Pius IV and the Tridentine Profession of Faith – Bull Iniunctum Nobis (Doctrina Pontificia IV, nn. 166-167)

Pius IV (1559-1565) is the pope who closed the Council of Trent and promulgated the Professio fidei Tridentina, the great symbol of faith of the Counter-Reformation, which includes an explicit Marian clause. The Bull Iniunctum Nobis (November 13, 1564), which publishes this Profession of Faith, is one of the most important Marian documents of the sixteenth century.

The Professio fidei Tridentina and Mary

The Tridentine Profession of Faith, required of all bishops, priests, professors of theology, and converts to Catholicism, includes an obligatory Marian clause. This clause sums up the Mariological position of Trent in three affirmations:

1. Canonicity of the Scriptures concerning Mary: The biblical texts about Mary are canonical and inspired Scripture; they are not pious legends.
2. Tradition concerning Mary: The apostolic tradition on the divine motherhood and the perpetual virginity of Mary is binding; it cannot be denied in the name of sola Scriptura.
3. Legitimate veneration of Mary: The veneration of Mary, of her relics and of her images, is legitimate and laudably Christian, against Protestant iconoclasm.

“Profiteor quoque… Sacramenta… Novem et septem esse… et sanctos… invocandos esse… et eorum imagines venerandas… item sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Romanam Ecclesiam omnium Ecclesiarum matrem esse et magistram agnosco”

n. 166, bull “Iniunctum nobis” (November 13, 1564)

The Bull properly so called, which publishes the Tridentine Profession of Faith and makes it obligatory for all the categories specified by the Council. The clause on Mary is specifically relevant because:

• It makes belief in the divine motherhood and in the perpetual virginity OBLIGATORY for anyone who exercises ecclesiastical functions.
• It implicitly forbids the teaching of any doctrine that denies these points.
• It constitutes the juridical basis for the censure of Protestant positions on Mary.

n. 167, Application and Complementary Decree

The Complementary Decree (n. 167) extends the obligation of the Tridentine Profession of Faith to new categories: university professors of philosophy and theology, who must profess the Marian faith before they begin to teach. It is a protection of Mariological orthodoxy in Catholic universities, relevant at a time when Erasmianism and humanism tended to minimize Mariology.

Further reading

Explore Mariology, the Council of Trent and the Marian Counter-Reformation, Lumen Gentium, chap. VIII, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.