses of Europe; notable are the numerous studies of this sort in Schreiber 1951 (cited under Collections of Scholarly Essays on Trent and Its Aftermath) dealing with the German dioceses of Upper Bavaria, Würzburg, Eichstätt, Bambertg, Augsburg, Constance, Mainz, Trier, Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück, and Paderborn. Borromeo 1997 examines the progress of implementation among the Italian bishops and Tomaro 1988 (cited under Bishops and Episcopal Residency) among the diocese of Milan. Trisco 1988 throws important light on Carlo Borromeo and the idea of church reform in his role as papal nephew at the close of Trent. De Boer 2001 provides a concrete illustration of Borromeo’s reform ideology after his return as archbishop to Milan.

Borromeo, Agostino. “I vescovi italiani e l’applicazione del concilio di Trento.” In I tempi del Concilio: Religione, cultura e società nell’Europa tridentina. Edited by Cesare Mozzarelli and Danilo Zardin, 27–105. Rome: Bulzoni Editore, 1997.
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Examines the implementation of Trent’s decrees (e.g., bishops fulfilling their residence obligation, the celebration of provincial councils and diocesan synods, implementing pastoral visits, the erection of seminaries for priests). Finds the work to have been accomplished much more slowly than the scholarship of a half century earlier presents it.
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de Boer, Wietse. The Conquest of the Soul: Confession, Discipline, and Public Order in Counter-Reformation Milan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2001.
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Close study of the concrete measures for implementing the tridentine decrees in Milan by Carlo and Federico Borromeo, with particular emphasis on their program of organizing the diocesan clergy, enforcing penitential discipline (and introduction of the confessional), dispensing the sacraments, and controlling the moral lives of its Christian citizens to refashion Milan as a light upon the hill.
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Trisco, Robert. “Carlo Borromeo and the Council of Trent: The Question of Reform.” In San Carlo Borromeo: Catholic Reform and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century. Edited by John M. Headley and John B. Tomaro, 47–66. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1988.
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Examines the much-debated role Carlo Borromeo, nephew of pope Pius IV (1560–1566), played in the last phase of the Council, his views on ecclesiastical reform, and his contribution to the cause of reform by his own exemplary activities and example.
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Influence on Clerical and Religious Life and Education

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) called on bishops to provide schools for the education of priests who would have care of souls, but not until the Council of Trent did a general council of the Church specifically require “every cathedral, metropolitan and greater church . . . to provide for, to educate in religion and to train in ecclesiastical studies” young men to “serve the church ministries throughout life.” The colleges were envisioned as “a perpetual seminary of ministers of God.” General words on these “seminaries” were expressed in the Council’s first period (Session 6) and in its third period (Session 23) with the highly detailed “Decree on Reform” ordering that these seminaries be established in the dioceses for the training of priests and that they be supported financially by their ordinaries. The new institutions were to be seen as “seminaries of the virtues,” places of religious formation, separate from secular institutions of learning and from the laity. O’Donohoe 1957 gives a solid exposition of the sources and debate at the Council; Comerford 1998 provides a valuable survey of Italian seminaries after Trent and Comerford 2001 a microstudy of the diocese of Fiesole as an index to measure the progress of dioceses in implementing Trent’s decree. Creytens 1965 examines the reform of women’s monasteries in the post-Tridentine era, and Medioli 2000 looks at the changes in the rule of clausura after Trent.

Comerford, Kathleen M. “Italian Tridentine Diocesan Seminaries: A Historiographical Study.” Sixteenth Century Journal 29.4 (1998): 999–1022.
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Brief survey of Trent’s decree and history of seminaries. Probes conditions for the foundation of diocesan seminaries appearing in Italy after Trent; gauges their progress in implementing Trent’s decree on seminaries in the dioceses; reviews protocol for opening seminaries; offers correctives to ways historians have studied seminaries in the past.
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Comerford, Kathleen M. Ordaining the Catholic Reformation: Priests and Seminary Pedagogy in Fiesole, 1575–1675. Biblioteca della Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa, Studi 12. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001.
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Study of the response of the diocese of Fiesole to the decree of Trent on the establishment of a seminary for the education of priests. Examines its educational role, its student body, and its ministerial impact on the faithful within the locality. Sees little impact of Trent’s decree on the diocese.
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Creytens, Raimondo. “La Riforma dei monasteri femminili dopo i decreti tridentini.” In Il Concilio di Trento e la riforma tridentina: Atti del convegno storico internazionale, Trento, 2–6 settembre 1963. Vol. 1, 45–84. Freiburg, West Germany: Herder, 1965.
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Examines the institutional (not moral or disciplinary) reform of women’s monasteries at Trent, which were under ecclesiastical authority from the time of Pius V (1566–1572) to Gregory XIII (1572–1585). Looks at Trent’s decree, Pius V’s constitution, Circa pastoralis (1566) and resulting controversies, and Gregory XIII’s Deo sacris virginibus (1572).
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Medioli, Francesca. “An Unequal Law: The Enforcement of Clausura Before and After the Council of Trent.” In Women in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe. Edited by Christine A. Meek, 136–152. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2000.
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Analyzes Trent’s Decretum de reformatione monialium (1563) and Boniface VIII’s constitution (Periculoso) of 1298. Shows that the rule of clausura had changed at Trent from a means to an end for the prevention of rape, sexual scandal, forced monacations, and incest, primarily because of the clergy’s view of women’s natural inferiority.
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O’Donohoe, James A. Tridentine Seminary Legislation, Its Sources and Its Formation. Louvain, Belgium: Publications universitaires de Louvain, 1957.
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Views the council’s seminary legislation as the culmination of its concern for clerical education, which envisioned “a complete reorganization of the system of clerical training.” Looks at the widespread complaints and major concerns giving rise to the discussion on clerical education and examines the sources from which this decree originated. An abridged version of this can be found in Il Concilio di Trento e la riforma tridentina (Vol. 1, pp. 157–172).
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Influence on the Arts

Scholarship on the arts after Trent has moved away from the view that Trent put a damper on the creativity and excellence in the art of the Renaissance. Modern studies now present that matter differently, though the greater religious emphasis in post-Tridentine art is generally acknowledged, as well as efforts in most cases to adhere (however widely) to guidelines given by the Council in artistic matters. Mullett 1999 gives a good general introduction to the world of art after Trent. Jones and Worcester 2002 conveys well the vitality of art and spirituality after Trent, as does Kolrud 2006. For a thorough treatment of art and architecture after the Council, Wittkower 1999 is still the best place to start. Monson 2002 argues much the same for the field of music; Weber 1982 gives a valuable, comprehensive survey of music across confessional lines in the post-conciliar period. Jones 1993 provides a vivid picture of Federico Borromeo’s plan to harness the potential of art for the religious benefit of Milan’s laity.

Jones, Pamela M. Federico Borromeo and the Ambrosiana: Art Patronage and Reform in Seventeenth-Century Milan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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Superb study of Federico Borromeo, cardinal-archbishop of Milan and cousin of Carlo Borromeo, who founded the Ambrosiana (art museum, library, and art studio) for aspiring artists of Milan for “reforming religious scholarship and the figurative arts in response to the decrees of the Council of Trent” Informative, analytical, and richly documented.
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Jones, Pamela M., and Thomas Worcester, eds. From Rome to Eternity: Catholicism and the Arts in Italy, ca. 1550–1650. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
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Nine essays cover the arts and vibrant religious culture in post-Tridentine Rome and Italy: Part I, “Artists as Saints and Sinners” (Stone, Bassanese, Zampelli); Part II, “Arts of Sanctity, Suffering, and Sensuality in Italy” (Jones, Kendri, Clifton, Grossman); Part III, “Italy and Beyond: Rome and Global Catholic Culture” (Bailey, Burke).
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Kolrud, Kristine. “Maria Lactans and the Council of Trent: A Ban on the Virgin’s Bare Breast?” In Ashes to Ashes: Art in Rome between Humanism and Maniera. Edited by Roy T. Eriksen and Victor Plahte Tschudi, 173–195. Rome: Edizioni dell’Áteneo, 2006.
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Examines many (though fewer in frequency than before Trent) breast-feeding Virgin Marys in light of the Council’s decree. Notes the Council did not dictate a detailed view on the use of sacred images, nor did it ban nudity. Identifies the work of the Flemish theologian Johannes Molanus as significant for its light on allowing the decorous depiction of nudity in holy subjects.
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Monson, Craig A. “The Council of Trent Revisited.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 55.1 (2002): 1–37.
DOI: 10.1525/jams.2002.55.1.1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Uses a wealth of primary literature to reassess how the Council dealt with music. Objects to views of Trent as constraining; sees vast difference between Trent’s preliminary deliberations and its later decree, which said little about music. Argues that sacred music was left largely to bishops and provincial synods.
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Mullett, Michael A. The Catholic Reformation. New York: Routledge, 1999.
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The final chapter of this general treatment of Catholic reform movements (“The Catholic Reformation and the Arts,” pp. 196–214) provides a useful bibliography and an informative treatment of the transformations in Catholic art in a broad range of areas.
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Weber, Edith. Le Concile de Trente et la musique: De la Réforme á la Contre-Réforme. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1982.
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Rich survey of sacred music at Trent and afterwards. Examines reforms in music in Catholic and Protestant confessions; sees great differences throughout Christian Europe but a common concern in music for clarity, understanding, and religious import and removing the kinds of defects called attention to by Erasmus and some Reformers.
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Wittkower, Rudolf. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750. 6th ed. 3 vols. Revised by Joseph Connors and Jennifer Montagu. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
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Since its first publication (1958) Wittkower’s ground-breaking study still stands as a fundamental textbook (with full bibliography) for students of art and architecture in post-Tridentine Italy. Vol. 1 begins with Trent and art at Rome. Careful revision by Connors and Montagu have brought this study well up to date.