Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent/Session VII/Sacraments
SESSION THE SEVENTH,
Celebrated on the third day of the month of March, 1547.
DECREE CONCERNING THE SACRAMENTS.
Preface.
For the consummation of the salutary doctrine on Justification, which was promulgated in the last preceding session with the unanimous consent of the Fathers, it hath seemed fitting to treat of the most holy Sacraments of the Church, through which all true justice either begins, or being begun is increased, or being lost is repaired. Wherefore, the sacred and holy, œcumenical and general Council of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein,—in order to destroy the errors and to extirpate the heresies, which have appeared in these our days respecting the said most holy sacraments, as well those which have been revived from the heresies condemned of old by our fathers, as also those newly invented which are exceedingly prejudicial to the purity of the Catholic Church, and to the salvation of souls,—[the aforesaid council] adhering to the doctrine of the holy Scriptures to the apostolic traditions, and to the consent of other Councils and of the Fathers, has thought fit to establish and decree these present canons; intending, the divine Spirit aiding, to publish hereafter the remaining canons which are wanting for the completion of the work begun.
TOUCHING THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL.
Canon i. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or, that they are more, or less than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony; or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament;. let him be anathema.
Canon ii. If any one shall say, that these said sacraments of the New Law are not differ from the sacraments of the Old Law, save that the ceremonies are different. and; the outward rites different; let him be anathema.
Canon iii. If any one shall say, that these seven sacraments are equal to each other in such wise, as that one is not in any way more worthy than another; let him he anathema.
Cannon iv. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous, and that without them, and without the desire thereof, men, through faith alone, obtain of God the grace of justification; though all [the sacraments] he not necessary for every individual; let him be anathema.
Canon v. If any one shall say, that these sacraments were instituted for the sake of nourishing faith alone; let him he anathema.
Canon vi. If any one shall say, that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify; or, that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle in the way; as though they were merely outward signs of grace or righteousness received through faith, and certain marks of the Christian profession, by which the believers are distinguished amongst men from the unbelievers; let him be anathema.
Canon vii. If any one shall say, that grace, as far as concemeth God's part, is not given through the said sacraments, always, and to all men, even though they rightly receive them, but [only] sometimes, and to some persons; let him be anathema.
Canon viii. If any one shall say, that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed,[1] but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for obtaining grace; let him be anathema.
Canon ix. If any one shall say, that, in the three sacraments. Baptism, to wit, Confirmation, and Orders, there is not imprinted on the soul a character, that is, a certain spiritual and indelible sign, on account of which they cannot be repeated; let him be anathema.
Canon x. If any one shall say, that all Christians have power to administer the word, and all the sacraments; let him be anathema.
Canon xi. If any one shall say, that, in ministers, whilst they effect, and confer the sacraments, there is not required the intention at least of doing what the Church does; let him be anathema.
Canon XII. If any one shall say, that a minister, being in deadly sin, proyided that he observe all the essentials which belong to the performance or conferring of the sacrarment, neither performs nor confers the sacrament; let him be anathema.
Canon xiii. If any one shall say, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be condemned, or without sin omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed by any pastor of the churches into other new ones; let him be anathema.
TOUCHING BAPTISM
Canon I. If any one shall say, that the baptism of John had the same force with the baptism of Christ; let him be anathema.
Canon ii. If any one shall say, that true and natural water is not of necessity for baptism, and, on that account, wrests to some sort of metaphor those words of our Lord Jesus Christ; Except a man he horn again of water and the Holy Ghost;[2] Let him be anathema.
Canon iii. If any one shall say, that in the Romish church, which is the mother and mistress of all churches, there is not the true doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism; let him be anathema.
Canon iv. If any one shall say, that the baptism which is also given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what the Church doth, is not true baptism; let him be anathema.
Canon v. If any one shall say, that baptism is free, that is, not necessary unto salvation; let him be anathema.
Canon vi. If any one shall say, that one who has been baptized cannot, even if he wish, lose grace, let him sin ever so much, unless he will not believe; let him be anathema.
Canon vii. If any one shall say, that the baptized are, by A baptism itself, made debtors but to faith only, and not to the observance of the whole law of Christ; let him be anathema.
Canon viii. If any one shall say, that the baptized are freed from all the precepts of the holy Church, whether written or transmitted, so that they are not bound to observe them, unless they, of their own accord, have chosen to submit themselves to them; let him be anathema.
Canon ix. If any one shall say, that men are so to be recalled unto the remembrance of the baptism which they have received, as that they must understand that all vows which are made after baptism are void, by virtue of the promise already made in that baptism; as if, by those [vows] they both derogated from that faith which they have professed, and from baptism itself; let him be anathema.
Canon x. If any shall say, that, by the sole remembrance and faith of the baptism received, all sins which are committed after baptism are either remitted, or made venial; let him be anathema.
Cannon xi. If any one shall say, that baptism, true, and rightly conferred, is to be repeated for him who, amongst Infidels, has denied the faith of Christ, when he is converted into penitence; let him be anathema.
Canon xii. If any one shall say, that no one is to be baptized save at that age at which Christ was baptized, or at the very point of death; let him be anathema.
Canon xiii. If any one shall say, that infants, for that they have not actual faith, are not, after having received baptism, to be reckoned amongst the faithful, and that, for this reason, they are to be rebaptized, when they have arrived at years of discretion; or, that it is better that the baptism of such be omitted, than that they, while not believing by their own act, should be baptized in the faith alone of the Church; let him be anathema.
Canon xiv. If any one shall say, that those who have been thus baptized when infants, are, when they have grown up, to be questioned whether they will ratify what their sponsors promised in their name when they were baptized; and that, in case that they answer they will not, they are to be left to their own will; and are not meanwhile to be compelled to a Christian life by any other penalty, save that they be excluded from the participation of the Eucharist, and of the other sacraments, until they repent; let him be anathema.
TOUCHING CONFIRMATION.
Canon i. If any one shall say, that the confirmation of those who have been baptized is an idle ceremony, and not rather a true and proper sacrament; or that it was formerly nothing more than a kind of catechism, whereby they who were near years of discretion,[3] declared an account of their faith in the face of the Church; let him be anathema.
Canon ii. If any one shall say, that they who ascribe any virtue to the sacred chrism[4] of confirmation, do an injury to the Holy Ghost; let him be anathema.
Canon iii. If any one shall say, that the ordinary minister of holy confirmation is not the bishop only, but any simple priest soever; let him be anathema.