The Council of Trent

The Ten Rules on Prohibited Books from the Council of Trent

Council of Trent in Santa Maria Maggiore Church by unknown

I have already mentioned the Council of Trent of 1562 in an earlier post; this post looks in detail at the rules devised at this council relating to the prohibition and censorship of books, as they indicate clearly the general categories of works put on the Index. There are ten rules in total, drawn up by the clergymen selected by the council and subsequently approved by Pope Pius IV.

Rules I to V

Rule I is quite brief, simply stating that any books banned prior to 1515 and not in the Tridentine Index were nonetheless to be considered banned exactly as they were before.
Rule II deals with books relating to heresy and heretics. Books written by heresiarchs creating or reviving heresies after 1515 or those by leaders among heretics (Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Balthasar of Friedberg and Caspar Schwenkfeld being specifically mentioned) are absolutely forbidden. Any books written by heretics which are stated to be religious in content are similarly condemned, while those not specifically religious may be accepted if examined and approved by Catholic theologians, likewise books written by heretics before they became heretics or those written by lapsed heretics. This rule seems to suggest that heresy is forbidden(!)
Rule III indicates that translations edited before the Council's convenance by condemned authors are allowed providing that they have nothing contrary to sound doctrine. Likewise, translations of the Old Testament are allowed to 'learned and pious men' to clarify aspects of the Vulgate, but were not be used as sound text, while those of the New Testament were banned for being of little use to anyone. A small exception was allowed relating to annotations, which were allowed, providing that suspect passages had been expunged by the inquisition or theological faculties at Catholic universities. A specific version of the Bible in Latin (of Isidore Clarius of Brescia) is mentioned, specifically to state that its preface and introduction be removed and that it should not be regarded as the Vulgate.
Rule IV continues in a similar vein, stating the conditions by which translations of the Bible into the vernacular may be disseminated. Namely, it is to be left to the discretion of the bishops and inquisitors, with such translations being allowed only to those whose faith and piety would be known to increase with the use of translations (and who required permission in writing), and certainly not to ordinary people, for whom actually understanding the scriptures would do more harm than good.
Rule V is another brief one, relating to 'lexicons, concordances, apothegms, parables, tables of contents and such like', which are allowed, as long as the sayings of heretics collected in them and any other questionable material are removed and corrected.

Rules VI to X

Rule VI is straightforward, pointing out that books in the vernacular relating to controversies between Catholics and heretics are to be treated like translations of the Bible. However, it also states that such works which contain sound doctrine (pointing out the right way to live) are allowed, as popular sermons in the vernacular. Other works which have been prohibited in some areas may also be allowed after correction if their authors are Catholic.
Rule VII deals with works on lascivious or obscene things. Unsurprisingly, they were completely condemned, and severe punishment was urged against anyone possessing them. On a (seemingly to me at least unrelated) note this rule also states that ancient books written by heathens may be allowed if elegant or of high stylistic quality, but are forbidden to children.
Rule VIII simply declares that any questionable material in otherwise good works must be purged or corrected before publication.
Rule IX expressly forbids all works on magic, astrology or other kinds of divination (including sortilege, i.e. divination by means of something generally regarded as relating to random chance, like rolling dice) and the mixing of poisons. Opinions or natural observations relating to navigation, agriculture or medicine are contrariwise allowed by this rule.
Finally, we come to Rule X. This rule is extremely verbose, but boils down to a declaration of punishment and culpability. Basically, any book must be examined before printing by the vicar of the supreme pontiff and by the Master of the Sacred Palace (or other persons appointed) in Rome, or by the bishop or someone with knowledge of the subject appointed by him or an inquisitor in other locations. If this is not done, printers, sellers, distributors, or owners of books may be found guilty and punished accordingly. The punishments were excommunication for those books relating to heresies, while for other works (presumably works relating to immoral subjects - magic, fornication, astrology, heathenism etc.) the punishment is mortal sin (!!) and punishment by the bishops.

Commentary

This was not an especially difficult post to write, as I only required the one source. Due to the content though, the reading beforehand was, while not in any sense long, rather cumbersome. The unbelievable verbosity comes through clearly even in translation, which is really quite impressive. I hope that I have adequately distilled the important information from the rules for this post, but the topic can be difficult to understand regardless, I'm sure. I have not incorporated any particularly new information into this post, as the source in question was one which I had printed earlier, though I did bring it up again to make sure it was still in the same place.

Reference

'Council of Trent', Wikipedia, viewed 10 May 2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent

Halsall, P c1998, 'Council of Trent: Rules on Prohibited Books', Modern History Sourcebook, viewed 10 May 2011: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/trent-booksrules.html