Sacrament of Confirmation from Council of Florence toSecond Vatican CouncilFLORENCE•One of the cities in Italy, lies 145 miles northwest of Rome in a valley crossed by theArno River and surrounded by beautiful hills.•Florence was founded by Romans in Caesar’s army and its name, “Firenze”in Italian and“Florentia” (flowery)in Latin, was almost surely derived from the abundance of flowersgrowing there.•Because of its moderate climate, the hills and tops of the nearest mountains, where forcenturies the feudal lords lived in castles, are dotted with villas and attractive villages.COUNCIL OF FLORENCE (1431 – 1447)•The seventeenth ecumenical council of the Church.•Conveyed by Pope Eugenius IV (1431 – 1447)•First sessions of the council were held at Ferrara (January 8, 1438 – January 10, 1439)•Second series of the sessions opened in Florence (February 26, 1439 – September 1443,Pope Eugenius transferred the Council in Rome)•No extant documents record the closing of the council, but it probably occurred sometimein 1445.•The first doctrinal statement about Confirmation in the Catholic magisterium is in theDECREE FOR THE ARMENIANSof the council of Florence (1439). It is a resume ofthe Latin tradition, expressed in the Scholastic framework of numbered sacraments,matter and form, minister and effects.•Matter= CHRISM•Form=“I sign you with the sign of the cross and I confirm you with the chrism ofsalvation in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”•Ordinary minister= Bishop•Why? Because “we read that only the apostles, whose place is the bishops hold, impartedthe Holy Spirit by the laying on of hand.” (Acts 8:14-17)•Confirmation given by the Church takes the place of that imposition of hand. Afteradmitting that in the past “through a dispensation of the Apostolic See” simple priests
