The oecumenical character of the council was never seriously questioned. On the motion of the legates, the resolutions were submitted to the ambassadors of the secular powers for signature, the French and Spanish envoys alone withholding their assent. The recognition of the council's enactments was, none the less, beset with difficulties. So far as the doctrinal decisions were con cerned no obstacles existed; but the reformatory edicts—adhe sion to which was equally required by the synod—stood on a dif ferent footing. In their character of resolutions claiming to rank as ecclesiastical law they came into conflict with outside interests, and their acceptance by no means implied that the rights of the sovereign, or the needs and circumstances of the respective coun tries were treated with sufficient consideration. The consequence was that there arose an active and, in some cases, a tenacious opposition to an indiscriminate acquiescence in all the Tridentine decrees, especially in France, where only those regulations were recognized which came into collision neither with the rights of the king nor with the liberties of the Gallican Church. In Spain, Philip II. allowed, indeed, the publication of the Tridentinum, but always with the reservation that the privileges of the king, his vassals and his subjects, should not thereby be infringed.
In his official confirmation Pius IV. had already strictly pro hibited any commentary on the enactments of the council unless undertaken with his approval, and had claimed for himself the sole right of interpretation. In order to supervise the practical working of these enactments, Pius created (1564) a special depart ment of the Curia, the Congregatio cardinalium concilii tridentini interpretum; and to this body Sixtus V. entrusted the further task of determining the sense of the conciliar decisions in all du bious cases. The resolutions of the congregation—on disputed points—and their declarationes—on legal questions—exercised a powerful influence on later development of ecclesiastical law.
The Council of Trent attained a quite extraordinary significance for the Roman Catholic Church ; and its pre-eminence was un assailed till the V aticanum subordinated all the labours of the Church in the past—whether in the region of doctrine or in that of law—to an infallible pope. On the theological side it fixed the results of mediaeval scholasticism and drew from it all that could be of service to the Church. Further, by pronouncing on a series of doctrinal points till then undecided it elaborated the Catholic creed; and, finally, the bold front which it offered to Protestantism in its presentation of the orthodox faith gave to its members the practical lead they so much needed in their resistance to the Evan gelical assault. It showed that Church as a living institution,
capable of work and achievement ; it strengthened the confidence both of her members and herself, and it was a powerful factor in heightening her efficiency as a competitor with Protestantism and in restoring and reinforcing her imperilled unity. Indeed, its sphere of influence was still more extensive, for its labours in the field of dogma and ecclesiastical law conditioned the future evo lution of the Roman Catholic Church.
BIBLiocRAPHY.—Supreme among the sources for the history of the council stands the splendidly planned work Concilium tridentinum; diariorum, actorum, epistularum, tractatuum nova collectio, ed. Socie tas Goerresiana (in successive volumes, 1901 ff.). The following deserve special mention. P. Sarpi, Istoria del concilio tridentino (London, 1619) ; Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, Istoria del concilio di Trento (Rome, 1656-57, a counterblast to the preceding) ; Brischar, Zur Beur teilung der Kontroversen zwischen Sarpi and Pallavicini (1844) ; J. J. v. Dellinger, Sammlung von Urkunden zur Geschichte des Konzils von Trient, i. I, 2 (1876) ; Beitrdge zur politischen kirchlichen, und Kulturgeschichte (3 vols., 1862-82) ; G. Paleottus, Acta concilii triden tini a 1562 et 1563 usque in finem concilii, ed. F. Mendham (1842) ; A. v. Druffel, onumenta tridentina (3 parts, 1884-87, parts 4 and 5, continued by K. Brandi, 1897-99) ; Zur Geschichte des Konzils von Trient. Aktenstiicke aus den osterreichischen Archiven, ed. T. v. Sickel (3 parts, 1870-72) ; F. Lainez, Disputationes tridentinae, ed. Grisar (2 vols., 1886) ; Die romische Kurie und das Konzil von Trient enter Pius IV. Aktenstticke zur Geschichte des Konzils von Trient, ed. F. Susta (vols. i, ii., 1904-09) ; Canones et decreta concilii tridentini (1564; critical edition by A. L. Richter, 1853) ; Wessenberg, Die grossen Kirch enversammlungen des 15ten und I6ten Jahrhunderts, vols. iii. and iv. (Constance, 1840) ; L. v. Ranke, Die romischen Pdpste int 16 and 17 Jahrhundert, vol. i.; ibid. Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Refor mation, i. (Stuttgart, 1889) P. Tschackert, s.v. "Trienter Konzil," in Realencyklopaclie fiir protestantische Theologie (2908), vol. xx., ed. 3. (C. Mi.; X.)