Memoirs of the Council of Trent

Front matter

G!ass_

Book /S4-S

I

Preface

The two principal and celebrated historians of the Council of Trent are Fra Paolo Sarpi and Cardinal Pallavicino; the former a Romanist by continued communion with the Roman church, although essentially not far removed from the faith of a protestant ; the other a complete and determined adherent, as well as advocate, of the Italian see. The history of the latter, written with the professed design of confuting and demolishing that of the former, has, in the judgment of the intelligent and equitable even of his own communion, only served to confirm the substantial accuracy of the work assailed by him*. That the cardinal, with all his good will to accomplish w T hat he had undertaken, and with every facility, encouragement, and advantage, which he enjoyed, from free and unbounded access to the original, although probably universally partial, documents in the Vatican, should yet fail in the attempt at substantiating a single charge of moment against the object of his hostility is surely one of the strongest and most unexceptionable testimonials in its favour, which it could well have received. In his cordial endeavour, therefore, to do the w T ork of an enemy, he has performed for his intended victim a better service than could readily have been afforded by his best friend. Its full effect has been given to this advantage in favour of the original historian of the last even

* See De Tribus Historicis Cone. Trid. Auct. Caes. Aquilinio, Ant. 1662. See likewise the conclusion of the Preface to the viith vol. of Le Plat's Collectio Monumentorum Cone. Trid.

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nominally general council, by the excellent translation of it into French,, by the very congenial Courayer, who, by adopting the real correction s, and by exposing the fallacies and misrepresentations of the latter historian, has pressed an unwilling witness into the service of truth, and obliged him to strengthen a cause which he sought to destroy.

There is a deficiency in both these historians, which, with the present and just views of historic evidence, is to be lamented — they both fail in a precise and satisfactory reference to their sources or authorities. The Venetian may indeed, from being nearly contemporary with the facts which he records, be considered himself as an original. But he was not personally conversant with them ; and it is known, that he derived the chief portion of his information both from those who were so, and from existing documents, which, upon subsequent examination, have been found to attest his fidelity*. The Roman has indeed made a considerable

* From Courayer's Life of Fra Paolo, prefixed to the translation of his history, ed. 4to, Basle, 1738, it appears, that when at Mantua, he became acquainted with Camillo Oliva, secretary to the cardinal of Mantua, from whom he might obtain abundance of suitable and authentic information ; besides that he had free access to the archives of Venice, which, from its proximity to, and intimate concern with, the council, would leave little of importance to be learnt elsewhere. In a letter of the historian, referred to, of July 22d, 1608, speaking of some printed works, of which he had obtained a sight, and wishing to see more, he continues — ' for I have < written something of it,' (the council,) ' myself, more than all this, as I { have made collections from other Memoirs, which I have met with in these ' parts,' &c Brown's Translation, Letter viii, p. 28. The Memoirs are alluded to again in the xxxvth Letter, Oct. 13, 1609. He always writes cautiously, as he needed. Courayer has blamed him for not pointing out his sources more frequently ; but this might have been unsafe for those who supplied him with his information. The English reader is much indebted to the Rev. B. W. Mathias for rendering the substance of Fra Paolo's history more accessible to him ; and likewise for making him acquainted with the entire of the canons and decrees of the council in his own language. The more valuable remaining portion of his work is expected with anxiety,

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vii parade of reference ; but, independently of the suspicion which must fairly attach to him in all cases, when his cause would benefit by suppression, his references, being to manuscript and unpublished works, if they had been intended, or calculated, to preclude hesitation, should have presented to the reader the identical words of the originals. This is the least which might reasonably be required in such a work as the apologetic and censorial one of the Italian cardinal ; for even then a reader far from captiously rigid might, in many cases, demur.

It is not the object of the present more humble undertaking professedly either to confirm or confute, to correct or supersede, the above mentioned, or any other inferior histories of the Tridentine Synod. Its object is, to throw additional light upon a very important event in human and particularly ecclesiastical history, in any of the ways which have been stated, as the result may be, from sources, hitherto unpublished — sources, for the most part, still in manuscript ; of an authentic and important character ; the identical ones, indeed, I have no hesitation in believing, from which the papal historian drew a large proportion of his materials ; although with a fidelity which no one can conscientiously pronounce to be placed above the reach of suspicion.

It may be justly expected that I should substantiate these assertions. I am in possession of a rather copious collection of manuscript volumes in folio, and of varied but competent bulk, on the subject of the Council of Trent, formerly the property of the Earl of Guilford, and forming a part of his unique and very valuable library, dispersed not many years ago. I purchased the collection, consisting of twenty-eight volumes, from Mr. Thorpe, in 1832. The greater part appear to have constituted a portion of some public or extensive library, or libraries in different parts of Italy and viii

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Venice — the product, not improbably, of the spoliation of the collections of cardinals, or other opulent individuals interested in ecclesiastical matters, during the time in which the French were masters of that portion of the world. This conjecture is confirmed by circumstantial or internal evidence. They are probably none of them originals, but copies, of varying age ; and there are among them duplicates of a part or the whole of the separate volumes.

I will describe them as satisfactorily as may be in their natural order.

I. and IT. These are duplicates, and contain a general and complete history of the council from the first to the last Session. The first is entitled Diario del Concilio di Trento diviso in Otto Libri. The name of the author is not added ; but the Venetian ambassador, Niccolo da Ponte, is mentioned by Pallavicino, 1st. del Cone. Trid. xxiv, xi, 11, .as having written an account of the council. This, although an extended history, is evidently derived and partially at least abridged from a larger one. This is formally announced in the beginning of the second book, where the writer speaks of ' his author,' and in other places, where in particular he takes the liberty of curtailing the rather lengthy discussions occasionally introduced in his original. The only difference which I have observed between this volume and its duplicate, and which will be noticed is, in the presence of a single paragraph, less than a page, which is absent from the latter.

This latter has for its title Diario del Concilio di Trento ove si descrive quanto in esso occorse descritto in 4 libri dal Ambasciatore Veneto. The number written is 4; but there are eight regularly numbered books, as in the first volume. The passage here omitted is in the penultimate page of the other duplicate. It has relation to the cardinal of Lorraine ; and the final page of the present volume, in

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IX which it should be found, is in a hand-writing different from that of the rest of the volume. Courayer, speaking, in the Preface to his translation of the Council of Trent, p. 15, of this MS, of which a copy was in his hands, as he plainly does, and ascribing it, not to the ambassador, but to his secretary, represents it, not without considerable appearance of truth, as a simple abridgment of Fra Paolo's history. The coincidence is remarkable : but it may have arisen as well from both writers using a common original, as from the one copying from the other. At any rate, however, the present MS represents generally, and therefore confirms, the narrative of the published historian, and serves, in the present history, to maintain its course and connexion from a source in some respects new. With this explanation, it is superfluous to apologize for having sometimes, and in defect of better, in the class to which I mainly confine myself, used it as a guide.

III. The title of the next volume is Dell' Historia del Sacro Concilio di Trento Scritta da Antonio Milledoni Sec rio . del Consiglio de X di Venetia in detto Concilio Libri Due. Libro Primo. The first book is occupied by a compendious general history of the Christian church up to the time of the council, with which the second begins, and, as usual, with an account of Luther and his performances. The history extends to the close of the council, but in a very abridged form, except in the final sessions, which are given extendedly : as however agreeing in substance with the preceding histories, and with the known printed ones, it has its value in the way of confirmation. Its general character is very secular ; and the writer is a sufficient bigot on trying points. I do not discover any reference to this volume in Pallavicino.

IV. The next work, Summarium Sacri Concilii Tridentini Bononiensis, is a very important one. It embraces

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only the first assembly of the council from 1545 to 1547, but the history itself extends from 1544 to 1549. There is no name in the title ; but at the beginning of the second session, (it is necessary so to indicate the place, as there are no numbers of pages or leaves,) from the words per me Angelum Massarellum Secretarium Concilii, and from identical designations towards the end, it is evident to whom we are indebted for the work. In the last volume of Le Plat's valuable Collectio Monumentorum, &c. are inserted some fragments under the name of the Secretary, but they have nothing of the completeness, extent, and particularity of the present manuscript. This volume contains all the canons and decrees of the council, together with lists of the members present at each session, as well as detailed accounts of the various congregations. This, I apprehend, is the identical work used by Pallavicino. See 1st. xi, xi, i. I cannot quite satisfy myself that it is the same manuscript as is mentioned by Courayer, in his Preface, p. xiv.

V. For the period, more or less, of the first assembly of the council, there are volumes of Letters ; the first of which is — Littere Conciliari scritte dalli Legati, al Car le . Farnese nella Apertura che si fece del Concilio a Trento nell' anno 1545. Li Legati furono il Card 1 , de Monte che fu poi Papa Giulio terzo ; il Card 1 , de S ta . Croce che fu poi Papa Marcello, Et il Card 1 . Polo Inglese, homini sapientissimi et valorosiss 1 . Cardinal Farnese was grandson of Pope Paul III, and a complete man of business. This volume, which is peculiar as having the leaves numbered, is, without doubt, one of the collection, either in whole or in part, so constantly appealed to by the Italian historian *. The letters extend

* See near the beginning of the iid book of his history, writing of the legates — Dimandarono anco una cifra per poter communicare le cose di

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XL from March 13, 1545, to May 22, 1546. There is, however, a hiatus from January 22, 1546, to March 2 of the same year, which is supplied by another epistolary collection, marked No. "VII. The age of this manuscript is pretty satisfactorily ascertained by a marginal note against the name Buoncompagno, in the same hand, Uora Papa Gregorio 13. fol. 174, verso. It was, therefore, written between the years 1572 and 1585. The style of the writing accords with this age.

VI. This volume is a duplicate of the immediately preceding one up to January 22, 1546, fol. 193, from which the immediately succeeding volume starts, the first date being February 1, 1546. There are two additional sets of letters in the volume. It has no title ; but the contents are, Lettere — de' Card. Leg. in Concilio di Trento, 1545 to 1546; del Card. Farnese, 1542 to 1548; di Negotii, 1548 to 1549. The additional letters are mostly of a secular and uninteresting description ; but the whole collection may occasionally subserve useful purposes, particularly in correcting readings.

VII. The collection which bears the title Lettere scritte da diversi Ministri de Prencipi dal Concilio di Trento all' Ill mo . S r . Cardinale Farnese, is certainly the most valuable of the three. Courayer appears to have had a copy lent him, and states somewhat of an expectation that it might be printed — an expectation, like many ot hers, not verified by the event. The date of the first letter is, as has been said before, February 1, 1546 ; the last is the last day of the same year. There is a chasm of all June to July 17. The

maggior momento. Le quali parti colarita, insieme con molte altre che si diranno, havendole tratte dal registro delle lettere del cardinale del Monte, e servendo molto per penetrare 1' intimo delle trattationi, non ho voluto tacerle. The fact referred to will appear in its place.

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name of the individual writer not unfrequently appears in the body of the letters, although they are almost all official. It should be added, that many of them are addressed to other persons than the one named in the title, and that Farnese himself is joined with the legates, when he was present at Trent on his return from a legation to Germany. Pallavicino has used this collection copiously in the first part of his history. It contains some letters not occurring in the preceding collections, even for the periods in which they coincide.

Here terminate my manuscript documents as concerns the first assembly of the Tridentine synod. I am sorry that I cannot pursue the course into the second assembly in 1551 and 1552 by any particular documents, and must therefore, as to originals, content myself with the general histories which have been described. This, however, is the less to be regretted since authority of the same kind has been put in possession of the British and Gallic public, by the publication of the valuable and evidently authentic letters of Vargas to the bishop Arras, on the subject of the Council of Trent, first by our countryman, the diligent and acute Dr. Michael Geddes, in his Council of Trent no free Assembly, 1697, and shortly afterwards, 1 700, in French by Le Vassor, in his Lettres et Memoires de Franc, de Vargas. Both these writers might have detailed more clearly and explicitly the circumstances of the original manuscripts, but there cannot be the slightest doubt of their integrity and of the genuineness of their alleged originals. And I must say, that it is a circumstance not in the highest degree favourable to the otherwise unimpeachable judgment and candour of the laborious Le Plat, that in the Preface, p. vi, to the first volume of his Monumenta, he should have disposed of the authenticity of these records so flippantly as he has done.

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xiii

But the man who could regard the bishop of Meaux's Variations as a conclusive book might be expected at times to resign the sound part of his understanding. The remainder of our manuscript documents belongs to the final assembly of the council under Pius IV in the years 1562 and 1563.

VIII. The first of these is Diario del Concilio di Trento sotto Pio Papa IV. The author announces himself at the very beginning as Jo. Astolfo Servantio of S. Severino in the Marca d' Ancona, and as having been present at the council in 1562 and 1563, where he officiated as scribe of conciliar affairs, and wrote for his own curiosity and amusement, having minutely observed every thing from day to day and even from hour to hour. His name appears likewise more correctly written at the beginning of the appended matter, being a short account of what happened immediately after the council had risen, but principally a collection of the documents concerned. It begins with the year 1560, called the first, that is, within the first year of the pontificate of Pius IV, and proceeds with most minute detail to the close of the council, including a variety of public documents essential to a perfect comprehension of the proceedings and spirit of the Tridentine fathers. This author is noticed in Pallavicino *.

IX. The second document which I have to describe relating to the same period is the following : — Acta Concilii Tridentini Anno MDLXII & MDLXIII usque in finem Concilii Pio IV. Pont. Max. & alia multa circa diet. Concilium Fragmenta. A Gabriele Cardinale Paleotto descripta. This is an extended and highly valuable history, and is one of the principal fountains from which Pallavicino drew his intelligence for the corresponding period f. This author likewise was a party in the scenes and acts which he records.

1st. xvi, 4.

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X. The next which follows is—Lettere dei SS ri , Cardinali Legati del Concilio Trident ,, e di Monsig 1 . Visconti scritte a S. Carlo Borromeo Nipote di Pio IV, et al Bindoni Divise in in (sic) due tomi. Tomo P°. Degl' anni MDLXII e MDLXIII. There is, however, a third volume continuing Visconti' s Letters, as expressed in the general title. The first letter of this third volume is dated December 10, 1562, and the last date is September 22, 1563. In the edition published of this portion of the letters in the original, and with a French translation on the opposite page by Mr. Aymon at Amsterdam, in 1719, in two volumes, 12mo, the first letter does not commence before the date of February 1, 1563, and the last is September 6, 1563. So far then they are not perfectly new; but as the printed edition is deficient, and verbal variations occur, the present MS loses very little of its original character and value. The pontifical apologist of the Council has availed himself of this collection, as might be expected ; but as Courayer, with great probability, states, from his own inspection of a copy of this MS, the first historian of the Council enjoyed the same advantage before, and made good use of it. The notes of the translator are enriched with proofs of this fact in the rather copious extracts and references which he has made *. It may be observed, that although the letters of the legates, which begin the volume, have, for the first date, December 17, 1562, those of Visconti, which begin at No. 39, (for they are numbered,) commence with a prior date, May 22, 1562; and it is remarkable, a great, if not the greater, portion of them is in cipher, at least the first ; the caution seems afterwards to have become unnecessary.

XL The succeeding volume is of a miscellaneous de-

* See Pref., p. xvi, and liv. vi, &c. passim

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XV scription, and not very bulky, entitled Diverse Instruttioni, Lettere, e Scritture appartenenti al Concilio di Trento. They are principally Missives from the different papal sovereigns in Europe who took a part in the Council.

XII. The last document, which it will be necessary to describe, is of the same character, but of greater extent. Its title, or rather its first title, is, Varia Tractata Sacri Cone. Tridentini cum ejus Indice in fine. It was intended to be at the end, but is at the beginning, and contains, additionally to the first title, the titles of a vast variety of Letters, Answers, Instructions, &c. The volume consists of 472 folia — numbered, which is unusual. In fact, the variety of matter could not well be indicated by an Index without. The pieces are in Latin, Italian, and Spanish.

The remaining volumes are of less, although by no means of slight importance. The first set is a work of large dimensions. It consists of six volumes of very large-sized paper closely written; and is a transcript of Fra Paolo's History of the Council in Italian, corrected by Pallavicino's history in very extended notes, partly the author's own, and perfectly hostile. The author is Giambattista Rinalducci. From a private letter attached to an early page of the work, it appears, that it was written about the year 1665. This letter is a very curious one, being from the dictation of Pallavicino himself, and signed with his autograph. It is an answer to the author, who had put part of his work into his hands for the purpose of obtaining his judgment; and the judgment, although sheltered under compliment, is evidently discouraging as to the publication. One reason is grounded upon the illegality in the Roman church, that is, by the regulations of the Index, to republish any work, which has been condemned, as of Luther or Calvin, although accompanied with an answer, or antidote; and the xvi

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writer is evidently alarmed at the thought of his old foe appearing in his own and entire strength *. The general plan of this writer has been adopted with great success by Courayer; and no advantage would be derived from the present manuscript, except it might be in the larger extent of the citations from the Cardinal.

The next and final work is Declarationes Concilii Tridentini, in eight large volumes, being the Declarations of

* But the letter possesses sufficient interest as well as curiosity to be given entire in the original. It is directed Al Molt' Ill re . Sig re . Gio. Batta Rinalducci. The letter is as follows : —

Molt' IIP. Sig re .

Quando 1' altr' ieri rimandai a VS. que' fogli della sua traduzion francese commisi unitam te . al mio Palafreniere che la pregasse di voler esser meco al Giardino, disegnando io di ragionar con lei sopra la sua opera contra '1 Soave. Ma il Palafreniere non la trovo, e ben che lasciasse 1' Ambasciata non le sara stata poi fatta. Onde per non indugiar piu lungam te . a dirnele il mio giudicio secondo la sua intanza, debbo significarle, come per quella poca particella ch' io n' ho veduta, mi par lavoro pieno di molto discorse di molta ex-udizione, e che quivi tutto il mio componim to - sia come un flume ch' entra nel mare, e che vi perderebbe il nome s' ella non gliel' havesse cosi onorevolm te . serbato. Ne questo suo libro potrebbe uscir da Intellecto che mon fosse molto capace degli afFari del Mondo. Due difficolta vi scorgo ; la prima intorno ad ottener la publicaz ne - perdche essendo piu distesam te - rapportato tutto il Testo del Soave, il concederne V impressione sarebbe lo stesso, che levare al Soave la proibizione. E benche il veleno sia piu corretto con 1' antidoto ; non mancherebbono tuttavia palati stravaganti, che vorrebbono mangiarlo sen^a 1' antidoto, 6 che per difetto del loro stomaco non riceverebbono da questo la conveniente preservazione. E cosi veggiamo che a niun controvertista e permesso di stampare al lato della sua opera quelle di Calvino, di Lutero, e simiglianti. La seconda difficolta risguarda la sodisfazione comune : imperoche havendo ella voluto esaminar abbondantem 16 . ogni sillaba del Soave ; chiunque non e passionato nella causa riceve sazieta da queste minuzzerie : e per tal ragione le Apologie, e le Contrapologie, quando son lunghe di mole, soglion' esser brevi di vita : mancando assai presto quel fervor di curiosita, che ad un certo modo, appassiona tutti nella contesa : Onde poi non si curano gli huomini di spender lunga lezione in contrast! per lo piu tenui ed appartenenti piu tosto alia riprensione dell' Avversario in qualch' errore di sua penna, che alio scoprimento di qualche verita rilevante. Cio mi occorre di rappresentare a VS. con quella ingenuita che a me e naturale con tutti, ed a )ei e gradita in tutti. E per fine mi le offero di tutto cuore. Di Casa il di 19. d' Ap le - 1665.

Al Servizio di VS. affeU

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xvii the Congregation instituted for the Interpretation of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent. Selections have been published from this work ; as may be seen in the edition of the canons and decrees by Gallemart, in the Admonitio Lectori : he has transcribed a considerable portion in his edition. The whole, however, has been lately printed in Rome by Zamboni. In my MS the course of the sessions is gone over, three, or perhaps four, times ; and the latest date, for they are not in perfect chronological order, appears to be 1658 *.

In the present work, although it is my intention mainly to give the information, which is supplied by the new and generally inaccessible documents above specified, I shall not consider myself as strictly confined to them, but shall freely make use of such materials, already in possession of the public, as may be necessary to continuity in the narration, or which, for any justifiable reason, may be supposed acceptable to the reader.

The Council of Trent occupies a page in the annals of the world of high importance in many respects. As a simple exhibition of human character, particularly as assuming a corporate form for the time, it is interesting and instructive to the philosopher. But in its reference to religion, or Christianity, which is its appropriate aspect; in its reference further to the two great divisions, into which Christendom was severed by the progressive, overwhelming, and intolerable corruption of the dominant portion, a corruption which, if any even human virtue remained on the earth, rendered separation an imperative duty and unavoidable,

* See Historical Memoirs, &c. by C. Butler, Esq. i, 483, [and following pages, where the author gives a French gentleman's account of the Vatican MSS of the Council, from inspection of them when in Paris. The account is very unsatisfactory; and the secretary's name, Massarelli, is constantly misspelt Massaret.

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its interest and instruction receive a tenfold increase. Various efforts were made by individuals,, and portions of society, to disengage themselves from the prevailing iniquity : but the most definite and decisive were those, which were put forth, when that iniquity had arrived at its full strength and confidence, in the event, which is emphatically called The Reformation. The irresistible progress of this holy resistance, as in the main it was, to the empire of heresy and crime, obliged the secular powers, for their own secular tranquillity, to endeavour to obtain a settlement of the troubles of which this secession was the occasion. For as no tyrant sits down patiently under the abstraction of his illgotten power, so the withdrawal of submission and contribution from the spiritual despot of Rome, however quietly performed, aroused all the feelings of revenge and persecution, in himself and his ministers ; and by aggressions commenced on the part of those ministers, the public peace was sorely violated. The secular princes, finding themselves unable to compose a storm, which greatly annoyed them, and conscious that it was not perfectly their own province, looked to the spirituality, and particularly to a solemn assembly of its knowledge and virtue, in other words a general council of the church. This was a very natural feeling, and the best measure which could be adopted. And in defiance of general opinion, and of general ridicule, I feel no hesitation to say, that if Christian councils, whether great or small, were composed of members of average sanctity and information, in a state of the church not eminently forsaken by the Holy Spirit, much good and satisfaction might be the result of their ultimate decisions. Such a council, if in any real sense free, and controlled, or guided by men of the description just given, might, in answer to sincere and earnest prayer, have reason to believe, and the world

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xix likewise, that what it decreed was the will of the Divine Spirit. But probably the disease had arrived at such a point of malignity, as to be past the season of natural remedy, or in just judgment denied the benefit of it. In the council actually, and at last, convened, not, there is too much reason to believe, for the establishment, but for the subversion, of truth, there was so much obstinate adherence to error, so much horror of all that could convict or rectify it, so much secularity and love of vice, and so much of consequent imposition and intrigue, that if ever a body of men were collected, whom the Holy Spirit could not meet and own, it was the Council of Trent. This assembly, therefore, as to the ends, for which it was professedly called, was a perfect nullity. It was a nullity, however, as an idol is a nullity, yet imposing upon the worshipper the guilt of idolatry. The positive mischief which it was calculated to produce would have been extreme, had it not, like some other noxious agents, conveyed somewhat of an antidote by the same channel which discharged the poison. That antidote was — the disgrace which it procured for the rulers of the system, which it strove to uphold, and which sufficiently deterred every conscientious individual, who escaped its pale, from again being inveigled into it. A nullity, indeed, it was as to its direct and professed object : but its tendencies were of the most baneful description. It was, indeed, received with difficulty and qualification, even by those nations which acknowledge the Roman sovereignty : but the exceptions were not to the doctrine conciliarly defined, or as presumed to be the doctrine of the Roman, then called the catholic, church, on distinct and anterior authority. The doctrine, therefore, newly established at Trent, was the doctrine of the whole church continuing in communion with the Roman. No consistent member of that church