The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-27
Continued from page IL
The Catholic Reformation

taxable terms the Council declares
that faith alone cannot suffice for sal
walton; but that besides faith other
acts are necessary to dispose the sin
ner for the grace of God whence JUS
tification comes. These are fear, hope,
love, repentance, the desire of baptism
where this has not already been re-
ceived, and the determination to lead
new life in conformity to the divine
law. 1t is only. by these means that
that internal change is brought about
which makes man an heir to heaven,
an adopted son of God and brother
of Jesus Christ. This is Catholic moral
goodness as opposed to Luther's: "Sin
boldly; but believe more boldly STILL"
The events that preceded and &C
companied the seventh session of the
Council give us an idea of the embar-
RAISING conditions and great Difficult
ties under which the work of Catholic
Reformation proceeded; and serve to
emphasize the fact that had it not
been Gods work, it could never have
been accomplished. The Schmalkal-
den war had broken out in Germany;
the strained relations already existing
between the Emperor, Charles V, and
the Pope had become aggravated; and
at Trent itself an epidemic of contag-
ious disease had brought death to sew.
eral members of the Council Luther,
whose opposition to the Professionals
taking any part in the Council, had
been manifested in his tract Against
the Romish Papacy,. founded by the
devil" died at Eisleben, in 1916, and
in the following year, during the
eighth session, it was decided to trans
fer the Council to Bologna. It was at
this place that the ninth and tenth
sessions were held.
Council Reassembles.
!. Paul III died in November, 1549, and
his successor, Julius III, who as Card
inal Giovanni del Monte had opened
the Council in 1916, issued a. Bull mo
vember IA, 1861 reassembling the
Council at Trent. But it was not un-
til the thirteenth session that the COM.
prehensive decree defining the teach.
ing of the Church in regard to the,
Sacrament of the Eucharist was pro-
mulgated, which was followed by de-.
crees on the Sacrament of Penance
and Extreme Unction.
At the conclusion lof the sixteenth
session in 1862, a decree was issued
suspending the Council for two years.
But difficulties arose and ten years
elapsed before the next session con
vened under Plus w, the third sue
cessor of Julius III. Meanwhile the
Emperor, Charles v, disillusioned OF
his hope of restoring unity of faith,
and weary of the strife and unhappi-
ness with which he was surrounded, re-
tired to monastery in Estreamadura,
and there in the peace of the cloister
passed the remaining days of his life
in prayer and contemplation, thus
preparing himself to meet his Lord
whose Vicar on earth he had SO often
and so grieyously affronted With
the exception of a decree on forbidden
books, nothing Of moment was trans
acted in the Council until the twenty
first session, and in this and the four
final sessions dogmatic DEGREES were
promulgated on Holy Communion, the
Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacramento
OF Holy Orders and Matrimony, the
Invocation of the Saints and Indul-
gences y s, S. 'sl ~
Thus was the great work of the
nineteenth oecumenical Council
brought to successful termination
and the world received nrnnf again