In whatever light we view the Council of the Vatican—the œcumenical of the
nineteenth century—it strikes us as being, in ecclesiastical annals, the
event of the age. It also marks, in a remarkable manner, the character and
progress of the time. The Council of Trent was highly important in its
day; and still, after a lapse of three hundred years, its teachings govern
the Church. Whilst, as regards the wisdom of its decisions, it cannot be
excelled, it was surpassed in many things by the Council of the Vatican.
Trent was attended by comparatively few bishops, who were from Europe, the
Eastern Church and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. The
Vatican Council consisted of prelates from at least thirty different
nations, from the remotest regions of the habitable globe, from the
numerous churches in India which owed their origin to the apostolic zeal
of St. Francis Xavier, from North and South America, China, Australia, New
Zealand and Oceanica. One-fifth of the churches existed not as yet in the
time of Trent which sent their bishops to represent them at the Vatican
Council. The countries in which many of these churches flourish had no
place, when the Council of Trent was called, on the map of the world. From
those vast regions which now constitute the United States of America,
there was not so much as one bishop at Trent. At the Vatican Council there
were no fewer than sixty. There were never more than three bishops of
Ireland present together at Trent, and four only were members of that
council. Twenty Irish prelates attended the Vatican Council. England sent
only one bishop to Trent. He is mentioned as Godveus Anglus, Episc.
Asaphensis. The Catholics of England were represented by thirteen English
bishops at the Council of the Vatican. Scotland had no representation at
Trent. The Catholics of that country were most worthily represented at the
Vatican by Bishop Strain, now Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh;
Archbishop Eyre, of Glasgow, and Bishop McDonald, of Aberdeen. There was
only a very small number of English-speaking bishops at Trent. At the
Vatican Council they were particularly numerous, constituting, as nearly
as can be calculated, one-fifth of the assembled Catholic hierarchy. At
Trent there were not many bishops from countries speaking different
languages. Twenty-seven languages, and various dialects besides, were
represented by prelates at the Vatican.
The greater facilities for travelling, which this favored age enjoys, no
doubt rendered it more easy to attend the Council of the Vatican than it
was to journey to Trent, even from the nearest lands. Nevertheless, there
was laborious journeying to the Vatican. Prelates from the vast regions of
Asia and Africa, America and Australia, knew what they would have to
encounter, but they were not deterred. Some, on their way to the Vatican,
travelled for whole weeks mounted on camels before they could reach the
ports at which it behooved them to embark. Bishop Launy, of Santa Fe, was
forty-two days on his land-journey, and travelled on horseback. Such of
the laity as visited Trent were comparatively few, and only from places
not very distant. One hundred thousand pilgrims, many of them from the
most remote regions, repaired to the Vatican. The number of Fathers at any
one time in council at Trent was somewhat under three hundred. Seven
hundred and eighty-three took part in the Council of the Vatican. The
Council of Trent, however, must not be underrated. It was a most important
council, and admirably calculated to meet the wants of the time. It marked
an era in the history of the Church. It provided remedies for numerous
evils, and safety in the midst of danger. It became a power which time has
not diminished. For three hundred years it has guided the destinies of
Peter’s barque, prelates and people wisely accepting its discipline, and
meekly obeying its rule. It added, no doubt, to the importance of the
Vatican Council that it was held at Rome, in the very centre of
Catholicity and of Catholic unity, and near the tombs of the martyred
apostles, the founders of the Church. In this it contrasts with Trent,
which, although the Fathers assembled at an obscure village in the Tyrol,
was not less, on this account, an Œcumenical Council. Papal legates
presided at Trent, whilst the Holy Father himself was present at all the
solemn sessions of the Vatican Council which have as yet been held.