Roman Catholic Worship From The Council Of Trent To Vatican Ii

The Council of Trent (15451563) initiated a period of liturgical standardization in the Roman Catholic church. Catholic worship remained largely uniform throughout the world until the appearance of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council (1963). The Council of Trent (15451563) sought to bring about a conservative reform by radical means. The fathers of Trent were concerned to end avarice, corruptions, and superstitions in worship, but their minds were directed to defending the status quo whenever possible, partly because the lack of liturgical scholarship allowed them to believe, for example, that St. Peter had composed the Roman canon and that to change existing practices was to abolish that which was apostolic. Furthermore, changes would be seen as conceding that the Protestant Reformers were right after all. The method of reform chosen was that of liturgical standardization, a possibility with the advent of the printed book. The revision of the litur…