Council of Trent
SESSION THE FOURTH
Celebrated on the eighth day of the month of April, in the year MDXLVI.
Source: http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct04.html
DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES
The sacred and holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent,--lawfully
assembled in the Holy Ghost, the Same three legates of the Apostolic Sec
presiding therein,--keeping this always in view, that, errors
being removed, the purity itself of the Gospel be preserved in the Church; which
(Gospel), before promised through the prophets in the holy Scriptures, our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, first promulgated with His own mouth, and then
commanded to be preached by His Apostles to every creature, as the fountain of
all, both saving truth, and moral discipline; and seeing clearly that this truth
and discipline are contained in the written books, and the unwritten traditions
which, received by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, or from the
Apostles themselves, the Holy Ghost dictating, have come down even unto us,
transmitted as it were from hand to hand; (the Synod) following the examples of
the orthodox Fathers, receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety,
and reverence, all the books both of the Old and of the New Testament--seeing
that one God is the author of both --as also the said traditions, as well those
appertaining to faith as to morals, as having been dictated, either by Christ's
own word of mouth, or by the Holy Ghost, and preserved in the Catholic Church by
a continuous succession. And it has thought it meet that a list of the sacred
books be inserted in this decree, lest a doubt may arise in any one's mind,
which are the books that are received by this Synod. They are as set down here
below: of the Old Testament: the five books of Moses, to wit, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Josue, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two
of Paralipomenon, the first book of Esdras, and the second which is entitled
Nehemias; Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidical Psalter, consisting of a
hundred and fifty psalms; the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles,
Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias, with Baruch; Ezechiel, Daniel; the
twelve minor prophets, to wit, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum,
Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias; two books of the Machabees,
the first and the second. Of the New Testament: the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles written by
Luke the Evangelist; fourteen epistles of Paul the apostle, (one) to the Romans,
two to the Corinthians, (one) to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the
Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, (one)
to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews; two of Peter the apostle, three of John
the apostle, one of the apostle James, one of Jude the apostle, and the
Apocalypse of John the apostle. But if any one receive not, as sacred and
canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to
be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin
vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions
aforesaid; let him be anathema. Let all, therefore, understand, in what order,
and in what manner, the said Synod, after having laid the foundation of the
Confession of faith, will proceed, and what testimonies and authorities it will
mainly use in confirming dogmas, and in restoring morals in the Church.
DECREE CONCERNING THE EDITION, AND THE USE, OF THE SACRED BOOKS
Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod,--considering that no small utility
may accrue to the Church of God, if it be made known which out of all the Latin
editions, now in circulation, of the sacred books, is to be held as
authentic,--ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which,
by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved of in the Church,
be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as
authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext
whatever.
Furthermore, in order to restrain petulant spirits, It decrees, that no one,
relying on his own skill, shall,--in matters of faith, and of morals pertaining
to the edification of Christian doctrine, --wresting the sacred Scripture to his
own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that
sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and
interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold; or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers; even though such
interpretations were never (intended) to be at any time published. Contraveners
shall be made known by their Ordinaries, and be punished with the penalties by
law established.
And wishing, as is just, to impose a restraint, in this matter, also on
printers, who now without restraint,--thinking, that is, that whatsoever they
please is allowed them,--print, without the license of ecclesiastical superiors,
the said books of sacred Scripture, and the notes and comments upon them of all
persons indifferently, with the press ofttimes unnamed, often even fictitious,
and what is more grievous still, without the author's name; and also keep for
indiscriminate sale books of this kind printed elsewhere; (this Synod) ordains
and decrees, that, henceforth, the sacred Scripture, and especially the said old
and vulgate edition, be printed in the most correct manner possible; and that it
shall not be lawful for any one to print, or cause to be printed, any books
whatever, on sacred matters, without the name of the author; nor to sell them in
future, or even to keep them, unless they shall have been first examined, and
approved of, by the Ordinary; under pain of the anathema and fine imposed in a
canon of the last Council of Lateran: and, if they be Regulars, besides this
examination and approval, they shall be bound to obtain a license also from
their own superiors, who shall have examined the books according to the form of
their own statutes. As to those who lend, or circulate them in manuscript,
without their having been first examined, and approved of, they shall be
subjected to the same penalties as printers: and they who shall have them in
their possession or shall read them, shall, unless they discover the authors, be
themselves regarded as the authors. And the said approbation of books of this
kind shall be given in writing; and for this end it shall appear authentically
at the beginning of the book, whether the book be written, or printed; and all
this, that is, both the approbation and the examination, shall be done gratis,
that so what ought to be approved, may be approved, and what ought to be
condemned, may be condemned.
Besides the above, wishing to repress that temerity, by which the words and
sentences of sacred Scripture are turned and twisted to all
sorts of profane uses, to wit, to things scurrilous, fabulous, vain, to
flatteries, detractions, superstitions, impious and diabolical incantations,
sorceries, and defamatory libels; (the Synod) commands and enjoins, for the
doing away with this kind of irreverence and contempt, and that no one may hence
forth dare in any way to apply the words of sacred Scripture to these and such
like purposes; that all men of this description, profaners and violators of the
word of God, be by the bishops restrained by the penalties of law, and others of
their own appointment.
