DECREES AND CANONS,
&c.
BULL OF INDICTION OF THE SACRED ŒCUMENICAL[1] AND GENERAL COUNCIL OF TRENT,
Under the Sovereign Pontiff Paul III.
Paul, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the future memory hereof.
At the beginning of this our pontificate, which, not on account of our own merits, but, of its own great goodness, the providence of Almighty God hath committed unto us, already perceiving into what disturbances of the times, and unto how many embarrassments of almost all our affairs, our pastoral care and watchfulness were called; we desired, indeed, to remedy the evils of the Christian commonwealth, with which it had long been afflicted and well-nigh overwhelmed; but we also, as men compassed with infirmity,[2] perceived that our strength was unequal to take upon us so great a burthen. For, whereas we saw that there was need of peace to deliver and preserve the commonwealth from the many impending dangers, we found all things replete with
- ↑ The term œcumenical (οἰκομενικὸς) is derived from the Greek word οἰκομένη, applied to the whole earth, and subsequently, in a more restricted sense, to the territory subject to the Roman empire (see Pricæus and Kuinoel on Luke ii. 1, and Matt. xxiv. 14). Hence, it signifies general; i. e. "a council gathered together from all, or most, places of the world where the church of Christ is settled.—Beveridge on Art. xxi. p. 250. Bishop Burnet (on Art. xxi.) says: "The natural idea of a general council is a meeting of all the bishops of Christendom, or at least of proxies instructed by them and their clergy. Now if any will stand to this description, then we are very sure that there was never yet a true general council: which will appear to every one that reads the subscriptions of the councils."
- ↑ Heb. v. 2.
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