Council of trent

(1545-1563)

   The Council of Trent is so called because it opened in the city of Trent (in Italian, Trento) in Northern Italy, convoked by Pope Paul III to respond to the advance of the Protestant Reformation and to enact reforms that would eliminate abuses related to Church administration. This marked the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. In responding to the accusations and criticisms of the Protestants, the council succeeded in codifying Catholic dogma, in reaffirming the validity of priesthood and the sacraments, and in reasserting clerical celibacy, the virtues of sainthood, the role of the Virgin in the story of salvation, and the efficacy of indulgences and relics. The council's last session is of particular interest to art historians because it was then that enactments were made regarding the depiction of religious subjects. It was decreed that the purpose of art was to instruct the faithful on the subject of redemption, on the intercessory role of the saints and the Virgin, and on the veneration of relics. Religious images were to remind individuals of the gifts bestowed upon them by Christ and God's miracles enacted through the saints, to inspire them to fashion their own life in imitation of these divine figures, and to foster piety.