1. First Council of Nicaea - 325 A.D. under Pope Saint Sylvester I (Latin Text)

2. First Council of Constantinople - 381 A.D. under Pope Saint Damasus I


3. The Council Of Ephesus - 431 A.D. under Pope Saint Celestine I


4. The Council of Chalcedon - 451 A.D. under Pope Saint Leo I (Pope Leo the great)


5. Second Council of Constantinople - 553 A.D. under Pope Vigilius


6. Third Council of Constantinople - 680 to 681 A.D. under Pope Saint Agatho


7. Second Council of Nicaea - 787 A.D. under Pope Adrian I


8. Fourth Council of Constantinople - 869 to 870 A.D. under Pope Adrian II


9. First Lateran Council - 1123 A.D. under Pope Callistus II


10. Second Lateran Council - 1139 A.D. under Pope Innocent II


11. Third Lateran Council - 1179 A.D. under Pope Alexander III


12. Fourth Lateran Council - 1215 A.D. under Pope Innocent III


13. First Council of Lyons - 1245 A.D. under Pope Innocent IV


14. Second Council of Lyons - 1274 A.D. under Pope Blessed Gregory X


15. Council of Vienne - 1311 to 1312 A.D. under Pope Clement V


16. Council of Constance - 4 July 1415 to 1418 A.D. under Pope Gregory XII, and then Pope Martin V
Only the 14th session (4 July 1415) and subsequent sessions are legitimate; the earlier sessions were schismatic.


17. Council of Florence - 8 January 1438 to 1445 A.D. under Pope Eugenius IV
Pope Martin V called for a Council at Basel, Switzerland, with a papal bull dated 1 February 1431. But he died on 20 February 1431 before the Council assembled. A new Pope, Eugenius IV, was elected 4 March 1431. Many of the Bishops who gathered at Basel opposed the new Pope. So the Pope ordered the Council moved. The faithful Bishops moved to Ferrara, and the unfaithful ones did not. The sessions held at Basel (1431 and following) are illegitmate or dubious. The subsequent sessions held at Ferrara, then Florence, then Rome are legitimate and beyond dispute.


18. Fifth Lateran Council - 1512 to 1517 A.D. under Pope Julius II, and then Pope Leo X (from March 1513)


19. The Council of Trent - lasted eighteen years (1545 to 1563 A.D.) under five popes: Pope Paul III, Pope Julius III, Pope Marcellus II, Pope Paul IV, and Pope Pius IV


20. First Vatican Council - 1869 to 1870 A.D. under Pope Blessed Pius IX
: Postulatum of the Bishops for the Definition of Infallibility | Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith | Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ

21. Second Vatican Council - 1962 to 1965 A.D. under Pope Blessed John XXIII, and then Pope Venerable Paul VI




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[The goal of this project is to place the English text for the first 20 Ecumenical Councils online. The text from the 21st Council (Vatican II) is available on the Vatican website.]