The holy, ecumenical and general Council of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same legates of the Apostolic See presiding, not confiding in human strength but relying on the power and support of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has promised to give to His Church a mouth and wisdom, has in view above all to restore to its purity and splendor the doctrine of the Catholic faith, which in many places has become defiled and obscured by the opinions of many differing among themselves, and to bring back to a better mode of life morals which have deviated from ancient usage, and to turn the heart of the fathers unto the children, and the heart of the children unto the fathers.
[The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, H. J. Schroeder, tr., TAN (Rockford, Illinois: 1978), p. 126.]
