Being the fourth under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV., celebrated on the fourth day of June, MDLXII. The sacred and holy, ocecumenical and general Synod of Trent,--lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same Legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein,--by reason of various difficulties arising from divers causes, and also to the end that all things may proceed in a more befitting manner, and with greater deliberation; to wit, that dogmas may be treated of and ratified conjointly with what relates to Reformation; has decreed that whatsoever it shall seem fit to ordain, as well concerning Reformation, as concerning dogmas, shall be defined in the next Session, which It notifies to all men for the sixteenth day of the month of July next; adding, however, that this holy Synod freely may and can, at Its will and pleasure, as it shall judge expedient for the business of the Council, shorten, or lengthen, the said term, even in a general congregation.

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SESSION XXI