Council of, denotes the council assembled by Paul III. in 1545, and continued by twenty-five sessions till the year 1563, under Julius III. and Pius IV. in order to correct, illustrate, and fix with perspicuity, the doctrine of the church, to restore the vigour of its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers. The decrees of this council, together with the creed of pope Pius IV. contain a summary of the doctrines of the Roman Catholics.
See Mosheim's Church History; The Modern Universal History, vol. 23; Fra. Paolo Sarpi's, and Father Paul's Histories of the Council of Trent.