Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
The first sitting was held under Cardinal Del Monte, the papal legate,
who rose amidst the assembled prelates and representatives and asked
them whether it was their wish, "For the glory of God, the extirpation
of heresy, and the reformation of the clergy and people, and the
downfall of the enemy of the Christian name, to resolve and declare
that the Sacred General Tridentine Council should begin and was
begun?" The whole company, we are told, answered "Placet," a Te Deum
was sung, and it was agreed that the first sitting of the Council
should be held on the 7th of January. The sittings were continued at
various times without any untoward event till the year 1552, when
Maurice of Saxony invaded Tyrol, and although the Council was sitting,
most of its members fled the country after having re-enacted the
various decrees and ordinances which had been previously passed.
Ten years later, what was to all intents and purposes another Council
met at Trent, and a solemn service was again held, at which Cardinal
Gonzaga was elected president. A quarrel seems to have arisen between
some of the archbishops and bishops and one of the French envoys. The
former did not agree to some of the terms of the proposition made by
the Archbishop of Reggio, whilst the latter raised an objection to the
Council being considered a continuation of the first Council.
The building in which the Council sat has been stated at various times
to have been the Cathedral, in the Piazza del Duomo, but there seems
very little doubt now that the place of meeting was not there but in
the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, situated on the Piazza of the same
name. In it on the north wall of the Choir hangs a large picture
representing some three hundred of the various chief dignitaries as
they sat in the Council Chamber. The members numbered nearly a
thousand in all, and in addition to the cardinals, archbishops,
bishops, abbots, chiefs of religious orders, and representatives from
the University, there were also present ambassadors from the Emperor
of Germany, and from the Kings of France, Spain, and Portugal, from
the republic of Venice and Genoa, from Switzerland, and from the
German electors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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