History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 1MacCaffrey, James
Religion
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 1
MacCaffrey, James
Catholic Church -- History -- Modern period, 1500-
It put an end to abuses in connexion with the use of ecclesiastical
censures, indulgences, and dispensations, and ordained that all causes
of complaint should be brought before the episcopal court before being
carried to a higher tribunal. It made useful regulations concerning
those who should be admitted into diocesan chapters, defined the
relations between the bishop and his canons, and arranged for the
administration of the dioceses by the appointment of vicars-capitular
to act during the interregnum. It ordered the secular clergy to be
mindful always of the spiritual dignity to which they had been called,
not to indulge in any business unworthy of their sacred office,
condemned concubinage in the strongest terms, and commanded priests to
look after the religious education of the young, to preach to their
flocks on Sundays and holidays, and to attend zealously to the
spiritual wants of the souls committed to their charge.
The council recognised, furthermore, that the best method of securing
a high standard of priestly life was the careful training of
ecclesiastical students. Hence it ordained that in the individual
dioceses seminaries should be established, where those who were
desirous of entering the clerical state should live apart from the
world, and where they should receive the education and discipline
necessary for the successful discharge of their future obligations. It
put an end to many abuses of monastic life, suppressed questing for
alms, drew up rules for the reception of novices, gave the bishop
power to deal with irregularities committed outside the monasteries,
and subjected all priests both regular and secular to episcopal
authority by insisting on the necessity of Approbation for all who
wished to act as confessors. Finally, in order to apply a remedy
against the many scandals and crimes that resulted from secret
marriages, the Council of Trent laid it down that those marriages only
should be regarded as valid which should be contracted in the presence
of the parish priest of one of the contracting parties and two
witnesses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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