CATECHISM

of the

COUNCIL OF TRENT

translated into english

WITH NOTES

by

THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A.

of christ church, oxford

Editor of Translations of Homer, Æschylus, Sophocles, &c., and of the Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent, &c., &c.

LONDON:

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND CO., FARRINGDON STREET

1852

PREFACE

The satisfactory reception that greeted a recent publication entitled the “Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent”, and the approbation bestowed upon the undertaking by several of the highest dignitaries of the English Church, will, it is hoped, justify the appearance of the “Catechism,” put forth by the same Council, and now published in an equally popular form.

Whilst I confess myself in many respects indebted to the translation published by the Rev. J. Donovan, I must express my surprise that a work abounding in so many manifest inaccuracies, should have obtained public sanction, and even been reprinted at the Propaganda Press. The state of Roman Catholic Theology must be low, where so careless an edition of documents so important, forms the sole medium of their communication in the English language.

I have been sparing of notes in the present edition, chiefly because an increased size of the volume would have been inconsistent with its cheapness. What are given, are intended to point out some of the main points of difference, and, occasionally, of agreement, between the Reformed and the Romish Churches.

Materials are already collected for an edition of the Confessions of the Reformed Churches, which will be published in chronological arrangement, thus enabling the English reader to judge fairly between all parties, to trace the development of the Reformation through its various doubts, changes, and difficulties, and to hear authenticated statements delivered as they were written, apart from prejudiced comment or intolerant dogmatism.

Let me entreat the reader, how distant soever his mind may be from the Church that England recognizes as her own, to read this volume, not with the view of merely finding that “all that Rome says, is wrong,” but as a work of a mixed character, whence much that is valuable to every believer in Christ may be derived, but wherein that precious portion must be cautiously separated, and calmly judged, apart from the leaven of superstition and Post-Apostolic practice, which unfortunately defile many of its fairest pages.

In conclusion, I must again express my great obligations to the kindly assistance and impartial advice of my friend, the Reverend Charles Marriott, Rector of St. Mary’s Church, Oxford, throughout nearly the whole volume. I am also indebted to the attention of John Wood, Esq., M.A., of Merton College, for relieving me of some of the tiresome labour of collating references, as well as to several other friends and clergymen who have lent additional encouragment to this work by their suggestions and communications, many of which will perhaps be made available in writing a popular History of the ...