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The Roman Catechism is published

1566 · Rome (Rome, Italy)

In 1566, by order of the Council of Trent and under Pius V, the Roman Catechism appears: a systematic exposition of the creed, the sacraments, the commandments, and prayer, addressed to parish priests. It standardizes Catholic teaching for the confessional age and remains a reference of Catholic doctrine for four centuries.

Tagged: Catholic

The Event

Date
1566 (exact)
Era
Reformation and Counter-Reformation; Standard periodization of Catholic history
Location
Rome; today Rome, Italy
Traditions
Catholicism
Streams
Catholic
Key figures
Pius V, Charles Borromeo
Key texts
The Roman Catechism

Connections

Illustration for Council of Trent History Event Council of Trent 1545–1563 executes the council's decree on catechesis

Primary Sources

  • Catechismus Romanus, by decree of the Council of Trent, 1566.

Secondary Sources

  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  • Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
  • Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. London: Penguin, 2009.
  • O'Malley, John W. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Provenance: HIST-1331; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.

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