The Ecclesiastical Censorship of Books, 1400–1800
An Exhibition at Bridwell Library, September 20 – December 17, 2010
THE
INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS
20. Council of Trent
(1545–1563). Canones, et
decreta sacrosancti oecumenici
et generalis Concilii
Tridentini sub Paulo III,
Iulio III, Pio IIII,
pontificibus max.
Rome: Paulus Manutius, 1564.
In the first edition of the official decrees of the Council of Trent the necessity of an organized approach to censorship was clearly stated in the summary of the eighteenth Tridentine session (here translated into English):
“It has been noticed that
the number of suspected and pernicious books,
wherein an impure doctrine is contained and is
disseminated far and wide, has in these days
increased beyond measure, which indeed has been the
reason that many censures have been published out of
a godly zeal in diverse provinces, and especially in
the fair city of Rome; and yet no salutary remedy
has availed against so great and pernicious a
disorder; thus, [the Council] has thought it good
that Fathers specially chosen for this inquiry shall
carefully consider what ought to be done in the
matter of censures and of books.”
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