Nomad, a few things need to be said here. First of all, the seven books in question--Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch--are properly called the deuterocanonical books.
1. I'll never call them deuterocanonical because they're not canonical in any sense of the word.
2. They are properly called "apocrypha." According to Jerome that's exactly what the Jews called them because they didn't consider them inspired. I quoted Jerome in one of my previous posts.
Second, the label "unscriptural" was first applied by the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century.
Wrong. I already demonstrated that Jerome, Athanasius, and the Jews did not consider the apocrypha canonical. This is no different than if they used the exact term "unsriptural." All of this was long before the Reformation. I'm not going to reproduce those canon lists again as they already exist in previous posts. I will add a few items that I did not post.
"As, then, the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them among the canonical Scriptures, so let it also read these two Volumes (Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus) for the edification of the people, not to give authority to doctrines of the Church."
Jerome, Prologue to the Books of Solomon
"By the time of the captives' return from Babylon these Jews had acquired the following books and prophets, and the following books of the prophets: 1. Genesis. 2. Exodus. 3. Leviticus. 4. Numbers. 5. Deuteronomy. 6. The Book of Joshua the son of Nun. 7. The Book of the Judges. 8. Ruth. 9. Job. 10. The Psalter. 11. The Proverbs of Solomon. 12. Ecclesiastes. 13. The Song of Songs. 14. The First Book of Kings. 15. The Second Book of Kings. 16. The Third Book of Kings. 17. The Fourth Book of Kings. 18. The First Book of Chronicles. 19. The Second Book of Chronicles. 20. The Book of the Twelve Prophets. 21. The Prophet Isaiah. 22. The Prophet Jeremiah, with the Lamentations and the Epistles of Jeremiah and Baruch. 23. The Prophet Ezekiel. 24. The Prophet Daniel. 25. I Ezra. 26. II Ezra. 27. Esther. These are the twenty-seven books given the Jews by God. They are counted as twenty-two, however, like the letters of their Hebrew alphabet, because ten books which (Jews) reckon as five are double. But I have explained this clearly elsewhere. And they have two more books of disputed canonicity, the Wisdom of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, apart from certain other apocrypha. All these sacred books taught (them) Judaism and Law's observances till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46): Translated by Frank Williams (Leiden: Brill, 1994), p. 26.
Old Testament list preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History iv. 26.
"But in the Extracts made by him the same writer [i.e. Melito] gives at the beginning of the Introduction a catalog of the acknowledged books of the Old Testament, which it is necessary to quote at this point. He writes as follows: "Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting! Since you have often, in your zeal for the Word, expressed a wish to have extracts made from the Law and the Prophets concerning the Saviour, and concerning our entire Faith, and have also desired to have an accurate statement of the ancient books, as regards their number and their order, I have endeavored to perform the task, knowing your zeal for the faith, and your desire to gain information in regard to the Word, and knowing that you, in your yearning after God, esteem these things above all else, struggling to attain eternal salvation. Accordingly when I went to the East and reached the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and I send them to you as written below. These are their names: Of Moses five, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four of Kingdoms, [sup]1[/sup] two of Chronicles, the Psalms of David, Solomon's Proverbs or Wisdom, [sup]2[/sup] Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of the Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, [sup]3[/sup] the Twelve [minor prophets] in one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. [sup]4[/sup] From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books." Such are the words of Melito."
1. That is, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.
2. According to Eusebius, Proverbs was sometimes called "Wisdom" (
Ecclesiastical History 4.22.9.)
3. Including Lamentations, presumably. It was not the custom of the times to mention it separately.
4. Ezra and Nehemiah, counted as one book, was sometimes called simply Esdras (Greek for Ezra)
Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, vi. 25.
When expounding the first Psalm he gives a catalog of the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament as follows: "It should be stated that the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two, corresponding with the number of their letters." Farther on he says: "The twenty-two books of the Hebrews are the following: That which is called by us Genesis, but by the Hebrews, from the beginning of the book,
Breshith, which means 'in the beginning'; Exodus,
Welesmoth, that is, 'these are the names'; Leviticus,
Wikra, 'and he called'; Numbers,
Ammesphekodeim; Deuteronomy,
Eleaddebareim 'these are the words'; Joshua the son of Nun,
Josoue ben Noun; Judges and Ruth, among them in one book,
Saphateim; the first and second of Kings, among them one,
Samoel, that is, 'the called of God'; the third and fourth of Kings in one,
Wammelch David, that is, 'the kingdom of David'; of the Chronicles, the first and second in one,
Dabreiamein, that is, 'records of days'; Esdras, first and second [sup]1[/sup] in one,
Ezra, that is, 'an assistant'; the book of Psalms,
Spharthelleim; the Proverbs of Solomon,
Meloth; Ecclesiastes,
Koelth; the Song of Songs (not, as some suppose, Songs of Songs),
Sir Hassirim; Isaiah,
Jessia; Jeremiah, with Lamentations,
Jeremia; Daniel,
Daniel; Ezekiel,
Jezekiel; Job,
Job; Esther,
Esther."
NOTES
1. That is, Ezra and Nehemiah.
Around this time there were no less than five instances when the canon was formally identified: the Synod of Rome (382), the Council of Hippo (393), the Council of Carthage (397), a letter from Pope Innocent I to Exsuperius, Bishop of Toulouse (405), and the Second Council of Carthage (419).
Formally identified? Not quite. The councils you list are regional councils. They didn't have the authority to fomally identify anything for the entire Church. Only ecumenical councils have such authority. The first ecumenical council to rule on the extent of the canon and include the apocrypha as Scripture was the johnny-come-lately council of Trent in the 16th century. Trent was the 19th ecumenical council in Church history. If the apocrypha was generally accepted as you seem to think, the issue would have been settled by ecumenical council long long before Trent. All of this combined with the protests and canon lists of various fathers/ecclesiastical writers demonstrates and highlights the conflict that continued over the apocrypha for a millennium and a half.