The subjects for discussion were expressed in _schemata_, or draft
decrees, which were drawn up by a “congregation,” or, as we should say, a
committee of one hundred and two ecclesiastics, who were cardinals and
others learned in theology and canon law, selected from many nations on
account of their superior wisdom and experience. By these alone the
_schemata_ were prepared. They bore not so much as the shadow of the
supreme authority. So the council was perfectly at liberty to accept or
reject, to change or to modify them, as it should deem fit and proper. Of
this we are assured by the words of the Pope, who, in his “Constitution,”
at the commencement of the council, informed the bishops that he had not
given any sanction to the _schemata_, and that consequently in regard to
them there was complete freedom.
The _schemata_, six in number, were very comprehensive. It is deeply to be
regretted that the council was not allowed time to discuss them all. They
concerned:
1. Catholic doctrine in opposition to the manifold errors flowing
from rationalism.