Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent/Session IV/Sacred Books
DECREE CONCERNING THE EDITION AND THE USE OF THE SACRED BOOKS.
Moreover, the same sacred and holy synod, considering that no little utility may accrue to the Church of God, if, out of all the Latin editions, now in circulation of the sacred books, it be known which is to be held as authentic, ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the long usage of so many ages, has been approved in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, preachings, and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext soever.
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, dare 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 suchlike interpretations were never [intended] to be at any time published.[1] They who shall contravene shall be made known by their ordinaries, and be punished with the penalties by law established.
And wishing also, as is just, to impose a restraint in this matter upon printers, who now, without restraint, that is, thinking that whatsoever they please is allowable, print, without the license of ecclesiastical superiors, the said books of sacred Scripture, and the annotations and expositions upon them of all persons indifferently, with the press,[2] often unnamed, often even fictitious, and what is more grievous still, without the author's name; and also indiscriminately keep for sale books of this kind printed elsewhere; [this synod] ordains and decrees, that, henceforth, the sacred Scripture, and especially the aforesaid 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 by 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.[3] And, if they be regulars, besides this manner of examination and approval, they shall be bound to obtain a license also from their own superiors, the books having been examined according to the form of their own statutes. But as to those who lend, or circulate them in manuscript, without their having been first examined and approved, they shall be subjected to the same penalties as the 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 this approbation of books of this kind shall be given in writing; and to 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, so that things to be approved, may be approved, and things to be condemned, condemned.
After these matters, wishing to repress that temerity, by which the words and sentences of sacred Scripture are turned and twisted to all manner of profane uses, to wit, to things scurrilous, fabulous, vain, to flatteries, detractions, superstitions, impious and diabolical incantations, divinations, casting of lots, nay, even hereafter defamatory libels; [the synod] commands and enjoins, for the doing away with this kind of irreverence and contempt, and that no one may hereafter dare in any manner 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 restrained by the bishops by the penalties of law and of their own appointment.