Skip to Main Content

Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons

Guides

Catalog Search

Site Search

FAQ Search

Vatican II : The Theology of Vatican II

This guide supports research and reading on Vatican II.

Get Research Help

chat loading...

Mary Linden Sepulveda

Profile Photo
Mary Sepulveda
Contact:
206.296.6209

Coordinator of Collection Development, Special Collections & Archives

Four Major Constitutions - Online Versions

The Second Vatican Council met from 1962 to 1965 in four sessions (October-December 1962, September-December 1963, September-November 1964, and September-December 1965). Sixteen major documents were produced: two dogmatic and pastoral constitutions, nine decrees and three declarations. The authoritative Latin text of each of these documents can be found in :

Norman P. Tanner's  Decrees of the Ecumenical Council

Available at Lemeiux Library : BX 825.A1990 v. 1 & :  OR on the Vatican website

There are at least five English translations of the sixteen documents; in addition there are other English translations of individual documents. The variety of ways in which the documents have been dealt with by translators shows the necessity of referring to the authoritative Latin text.

Weblinks to the four major constitutions; arranged by date promulgated:

  • Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, November 21, 1964.
  • Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, November 15, 1965.
  • Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, December 7, 1954.