# St. Vincent's Manual/A Profession of Catholic Faith

A PROFESSION OF CATHOLIC FAITH.
EXTRACTED FROM THE COUNCIL OF TRENT,
BY POPE PIUS IV
I, N --, believe and profess with a firm faith, all and every one of those things, which are contained in the symbol of faith used in the Holy Catholic (Roman) Church, viz.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages; God of God; Light of Light; true God of true God. Begotten, not made; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, AND WAS MADE MAN. Was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and rose again the third day according to the Scripture, and ascended into heaven; sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen.
I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ​ecclesiastical Traditions, and all other constitution and observances of the same Church.
I also admit the sacred Scriptures, according to the sense in which our Holy Mother, the Church, has held, and does hold them, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures; nor will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
I profess also, that there are truly and property seven Sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, for the salvation of mankind, though not all necessary for every one: viz. Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Order and Matrimony; and that they confer grace: and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Order, cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit the Ceremonies, which the Catholic Church admits and approves of, in the solemn administration of all the above— said sacraments.
I receive and embrace all and every one of the things, which have been defined and declared in the holy council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification.
I profess likewise, that in the Mass is offered to God a true, proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead: and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really and substantially present, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation.
I confess also that, under each kind, Christ is whole and entire, and a true sacrament is received.
I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages ​of the faithful. Likewise that the saints reigning together with Christ are to be honored and invocated, that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.
I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, and of the mother of God ever Virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained, and that due honor and veneration are to be given to them.
I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.
I acknowledge the holy catholic and apostolic Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.
I also undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the Church.
This true catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now truly profess and truly holy, And I, N --- promise to hold and profess the same and entire, with God's assistance, to the end of my life. Amen.
* ↑ One Lord, one faith, one baptism.— Eph. iv 5. Teach ye all nations. ... I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. — Matt, xxviii 19, 20
* ↑ There shall be one fold and one Shepherd. - John x 16.