2. _Definition of Apocrypha:_ "The word Apocrypha means "secret" or "hidden," and is applied to a class of writings which have been definitely rejected from the books of the Old and New Testaments; but the reason why they were called secret books, rather than private or secondary books, is not clear. * * * * Probably every attempt to define the limits of canonical or inspired books will result in the distinction of three classes of books: (1) the Canonical Scriptures, about which every one is agreed; (2) the disputed books, about which there is no general agreement; (3) the books which are universally rejected. It is to the third class that the term Apocrypha properly applies, the intermediate class being more correctly known as Antilegomena, or disputed books. * * * * * It is commonly stated that the reason for the rejection of the books referred to from the Old Testament [the Apocrypha] was that they were not found current in Hebrew, but only in Greek. It is quite possible that in some cases the reason why the books were not extant in Hebrew was that they had been previously judged uncanonical. A book soon disappears when it has been condemned. Even the Greek text of some parts of the Apocrypha has perished--(e. g. II Esdras). We must not be surprised, therefore, if some of the apocryphal books should turn out to have been at one time extant in Hebrew." (Bible Treasury, p. 351.) 3. _Attitude of the Roman Catholic Church Respecting the Apocrypha:_ Some Catholic theologians previous to the Council of Trent, 1545-1563, were in doubt as to the inspiration of some of the books of the Apocrypha admitted into the Catholic Canon; but Dr. Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, says: "The Council of Trent closed the question which had been left open, and deprived its theologians of the liberty they had hitherto enjoyed--extending the Canon of Scripture so as to include all the hitherto doubtful or deutero-canonical books, with the exception of the two books of Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, the evidence against which seemed too strong to be resisted (Sess. IV. de Can. Script). In accordance with this decree, the editions of the Vulgate, published by authority, contained the books which the Council had pronounced canonical, as standing on the same footing as those which had never been questioned, while the three which had been rejected were printed commonly in smaller type and stood after the New Testament." (Dictionary p, 122.)