1547–1562

The Council of Trent on the sacraments and the Eucharist: seven sacraments, ex opere operato, transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass

The seventh session of the Council of Trent (decree of March 3, 1547) fixed the number of sacraments at seven, affirmed their objective value and necessity for salvation, and condemned those who teach that the sacraments merely nourish faith, do not contain the grace they signify, or do not confer it ex opere operato, so that faith in the promises alone is sufficient. The thirteenth session (October 11, 1551) gave for the first time a positive statement of the doctrine of the Eucharist: Christ is "truly, really and substantially" present under the appearance of bread and wine, and the change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood is called transubstantiation. The sessions of 1562 confirmed that communion under both kinds is not necessary and that withholding the cup from the laity must be observed, that the Mass is a bloodless sacrifice that propitiates God, and prohibited the Mass in the vernacular. In González's assessment, in doctrine the council consistently took the conservative side: everything the Protestants attacked became official teaching.