thority upon them. The liberty of the Council to accept or to reject, to change or to modify them, was completely secured. The Pope, in his Constitution at the outset of the Council, told the bishops that the schemata had received no sanction from him, so that they might deal with them in all freedom.
The schemata were printed for the use of the Fathers of the Council. The method of examining them was as follows:—
(1.) The Council was to elect by secret vote within itself five commissions or deputations on: I. Faith; 2. Discipline; 3. Missions; 4. Mixed Questions; 5. Rites.
(2.) The schemata were to be distributed to each of the members of the Council ten days at least before any discussion upon them would be opened.
(3.) The first discussion was in the general congregation of the whole Council. This first debate answered to the debate on the first and second reading of a bill in our legislature. If the bishops accepted the principle of the schema, they next proceeded to the second discussion on the details, or clauses as we should say, paragraph by paragraph, as in a committee of the whole house.
(4.) If objections were made, the whole discussion, taken in shorthand, was referred to the respective Commissions of Faith or Discipline, and the like, as the case might be.
