List of excommunicable offences from the Council of Trent

The Council of Trent was held in several sessions from 1545 to 1563. The council was convoked to help the church respond to the challenge posed by the Protestant Reformation, which had begun with Martin Luther decades earlier.

A number of canons assigning automatic excommunication were enacted, which became part of the church's canon law for centuries. Heresies about the sacraments or core church doctrines which had been rejected or re-defined by the Protestants were specified and assigned automatic excommunication for Catholics who held them. These canons were replaced by the canon law of the Catholic Church in effect today.

Original sin

Original sin is a Catholic doctrine that teaches that all human beings are born with the taint of Adam and Eve's sin; this taint can only be removed through baptism. Some Protestants re-defined (or rejected) original sin. The following canon laws were enacted to punish heretics in the church who rejected this belief.

If anyone does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he had transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice wherein he had been constituted; and that he incurred, through the offence of that prevarication, the wrath and indignation of God, and consequently death, with which God had previously threatened him, and, together with death, captivity under his power who thenceforth had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil, and that the entire Adam, through that offence of prevarication, was changed, in body and soul, for the worse, let him be anathema.
If anyone asserts that the prevarication of Adam injured himself alone and not his posterity; and that the holiness and justice received of God which he lost, he lost for himself alone and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has only transfused death, and pains of the body, into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul; let him be anathema.
If anyone asserts that this sin of Adam (which in its origin is one, and being transfused into all by propagation—not by imitation—is in each one as his own) is taken away by the powers of human nature or by any other remedy than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God in his own blood, made unto us justice, sanctification and redemption; or if he denies that the said merit of Jesus Christ is applied to adults and infants by the sacrament of baptism administered in the form of the church; let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that infants, sprung from baptized parents, are to be baptized; or says that they are baptized for the remission of sins but they derive nothing of original sin from Adam, which has need of being expiated by regeneration from life everlasting, let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or asserts that the nature of sin is not taken away; let him be anathema.

Justification

Justification is what a person needs to do God's will and find salvation, a prominent controversy during the Reformation. Martin Luther, John Calvin and other prominent Protestants rejected the Catholic belief that a person needs to do good works to attain salvation, teaching that faith alone is sufficient. Connected to the controversy were other Protestant ideas in some sects: it was impossible for a person not to sin, that good deeds were still sinful in God's eyes, that one could be certain that one was "saved" in this life, or humanity was helpless in working for its salvation. At Trent, the Catholic Church enacted the following canons and punished (with excommunication) anyone in the church who held the following ideas.

If anyone says that man is justified before God by his own works (whether done through the teaching of human nature or the law) without the grace of God through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is given only that man may live justly and merit eternal life, as if by free will (without grace) he could do both, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that without the inspiration and help of the Holy Ghost man can believe, hope, love or be penitent as he ought, so the grace of justification may be bestowed upon him, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that man's free will, moved and excited by God (by assenting to God), co-operates towards disposing and preparing itself for obtaining the grace of justification; that it cannot refuse its consent, but (as something inanimate) it does nothing and is passive; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that since Adam's sin the free will of man is lost, or is a thing with a name (without a reality) introduced to the church by Satan; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is not in man's power to make his ways evil, but God works evil works as well as good (so the treason of Judas is no less his own work than the vocation of Paul), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that all works done before justification are sins or merit the hatred of God, or that the more earnestly one strives to dispose himself for grace the more grievously he sins, let him be anathema.
If any one says that the fear of hell (whereby, by grieving for our sins, we flee to the mercy of God or refrain from sinning) is a sin or makes sinners worse, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by faith alone the impious are justified (that nothing else is required to obtain justification and that it is not necessary to use one's own will), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that men are just without the justice of Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that men's justification is only the favour of God, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing but confidence in divine mercy, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is necessary for everyone to believe that their sins are forgiven, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that man is absolved from his sins and justified because he believed himself absolved and justified, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that a man born again and justified is bound to believe that he is one of the predestined, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that he will persevere unto the end, unless he learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that justification is only attained by those who are predestined, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the commandments of God are impossible to keep; (even for one justified and constituted in grace, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that nothing besides faith is commanded in the Gospel; that other things are neither commanded nor prohibited; or the Ten Commandments do not pertain to Christians, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the man who is justified is not bound to observe the commandments of God and the Church, but only to believe; as if the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of observing the commandments, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that Christ Jesus was given of God to men as a redeemer in whom to trust and not a legislator whom to obey, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the justified can persevere without the special help of God in justice received or, with that help, he is unable; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that a man, once justified, can sin no more or lose grace, and he who sins was never truly justified; or that he can avoid all sins (even venial sins), except by a special privilege from God (as the Church holds regarding the Blessed Virgin; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that justice received is not preserved and increased before God through good works, but the works are the fruits and signs of justification and not a cause of the increase; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the just sin (venially, at least, or—more intolerable still—mortally) and deserve eternal punishment, and God does not damn them, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the just ought not, for their good works done in God, to expect and hope for eternal recompense from God through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that there is no mortal sin but infidelity, or grace received is not lost by any other sin (however grievous and enormous) but infidelity; let him be anathema.
If anyone says that grace being lost through sin, faith is lost with it; or that the faith which remains (though it is not lively) is not a true faith; or that he who has faith without charity is not as Christ taught, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that he who has fallen after baptism is unable, by the grace of God, to rise again; or that he is able to recover the justice which he has lost by faith alone, without the sacrament of Penance (contrary to what the holy Roman and universal Church—instructed by Christ and his Apostles—has hitherto professed, observed, and taught), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that after the grace of justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out, that there remains no debt of temporal punishment to be discharged in this world or the next in Purgatory before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened to him, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the just sin when they perform good works with a view to an eternal recompense, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the good works of one who is justified are gifts of God and not the good merits of him who is justified; or that the justified, by the good works which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ (whose living member he is) does not merit increase of grace, eternal life and the attainment of that eternal life, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by the Catholic doctrine of justification, by this synod set forth in this present decree, the glory of God or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ are derogated from, let him be anathema.

Sacraments

Most Protestants rejected or redefined the sacraments during the Reformation. The Catholic Church has seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony. The church historically taught that the sacraments, existing in physical places and circumstances, gave invisible grace to the souls of those who received them and were by no means symbolic. In the Catholic Church, only a priest or bishop could administer most sacraments. Many Protestants said that the Catholic Church had introduced elements into the church which had not come from Christ. To answer this challenge of its teachings, the council enacted the following canons to punish heretics in the church who rejected its teachings on the sacraments.

If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law were not instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or that they are more or less than seven, or that any one of the seven is not truly and properly a sacrament, let him be anathema.
If any one says that the sacraments of the New Law do not differ from the sacraments of the Old Law (except that the ceremonies and rites are different), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that these seven sacraments are equal to each other, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation and that, without them, men obtain from God through faith alone the grace of justification (although all the sacraments are not necessary for every individual), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the sacraments were instituted for nourishing faith alone, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify, or that they do not confer grace on those who do not place an obstacle to it (as though they were outward signs of grace or justice received through faith and marks of the Christian profession, distinguishing believers from unbelievers), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that grace, as far as God is concerned, is not given through the sacraments always and to all men, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by the sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed, but faith alone in the divine promise suffices to obtain grace, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that in baptism, confirmation and holy orders there is not imprinted on the soul a character, a spiritual and indelible sign which means that they cannot be repeated, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that all Christians can administer the word and the sacraments, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that when ministers confer the sacraments the intention of doing what the Church does is not required, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that if a minister in mortal sin confers a sacrament the sacrament is invalid, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the approved rites of the Catholic Church, used in the administration of the sacraments, may be despised, omitted or changed, let him be anathema.

Baptism

Although Martin Luther retained the Catholic form of baptism, other Protestants rejected or redefined it. Anabaptists rejected infant baptism and performed second baptisms on adults because they did not believe that infant baptism was intended by Christ. In response, the church enacted the following canons to excommunicate those who held these ideas.

If anyone says that the baptism of John had the same force as the baptism of Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that water is not necessary for baptism, twisting the words of our Lord Jesus Christ (Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost ...), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that in the Roman church (the mother and mistress of all churches) there is not the true doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that baptism given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (with the intention of doing what the Church does) is not true baptism, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that baptism is not necessary for salvation, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that one who has been baptized cannot lose grace despite sin unless he will not believe, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the baptized are, by baptism itself, made debtors to faith alone and not the observance of the law of Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the baptized are freed from all the precepts of the church and are not bound to observe them unless he has chosen to do so, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that his baptism voids any vow made after baptism, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that baptism absolves or makes venial all sins committed after baptism, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that baptism must be repeated by those who denied the faith of Christ amongst infidels when they repent, let him be anathema.
If any one says that no one is to be baptized except at the age at which Christ was baptized or at the time of death, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that children are not to be reckoned amongst the faithful after baptism and must be re-baptized at maturity, or that their baptism should be postponed, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that those baptized as children who refuse to ratify their baptismal promises should be excluded from the sacraments until they repent, let him be anathema.

Confirmation

In confirmation, a bishop anoints a person with oil and seals them with the gift of the Holy Spirit. This sacrament was rejected or redefined by a number of Protestant denominations. The following canons were enacted to punish those in the church who subscribed to any of the listed ideas.

If anyone says that the confirmation of those who have been baptized is an idle ceremony and not a sacrament, or that it is a catechism whereby those near adolescence give an account of their faith in the face of the Church, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that they who ascribe virtue to the chrism of confirmation outrage the Holy Ghost, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the ordinary minister of confirmation is not the bishop but any simple priest, let him be anathema.

Eucharist

The Eucharist, also known as holy communion or the Lord's supper, is bread and wine which are consecrated during Mass and (Catholics believe) transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. This core Catholic belief was rejected or redefined by most Protestants. Some (such as Luther) believed that Christ was not literally present in the bread and wine, and others believed that the sacrament was symbolic. The following canons were enacted at Trent to punish Catholics who subscribed to the following ideas.

If anyone denies that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist are contained the body and blood, the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling it a sign, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine remains with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and denies the conversion of the bread into the Body and the wine into the Blood which the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation, let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that in the Eucharist the whole Christ is contained in each species, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that after the consecration the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not in the hosts which remain after communion, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the principal fruit of the Eucharist is the remission of sins or other effects do not result, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ (the only-begotten Son of God) is not to be adored with latria and neither venerated nor solemnly borne in processions, and the adorers thereof are idolators, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is not lawful for the sacred Eucharist to be reserved in the sacrarium, but immediately after consecration it must be distributed to those present, or that it is not lawful that it be carried with honour to the sick, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that Christ, given in the Eucharist, is eaten spiritually only and not also sacramentally and really; let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that all of Christ's faithful of both sexes are bound, when they have attained years of discretion, to communicate every year (at least at Easter) in accordance with the precept of holy Mother Church, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is not lawful for the celebrating priest to communicate himself, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that faith alone is sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand by those whose conscience is burdened with mortal sin (however contrite they think themselves). If anyone teaches, preaches, asserts or defends the contrary, he shall be excommunicated.

Communion with both species and distribution to infants

Before the Reformation and going back to the time of Jan Hus, the church had experienced a controversy about whether bread and wine should be given to every communicant or only the bread. At that time it did not allow for the laity to receive the consecrated wine at Mass, partly due to the fear that the laity might abuse it; priests and bishops drank the consecrated wine. A century earlier, Hus rejected the church's position; the issue predated Luther, but during the Reformation the issue was raised again. Some Protestants said that the Catholic Church was not following Christ's teaching when it distributed the bread without the wine.

The church also historically gave communion to children only when they reached the age of reason, and this practice is still followed today. The Eastern Orthodox church distributed communion to infants (as it still does), and some Protestants questioned the Catholic doctrine. To answer this challenge, the church enacted the following canons to excommunicate any Catholic who subscribed to these beliefs.

If anyone says that by the precept of God or by necessity of salvation all the faithful of Christ ought to receive both species of the most holy sacrament not consecrating, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the holy Catholic Church was not induced by just causes and reasons to communicate under the species of bread only laymen and clerics not consecrating, let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that Christ, whole and entire (the fountain and author of all graces), is received under the one species of bread because—as some falsely assert—He is not received under both species, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the communion of the Eucharist is necessary for little children before they have reached the years of discretion, let him be anathema.

Penance

In confession (also known as the sacrament of Penance or reconciliation), a person confesses their sins to a priest or bishop and receives God's forgiveness through absolution by the priest or bishop. This sacrament was criticised by many Protestants during the Reformation and abolished in many of the new Protestant denominations on the basis that a priest or bishop did not have power from God to forgive (or refuse to forgive) people's sins. To answer this challenge, the church enacted the following canons to punish Catholics who subscribed to these ideas.

If anyone says that in the Catholic Church penance is not truly and properly a sacrament, instituted by Christ our Lord for reconciling the faithful unto God as often as they fall into sin after baptism, let him be anathema.
If anyone, confounding the sacraments, says that baptism is the sacrament of Penance (as though the sacraments were not distinct) and Penance is not rightly called a second plank after shipwreck, let him be anathema.
If any one says that those words of the Lord the Saviour, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained", are not to be understood as the power of forgiving and of retaining sins in the Sacrament of penance (as the Catholic Church has always understood them), let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that for the remission of sins there are required three acts of the penitent (contrition, confession and satisfaction), or says that there are two parts only of penance (contrition and faith in absolution), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the contrition acquired by the examination, collection and detestation of sins (whereby one ponders the grievousness and multitude of his sins, the loss of eternal blessedness and the eternal damnation he has incurred for a better life) is not a true and profitable sorrow and does not prepare for grace but makes a man a hypocrite and a greater sinner; that this contrition is not a free and voluntary sorrow, let him be anathema.
If anyone denies that sacramental confession was instituted or is necessary to salvation, or says that confessing secretly to a priest alone (which the church has observed from the beginning) is alien from the command of Christ and a human invention, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is not necessary for the remission of sins to confess all mortal sins remembered (saying that such confession is only useful to instruct and console the penitent; confessing all sins leaves nothing for divine mercy to pardon, or that it is not lawful to confess venial sins), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the confession of all sins (as observed in the church) is impossible and is a human tradition to be abolished by the godly or that the faithful of Christ are not obliged to confess during Lent, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that sacramental absolution by priest is a bare ministry of pronouncing and declaring sins forgiven to him who confesses if he believes himself absolved, or if the priest does not absolve in earnest, or says that confession is not required for absolution, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that priests in mortal sin do not have the power of binding and loosing, or that priests alone are not the ministers of absolution and anyone can absolve from sin, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that bishops do not have the right to reserve cases and a priest may absolve a reserved case, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that God always remits the punishment with the guilt, and the satisfaction of penitents is the faith whereby they apprehend that Christ has satisfied for them, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that satisfaction for sins (their temporal punishment) is not made to God through the merits of Jesus Christ or by punishments, fasting, prayer, almsgiving or other pious works and the best penance is merely a new life, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the satisfaction by which penitents redeem their sins through Jesus Christ are not a worship of God but traditions of men which obscure the doctrine of grace, the true worship of God and the benefit of the death of Christ, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the keys are given to the Church only to loose, not to bind, and priests act contrary to the institution of Christ when they impose punishments on those who confess, and it is a fiction that after eternal punishment has been removed there remains a temporal punishment to be discharged, let him be anathema.

Anointing of the sick

In the anointing of the sick, also known as extreme unction or the last rites, a priest or bishop anoints a person with oil to prepare them for death in the event of a serious illness or other health-related event. Although it was almost exclusively given to those soon to die, in modern times it is frequently given to those who are seriously ill (e.g., before major surgery) to prepare them with God's help. Like other sacraments, this was challenged, rejected or redefined by many Protestants. To answer this, the church enacted the following canons to punish Catholics who subscribed to these ideas.

If anyone says that extreme unction is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ our Lord and promulgated by the blessed apostle James, but is a rite received from the Church Fathers or a human figment, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the sacred unction of the sick does not confer grace, remit sin or comfort the sick, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that extreme unction (which the holy Roman Church observes) is repugnant to the sentiment of the blessed apostle James, is therefore to be changed and may, without sin, be condemned by Christians, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the presbyters of the church, whom blessed James exhorted to be brought to anoint the sick, are not priests ordained by a bishop but the elders in each community, and a priest alone is not the proper minister of extreme unction, let him be anathema.

Holy orders

Holy orders in the Catholic Church is the sacrament which makes a baptized man a deacon, priest or bishop. The church historically believed that a person who receives this sacrament is permanently changed and given special grace by God to serve in his place as a leader of the church. It also historically believed that only a priest or bishop could perform six of the seven sacraments (baptism could be performed by anyone and holy orders required a bishop, and the other five could be administered by a priest or bishop), and this sacrament gave him the power to do so. This belief was rejected by many Protestant denominations, who said that there was no mediator between man and God other than Jesus Christ, the Bible was the sole authority for Christians, that everyone in the church was equally empowered by God to be priests and that clerical celibacy did not come from Christ. In answer, the Catholic Church enacted the following canons to punish with excommunication anyone in the church who subscribed to these ideas.

If anyone says that there is not in the New Testament a visible and external priesthood or there is not any power of consecrating and offering the true body and blood of the Lord and forgiving and retaining sins, but only an office and ministry of preaching the Gospel, or that those who do not preach are not priests at all, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that besides the priesthood, there are not in the Catholic Church other orders (major and minor) by which advance is made to the priesthood, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that order (or ordination) is not a sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord or that it is a human figment devised by men unskilled in ecclesiastical matters or that it is only a rite for choosing ministers of the word of God and the sacraments, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by sacred ordination the Holy Ghost is not given or a character is not imprinted by ordination or he who has been a priest can again be a layman, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the sacred unction which the Church uses in holy ordination is not required but despised and pernicious (as are the other ceremonies of Order), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that in the Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy by divine ordination consisting of bishops, priests and ministers, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that bishops are not superior to priests, or that they have not the power of confirming and ordaining, or that the power they possess is common to them and to priests, or that orders conferred by them without the consent or vocation of the people or the secular power are invalid, or that those who have not been ordained or sent by ecclesiastical and canonical power but come from elsewhere are lawful ministers of the word and sacraments, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that bishops assumed by authority of the Roman Pontiff are not true bishops but a human figment, let him be anathema.

Marriage

Marriage in the Catholic Church is a sacrament believed to bestow grace on the couple who receives it. Although Protestants did not reject the idea of monogamous heterosexual marriage during the Reformation, some questioned the church's teachings about divorce (the unbreakable nature of a consummated marriage or the rejection of polygamy found in the Bible). Like the other sacraments, Protestants rejected the idea that priests or bishops had a special power to sacramentally marry. To answer this challenge, the church enacted the following canons to punish Catholics who subscribed to any of these ideas.

If anyone says that matrimony is not truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelic law (a sacrament) instituted by Christ the Lord, but has been invented by men in the Church and does not confer grace, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time and this is not prohibited by divine law, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that those degrees of consanguinity and affinity set down in Leviticus can hinder matrimony from being contracted and dissolve it when contracted and the Church cannot dispense some of those degrees or establish that others may hinder and dissolve it, let him be anathema
If anyone says that the Church could not establish impediments dissolving marriage or that she has erred in establishing them, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that on account of heresy or irksome cohabitation or the absence of one of the parties the bond of matrimony may be dissolved, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that matrimony contracted but not consummated is not dissolved by the solemn profession of religion by one of the married parties, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the Church has erred in teaching (in accordance with evangelical and apostolic doctrine) that the bond of matrimony cannot be dissolved on account of adultery by one of the married parties and both (or even the innocent one who gave not occasion to the adultery) cannot contract another marriage during the lifetime of the other and, guilty of adultery, shall take another wife (as she who, having put away the adulterer, shall take another husband), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the Church errs in declaring that for many causes, separation may take place between husband and wife in regard of bed or cohabitation, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that clerics constituted in sacred orders who have professed chastity are able to contract marriage, and it is valid notwithstanding the ecclesiastical law or vow; and all who do not feel that they have the gift of chastity (even though they have made a vow thereof) may contract marriage, let him be anathema; God refuses not that gift to those who ask for it rightly, neither does he suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able.
If anyone says that marriage is to be placed above virginity or celibacy and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be united in matrimony, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the prohibition of the solemnization of marriages at certain times of the year is a tyrannical superstition derived from the heathen or condemns the benedictions and other ceremonies which the Church makes use of therein, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that matrimonial causes do not belong to ecclesiastical judges, let him be anathema.

Mass

The Mass, in which bread and wine is consecrated to become the body and blood of Christ (as Catholics believe) and offered to God as a sacrifice, was attacked by many Protestants who said that only Christ's sacrifice on the cross was a true sacrifice and Catholics showed disrespect to (or lack of faith in) his sacrifice by believing that their mass was the equivalent. Protestants also rejected elements of the mass such as priestly vestments and the naming of saints. In response, the Catholic Church enacted the following canons to punish with excommunication those in the church who subscribed to these ideas.

If anyone says that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God or that to be offered is nothing else but Christ given us to eat, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by the words, "Do this in memory of me" (Luke 22:19), Christ did not institute the apostles priests or did not ordain that they (and other priests) should offer Christ's body and blood, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving or a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, (not a propitiatory sacrifice) or that it profits him only who receives and ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions and other necessities, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that by the sacrifice of the mass a blasphemy is cast on the holy sacrifice of Christ, consummated on the cross, or that it is derogated from, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that it is an imposture to celebrate masses in honour of the saints and for obtaining their intercession with God (as the Church intends), let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the canon of the mass contains errors and is to be repealed, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the ceremonies, vestments and outward signs which the Catholic Church uses in the celebration of masses are incentives to impiety rather than offices of piety, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that masses wherein the priest alone communicates sacramentally are unlawful and therefore to be repealed, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the rite of the Roman Church, according to which a part of the canon and the words of consecration are pronounced in a low tone, is to be condemned; or that the mass ought to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue only, or that water ought not to be mixed with the wine in the chalice because it is contrary to the institution of Christ, let him be anathema.

Other offences

The council also recorded a number of other excommunicable offences not part of the above categories.

If anyone says that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the Eucharist, let him be anathema. And lest so great a sacrament be received unworthily, this holy synod declares that sacramental confession (when a confessor may be had) is to be made beforehand by those burdened with mortal sin regardless of contrition. If anyone presumes to teach, preach, assert or defend the contrary, he shall be excommunicated.^[1]
The synod ordains that no marriage can exist between a woman and her abductor as long as she remains in his power. If she has been abducted, is separated from him in a safe, free place and consents to have him for her husband, the abductor may have her for his wife; however, he and all who lent him advice and aid shall be ipso jure excommunicated.^[1]
It is a grievous sin for unmarried men to have concubines, but it is a most grievous sin for married men also to live in this state with the audacity (at times) to keep them at their own homes with their own wives. The synod ordains that these keepers of concubines, whether unmarried or married, are excommunicated after being admonished three times on this subject by the ordinary.^[1]
The synod, renewing Pope Boniface VIII's apostolic constitution which begins, "Periculoso", enjoins all bishops by the judgment of God and under pain of eternal malediction that the enclosure of nuns be carefully restored and preserved. The synod exhorts Christian princes to furnish this aid and enjoins, under pain of ipso facto excommunication, that it be rendered by all civil magistrates.^[1]
It shall not be lawful for anyone, whatever their birth, condition, sex or age, to enter the enclosure of a nunnery without written permission from the bishop or the superior general, under pain of ipso facto excommunication.^[1]
Patrons of benefices (even communities, universities or colleges) shall not meddle with the fruits, rents or revenue of the benefices, but shall leave them to the free disposal of the rector or the beneficiary. Nor shall they transfer to others the right of patronage by sale or under any other title; if they do otherwise, they shall be subjected to the penalties of excommunication and interdict and will be deprived ipso jure of the right of patronage.^[1]
The synod enjoins all, of whatever rank and condition, who must pay tithes to pay the tithes in full to the cathedral or whatever other churches (or persons) they are lawfully due. Those who withhold them will be excommunicated.^[1]
If a cleric who formerly kept a concubine renews the interrupted connection or takes another concubine, they shall be excommunicated.^[1]
Dueling shall be exterminated from the Christian world. Any emperor, king, duke, prince, marquess, count or temporal lord by any other name who grants a place in their territory for single combat between Christians will be excommunicated and deprived of jurisdiction and dominion over any city, castle or place in which they permitted the duel to take place which is held from the church; if the place is held as a fief, they will escheat it to their overlord. Those who fight and their seconds will be excommunicated, their property confiscated, will be in perpetual infamy and punished as homicides according to canon law; if they died in the duel, they will be denied Christian burial. Counselors in, and spectators of, a duel shall be excommunicated and subject to perpetual malediction.^[1]
If anyone does not receive as sacred and canonical the books as they have been read in the Catholic Church and contained in the Latin Vulgate edition, and knowingly condemn the aforesaid traditions, let him be anathema.^[1]
It shall not be lawful for anyone to print (or cause to be printed) any books on sacred matters without the name of the author, to sell or keep them, unless they have been approved by the ordinary under pain of anathema and fine imposed in a canon of the last Council of Lateran.^[1]
If any cleric (or layman) should convert to his own use the jurisdiction, property, rents, rights, fruits, emoluments or sources of revenue belonging to any church or benefice, whether secular or regular, mount of piety or any other pious places, which ought to be employed for the necessities of the ministers and the poor; or hinder them from being received by those to whom they belong; he shall lie under an anathema until he has restored to the church and the administrator or beneficiary thereof the jurisdictions, property, effects, rights, fruits and revenues he has seized, and until he obtains absolution from the Roman Pontiff.
Clandestine marriages, made with the free consent of the contracting parties, are valid and true marriages if the church has not rendered them invalid; and those persons are condemned as with anathema who deny that such marriages are true and valid.
Earthly affections and desires so blind the eyes of temporal lords and magistrates that, by threats and ill-usage, they compel men and women who live under their jurisdiction (especially the rich, or those with expectations of a great inheritance) to contract marriage against their inclination with those whom lords or magistrates may prescribe for them. The synod enjoins on all, under pain of ipso facto anathema, that they put no constraint (direct or indirect) on those subject to them (or any others) to hinder them from freely contracting marriage.
The bishops shall teach that with the histories of the mysteries of our Redemption, portrayed by paintings or other representations, the people are instructed and confirmed in the articles of faith; great profit is derived from sacred images because the people are advised of the benefits and gifts bestowed on them by Christ and the miracles God has performed by means of the saints are before the eyes of the faithful so they may give God thanks, order their lives and manners in imitation of the saints, adore and love God and cultivate piety. If anyone teaches or entertain sentiments contrary to these decrees, let him be anathema.
Before the profession of a novice (male or female), nothing shall be given to the monastery from their property by parents, relatives or guardians except for food and clothing for their probation lest the novice may be unable to leave because the monastery possesses all (or most) of his substance and he may not easily be able to recover it if he leaves. The synod enjoins, under the pain of anathema on the givers and receivers, that to those who leave before their profession everything that was theirs be restored to them. The bishop shall, if need be, enforce this by ecclesiastical censures.
The synod places under anathema all who would force a virgin, widow or any other woman (except in cases provided for by law) to enter a convent against her will, take the habit of a religious order or make her profession; all those who lend their counsel or aid; and those who, knowing that she does not enter the convent, take the habit or make her profession voluntarily, shall in any way, interfere in that act by their presence, consent or authority. It subjects to a like anathema those who in any way, without a just cause, hinder the holy wish of virgins or other women to take the veil or make their vows. All things which ought to be done before (or at) profession shall be observed not in all convents. From the above are excepted those women known as penitents or convertites, in whose regard their constitutions shall be observed.
All ecclesiastical judges should refrain from ecclesiastical censures (or interdict), but in civil causes belonging to the ecclesiastical court it is lawful for them (if they judge it expedient) to proceed against all persons and terminate suits with fines assigned to pious places, or distraint of goods, or arrest (by their own or other officers) or deprivation of benefices and other remedies at law. If the execution cannot be made in this way and there is contumacy towards the judge, he may smite them also with the sword of anathema. Since the power of conferring indulgences was granted by Christ to the church and she has used that power, the synod enjoins that the use of indulgences is to be retained in the church and condemns with anathema those who assert that they are useless or deny that the church has the power to grant them.
The fathers who took part in the council were obliged to sign the decrees under threat of excommunication if they did not.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 J. Waterworth, ed. (1848). "The Council of Trent". Translated by J. Waterworth. Hanover College. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.

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[hanover-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 J. Waterworth, ed. (1848). "The Council of Trent". Translated by J. Waterworth. Hanover College. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.