the emperor and the pope were at cross purposes with regard
to the mode of procedure. In the eyes of Paul III. the council
was simply the means by which he expected to secure a condemnation
of the Protestant heresy, in hopes that he would then
be in a position to impose the sentence of the Church upon them
by force. For him the question of ecclesiastical reform possessed
no interest whatever. In contrast to this, Charles
demanded that these very reforms should be given precedence,
and the decisions on points of dogma postponed till he should
have compelled the Protestants to send representatives to the
council. The pope, however, alarmed by the threat of a colloquy
in Germany, recognized the inadvisability of his dilatory
tactics, and at last ordered the synod to be opened (December
13, 1545).
Since there was no definite method by which the deliberations of ecumenical councils were conducted, special regulations were necessary; and those adopted were of such a nature as to assure the predominance of the Roman chair from the first. As the voting was not to be by nations, as at Constance, but by individuals, the last word remained with the Italians, who were in the majority. In order to enhance this superiority the legates as a rule denied the suffrage to those foreign bishops who desired to be represented by procurators; and a number of Italian prelates were enabled to make their appearance at Trent, thanks to special allowances from the pope. The dispute as to the order of precedence among the subjects for deliberation was settled by a compromise, and the questions of dogma and ecclesiastical abuses were taken simultaneously, the consequence being that in the decisions of the council the doctrinal and reformatory decrees rank side by side. In pursuance of a precedent established by the last Lateran Council, the sessions were divided into two classes: those devoted to discussion (congregationes generales), and those in which the results of the discussion were put to the vote and formally enacted (sessiones publicae). To ensure a thorough consideration of every proposition, and also to facilitate the exercise of the papal influence on the proceedings, the delegates were split into three groups (congregationes), each group debating the same question at the same time. This arrangement, however, only endured till 1546. Since these sections were only brought into conjunction by the legates, and met under their presidency, the pontifical envoys in effect regulated the whole course of the deliberations. They claimed, moreover, the right of determining the proposals submitted, and were throughout in active and constant communication with Rome-a circumstance which provoked the bon mot of the French deputy (1563), that when the rivers were flooded and the Roman post delayed the Holy Ghost postponed his descent. These precautions nullified any possible disposition on the part of the council to enter on dangerous paths; and in addition the clause “under reservation of the papal authority” was affixed to all enactments dealing with ecclesiastical irregularities—thus leaving the pope a free hand with regard to the practical execution of any measures proposed. Contrary to the emperor’s wish, the council began its labours in the region of dogma by defining the doctrines of the Church with reference to the most important controversial points—a procedure which frustrated all his projects for a reconciliation with the Protestants. On the 8th of April 1546 the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and tradition (sessio iv.) was proclaimed; on the 17th of June 1546, the doctrine of original sin (sessio v.); on the 13th of January 1547, the doctrine of justification (sessio vi.); and on the 3rd of March 1547, the decree concerning the sacraments in general, and baptism and confirmation in particular (sessio vii.). On the 11th of March, however, the council was transferred to Bologna on the pretext that an epidemic was raging in Trent (sessio viii.), though, at the imperial command, part of the bishops remained behind. But on the 2nd of June the council of Bologna resolved (sessio x.) to adjourn its labours. The emperor’s demands that the council should again be removed to Trent were vain, till on the 24th of April 1547, the battle of Mühlberg decided the struggle with the Schmalkaldic league, formed by the Evangelical princes of Germany, in his favour. His hands were now free, and he utilized his military successes to balance his account with the Church. At the Diet of Augsburg he secured the enactment of a modus vivendi, leavened by the Catholic spirit, between the adherents of either religion; and this provisory settlement—the so-called Interim of Augsburg—was promulgated as a law of the empire (June 3, 1548), and declared binding till the council should reassemble. The Protestants, it is true, received certain concessions—the non-celibacy of the priesthood and the lay chalice—but the Roman hierarchy, the old ceremonial, the feast-days and the fasts, were reinstated. Since the bishops who had remained in Trent abstained, at the emperor’s request, from any display of activity qua synod, the outbreak of a schism was avoided. But the confusion of ecclesiastical affairs had grown Worse confounded through the refusal of the pope to continue the council, when the death of Paul III. (November 10, 1549) gave a new turn to events.
Pope Julius III., the former legate Del Monte, could not elude the necessity of convening the council again, and, though personally he took no greater interest in the scheme than his predecessor in office, caused it to resume its labours on the 1st of May 1551 (sessio xi.), under the presidency of the legate, Cardinal Crescentio. The personnel of the synod was, for the most part, different; and the new members included the Jesuits, Laynez and Salmeron. More than this, the general character of the second period of the council was markedly distinct from that of its earlier stages. The French clergy had not a single delegate, while the Spanish bishops maintained an independent attitude under the aegis of the emperor, and Protestant deputies were on this occasion required to appear at Trent. The German Protestants who, in the first phase of the council, had held aloof from its proceedings, since to have sent representatives to this assemblage would have served no good purpose, had now no choice but to obey the imperial will. Charles V. was anxious to assure them not merely of a safe conduct, but also of a certain hearing. But in this he ran counter to the established facts: the Catholic Church had already defined its attitude to the dogmas above mentioned, and the Curia showed no inclination to question these results by reopening the debate. Thus the participation of the Protestants was essentially superfluous, for the object they had at heart—the discussion of these doctrines on the ground of Holy Writ—was from the Catholic standpoint an impossible aspiration. The Württemberg deputies had already submitted a creed, composed by the Swabian reformer johann Brenz, to the council, and Melanchthon was under way with a confessio saxonica, when there came the revolt of the Elector Maurice of Saxony (March 20, 1552), which compelled the emperor to a speedy flight from Innsbruck, and dissolved the conclave. Its dogmatic labours were confined to doctrinal decrees on the Lord’s Supper (sessio xiii. October 11, 1551), and on the sacraments of penance and extreme unction (November 25, 1551, sessio xiv.). On the 28th of April 1552, the sittings were suspended on the news of the elector’s approach.
Ten years had elapsed before the council reassembled for the third time in Trent; and on this occasion the circumstances were totally changed. During the intervening period, the religious problem in Germany had received such a solution as the times admitted by the peace of Augsburg (1555); and the equality there guaranteed between the Protestant estates and the Catholic estates had left the former nothing to hope from a council. Thus the motive which till then had governed the emperor’s policy was now nullified, as there was no necessity for seeking a reconciliation of the two parties by means of a conference. The incitement to continue the council came from another quarter. It was no longer anxiety with regard to Protestantism that exercised the pressure, but a growing conviction of the imperative need of more stringent reforms within the Catholic Church itself. Pope Paul IV. (1551–1559), the protector of the Inquisition, and the opponent of Philip II. of Spain as well as of the emperor Ferdinand, turned a deaf ear to all requests for a revival of the synod. The regime of Pius IV. (1559–1566) was signalized by an absolute reversal of the papal policy: and it was high time. For in France and Spain—
