COUNCIL

COUNCIL, in Church History, an assembly of prelates, convened for the purpose of regulating affairs relative to the doctrine and discipline of the church. The exact number of these it is impossible to ascertain. Sir Harris Nicolas estimates them at 1604. The title of Occumencial or general, is given to those which are regarded as representing the universal church. Of these the adherents of the Church of Rome generally acknowledge eighteen as regular and infallible, but differ materially among themselves in regard to the individual councils which are to be included in the list. The Italians, and immediate dependents of the Pope, accept three, viz., those of Lyons, Florence, and the fifth Lateran, which the French deny, and replace by the Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle. These rival councils swell the list to twenty-one, which convened as follows:—