The Council of Trent was a major event in the history of Christianity. It shaped Roman Catholicism's doctrine and practice for the next four hundred years and continues to do so today. The literature on the Council is vast and in numerous languages. This Companion, written  by an international group of leading researchers, brings together the latest scholarship on the principal issues treated at the Council: the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, original sin, justification, the  sacraments (Baptism, Penance, Confirmation, Eucharist, Holy Orders, Marriage, and the Annointing of the Sick), sacred images, sacred music, and its reform of religious orders, the training of the  clergy, the provision of pastoral care in the parish setting, and the implementation of its decrees. The volume demonstrates that the Council unwittingly furthered the papal centralization of authority by allowing the interpretation of its decrees to be the exclusive prerogative of the Holy See, and entrusting it with their implementation.

‘This book offers a concise, yet considered, wide-ranging as well as refreshingly unanachronistic (and unpolemical) survey of a meeting whose outcomes have shaped the teaching and experience of being a member of the Roman Catholic Church for over four centuries. For that reason alone, this volume is to be welcomed, and its editor, the ever-attentive and eagle-eyed Nelson Minnich, warmly congratulated for bringing together and managing such a talented and well-qualified team of contributors to good effect.’

Simon Ditchfield Source: Journal of Jesuit Studies

‘[A] very successful introduction to the history of the Council and provides an understanding of what happened in Trent in an assembly that reshaped the face of Catholicism.’

Mateo Al Kalak Source: The Catholic Historical Review

‘Both seminary libraries and graduate programs in church history should stock this title, but it may also find a serious readership among diocesan ecumenical offices.’

Patrick J. Hayes Source: Catholic Library World