Council of Trent, 1545-1563

promulgated by blessed James the Apostle [Jas. 5:14], but is only a rite accepted by the Fathers, or a human fiction: let him be anathema [cf. n. 907 ff.].

927. Can. 2. If anyone says that the sacred anointing of the sick does not confer grace nor remit sins, nor alleviate the sick, but that it has already ceased, as if it had at one time only been a healing grace: let him be anathema [cf. n. 909].

928. Can. 3. If anyone says that the rite of extreme unction and its practice, which the holy Roman Church observes, is opposed to the statement of the blessed Apostle James, and that it is therefore to be changed, and can be contemned without sin by Christians: let him be anathema [cf. n. 910].

929. Can. 4. If anyone says that the priests of the Church, whom blessed James exhorts to be brought to anoint the sick, are not the priests ordained by a bishop, but the elders by age in each community, and that for this reason a priest alone is not the proper minister of extreme unction: let him be anathema [cf. n. 910].

MARCELLUS II 1555     PAULUS IV 1555-1559 ¹

PIUS IV 1559-1565

COUNCIL OF TRENT, conclusion

Session XXI (July 16, 1562)

The Doctrine on Communion under both Species and that of Little Children ²

Preface

929a. The holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit with the same legates of the Apostolic See presiding, has decreed that those things which relate to communion under both species, and to that of little children are to be explained here, since in different places various monstrous errors concerning the tremendous and most holy sacrament of the Eucharist are being circulated by the wiles of the evil spirit; and for this reason in some provinces many seem to have fallen away from the faith and from obedience to the Catholic Church. Therefore, it warns all the faithful of Christ not to venture to believe, teach, or preach hereafter about those matters, otherwise than is explained or defined in these decrees.