The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent

The council met at Trent, in northern Italy, in three periods: 1545–1547, 1551–1552 and 1562–1563, under the popes Paul III, Julius III and Pius IV. Its acts are cited by session. The principal sessions issued a doctrinal decree, set out in chapters, followed by canons, short statements each ending “let him be anathema”, and a separate decree on reform. The most cited are the fourth session on Scripture and tradition, the fifth on original sin, the sixth on justification, the thirteenth on the eucharist and the twenty-third on holy orders and seminaries.

These are the council’s own words and the authoritative statement of what it taught. Two cautions apply. The canons condemn propositions without naming who held them, so a canon shows what the council rejected and is not by itself evidence that a given Reformer taught exactly that. And the decrees give only the outcome: the debates among the bishops and theologians are recorded elsewhere. Protestant delegates came to Trent briefly in the second period, but no Protestant church took part in the council’s decisions.