# Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent/Session XXI/Communion under both Species

SESSION THE TWENTY-FIRST,
Being the fifth under the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV., celebrated on the sixteenth day of the month of July, 1562.
The sacred and holy, œcumenical and general Synod of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost,—the same legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein,—whereas, touching the tremendous and most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, in divers places, by the artifices of the most wicked devil, certain monstrous errors are spread abroad, on account of which, in some provinces, many seem to have departed from the faith and obedience of the Catholic Church, it has thought fit, that those things which relate to communion under both species, and [the communion] of infants, be in this place set forth. Wherefore it forbids all the faithful of Christ henceforth to presume to believe, or teach, or preach otherwise on these matters, than is in these decrees explained and defined.
CHAPTER 1.
That Laymen, and Clerics when not consecrating, are not bound, of Divine Right, unto Communion under both Species.
Wherefore, this holy synod, instructed by the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of godliness, and following the judgment and usage of the Church itself, declares and teaches, that laymen, and clerks when not consecrating, are not obliged, by any divine precept, to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist under both species; and that neither can it by any means be doubted, without injury to faith, that communion under either species is sufficient for them unto salvation. For, although Christ the Lord, in the last supper, instituted and delivered to the apostles, this venerable sacrament in ​the species of bread and wine; that institution and delivery do not therefore tend thereunto, that all the faithful of the Church be bound, by the institution of the Lord, to receive both species. But neither is it rightly inferred, from that discourse which is in the sixth of John, however according to the various interpretations of holy fathers and doctors it be understood, that the communion of both species was enjoined by the Lord: for He who said, Except ye shall eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye shall have no life in you, also said, He that eateth this bread shall live for ever; and He who said, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, also said, The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world; and, in fine, He who said, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him, said, nevertheless, He that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
CHAPTER II.
The Power of the Church touching the Dispensation of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
It furthermore declares, that this power has ever been in the Church, that, in the dispensation of the sacraments, their substance remaining untouched, it might ordain, or change, what things soever it might judge most expedient for the profit of those who receive, or for the veneration of the said sacraments, according to the variety of circumstances, times, and places. And this the apostle seems to have intimated not obscurely, when he says, Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. And indeed it is sufficiently certain that he himself exercised this power, as in many other things, so also in regard of this very sacrament; when, after having ordained certain things touching the use thereof, he says, The rest will I set in order when I come. Wherefore, Holy Mother Church, knowing this her authority in the administration of the sacraments, although the use of both species has, from the beginning of the Christian religion, not been unfrequent, yet, in progress of time, that custom having already been very widely changed, she, induced by ​weighty and just reasons, has approved of this custom of communicating under one species, and decreed that it was to be held as a law; which it is not lawful to reprobate, or to change at pleasure, without the authority of the Church itself.
CHAPTER III.
That Christ, whole and entire, and a true Sacrament, are received under either Species.
It furthermore declares, that although, as hath been before said, our Redeemer, in that last supper, instituted, and delivered to the apostles, this sacrament in two species, yet it is to be confessed, that Christ whole and entire, and a true sacrament, are received under either species alone; and that therefore, as appertaineth unto the fruit thereof, they, who receive one species alone, are not defrauded of any grace necessary to salvation.
CHAPTER IV.
That little Children are not bound unto Sacramental Communion.
Finally, this same holy synod teaches, that little children, who lack the use of reason, are not by any necessity obliged to the sacramental communion of the Eucharist: forasmuch as, having been regenerated by the laver of baptism, and being incorporated with Christ, they cannot, at that age, lose the grace already acquired, of [being] the sons of God. Not therefore, however, is antiquity to be condemned, if, in some places, it, at one time, observed that custom. For, as those most holy fathers had a probable cause for their conduct in respect of their times, so, assuredly, is it to be believed without controversy, that they did this without any necessity unto salvation.
ON COMMUNION UNDER BOTH SPECIES, AND ON THE COMMUNION OF INFANTS.
Canon i. If any one shall say, that, by the precept of God, or, by necessity of salvation, all and each of the faithful of Christ ought to receive both species of the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist; let him be anathema.
Canon ii. If any one shall say, that the holy Catholic Church was not induced by just causes and reasons to ​communicate, under the species of bread only, laymen, and also clerks when not consecrating; let him be anathema.
Canon iii. If any one shall deny, that Christ whole and entire, the fountain and author of all graces, is received under the one species of bread; because that, as some falsely assert, he is not received, according to the institution of Christ himself, under both species; let him be anathema.
Canon iv. If any one shall say, that the communion of the Eucharist is necessary for little children, before they have arrived at years of discretion; let him be anathema.
As regards, however, those two articles, proposed elsewhere, but not as yet discussed; to wit, whether the reasons by which the holy Catholic Church was led to communicate, under the one species of bread only, laymen, and also priests when not celebrating, are in such wise to be adhered to, as that on no account is the use of the chalice to be allowed to any one soever; and whether, in case that, for reasons beseeming and consonant to Christian charity, it appears that the use of the chalice is to be granted to any nation or kingdom, it is to be conceded under certain conditions; and what are those [conditions]; this same holy synod reserves them to another time, for the earliest opportunity that shall present itself, to be examined and defined.
* ↑ Is. xi. 2.
* ↑ See Concil. Constantiens. sess. xiii.
* ↑ John vi. 53, sqq.
* ↑ 1 Cor. iv. 1.
* ↑ 1 Cor. xi. 34.
* ↑ See Sess. xiii. and xxii.