Pope Benedict XIV (Lambertini) declared:
"Pope Gelasius in his ninth letter (chap. 26) to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: 'Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.' We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution Etsi Pastoralis, sect. 6, n. 21" (Pope Benedict XIV, Encyclical Allatae Sunt, July 26, 1755, n. 29)
The Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545-1563) decreed:
"CANON VII.--If any one saith, that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, which the Catholic Church makes use of in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety, rather than offices of piety; let him be anathema."
"CANON XIII.--If any one saith, that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, wont to be used in the solemn administration of the sacraments, may be contemned, or without sin be omitted at pleasure by the ministers, or be changed, by every pastor of the churches whomsoever, into other new ones; let him be anathema." (Pope Pius IV, Council of Trent, Sess. VII,. Canons On Sacraments in General, Can. 13, Sess. XXII, Canons On Sacrifice of the Mass, Can. 7)
