Vatican Documents and the First Session

The four years of the Second Vatican Council saw the emergence of various Constitutions, Decrees and Declarations as follows:

FOUR CONSTITUTIONS: 

1. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

2. Constitution on Divine Revelation

3. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium)

4. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes)

These four constitutions make up the substantial core of the Council’s teaching. As you would no doubt gather the other documents are related components of these constitutions, but are treated separately precisely to highlight one or several aspects of the particular constitution.

NINE DECREES:  

1. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity.

2. Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity.

3. Decree on Ecumenism

4. Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests

5. Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life

6. Decree on the Catholic Oriental Churches

7. Decree on the Pastoral Office of the Bishops in the Church.

8. Decree on the Training of Priests

9. Decree on the Means of Social Communication

A brief examination of the titles of the Decrees will reveal that they refer to particular aspects of one or more of the Constitutions listed above.

THREE DECLARATIONS:  

1. Declaration on Religious Liberty

2. Declaration on Christian Education

3. Declaration on the Church’s Relations with Non-Christian Religions

Once more, a brief examination of the titles of these Declarations places them within one or more of the four Constitutions. Earlier on we had mentioned that the Council met over Four Periods or Sessions, each covering approximately from September to December over the four years, 1962 to 1965.

We shall proceed to consider the First Session, which followed the official opening of the Council on 11th October 1962.

FIRST SESSION – 13th October 1962

This Session, the first working session of the Council, had a clear agenda, which included the election of members for the ten commissions proposed for the Council. Each of these commissions was to have sixteen elected members (2/3) and eight (1/3) appointed by the Holy Father.

There seemed to have been an expectation that the members of the Preparatory Commissions, mentioned earlier on, and where members of the Roman Curia were prominently represented, would have been confirmed as the majority members of the Commissions of the Council. This was not to be, as a motion proposed by Cardinal Achille Lienart (France) and seconded by Cardinal Joseph Frings (Germany) brought to the attention of the Council that the bishops needed time to get to know each other and so make the vote an intelligent one, sought the postponement of the vote. The motion was carried by a majority and the First Working Session of the Council was brought to a close just after only fifteen minutes.

This adjournment created the opportunity for consultations between the various conferences of bishops, and before long, it was decided that the national or regional Episcopal Conferences would recommend one or two candidates of their own for each Commission.

These actions, the consultations and the nomination of candidates to the commissions, were indicative that the Fathers of the Council intended to take their responsibility for the Council seriously. Thus when they reassembled on 16th October, a composite list of all the nominations was circulated and later voted on, and winning a majority. In this way, the Commissions became much more representative of the assembled fathers of the Council, rather than hand-picked representatives of the Curia.

However we must remember that the Presidents of the Commissions were appointed by the Pope, and so therein resulted a vital curial input.  The rest of the First Session was dedicated to discussions of the Schemata on the Liturgy, on the sources of revelation, on mass media, on the Church and on the unity of the Church.

Of these, there were lively discussions on the liturgical proposed changes: namely, greater use of vernacular languages, frequent communion under both kinds, and concelebration.

Liturgy and Revelation

One aspect of the debate which emerged during the discussion on the Schema of the Liturgy was the need for greater authority in matters of the liturgy to be given to Episcopal Conferences. 

This long and lively debate was not surprising as much research and publications around the world on matters of the liturgy in the church had been taking place for years before the council. So the long debate on the Schema of the Liturgy at this First Session was brought to an acceptable closure with a vote on the general principles set out in the draft, with a vast majority of the Fathers, (2,162 to 46) showing that they were ready to embark on significant liturgical reform. 

A further prominent debate focused on a Schema on the sources of revelation and in particular the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, and the value of modern historical critical methods in the interpretation of the Bible. The text of this schema was ruthlessly criticized for its negative tone and a lack of ecumenical and pastoral sensitivity and for   prematurely settling the legitimately debated issue as to whether all revealed truths are to be found in Scripture. Those who defended the text argued that the dogmatic issue was settled at the Council of Trent and by subsequent teachings of the Church. 

A vote was taken as to whether to discontinue the debate or to continue it dealing with the individual chapters. This vote just fell short of the prescribed two-thirds majority (1,368 to 822) required, but the Holy Father intervened and sent the text to a special commission under the joint chairmanship of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bea to rewrite the text. 

After this, coming to the end of the First Session, a preliminary discussion of the Schema on the Church was held. The official text of this schema was also subjected to much criticism and it was accepted that it would have to be revised. 

In fact, on 6th December 1962, it was announced that the Holy Father had appointed a Coordinating Commission, whose task was to review all the draft texts prepared for the Council, and in the light of the goals of the Council as stated by the Pope and ratified by the votes of the Fathers of the Council, to decide which were to be retained on the Council’s agenda and which could be left for post-conciliar decisions; the Commission was also tasked with what changes in content, method or tone needed to be made. 

This Commission swiftly reduced the texts to be retained on the Council’s agenda to 17, the last of these being a new Schema championed by Cardinal Suenens, to address the presence of the Church in the Modern World. 

Throughout the period between the First Session and the Second Session, the commissions of the Council undertook what has been called “a second preparation” of Vatican II. This preparation was however halted upon the death of Pope John XXIII on 3rd June 1963, since an ecumenical council is automatically dissolved upon the death of the Pope who convened it. 

As you may recall, Pope Paul V1 was elected on 21st June 1963 and immediately announced that the Council would continue. Thus the Second Session, under Pope Paul V1 was to open on 29th September 1963. 

We close our presentation of this First Session of Vatican II by noting that, while there were much debate and discussions on matters presented to the Council, this First Session ended without the approval of a single Schema. Its achievement however rests with the decisions, which the Fathers of the Council made, and which determined the future course of the Second Vatican Council. Tomorrow, we shall consider the Second Session of Vatican II.