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Ecumenical Councils
Vatican Council (1869-1870)
··· The Vatican Council (1869-1870), the twentieth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Pius IX by the bull Aeterni Patris (29 June, 1868) and opened in St. Peter's on 8 December, 1869, with about seven hundred fathers. Its third session (24 April, 1870) promulgated the constitution Dei Filius on the Catholic faith, treating of God, revelation, and the relation of faith and reason; its fourth (18 July, 1870) the constitution Pastor Aeternus, defining the primacy and the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. The seizure of Rome in September, 1870 interrupted its work, and Pope Pius IX prorogued it on 20 October, 1870; it was adjourned but never formally closed.
Council of Trent (1545-1563)
··· The Council of Trent (1545-1563), the nineteenth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Paul III to answer the Protestant heresies and to reform the discipline of the Church. It held twenty-five sessions in three periods (1545-1547, 1551-1552, 1562-1563) under Popes Paul III, Julius III, and Pius IV, closing on 4 December, 1563. Its decrees defined Scripture and Tradition as the rule of faith, and treated original sin, justification, the seven Sacraments, the sacrifice of the Mass, purgatory, indulgences, the invocation and veneration of the saints, and the veneration of images and relics; its reform decrees included the establishment of seminaries. The question of the Index of forbidden books it referred to the Holy See.
Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517)
··· The Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517), the eighteenth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Julius II to restore peace in the Church, answer the pretended council of Pisa, and carry out reform; it continued under Pope Leo X and closed on 16 March, 1517, after twelve sessions. It defined, against errors then taught in the universities, that the human soul is immortal and individually one in each man; condemned the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges; and required ecclesiastical approval before books could be printed. A projected crusade against the Turks came to nothing.
Council of Florence (1438-1445)
··· The Council of Florence (1438-1445), the seventeenth ecumenical council, was the continuation, under Pope Eugene IV, of the council first opened at Basle, transferred by the pope to Ferrara (first session 10 January, 1438) and then to Florence (1439). It met for the reunion of the Eastern Churches: the Greeks, with the Emperor John VIII and the Patriarch of Constantinople, accepted the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son (Filioque), purgatory, and the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and the decree of union Laetentur Caeli was read on 6 July, 1439; unions with the Armenians (1439) and the Jacobites of Egypt (1442) followed. The reunion was repudiated in the East within a few years.
Council of Basle (1431-1449)
··· The Council of Basle (1431-1449) was convoked by Pope Martin V for the pacification of Bohemia and the reform of the Church, with Cardinal Cesarini as president; Pope Eugene IV confirmed it after Martin's death. It is counted ecumenical only in its early sessions: when Eugene IV transferred the council to Ferrara (see Council of Florence), the assembly remaining at Basle refused to dissolve, set itself above the pope, and in 1439 elected an antipope, Felix V; it dwindled away at Lausanne and ended in 1449. Of its decrees Eugene IV approved only those on the extirpation of heresy, the peace of Christendom, and reform that did not derogate from the rights of the Holy See.
Council of Constance (1414-1418)
··· The Council of Constance (1414-1418), the sixteenth ecumenical council, met during the Western Schism, when three claimants disputed the papacy. Convoked at the instance of the Emperor Sigismund, it became a legitimate general council when Pope Gregory XII, of the Roman line, formally convoked it and then resigned; the Pisan and Avignon claimants were set aside, and the election of Pope Martin V (11 November, 1417) ended the schism. The council condemned the errors of John Wycliff and John Hus and issued decrees for the reform of the Church in "head and members"; it is counted ecumenical only in the sessions confirmed by Martin V.
Council of Vienne (1311-1312)
··· The Council of Vienne (1311-1312), the fifteenth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Clement V and opened at Vienne in France in October, 1311, with King Philip IV in attendance. Its principal business was the Order of the Knights Templar, which the pope suppressed by his own apostolic provision (announced 22 March, 1312, and promulgated in the council's second session), the order not having been canonically convicted of heresy. The council condemned the errors of the Beghards, Beguines, and Fraticelli, legislated for the reform of the clergy, ordered the teaching of Oriental languages in the universities, and treated of a new crusade.
Second Council of Lyons (1274)
··· The Second Council of Lyons (1274), the fourteenth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Gregory X for the reunion of the Greeks, aid to the Holy Land, and the reform of morals; some five hundred bishops attended, and St. Thomas Aquinas died on the journey to it. The envoys of the Emperor Michael VIII accepted the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son and the primacy of the pope, and a union with the Greek Church was solemnly proclaimed, though it did not last. The council also issued the constitution Ubi periculum, regulating the conclave for papal elections.
First Council of Lyons (1245)
··· The First Council of Lyons (1245), the thirteenth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Innocent IV; about 140 bishops attended. It treated of aid for the Holy Land and of the long struggle between the papacy and the Emperor Frederick II, whom the council declared excommunicated and deposed.
Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
··· The Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the twelfth ecumenical council, was convoked by Pope Innocent III; over four hundred bishops and some eight hundred abbots attended, with the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem. Its creed (Firmiter) against the Albigenses confesses one God in three Persons and applies the word "transubstantiation" to the Eucharist; it condemned the Trinitarian errors of the Abbot Joachim of Fiore; and among its seventy decrees the best known (canon 21) obliges every Catholic to annual confession and Easter Communion. It also ordered a new crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land.
Third Lateran Council (1179)
··· The Third Lateran Council (1179), the eleventh ecumenical council, was held under Pope Alexander III with 302 bishops present, after the Peace of Venice had closed his struggle with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Its first canon reserved the election of the pope to the cardinals and required a two-thirds majority; other canons condemned the Albigenses and Waldenses, regulated episcopal elections, and ordered a school in every cathedral church.
Second Lateran Council (1139)
··· The Second Lateran Council (1139), the tenth ecumenical council, was held at Rome under Pope Innocent II after the death of the antipope Anacletus II had ended the schism. Its thirty canons renewed the discipline of the Church; the council also condemned the errors of Arnold of Brescia and of Peter of Bruys.
First Lateran Council (1123)
··· The First Lateran Council (1123), the ninth ecumenical council and the first general council held in the West, was convoked by Pope Callistus II at Rome, with several hundred bishops and abbots present. It confirmed the Concordat of Worms (1122), which ended the Investiture Controversy between the papacy and the Emperor, and issued disciplinary decrees, including measures for the recovery of the Holy Land.
Fourth Council of Constantinople (869-870)
··· The Fourth Council of Constantinople (869-870), the eighth ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Basil I and Pope Adrian II, whose legates presided over 102 bishops. It condemned Photius, who had usurped the patriarchal see, restored St. Ignatius as Patriarch of Constantinople, and burned the acts of Photius's irregular synod; the Photian schism nevertheless revived in the Greek Church.
Second Council of Nicaea (787)
··· The Second Council of Nicaea (787), the seventh ecumenical council, was convoked by the Empress Irene in the name of her son Constantine VI, with the legates of Pope Adrian I presiding over some three hundred bishops. Against the Iconoclasts it defined that sacred images may lawfully be made and given due veneration - not the adoration due to God alone - and it issued twenty-two canons of discipline.
Third Council of Constantinople (680-681)
··· The Third Council of Constantinople (680-681), the sixth ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Constantine IV with the agreement of Pope St. Agatho, whose legates presided. It condemned Monothelitism and defined that Christ has two wills, human and divine, as two distinct principles of operation, anathematizing the Monothelite patriarchs Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Macarius; among the dead it anathematized also Pope Honorius I. Pope St. Leo II confirmed its decrees.
Second Council of Constantinople (553)
··· The Second Council of Constantinople (553), the fifth ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Justinian I; Pope Vigilius, then in the city, declined to preside. Its 165 bishops condemned the so-called Three Chapters - writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia and of Theodoret of Cyrrhus and the letter of Ibas of Edessa - as favoring Nestorianism, and confirmed the first four general councils, especially Chalcedon.
Council of Chalcedon (451)
··· The Council of Chalcedon (451), the fourth ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Marcian with the agreement of Pope St. Leo the Great, whose legates presided; the number of bishops is given as 520 in the council's own letter to the pope and as 600 by St. Leo. Against Eutyches it defined that Christ is one Person in two natures, divine and human, receiving St. Leo's dogmatic letter (the Tome) as the standard of the faith; it deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria, who had upheld Eutyches at the Robber Synod of Ephesus (449).
Council of Ephesus (431)
··· The Council of Ephesus (431), the third ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Theodosius II with the agreement of Pope St. Celestine I; St. Cyril of Alexandria presided as the pope's representative over more than two hundred bishops. Against Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, it defined that Christ is one divine Person and that the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God (Theotokos); it deposed Nestorius and renewed the condemnation of Pelagianism.
First Council of Constantinople (381)
··· The First Council of Constantinople (381), the second ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Theodosius I under Pope St. Damasus I; some 150 bishops, all from the East, attended. It condemned Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, and completed the creed of Nicaea with the article on the Holy Ghost, producing the creed recited at Mass to this day (the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed).
First Council of Nicaea (325)
··· The First Council of Nicaea (325), the first ecumenical council, was convoked by the Emperor Constantine, in concert with Pope St. Sylvester I, to settle the teaching of Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who denied that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. About 318 bishops, nearly all from the East, met at Nicaea in Bithynia from May to August, 325; the pope was represented by the legates Victor and Vincentius, and Hosius of Cordova presided. The council condemned Arius, confessed the Son as consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father in the Nicene Creed, fixed the observance of Easter, settled the Meletian schism, and issued twenty disciplinary canons.