over time. Notably, surviving Roman liturgical books preserve absolution formulas in a deprecatory form, rather that in a first person declarative form. During the era of Scholasticism, Catholic theologians sought a deeper understanding of the sacrament of Penance and absolution. St. Thomas Aquinas (c.1224-1274) taught: "God alone absolves from sin and forgives sins authoritatively; yet priests do both ministerially, because the words of the priest in this sacrament work as instruments of the Divine power, as in the other sacraments: because it is the Divine power that works inwardly in all the sacramental signs, be they things or words, as shown above (III:62:4; III:64:2). In Summa Theologiae III, q.84 ad3, Aquinas indicated the essential form of absolution which was being used as "I absolve you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." However, he seemed to suggest that to the essential words or sacramental form, "I absolve you," a priest, at his discretion, might add "by the power of Christ's Passion," or "by the authority of God" to indicate his ministerial role. Two subsequent Councils of the Catholic Church reaffirmed the sacramental form of absolution of the Latin Church, namely, the 1439 decree "Pro Armenis" of Pope Eugene IV at the Council of Florence and the fourteenth session of the Council of Trent in 1551 which stated: "The holy synod doth furthermore teach, that the form of the sacrament of penance, wherein its force principally consists, is placed in those words of the minister, I absolve thee, et cetera: to which words indeed certain prayers are, according to the custom of holy Church, laudably joined, which nevertheless by no means regard the essence of that form, neither are they necessary for the administration of the sacrament itself. Post Tridentine theologians including Francisco Suarez, Francisco de Lugo, and Augustin Lehmkuhl taught that the absolution would still be valid if the priest were to merely say, "I absolve you from your sins", or "I absolve you", or words that are the exact equivalent. Following the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI approved a revision of the Rite of Penance. However, the pope again affirmed that the essential words pertaining to the absolution, that is, the form of sacrament necessary for the Sacrament of Penance to take effect, or, in the language of Church law to be "sacramentally valid" are: "I absolve you from your