The Council Of Trent

Pope Paul III (29 February 1468 ? 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Reformation. During his reign, and in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, new Catholic religious orders and societies, such as the Jesuits, the Theatines, the Barnabites and the Congregation of the Oratory, attracted a popular following and he convened the Council of Trent in 1545. He was a significant patron of the arts and employed nepotism to advance the power and fortunes of his family.

The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum) was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important1 councils. It convened in Trento (then capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent, inside the Holy Roman Empire, now in modern Italy) between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods. Council fathers met for the first through eighth sessions in Trent (1545-1547), and for the ninth through eleventh sessions in Bologna (1547) during the pontificate of Pope Paul III.2 Under Pope Julius III, the council met in Trent (1551-1552) for the twelfth through sixteenth sessions. Under Pope Pius IV the seventeenth through twenty-fifth sessions took place in Trent (1559-1563).

The council issued condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Holy Mass...

Girolamo Seripando (b. at Troja, Apulia, 6 May 1493; d. at Trento 17 March 1563) was an Augustinian friar, Italian theologian and cardinal.

Paolo Sarpi (August 14, 1552 - January 15, 1623) was an Venetian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer. His most important roles were as a canon lawyer and historian active on behalf of the Venetian Republic.

Reginald Cardinal Pole (12 March 1500 ? 17 November 1558) was an English Cardinal in the Roman Church, and the last Roman Archbishop of Canterbury, holding office during the Counter Reformation.

Pietro Sforza Pallavicino (or Pallavicini) (1607, Rome - June 5, 1667, Rome), Italian cardinal and historian, son of the Marquis Alessandro Pallavicino of Parma.

Having taken holy orders in 1630, and joined the Society of Jesus in 1638, he successively taught philosophy and theology in the Collegium Romanum. As professor of theology he was a member of the congregation appointed by Innocent X to investigate the Jansenist heresy.

In 1659 he was made a cardinal by Alexander VII. Pallavicino is chiefly known by his History of the Council of Trent.