over celebrating and performing all other Exercises and Ministeries of Priests all which they thought they might do lawfully by virtue of a Licence granted by their Prelates who notwithstanding they prohibited them to Marry upon pain of Excommunication and had declared them Excommunicate did nevertheless Absolve them for a sum of Money or upon some Simonaical contract so that notwithstanding that Excommunication they did all Marry and continued in Wedlock reckoning themselves safe in Conscience upon their having obtained a Licence after such a manner All which being detested by the Synod as the inventions of the Devil and devised by the covetousness of Schismaticks and desiring to restore this Church to its due purity and the usage of the Roman Church doth command in virtue of obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae that henceforward no Clerk in Holy Orders presume to Marry nor shall any Cassanar Marry any such nor shall any presume to be present at any such Marriage nor give Council Favour or Assistance thereunto And whoever shall offend in any of these particulars must know that they are Excommunicate and Cursed and are to be declared as such by the Church and as to those who are already Married the Synod suspends them all whether Married once or oftner from the Ministery of their Orders and all Sacerdotal Acts until such time as they have put away their Wives effectually which is what the Synod intreats them in the Lord to do And to those who have been twice Married or have Married Widows or Women that were publickly dishonest the Synod doth command all such as being Bigamists and having Married contrary to their consciences as it appears several of them have done by their giving over thereupon to Celebrate notwithstanding their having obtained a Licence from their Bishop in virtue of obedience and upon pain of being declared Excommunicate so soon as this Decree shall come to their knowledge to turn off the said Women not only as to Bed and Board but so as not to dwell in the same House with them declaring that until they have done it they are in Mortal Sin and do live in Concubinate such Marriages having never been true or valid but on the contrary void and of no force neither can any Prelate or Bishop grant Licences in such cases having no Authority to do it by reason of its being contrary to the Rules of the Church that have been always punctually observed and contrary to the Holy general Councils received all over the World and as to those who have been but once Married the Synod will consult the most Holy Pope and Bishop of Rome that he as Prelate and Head of the whole Church of God and Master and Doctor of the same may teach and command what ought to be done therein and whatsoever his Holiness shall ordain shall be punctually observed Decree XVII THe Synod doth declare That those Priests who as obedient Sons shall follow the advice of the Synod in turning away their Wives may after they have so done continue in the exercise of their Functions and if not otherwise hindered may Celebrate notwithstanding they have been twice Married or may have Married Widows since by such Weddings not being true Marriages they did not incurr the irregularity of Bigamy All which the Synod grants out of pure Grace being extreamly desirous to have them turn away such Women and out of respect to their Ignorance and the Cheat that was put upon them by their Prelates who instead of instructing them better granted them Licences And whereas all Priests that Marry are Irregular according to the Holy Canons the most Illustrious Metropolitan by the Ordinary as well as the Apostolical Authority that he has in this Church by reason of the See 's being vacant doth dispense with the Priests and all the other Clergy-men in Holy Orders that shall yield obedience to the Synod in turning away their Wives and shall desire to continue to officiate as to the said irregularity which they have incurred granting them Licence as to this freely and without scruple to exercise their Orders Decree XVIII WHereas the Wives of Priests who are called Catatiaras or Cassaneiras have not only the most Honourable place in the Church for their being such and are the more reverenced but do moreover partake of the profits of the Churches wherein their Husbands ministred equally with the surviving Priests and have sometimes a greater share of them than any of the Priests by reason of the Seniority and Preheminence that their Husbands had in the Church therefore the Synod doth ordain That such of them as do not from henceforward depart from their Husbands shall receive no such benefit but if obeying the admonition of the Synod they shall leave their Husbands they shall then immediately receive their proportion as an Alms to help to sustain them and their Families and shall injoy the same place and Honour in the Church and every where else which they did before Decree XIX THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding it has received the Holy Council of Trent with all its Decrees relating both to the good Government of the Church and Manners nevertheless that what was declared therein relating to Priests Bastards not being permitted to Minister in the same Church wherein the Fathers have Ministered before is not to be extended to the Sons of the Married Priests in this Diocess that are now born by reason of the great numbers there are of such at present in all Churches and of other great inconveniencies that would follow thereupon it is therefore permitted to such to Minister nay to be Vicars of the Churches wherein their Fathers have officiated but this is to be understood of such only as were born of Marriages that were reputed true the provision of the forementioned Holy Council being to take place as to all that shall be born hereafter Decree XX. WHereas the sin of * Simony This noise of Simony was raised for no other reason but to throw Dirt on the Memory of their former Bishops whose Fees at their Ordination were not in all probability so great as they are at Goa and had as little in them of a formal Bargain But the truth is Simony as well as Heresy is a Stone the Church of Rome throws blind-fold at all that displease her tho' at the same time she 's the Church in the World that 's most guilty of it so when she was crying shame of the Emperors as Simoniacks Petrus Clemangis tells us she her self was totius negotiationis latrocinii rapinae officina in quo venalia exponuntur Sacramenta venales ordines And Didacus Abulensis a learned Spanish Bishop and who was no stranger at Rome at the same time she was thus reproaching the poor Church of Malabar tells us in his Book of Councils that vitium Simoniae frequens est veluti res honestissima in usum deducitur in Curiâ Romanâ nulla unquam punitione
nor no need of any created assistance to help her to bring forth or afterwards there being nothing in her but what was pure the Eternal Word made Flesh springing out of her Womb the Claustrum of her pure Virginity being shut when the time determined in the Consistory of the Holy Trinity was come to the great Spiritual Joy and satisfaction of the said Blessed Virgin for which reason she ought truly to be stiled the Mother of God and not only the Mother of Christ and that when she departed this Life she was immediately carried up into Heaven where by a particular privilege due to her Merits she enjoys God both in Body and Soul without waiting for the general Resurrection there being no reason why that Body out of which there was most Holy Flesh formed for the Son of God made Man should as other Bodies be dissolved into Dust and Ashes but that it should be immediately exalted and glorified and placed high above all the Quires of Angels as Holy Mother Church sings and confesseth concerning the whole of which matter the Impious Nestorian Hereticks have spoke and writ even in the Breviaries used in this Bishoprick a great many Blasphemies and Heresies Decree VII THe Synod is with great sorrow sensible of that Heresy and perverse Error sown by the Schismaticks in this Diocess to the great prejudice of Souls which is That there was one Law of St. Thomas and another of St. Peter which made * Two different By all this which the Synod calls Two Laws the Christians of St. Thomas meant only That the Churches planted by the Apostles in divers Regions had nothing of Superiority or Jurisdiction over one another which is a most certain and ancient truth two different and distinct Churches and both immediately from Christ and that the one had nothing to do with the other neither did the Prelate of the one owe any obedience to the Prelate of the other and that they who had followed the Law of St. Peter had endeavoured to destroy the Law of St. Thomas for which they had been punished by him all which is a manifest Error Schism and Heresy there being but one Law to all Christians which is that which was given and declared by Jesus Christ the Son of God and preached by the Holy Apostles all over the World as one Faith one Baptism there being but one Lord of all and one Catholick and Apostolick Church of which our Lord Christ God and Man who Founded it is the only Spouse and one only Universal Pastor to whom all other Prelates owe obedience the Pope and Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles to whom our Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed that Supream Authority and by him to his Successors which Catholick Doctrine is necessary to Eternal Life Wherefore the Synod doth command all Parish Priests and Preachers to Treat often of this matter by reason of the great need there is of having this Bishoprick well instructed therein Decree VIII FOr that till the very time of the most Illustrious Metropolitan entring into this Diocess there was a certain Heresy twice repeated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and twice more in the Divine Office in calling the Patriarch of Babylon the Universal Pastor and Head of the Catholick Church in all places and as often as they happen to name him a Title that is due only to the most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome Successor of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth the Synod doth therefore command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of this Bishoprick Secular or Ecclesiastical shall from henceforward presume by Word or Writing either in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in the Divine Office or in any other occasion to bestow that Title on the said Patriarch of Babylon or on any other Prelate besides our Lord the Bishop of Rome and whosoever shall dare to contravene this Order shall be declared Excommunicate and held for a Schismatick and Heretick and shall be punished as such according to the Holy Canons And whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon to whom this Church was subject are Nestorians the Heads of that cursed Sect and Schismaticks out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Aliens from our Holy Catholick Faith and are for that reason Excommunicate and accursed and it not being lawful to joyn with such in the Church in publick as stand Excommunicate Wherefore this Bishoprick upon its having now yielded a perfect Obedience to the most Holy Father the Pope Christ's Vicar upon Earth to which it was obliged by Divine Authority and upon pain of Damnation shall not from henceforward have any manner of dependance upon the said Patriarch of Babylon and the present Synod does under the said precept of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit all Priests and Curates from henceforward to name the said Patriarch of Babylon in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other Divine Office in the Prayers of the Church even without the false Title of Universal Pastor but instead thereof shall name our Lord the Pope who is our true Pastor as also of the whole Church and after him the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being and whosoever shall maliciously and knowingly act the contrary shall be declared Excommunicate and otherwise punish'd at the pleasure of his Prelate according to his contumacy Decree IX WHereas all the Breviaries used in this Church are Nestorian and by the commands of Prelates of the same Sect on a certain day the impious and false Heretick Nestorius is Commemorated in this Bishoprick and a Day is kept to his Honour and at other times Theodorus Diodorus Abbaratho Abraham Narsai Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael who are also Nestorian Hereticks were likewise Commemorated Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus being commemorated on the Friday after the Nativity and on the seventh Friday after that Abraham and Narsai and all the above-named and all of them on every Thursday in the Year in the said Nestorian Office and every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office and notwithstanding in some places they have not of late named Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus but do still continue to name Abraham Narsai Abba Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael in the Blessing that the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass wherein they desire Hormisda to deliver them from evil being his Disciples as also on all Fridays in the Year they commemorate as Saints the said Hormisda Joseph Michael Johanan Barchauma Barianda Rabba Hedsa Machai Hixoiau Caurixo Avahixo Lixo Xaulixo Barmun Lixo Metidor Cohada Israel Ezekiah Lixo David Lixo Barai Israel Julianus Haudixo c. who were all Nestorian Hereticks and as is evident from the said Masses and from their Lives Commemorations
Year at Easter when they are bound to it upon the penalty of mortal Sin but that they do frequently make use of this Sacrament in proportion to the Sins they fall into daily and not to fail to Confess themselves on the Festivities of the Nativity of the Holy Ghost and the Assumption of our Lady and at the Wake of their Parish and the Vicars must not fail to admonish their People thereof on the Sunday before those Festivities Decree VIII THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding the power of pardoning Sins is annexed to the Sacerdotal Order nevertheless that all Priests cannot hear Confessions but only such as are Licensed by the Prelate for the Act of Absolution being an Act of Jurisdiction and Judicature cannot be without Subjects which the Prelate only can give when he appoints Confessors with such limitations as he thinks necessary so that a Priest having no Licence or transgressing the bounds that were set to him by his Prelate if he shall presume to hear Confessions and Absolve his Confessions and Absolutions are void and of no force neither are the Sins of the Penitents pardoned who are therefore bound to Confess themselves again to a Confessor that has power to Absolve as if they had not Confessed before but when any one is in probable danger of Death and cannot have a Priest that is Licensed any Priest tho' he is not Licensed may Confess and Absolve him in that case Decree IX WHereas it belongs to the good Government of the Church and the Faithful that Crimes of a heinous nature should be judged not by every Priest but by Prelates or Bishops because for that reason Christians will be the more fearful to commit them besides that it has always been the Custom of the Church to reserve to the Prelates and even to the Pope as the Universal Head of the Church some Crimes from which they and none else can Absolve or not do it without their leave therefore the Synod doth declare That notwithstanding this Doctrine has not hitherto been understood or practised in this Bishoprick by reason of the great Ignorance of the Church and sacred Canons that has reigned therein Nevertheless that the ordinary Confessors have no power to Absolve in cases reserved to the Prelate and least of all in those that are reserved to the Pope namely those contained in the Bulla Coenâ— Domini which all Confessors ought to be acquainted with neither can they Absolve in the Crime of Heresy or in any cases wherein the Faith is concerned all which do belong to the Court of the Holy Office of Inquisition or to such as are Commissioned by them or to the Bishop who by himself may Absolve in the Form of the Holy Council of Trent and according to the Ordinations of the Holy Fathers Neither can ordinary Confessors dispense with or change the Vows of Penitents because that belongs to the Prelate or such as are deputed by him or that have obtained Apostolical Privileges to that effect Only at the point of Death not only approved Confessors but also all simple Priests there being no other to be had are obliged to hear Confessions and may also Absolve in all Cases and from all Censures to whomsoe'er reserved Tho' as to the Censures with this Obligation that if the Sick Person shall recover they shall return to the Persons again to whom they were before reserved from whom they shall receive such healthful Penance as shall be thought meet Decree X. THat Confessors may the better know in what Cases they may and in what Cases they may not absolve their Penitents having no Authority to do it the Synod doth command the Bulla Coenae Domini and all the Cases reserved in this Bishoprick to be pasted on a Board and set up in all Sacristies and where there are no Sacristies in the chief Chapel in every Church in the Malabar Tongue for the direction of the Confessors and doth furthermore in its regulation of the reserved Cases in this Diocess declare That willful Murther publickly committed with violence on the Person of an Ecclesiastick the voluntary firing of Houses or of any Goods belonging to Christians formal Simony both in the givers and receivers marrying without the Vicar and two Witnesses Schism and Disobedience against the Prelate in all that are guilty thereof or that favour such as are the having of any of the Books condemned by this Synod in their Houses or the reading of any of them the performing of the publick Ceremonies called Taliconum Coliconu the having of Pagods or Idols in their Houses and the giving them any Veneration have all the censure of Excommunication annexed to them of which tho' some are * Reserved This is what destroys all Discipline in the Church of Rome and what the Bishops thereof complain of so much Didacus Abulensis in the 73d page of his Book of Councils gives the following account of it Est in to be Romanâ perniciosus abuâ—us qui dissimulatione quâdam jam diu toleratur nam sceleratissimi homines Episcoporum aliorum Judicum ordinariorum justissimam punitionem effugientes tanquam ad tutissimum asylum Romaâ—am accedunt curiam nihil aliud cogitantes quam quod eo ipso sint à gravissimis maximâ cum Justitiae jacturâ immunes Hinc sanè passim videmus Clericos Criminum atrocissimorum autores ab ordinariis Judicibus sugientes in Romanam Curiam propriis beneficiis quae obtinâ—bart aequissimè privatos brevi compendio temporis in Hispaniam patriamque redire ita liberos ut non tantum beneficia quibus ob scelera privati fuerant cum maximo dedecore justitiae contemptu favore importunis precibus obtinuerint iterum apud Romanam Curiam sed aliis pinguioribus honorati in praemium criminum liberam iterum millies peccandi licentiam ferè impefraverint sunt enim in Curiâ Remanâ tot Officiales quorum munus potissimum est prae avaritiâ maximâ voracitate ab ipsis litigantibus aliis extorquere ut tandem jam nihil obtineri apud eandem curiam possit aliter quam ingenti pecuniâ veluti in pretium rei impetratae impensâ And in the 62d Page he gives the Pope himself the following wholsome advice Cavere debet summus ipse Pontifex ne dum agitur de morum censura quae aâ— Clericos Episcopos alios Christianâ— professionis homines omnino in ipsâ— omnium capite requirantur ea morum correctio atque institutio quae à subditis exigenda est praesertim verò illud est ab eo postulandum ac denique summopere petendum ne in curia Romana oscitanter tot contractus Simoniaci tot manifestae fraudes tot adversus naturalia Divina jura scelera palam in totius orbis scandalum permittantur ad enim adeo jam in omnium aures devenit ut à nemine nisi is prorsus à sensu aliènus judicari cupiat taceri possit reserved by Law yet
it self to the Holy Council of Trent doth exhort and admonish and command all that are to be Married that at least three days before the celebration of this Sacrament they do confess themselves and being caâ—able do receive the Holy Sacrament of the Euâ—harist neither shall the Vicars receive them before they have complyed with this Obligation concerning which they shall make diligent Enquiry The Synod doth furthermore command That all Marriages be celebrated in the Church and that the Parish-Priest do not accommodate himself to the negligence of those who do not care to be seen to marry in the Church but declaring withall that wheresoever Matrimony is celebrated if it be done by a Parish-Priest and in the presence of two Witnesses it is true and valid tho' the Parish-Priest ought not to Marry any out of the Church but upon very urgent Reasons Decree VI. THere have been always in the Church even under the Old Law prohibited degrees of Kindred within which Matrimony was not to be celebrated and being celebrated was null and that not only as to such as were prohibited by a Divine Natural Law as betwixt Persons in the first degree and betwixt Brothers and Sisters but as to others also who are prohibited by a Divine positive Law wherefore the Synod doth declare that the degrees at this time prohibited in the Church without which Matrimony cannot be celebrated without a Dispensation and being celebrated is void are only to the fourth degree inclusive of Consanguinity and of Affinity only to the second degree as first Cousins second Cousins third Cousins fourth Cousins by Father and Mother and the same degrees are prohibited in the Kindred of Affinity betwixt the Kinsfolk of the Husband and Wife with whom either of the Parties have been Married and besides that the Kindred in the first and second degree only with such or of those with whom either of the Parties have at any time had unlawful Carnal Knowledge beyond which degrees there are no other of Carnal Kindred that can hinder Matrimony but in all these that have been mentioned all Marriages that are made are null and of no force and all those that have Married so do live in the Mortal Sin of foul Fornication but if any upon just and reasonable accounts shall desire to Marry within any of these degrees that are prohibited only by a positive Law they must have * Recourse The Church of Rome seems to have multiplied prohibitions in Matrimonial matters for no other end but to get the more Money by Dispensatiâ—ns In Romana Curia saith Didâ—acus Abulensis adeo frequentes dispensationes ad Matrimonia contrahenda inter Consanguineos ut juris Canonici prohibitiones hac in pâ—rte nullis sint impedimento nisi â—iâ— qui pauperes sunt nec patrimoâ—iâ—m habent unde possint aliquam â—â—mam pro obtinenda dispensatione â—â—igare I have a rate by me of Matrimonial Dispensations which is too long to be here inserted I had it from a Protestant Merchant who upon receiving the rated summ in Portugal had the Dispensation dispatched at Rome and sent to him by the Jews that live there who by reason of their general Correspondence have in a manner ingrossed the whole trade of Dispensations so little is the honour of Christianity regarded by some People where it clasheth with conveniencies Emanuel King of Portugal with a dispensation Married two Sisters notwithstanding his having had a Son by the first and I knew a Nobleman in a certain Popish Country that was both Uncle and first Cousin to his Wife recourse to the Holy Apostolick See for a Dispensation or to their Prelate having power from the said See to do it declaring the degree of Kindred wherein they desire to be dispensed together with the Causes why they do desire it in which the Prelate shall do what he shall judge convenient in the Lord and so the Prelate being impowered by the Holy See to do it shall do it gratis without taking any thing for the dispensation tho' the Parties of their own accord should offer to pay him for it Decree VII BEsides the Carnal Kindred of Consanguinity and Affinity which hinders Matrimony in certain degrees there is also another sort of Kindred that does the same which is called Spiritual Kindred and is contracted in Baptism betwixt the Godfather and Godmother and the Child that is Baptized and the Parents of the said Child and in Confirmation or Chrism betwixt those who offer and present the Person that is confirmed as was ordered in the Decrees of Baptism and Confirmation which Spiritual Kindred of Godfathers and Godmothers and Gossips does so hinder the celebration of Matrimony that without a Dispensation from the Apostolick See or from some authorized by the Pope to that purpose the Matrimony is null and of no force all that live therein living in Fornication and a state of Damnation and if any that are thus a kin have a mind to marry together they shall preferr a Petition as they shall be directed hereafter but are to know that the Church does very seldom or never but for weighty Causes dispense in Cases of Spiritual Affinity Decree VIII WHereas hitherto the prohibited degrees and the reservation of dispensing with the same to the Apostolical See has not been understood in this Diocess the Prelates thereof having dispensed in all degrees prohibited only by a positive Law without having had Authority for what they did so that great numbers by virtue of such Dispensations have lived many Years in a Married Estate without any scruple concerning what was granted by their Prelates for which reason the Synod for the greater security of the Consciences of such People has thought fit that the most Reverend Metropolitan should dispense with them in all the said degrees by virtue of the Apostolick Authority granted to him in these parts to that effect and particularly by the brief of Gregory the XIII of glorious Memory obtained at the instance of the Jesuits and confirmed by our Holy Father Clement the VIII at this time presiding in the Church of God wherefore for the quieting of the Consciences of such as have been Married with the forementioned Dispensations the said Lord with the approbation of the Fathers of the Society doth by the Authority of the said Brief effectually dispense in all and every one of the said degrees of Spiritual as well as Carnal Kindred and Affinity which are prohibited only by a positive Law and with all Persons who have Married within the same with such dispensations so far as of right can or ought to be done as much as if they were here particularly named commanding them for the further security of their Consciences to be * Married By this Decree all the Children born before such Marriages were born Bastards now how many thousand Bastards would such a Decree make in any Country where such Prohibitions concerning Natural and Spiritual Affinity are not regarded Married again