The Trentine Creed
-- or --
The Creed of Pius IV. , A.D. 1564.
I most steadfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and ecclesiastical
traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of the Church.
I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our
holy mother the Church has held, and does hold, to which it belongs to judge
of the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I ever
take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of
the Fathers.
I also profess that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments of the
New Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the
salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit, Baptism,
Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony;
and that they confer grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and
Orders cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit the
received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn
administration of the aforesaid Sacraments.
I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been
defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning Original Sin
and justification.
I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true,
proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in
the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and
substantially, the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of
our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole
substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the
wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls
Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is
received whole and entire, and a true Sacrament.
I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein
detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful.
Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be
honored and invocated, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that
their relics are to be respected.
I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the mother of God,
ever virgin, and also of the saints, ought to be had and retained, and that
due honor and veneration is to be given them.
I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the
Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.
I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church for the mother and
mistress of all churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of
Rome, successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus
Christ.
I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered,
defined, and declared by the sacred Canons, and general Councils, and
particularly by the holy Council of Trent.
And I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and
all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the
Church. This true Catholic faith, without which no one can be saved,
I. N.N. do at this present freely confess and sincerely hold; and
I promise most constantly to retain, and confess the same entire and
unviolated, with God's assistance, to the end of my life
