Reverend in Christ Father George Archdeacon of the Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra of the Kingdom of Malabar and to all other Priests Curates Deacons and Subdeacons and to all Towns Villages and Hamlets and to all Christian People of the said Bishoprick Health in our Lord Jesus Christ We give you all and every one of you in particular to understand that the most Holy Father Pope Clement VIII our Lord Bishop of Rome and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth at this time presiding in the Church of God having sent two Briefs directed to Vs one of the 27th of Jan. in the Year 1595 and the other of the 21st of the same Month in the Year 1597 in which by virtue of his Pastoral Office and that Vniversal Power bequeathed to the Supream Holy and Apostolical Chair of St. Peter over all the Churches in the World by Jesus Christ the Son of God our Lord and Redeemer he commanded us upon the death of the Archbishop Mar-Abraham to take Possession of this Church and Bishoprick so as not to suffer any Bishop or Prelate coming from Babylon to enter therein as has been hitherto the Custom all that come from thence being Schismaticks Hereticks and Nestorians out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Subject to the Patriarch of Babylon the Head of the said Heresy and to appoint a Governour or Apostolical Vicar to Rule the said Diocess both in Spirituals and Temporals until such time as the Holy Roman Church shall provide it of a proper Pastor which being read by us we were desirous to execute the Apostolical Mandates with due Reverence and Obedience besides that the same was incumbent on us of right the said Church having no Chapter to take care of it during the vacancy of the See as Metropolitan and Primate of this and all the other Churches of the Indies and the Oriental Parts But perceiving that our Mandate in that behalf had no effect what we had ordered not having been obeyed in the said Diocess so that what our most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome had designed was like to be frustrated after having laboured therein for the space of two Years Schism and Disobedience to the Apostolical See having been so rooted in that Diocess for a great many Years that the Inhabitants thereof instead of yielding Obedience to the Apostolical and Our Mandates on the contrary upon the intimation thereof did daily harden themselves more and more committing greater Offences against the Obedience due to the Holy Roman Church after having commended the Matter to God and ordered the same to be done through our whole Diocess and after mature Advice by which Methods the Apostolical Mandates might be best executed and being also moved by the Piety of the People and the Mercy God had shewn them in having preserved so many thousand Souls in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ from the time that the Holy Apostle St. Thomas had Preached to them until this day notwithstanding their having lived among so many Heathens and been scattered in divers places their Churches and all belonging to them having been always subject to Idolatrous Kings and Princes and incompassed with Idols and Pagods and that without holding any correspondence with any other Christians before the coming of the Portuguezes into these Parts we being likewise desirous that the Labours of the Holy Apostle St. Thomas which still remained among them should not be lost for want of sound Doctrine and that the Apostolical Mandates might not be frustrated did determine and having provided for the Government of our own Church during our absence did prepare to go in Person to take Possession of the said Bishoprick to see if by our Presence we might be able to reduce them to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and purge out the Heresies and false Doctrines sown among them and introduced by the Schismatical Prelates and Nestorian Hereticks that had governed them under the Obedience of the Patriarch of Babylon as also to call in and purge the Books containing those Heresies and according to our Pastoral Duty so far as God should enable us to Preach to them in Person the Catholick Truth Accordingly going into the said Bishoprick we set about visiting the Churches thereof but at that time Satan the great Enemy of the good of Souls having stirred up great Commotions and much opposition against this our just intent great numbers departing from us and forming a Schism against the Holy Roman Church after having passed through many troubles and dangers out of all which God of his great mercy not remembring our sins and evil deeds was pleased to deliver us and to grant us an intire Peace for the Merits of the glorious Apostle St. Thomas the Patron of this Christianity but chiefly of his own great Clemency and Mercy which makes that he doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather that he should return and live and by coming all to the light of the Truth may joyn with us in the Confession of the Catholick Faith approving our Doctrine and Intention and submitting themselves to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church which being by us observed after having returned Thanks to God we thought fit in order to the compassing and securing of all those good Effects to assemble a Diocesan Synod in some commodious place near the middle of the said Diocess there to Treat of all such Matters as are convenient for the honour of God the exaltation of the Holy Catholick Faith and Divine Worship the good of the Church the extirpation of Vice the Reformation of the Christians of the said Diocess and the profit and peace of their Souls to which end having pitched upon the Town and Church of Diamper We do hereby let all the Inhabitants and Christians of the said Bishoprick as well Ecclesiasticks as Laicks of what State or Condition soever to understand that we do call and assemble a Diocesan Synod in the said Town of Diamper on the 20th of June of this present Year 1599 being the Third Sunday after Whitsuntide and do therefore by Virtue of holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae Command the Reverend the Arch-Deacon of this Diocess and all the other Priests of the same that shall not be hindered by Age or some other just Impediment to be present in the said Town of Diamper there with us to celebrate a Diocesan Synod conformable to the Holy Canons And whereas by immemorial Custom and a Right introduced into this Diocess from its Beginning and consented to by all the Infidel Kings of Malabar the whole Government as it were and the Cognizance of all Matters wherein Christians are any ways concerned has belonged to the Church and the Prelate thereof and it having likewise been an ancient Custom in the same to give an Account to the People of whatsoever has been ordained in the Church in order to its being the
well and faithfully to discharge the said Office and truly and exactly to relate all that should be said by his Lordship or any other Person in the Synod without any addition or diminution as also to read in the Congregations all the Decrees and Determinations of the Synod which were to be in the Malabar Tongue And whereas Truth it self has testified That in the mouth of two or three there is all Truth therefore for the greater security there were given to the said Interpreter by the most Reverend Metropolitan as Assistants the Reverend Fathers * He was afterwards made Bishop of the Christians of St. Thomas Francisco Roz and Antonio Toscano of the Society of Jesus in the College of Vaipicotta in this Diocess who being well skilled in the Malabar Tongue were to observe all that was related by the Interpreter and in case he was at any time faulty to correct him there were besides several others present Natives as well as Portuguezes that were well vers'd in both Languages Decree I. THe Congregation being met and all placed according to their Order the Metropolitan seated in his Chair said In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One only True God Amen My beloved Brethren you the Venerable Priests and my most dear Sons in Christ you the Representatives and Procurators of the People Does it please you that for the Praise and Glory of the Holy and undivided Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost and for the Increase and Exaltation of the Catholick Faith and the Christian Religion of the Inhabitants of this Bishoprick and for the destruction of the Heresies and Errors which have been sown therein by several Hereticks and Schismaticks and for the purging of Books from the false Doctrines contained in them and for the perfect Union of this Church with the whole Church Catholick and Universal and for the yielding of Obedience to the Supreme Bishop of Rome the Universal Pastor of the Church and Successor in the Chair of St. Peter and Vicar of Christ upon Earth from whom you have for some time departed and for the extirpation of Simony which has been much practised in this Bishoprick and for the regulating of the Administration of the Holy Sacraments of the Church and the necessary Use of them and for the Reformation of the Affairs of the Church and the Clergy and the Customs of all the Christian People of this Diocess We should begin a Diocesan Synod of this Bishoprick of the Serra They answered It pleaseth us Then the most Reverend Metropolitan asked them again Venerable Brethren and most beloved Sons in Christ since you are pleased to begin a Synod after having offered Prayers to God from whom all Good proceedeth it will be convenient that the Matters to be treated of appertaining to our Holy Faith the Church the Divine Offices the Administration of the Holy Sacraments and the Customs of the whole People be entertained by you with Benignity and Charity and afterwards by God's Assistance complied with with much Reverence and that every one of you should faithfully procure the Reformation of such things in this Synod as you know to be amiss and if any that are present shou'd happen to be dissatisfied with any thing that shall be said or done therein let them without any scruple declare their Opinion publickly that so by God's Grace it may be examined and all things may be truly stated as is desired but let not Strife or Contention find any room among you to the perverting of Justice and Reason neither be ye afraid of searching after and embracing the Truth Decree II. THe Synod by Virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be incurred ipso facto does command all Persons whatsoever Ecclesiastical and Secular that have been called to and are present at this Synod not to depart the Town of Diamper where the said Synod is celebrated without express leave from the most Illustrious Metropolitan before the Synod is ended and they have signed the Decrees thereof with their own Hand or till all the rest are dismiss'd The Synod does likewise Request and Command all that have any Matter that is fitting to be offered to it for the Advancement of God's Honour and the Good of the Christians of this Bishoprick to acquaint the Metropolitan therewith either by Word or Writing or some Third Person that so what is convenient may be determined therein Decree III. BE it known and declared to all present and absent That no prejudice shall be done or follow to any Town Corporation or Village as to any Preeminence they may pretend to by the celebration of this Synod in the Town of Diamper as also that no Church or Person shall suffer by reason of the Places they sit in in this Synod but shall have their Rights and Privileges in the same state and vigour that they were in before and if any Doubts should happen to arise about this or any such Matter let them be brought before the Illustrious Metropolitan where both Parties being heard they shall have Justice done them Decree IV. THis Synod knowing that all that is Good is from God and that every perfect Gift cometh down from the Father of Light who giveth perfect Wisdom to those that with an humble Heart pray for it and being withal sensible that the beginning of true Wisdom is the fear of the Lord we do admonish and command all Christians as well Ecclesiasticks as Seculars gathered together in this Place to confess their Sins with a true contrition for them and all Priests to say Mass and others to receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar beseeching our Lord with humble and devout Prayers for good Success to all that shall be Treated of in this Synod to which intent there shall be two solemn Masses said in the Church every day during the Session of the Synod one of the Latins to the Holy Spirit and the other of the Syrians to our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary whose Praise and Honour is to be particularly Treated of which Masses shall be said at such hours as to be no hindrance to the Congregations which henceforward shall meet every day in the Church at Seven in the Morning They shall likewise Latins as well as Syrians every day after Sun-set Sing the solemn Litanies of the Church with a Commemoration of our Lady for the good intention of the Synod Decree V. THE Synod for the preventing of some Inconveniences that may otherwise happen and to leave no room for unnecessary and hurtful Debates does command by virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred That while the Congregations last no Person whatsoever Ecclesiastick or Secular presume to meet together in any Junctoes with any Persons Ecclesiasticks or Seculars to Treat of any Matters appertaining to the Synod or this Church without express Licence from the most Illustrious Metropolitan that so all that is
Imprimatur Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. à Sacris Domesticis Feb. 12. 1693 4. THE HISTORY OF THE Church of Malabar FROM The time of its being first discover'd by the Portuguezes in the Year 1501. Giving an Account of The Persecutions and Violent Methods of the Roman Prelates to Reduce them to the Subjection of the Church of ROME Together with the SYNOD of DIAMPER Celebrated in the Year of our Lord 1599. With some Remarks upon the Faith and Doctrine of the Christians of St. Thomas in the Indies agreeing with the Church of England in opposition to that of Rome Done out of Portugueze into English By MICHAEL GEDDES Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of SARVM LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford at the Prince's-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Bishop of SARVM and Chancellor of the most Noble Order of the GARTER May it please your Lordship WHatever your Thoughts may be of all that can be called mine in this Work I am certain you will approve of the design I had in making it publick which was to satisfie the World That there has always been a considerable visible Church upon Earth that never believed the Doctrines of the Pope's Supremacy Purgatory Transubstantiation Adoration of Images Auricular Confession c. To which good End if this Treatise should any ways contribute as I am persuaded it must I am then secure that for that Reason alone you will pardon any Mistakes I may have made in putting it together as also the Presumption of inviting you to read it by prefixing your great Name to it a thing I should never have ventured to have done had I not found by experience your Lordship's Candor and Goodness to be equal to the known exactness of your Judgment I beg your Lordship's Blessing and am My LORD Your Lordship 's most humble and most obliged Servant MICHAEL GEDDES A TABLE OF THE Principal Matters contained in the HISTORY OF THE Church of Malabar A. ABd-Jesu or Hebed who p. 13. Sent by the Chaldaan Bishops with the Submission of their whole Church to the Pope the Council of Trent then sitting ibid. Abehi a famous Amazon comes to Goa her Character and Business p. 43 Aleixo de Menezes Archbishop of Goa p. 39. desirous to reduce the Christians of St. Thomas to the Obedience of the Roman Church and to that end treats with Jacob Mar Simeon's Vicar General p. 41 42. Writes to Mar Abraham c. ibid. Makes the Arch-Deacon of the Serra Vicar Apostolical of the said Diocess in Conjunction with Francisco Roz and the Rector of the Jesuits College of Vaipicotta against the Pope's express order p. 44. Resolves to go in Person to the Serra and why p 46 52. Writes a Letter to the Arch-Deacon p. 47. Blam'd for imploying the Jesuits makes use of a Franciscan Friar to go to the Arch-Deacon and why p. 51. His Design upon Cunahle p. 52 53. Complimented by the Magistrates of Cochim p. 53. He recommends the Business of Cunahle to them p. 54. His behaviour to the King of Cochim p. 55. Applics himself to the reduction of the Christians of St. Thomas p. 56. Paniquais oppose him p. 58. His reception at Vaipicotta p. 59. His Sermon and Text p. 59 60. Tells them the News of Purgatory p. 60. Resolves to hinder the Malabar Christians to pray for the Patriarch of Babylon p. 61. Excommunicates all that do ibid. Causes the Arch-Deacon and Caçanares to Sign the Excommunication ibid His obstinacy herein p. 63. Confirms some Boys at Faru p. 66. Goes to Mangate but stayed not and why p. 67. Denyed Entrance at Cheguree ibid. Dehorted from his Enterprize ibid. He discourses to the Chegureans of the Pope's Supremacy p. 70. Received friendly at Canhur and why p. 71. Sails for Porcca and is kindly received and why ib. Complimented by the King of the Country who desires to be admitted a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal p. 72. The Arch Bishop's Answer ib. Breaks his Promise ibid. Goes to Coulaon and why 71 72. Sends to the Captain General to come and demolish it p. 73. A touch of his Treachery and Cunning p. 73 74. His high Posts p 74. A Reflection upon him p. 75. He disappoints the Queen of Changanate ibid. Sails to Cochim and why ibid. Goes to Molandurte p. 76. The King of Cochim jealous of him ibid. The Arch-Bishop Excommunicates him ibid. Sails for Diamper p 78. Designs to confer Orders and when ibid. Writes to the Arch-Deacon to to assist at the Solemnity with the Arch-Deacon's Answer ib. Ordains 37 at Diamper p. 79. Goes to Carturte and what happened in the way p. 80. Gains Itimato Mapula and Itimane Mapula two Brothers to his side ibid. His Answer to the Queen of Pimenta p. 81. A pleasant Scuffle betwixt him and a Caçanar p. 82 83. Resolves to depose the Arch-Deacon but is perswaded to deferr it for Twenty Days p. 83. Names Thomas Curia a Kinsman of the Arch-Deacon's to his place ibid. Makes another Ordination p. 84. Intends a Solemn Procession wherein a Sorcerer undertakes to kill him but is prevented p. 84 85. Invited to the Nercha p. 85. But desires to be excused p. 86. They send him his Portion home and what it was ibid. Applauded for his Charity ib. Confirms a great many at Nagpili ibid. A Reflection p. 87. Goes to Molandurte and what happened there p. 87. The difference between him and the King of Cochim touching the Christians of Molandurte p. 87 88. Returns to Diamper p. 89. Is angry with the Chief Regidor ibid and 90. Preaches Confirms and acquaints them with his having excommunicated the Arch-Deacon p. 90. Carturte Molandurte Diamper and several other Villages brought under his Obedience c. p. 91 92. Writes a long Letter to the Arch Deacon p. 92. Sails to Narame and baulk'd in his design how p. 93 94. Receives the Arch-Deacon's Letter of Submission p. 94. Orders him to Subscribe ten Articles p. 94 95 96. Goes to Cochim and why p. 96 97. Receives advice of the King of Cochim's having begun a War with the Caimal p. 97. Disswades him from it by threats and what pass'd between them p. 99 100 101 102 103. Writes to the King of Mangate to force the Arch-Deacon to submit p. 103. He submits and is received but desires to Sign the Articles privately p. 104 105. Agreed to ibid. The Arch-Bishop returns to Cranganor p. 107. Composes the Decrees of the Synod and engages the Princes to assist him thereat ibid. His trick to secure the Major Vote in the Synod ibid. and 108. Father Simon 's Reflection upon him ibid. Comes to Diamper the 9th of June and what he did ibid. Antonio Galvam with the help of Francisco de Castro said to convert five Kings in the Island of Mazacar p. 28. He first discovered the King of
they saw their Clergy Persecuted respected them the more and grew every day more zealous for their ancient Doctrines and Rites The Arch-Bishop being much encouraged by the Success of this diligence laid the matter of the reduction of this Church to the obedience of the Roman much more to Heart than any of his Predecessors had ever done The first he applied himself to was Jacob whom Mar Simeon had left his Vicar General to whom he writ a long Letter passionately entreating him to throw away the Commission he had from Mar Simeon who was Convicted at Rome of not being in Holy Orders and to submit himself to the Papal Authority making him large Promises of what he would do for him if he complied with his desires But Jacob who died presently after was deaf to all the Arch-Bishop could say to him making it his whole business to enflame his Flock against the Latins and their Doctrines The Arch-Bishop did not neglect at the same time to write earnestly to Mar Abraham as also to the Arch-Deacon who is the only Dignitary in that Church under the Bishop and who is employed by him as his Vicar General calling upon them to purge their Diocess of the Errors wherewith it had been so long infected and to reduce it to the Roman Obedience St. Francis about this time destroyed a whole Fleet of Jores to the Portugueze who tho' he was not seen by any of the Portuguezes in the Fight which was very bloody on both sides yet a Cook who belonged to a Capuchin Convent not far off having hid himself in the Ruines of their Church saw a Friar in his own Habit Board the Fleet of Jores one after another whom he so terrified with his very look as to put them all to flight immediately and pursued them out of sight This formidable Friar was afterwards discovered to be St. Francis but tho' the Historian has not been pleased to tell us how it came to be known certainly he tells us it was an Action very proper for St. Francis who was the lively Image of Christ to appear thus and confound the Enemies of Christianity by saying It is I. Now if this Story did not rebuild the Capucâ—â— â—â—uined Church the Portuguezes were not sâ—â—â—atefâ—◠〈◊〉 they use to be in such cases But 〈◊〉 was â—â—â—â—ing to what their own St. Anthony did for them five or six Years afterwards in a Land Battle wherein he was seen by several where the greatest fury of the Battle was Mowing down whole Squadrons of the Enemy and at the same time extinguishing the Fire of the Enemies Artillery with the Sleeve of his Sacred Habit. There were several Portuguezes its true fell in this Fight but they must have been killed by something else than Fire-Arms or at least than Cannon In the Year 1584. there came a famous Amazon to Goa who had been drove out of her Country by the Hidalcaon her name was Abehi she had Fought in several Battles to admiration and tho' when she came to Goa she was 62 years of Age she is reported to have had a great deal of Wit and the ruines of an exquisite Beauty she pretended to have business of great moment to communicate to the Viceroy but the Inquisition no body knew why put a stop to the Negotiation which after having kept her Prisoner for some time banished her to Ormus from whence having made her escape she went to the Great Mogul's Court. In the Year 1593. the Bull of Cruzada was first brought into the Indies by Francisco Faria a Dominican Friar and indeed considering how great a Revenue that Bull is to the Pope in Spain and Portugal it is very much that it did not find its way into the Indies sooner When the Arch-Bishop was visiting the City of Damaon he received Letters of the 16th of Feb. 1597. from the Viceroy Matthias Dalbuquerque advising him of the Death of Mar Abraham On the same day he received this news he in obedience to the Pope's Brief constituted Francisco Roz a Jesuite and who was afterwards made Bishop of the Serra Governour and Vicar-Apostolical of the said Diocess The May following the Arch-Bishop being returned to Goa a Consultation was held about the Affairs of the Church of the Serra where it was unanimously agreed that notwithstanding the Pope in his Brief had commanded none to be made Governour or Vicar Apostolical of the Diocess but what was of the Roman Communion it was convenient to nominate the present Arch-Deacon to it which they did joining Francisco Roz and the Rector of the Jesuites-College of Vaipicotta in Commission with him But it being required of the Arch-Deacon that he shou'd subscribe the Profession of Faith made by Pius IV. before he had his Patent he declined doing it pretending he was not satisfied with having two joyned with him in Commission The Arch-Bishop tho' he was sensible that it was the Subscription that stuck with him chiefly thought fit to dissemble so far as to seem to believe him and by a new Patent constituted him the sole Governour of the Bishoprick The Arch-Deacon accepted of this Patent but at the same time declared That it gave him no Authority but what he had before but when he was called upon to Subscribe the forementioned Profession of Faith he desired four Months to consider of it hoping by that time a Bishop might be sent them by the Patriarch of Babylon when the four Months were expired Being urged a fresh to Subscribe he told them flatly that he would never do it nor submit to the Roman Church which he was sure had nothing to do with the Apostolical Church of St. Thomas no more than that of St. Thomas had to do with the Roman And not being satisfied with having made this Declaration as to himself he furthermore assembled a Synod of most of the Priests and most substantial Christians at Angamale the Metropolis of the Diocess where they all swore to stand by their Arch-Deacon in the defence of the ancient Faith they and their Fore-fathers had been bred up in so as not to suffer the least alteration to be made therein nor ever to admit of any Bishop but what should be sent them by the Patriarch of Babylon of all which they made a publick Instrument and having Sworn to maintain it with their Lives and Fortunes ordered it to be published thorow the whole Diocess After the meeting of this Synod the Christians of St. Thomas came to be so far enraged against the Latins for what they had done to destroy their ancient Faith and for their having treated so many of their arch-Arch-Bishops so barbarously as they had done that they would suffer no Latin Priest to officiate in their Churches nor so much as to live among them Two Jesuites one at Angamale and another at Carturte having very narrowly escaped being murdered by them The Jesuites and other Latin Priests were so far intimidated by the fury that Synod had put that
not go over his Threshold to meet the King received him when he came with great Civility and after the Complements were over acquainted him first with his Intention of visiting all the Christian Churches in the Serra in order to reduce them to the true Christian Faith from which they had very much swerved telling him that since great numbers of those Churches were within his Territories he expected his assistance in so good a work of which being assured by the King the Arch-Bishop went on and told him that there was another thing that he must not deny him and that was to put off his War with the Caimal till Cunahle was taken the King gave many reasons why he could not deferr it but the Arch-Bishop prest him so hard upon the point that before they parted he made him promise to disband his Army The Arch-Bishop having put the Affairs of the Siege in a good posture begun to apply himself to the reduction of the Christians of St. Thomas and the first step he made towards it was to send to the Arch-Deacon to come and speak with him at Cochim But after having expected him some days and finding that he neither came himself nor returned him any answer he concluded as well he might that he was afraid to venture himself in that City whereupon he sent him a Letter of safe Conduct swearing he would not question him about any thing that was past The Arch-Deacon upon this occasion Assembled a great number of Caçanares and other considerable Christians to consult together what was best to be done It was agreed on all hands that the Arch-Deacon shou'd go and wait upon his Lordship who was a Person of that Authority as to be able to undo them all at once by depriving them of their Pepper-Trade if they should disoblige him and besides he was able to oblige their Kings who were all very much at his Devotion to Sacrifice all their Lives and Estates to his displeasure and what made them the willinger to comply with him therein was their being confident that they should be quickly rid of his Company since Winter was at hand which they thought would certainly call him to Goa Upon all which Considerations it was agreed That they should give way to his saying of Mass and his Preaching in their Churches which their Books told them was a common Civility that is every where paid to Bishops tho' out of their own Diocesses but as for any Acts of Jurisdiction such as Visiting Conferring Orders Excommunicating and the like if he should pretend to exercise any such Acts as it was to be feared he would that they shou'd then put him off as well as they cou'd with delays until he returned to Goa which they thought he would in two Months at farthest by which means they might without embroiling themselves with so powerful a Prelate wait till they had a Bishop sent them by the Patriarch of Babylon to whom they had writ for one of all which they made a publick Instrument and for their further Security brought together a Body of 3000 brave Men who were all well Armed the Christians of St. Thomas being by much both the stoutest and best Firemen in the Indies as the Portuguezes knew very well which made them be the more zealous to reduce them to the Roman Church in order to make them Subjects to the King of Portugal The Arch-Bishop sent also at the same time to some of their Paniquais some of which have 4000 some 6000 Men at their Command to come and speak with him at Cochim but they instead of going thither took an Oath solemnly to make themselves Amouços after the Custom of the Malavars against him in case he offer'd any violence to their Arch-Deacon or to any other of their Priests When the Malavars devote themselves to be Amouços for any cause they defend it to the last drop of their Blood without either fear or wit With two of these Paniquais and 3000 Men well Armed the Arch-Deacon came to wait upon the Arch-Bishop at Cochim Don Antonio de Noronha the Governour of the City met them without the Gates and conducted them to the Arch-Bishop's Palace The Arch-Deacon when he came before the Arch-Bishop kneeled down and kiss'd his Hand as did all the other Caçanares that were in his Company the two Paniquais were also presented to his Lordship by the Arch-Deacon who when the Arch-Bishop and the Governour and the Arch-Deacon came to sit down placed themselves at the Elbows of the Arch-Bishop's Chair where they stood all the while with their broad Swords naked over his Head The door of the Room where they were being shut to keep out the Crowd those that stood without imagining that it was done to make their Arch-Deacon a Prisoner said to one another this is the time to die for our Arch-Deacon and for the Church of St. Thomas but being assured that their Arch-Deacon was in no danger they were quieted After the hubbub was over and they had discoursed together for some time it was agreed that the Arch-Bishop should go next day to Vaipicotta which upon the account of its having a College of Jesuites in it should be the first Church he should Visit and that the Arch-Deacon with his Caçanares should repair thither immediately The Arch-Bishop having furnished himself with all Necessaries for his Voyage embarked with all his Retinue upon seven Tones or Gallies and Roque de Mello Pereyro who had been Governour of Malaca attended him with two Gallies more and Joan Pereyra de Miranda who was afterwards Governour of Cranganor with one Being arrived at Vaipicotta he was conductâ—d by the Jesuites and their Scholars and the whole Village to the Church where with his Mitre on his Head and his Crosier in his hand he gave them a long Sermon His Text was He that entereth not in by the door c. on which words he told them at length That none were true Pastors but what entered in by the door of the Roman Church and were sent by the Pope who was Christ's Vicar which none of their former Prelates having been who had been all sent to them by the Schismatical Bishops of Babylon they were all Thieves and Murderers of the Flock When he had done his Sermon he bid them come next day to the Church to be confirmed which some did to whom after he had confirmed them he told the news of Purgatory a place most of them had never heard of before All this while no Arch-Deacon appeared who came not to Vaipicotta till two days after the arrival of the Arch-Bishop He had delayed his coming on purpose that he might not by his presence seem to consent to any of those things which he knew the Arch-Bishop would offer to do at that place Tho' the Arch-Bishop knew well enough what it was that had made the Arch-Deacon loiter so behind yet he dissembled so far as to receive him very kindly treating with him about
only dwell in Christ as in a Temple The Arch-Deacon returned no answer to this but passing to another point said to the Arch-Bishop Your Grace would fain perswade us likewise that none can be saved out of the Obedience of the Roman Church which is what St. John no where saith that ever I could see besides we have in our Archives a Letter of St. Caius Bishop of Rome wherein he confesseth that he had nothing to do with the Church of Babylon no more than the Church of Babylon had to do with his Church We have also another Letter which is called in our Books the Letter of the Lord's-day because it is said upon that day to have fallen down from Heaven wherein the same Truth is affirmed Here the Arch-Bishop run into a long discourse of the Primacy of St. Peter and of the Pope's being his Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth after which they came at last to this Agreement That as to matters of Faith a Synod should be called to determine them and that in the mean while the Arch-Bishop might if he pleased give the Blessing and Preach in any of their Churches but should not be received in them as their Prelate but as a Bishop that was a Stranger neither should he pretend to Confirm or do any other Episcopal Act within that Diocess This Agreement was Signed by the Arch-Bishop and the Arch-Deacon and all the Caçanares who were present with a Declaration that the Synod should be Celebrated before Whitsuntide and that the Arch-Deacon should no longer stir up the People against him nor go attended with such Troops of Armed Men as he had done formerly This Agreement being Signed the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Canhur whither the Arch-Deacon went by Land not daring to trust himself by Water where he would have been in the Power of the Portuguezes At Canhur he was received very friendly by the Christians who had been told by the Arch-Deacon that he did not pretend to come among them as their Prelate but only as a Stranger but tho' he kept to his Agreement so far as not to offer to do any thing but give the Blessing and Preach yet in his Sermon which was a very long one he talked so much of the Roman Church and its Supremacy and of the obligation all Churches were under to submit to it that the whole Congregation were much offended with him the Arch-Deacon was likewise discontented with it and being Sick or at least pretending he was returned to Cheguree to be cured and the Arch-Bishop having other work on his hands was willing enough to dismiss him who in pursuance of the Instruction he brought with him from Goa was obliged to hasten to Coulaon a Fortress belonging to the Portuguezes to see in what condition it was and to take some course to have the Fort the King of Travancor was building in its Neighbourhood and would much incommode it demolished On the first of March he set Sail for a Castle that is within two Leagues of Cochim where the Governour and Bishop of the City met him to whom having communicated his Designs he Sailed directly for Porcoa where the King of the Country had been some days expecting him he went to a Church that was there in the Evening where he was kindly received by the Christians the King who professed a great Friendship for the Portuguezes having Commanded them upon pain of his displeasure to comply with the Arch-Bishop in all things After having Preached he went to Lodge at the House of the Caçanar whither the King came at Night to visit him the Arch-Bishop entertained him very friendly and thanked him for the kindness he had shewed to the Christians of St. Thomas and their Churches and for having cleared his Coast of Pyrates the King after some Complements desired to be admitted to the Honour of being a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal as the King of Cochim had been The Arch-Bishop told him that was an Honour the King of Portugal never did to any King before he had merited it by some signal Service however he promised to do all that lay in his Power to help him to it Next Morning the Arch-Bishap went to Church where he said Mass and afterwards confirmed the whole Congregation notwithstanding his late solemn Promise to the contrary as indeed none but Fools will ever expect that Papists will observe any such Promises longer than the first opportunity they have to break them From Porcoa he sailed directly to Coulaon where under pretence of visiting a Church that stood near the Fort the King of Travancor was building he took a view of the Fort and finding it was near finished and would in a few days have a Garrison put in it he immediately dispatched away a Messenger to the Captain General of the Fleet and Troops that were before Cunahle to come forthwith with his whole Armada to demolish the said Fort which if he came quickly he might do with great ease for that he would find none in it but Workmen Now you must know that the Arch-Bishop when he was last at the Bar of Cunahle notwithstanding that the King of Travancor and the Portuguezes were at that time in Peace had left a private Order with the General that so soon as he was Master of Cunahle he should set Sail immediately with the whole Armada and demolish this Fort which by reason of Cunahle's not being yet taken had not been executed But while the Arch-Bishop was expecting the Captain-General he received the bad news of a great slaughter of Portuguezes in an Attack they had made upon Cunahle and that the Captain-General was retired to Cochim to have his wounded Men cured from whence he intended to come and wait upon him for further Orders The Arch-Bishop was extreamly troubled at this News as well upon the account of the great numbers of Persons of Quality that had been killed in the Action as because he feared it would very much hearten the Kings of Malabar who had till then still looked upon the Portuguezes as Invincible Wherefore to prevent the ill effects that the true News of this Defeat might have upon the Minds of the Princes of Malabar he dispatched Letters immediately to all of them to acquaint them with the great Victory the Portuguezes had obtained before Cunahle and tho' he acknowledged that it was purchased with the Blood of several brave Men among whom were some of his own Kindred who were very dear to him yet he did not doubt but that they would infallibly carry the Place at the next Attack they made These tricks of the Arch-Bishop coming so thick one upon the neck of another for here we have no fewer than three of them in less than a Fortnight puts me in mind of what Manuel de Faria saith of him in the 3d. Tome of his Asia Portuguesa which I shall give the Reader in his own words Este illustre Prelado estuviera yo por
desired may be handled publickly and in the Congregation those Meetings only excepted which are kept by the People in order to their proposing of Matters to be consulted about according to ancient Custom and the Order of the said Metropolitan ACTION II. ON the second Day after the singing of the Antiphony Psalm Prayers and Hymn as they are in the Roman Pontifical the most Reverend Metropolitan being seated in his Chair said Venerable and Beloved Brethren the Priests and you my dearest Sons in Christ the Procurators and Representatives of the People We having done little more Yesterday than celebrate the Divine Offices and Preach to the People it is fit we should begin to Day to Treat of Matters appertaining to the Synod In the first place of those that belong to the Integrity and Truth of our Holy Catholick Faith and the Profession of the same which before we go about I do again admonish you in our Lord Jesus Christ that all such things as you shall judge to stand in need of Reformation in this Bishoprick or any part thereof may be signified to us or to the Congregation that so with the Divine favour and assistance all things by your Diligence and Charity may be brought into so good Estate as is desired for the praise of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Decree II. THat this Synod may in all things Govern it self according to the Directions of the Holy Canons and tread in the Footsteps of the Holy General Councils and particularly of the Holy Council of Trent upon the knowledge it has of the Necessities of this Church and of the diversity of Opinions that have been hitherto therein concerning Matters of our Holy Catholick Faith and of the Errors contrary thereunto which have been sowed in this Diocess by Hereticks and Schismaticks it doth command all Persons Ecclesiasticks and Seculars called hither either in their own Name or in the Name of others Ecclesiasticks or Laicks of this Bishoprick to make Profession and Oath of the following Faith in the hands of the most Illustrious Metropolitan President of this Synod And for the more effectual execution of this Decree and to provoke others by his own Example the most Illustrious Metropolitan having robed himself in his Pontificals but without his Mitre kneeling down before the Altar and having laid his hands upon a Cross that was upon a Book of the Gospels did in his own Name as the present Prelate and Metropolitan of the Diocess and in the Name of all the Christians belonging to the same and every Person thereof Secular and Ecclesiastick make Profession and Oath of the Faith following which was immediately declared to all that were present The Profession and Oath of the Faith IN the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost one only true God in the Year of our Lord 1599 in the Seventh Year of the Pontificate of our most Holy Lord Clement VIII Bishop of Rome in the Town of Diamper in the Kingdom of Malabar in the East-Indies in the Church of All Saints on the 21st of June in a Diocesan Synod of the Bishoprick of Serra Assembled by the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Arch-Bishop Metropolitan of Goa and the Oriental Parts and the See being vacant of the said Bishoprick I N. do of my own free Will without any manner of force and constraint for the Salvation of my Soul believing it in my heart protest that with a firm Faith I do believe and confess all and every one of the Articles contained in the Symbol of Faith which is used in Holy Mother Roman Church I believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come I do firmly receive and embrace all Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and all the Observances and Constitutions of the said Church I admit the Holy Scriptures in that sence wherein it has ever been and is still held by Mother Church to whom it belongeth to judge of the true Sence and Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures neither will I either receive or interpret it but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I do confess likewise that there are Seven true and proper Sacraments of the New Testament instituted by Christ our Lord which are all necessary to the health of Mankind tho' not to every particular Person they are Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Order Penance Matrimony and Extream Unction which do all conferr Grace on those that receive them worthily and of these seven Sacraments that Baptism Confirmation and Orders are to be received but once neither can they be repeated without great Sacrilege I admit and receive all the Customs Rites and Ceremonies received and approved of in the Roman Church in the solemn Administration of the said seven Sacraments and do also receive and embrace all in general and every thing in particular that has been defined and declared concerning Original Sin and Justification in the Holy Council of Trent I do likewise confess that in the Mass there is offer'd to God a true and proper Sacrifice of Pardon both for the Quick and the Dead and that in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the whole substance of the Bread is by Consecration turned into the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation Moreover I do confess that under each Species Christ is entire and the true Sacrament is received I do constantly hold and confess that there is a * Purgatory John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in his 18th Article against Luther does acknowledge the Doctrine
St. Mark St. Luke and St. John the Acts of the Apostles writ by St. Luke the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul viz. One to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus one to Philemon and to the Hebrews two of the Apostle St. Peter three of the Apostle St. John one of the Apostle St. James one of the Apostle St. Jude and the Revelation of the Apostle St. John all which Books with all their parts are Canonical and contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true Decree II. THe Synod declareth that in the Books of the New Testament used in this Church and writ in the Syrian or Syriack Tongue there is wanting in the Gospel of St. John the beginning of the 8th Chapter the History of the Adulteress that was carried before our Lord Christ as also in the 10th of St. Luke where it is said that Christ sent seventy two Disciples it is said he sent seventy Disciples and in the 6th of St. Matthew the words For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever is added to the end of the Lord's Prayer there is also wanting in the said Books the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third Epistles of St. John and that of Jude and the Revelation of St. John and in the 4th Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is wanting having been impiously left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo and in the 5th Chapter of the same Epistle these words are wanting There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One and in the Old Testament there are wanting the Books of Esther Tobit and Wisdom all which the Synod commandeth to be translated and the passages that are wanting to be restored to their Purity according to the Chaldee Copies which are emended and the Vulgar Latin Edition made use of by holy Mother Church that so this Church may have the Holy Scriptures entire and may use it with all its parts as it was written and as it is to be used in the Universal Church to which end the Synod desireth the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus and Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta in this Bishoprick that he would be pleased to take the trouble thereof upon him for which he is so well qualified by reason of his great skill both in the Syrian Language and the Scripture Decree III. WHereas the Holy Scriptures are the Pillars that support our Holy Faith and as it were the Foundations whereon it stands and wherein the Truth and Purity thereof is to be met with which has made all Hereticks in their endeavours to destroy the said Faith constantly and industriously to corrupt the Text of the Divine Scriptures partly by taking away such passages as did manifestly contradict their Errors and by perverting other places so as to make them * Seem to favour them It is hard to give any other reason than this why the Church of Rome tho' since the time of the Council of Trent she has corrected some hundreds of Errors in the Vulgar Latin did not think fit to correct that in the 3d. of Genesis which they apply to the Virgin Mary nor that in the 11th of Isaiah which they make use of to promote Pilgrimages to Jerusalem nor that in the 11th to the Hebrews which seems to make for the Adoration of Images nor that in the first Chapter of the 2d Epist of St. Peter which seems to give some countenance to the Invocation of Saints seem to favour them which hath also happened in this Bishoprick through its having been governed by Bishops who were Nestorian Hereticks and that used the same practices upon the Holy Scriptures that were in their hands in favour of their Heresies as in the 20th of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul saith Take heed to your selves and the whole Church over which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God which he purchased with his Blood the word God is impiously changed for that of Christ and it is said that Christ hath made them to govern his Church which he purchased with his own Blood because the Nestorians being instigated by the Devil will not acknowledge according to the Catholick Truth that God suffered and shed his Blood for us and in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo because it contradicts the Nestorians who do impiously divide Christ by making him to have two Persons and in the 3d. Chap. of the same Epistle where it is said In this we know the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us the word God is maliciously left out and that of Christ put in its stead saying That in this we know the Love of Christ c. and so it favours the Nestorian Heresie which denies God to have dyed for us and in the 2d Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle saith We have seen Jesus for the Passion of his Death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death foâ— all men the Surian the better to make a difference of Persons in Christ which was what Nestorius taught has impiously added VVe have seen Jesus for the passion of his death crowned with honour and glory that the Grace of God praeter Deum or besides God might taste death for all and in the 6th of St. Luke where our Lord Christ saith Lend hoping for nothing again to favour and justifie their Usury they have made it Lend and from thence hope for something All which places being depraved and corrupted by Hereticks the Synod commandeth to be corrected in all their Books and to be restored according to the Purity and Truth of the Vulgar Edition used by Holy Mother Church entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan forthwith to visit the Churches of this Diocess either in Person or by some well skilled in the Syrian Tongue whom he shall be pleased to depute Decree IV. THe Synod being informed that the Christians of this Diocess by reason of the Communication they have with Infidels and by living among them have imbibed several of their Errors and Ignorances namely three that are the common Errors of all the Infidels of these parts the first is That there is a * Transmigration This was not the Doctrine of this Church as appears plainly from what is said in twenty places of this Synod of her believing that the Souls of the Just departed this Life were in a Terrestrial Paradise where they were to remain till the day of Judgment Transmigration of Souls which after Death go either into the Bodies
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
is said Qui comedit corpus meum bibit ex sanguine meo sanctificante liberabitur ab inferno per me the words of Christ Habet vitam aeternam shall be used instead of Liberabitur ab inferno and in the end of the third Blessing where it is said Gloria illi ex omni ore Jesu Domino it shall be said Jesu Domino Deo because the Nestorians do impiously affirm That the name of Jesus is the name of a humane Person and does not agree to God All the above-mentioned particular the Synod doth command to be Corrected as is here ordered with such caution as is necessary in these Matters wherein the cursed Nestorian Hereticks have sown so many Errors Decree II. WHereas in the Missals of this Diocess there are some Masses that were made by Nestorius others by Theodorus and others by Diodorus their Master which are appointed to be said on some certain days and which carrying those Names in their Titles are full of Errors and Heresies the Synod doth command all such Masses entire as they are to be taken out and burnt and in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication Latae Sententiae doth prohibit all Priests from henceforward to presume to use them ordering them to be forthwith cut out of their Books and at the next Visitation to be delivered by them to the most Illustrious Metropolitan or to such as he shall appoint to correct their Books that so these Masses may be burnt Decree III. WHereas in the Masses of this Bishoprick there is an impious sacrilegious Ceremony which is the Priests after having dipt that part of the Host after his having divided it which he holds in his right hand and has made the sign of the Cross upon the other part that is upon the Patin opening this latter part that was upon the Patin with the Nail of his right Thumb to the end according to their Opinion that the Blood may penetrate the Body that so the Blood and Body may be joyned together which is ignorantly done in allusion to the Heresie of Nestorius or of his Followers who do impiously affirm That under the Element of Bread is only the Body of Christ without Blood and under the Element of Wine the Blood without the Body Wherefore the Synod doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be Ipso facto incurred that no Priest presume to use any such Ceremony and that they throw it out of their Masses for that besides it alludes to the forementioned Heresie it contains a great ignorance in supposing that the Species can penetrate the Body and Blood of Christ Decree IV. FOrasmuch as the Syrian Mass is too long for Priests that have a mind to celebrate daily the Synod doth grant License for the translating of the Roman Mass into Syrian desiring the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus to undertake the Work which Mass together with all the Roman Ceremonies the Priest may say on particular Occasions but the solemn and sung Masses of the day shall be always the Syrian as they shall be emended by the most Reverend Metropolitan and such Priests as are able to say Masses both in Latin and Syrian in the Churches of other Diocesses may say it in Latin but not in this Bishoprick in which to avoid confusion it shall be said only in Syrian Wherefore the Synod desires the Bishops of those parts to give License that the Priests of this Diocess having Letters dimissory from their Prelate that do not know how to say Mass in Latin may be permitted to say the Syrian Mass in their Churches or at least the Roman translated with all its Ceremonies into Syrian the Schism which this Church has been in being now thorow the goodness of God removed entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan the President of this Synod that he would be pleased to present this Petition in behalf of the Priests of this Diocesâ— to the first Provincial Council that shall be celebrated in the Province that so if the Fathers shall think fit it may pass into a Decree Decree V. WHereas the Power of handling the Holy Vessels is given particularly to the order of the Subdeacon this Synod doth command that from henceforward if the Minister that assists at the Mass be not a Subdeacon that the Priest shall not put the Patin into his hand when he is ordered by the Syrian Mass to do it such a one having no Authority to touch it but he may lay his hand only on the stone or wood of the Altar so as not to touch the Patin which is according to the Rubrick of the Missal which supposes the Person that assists at the Mass to be a Deacon ordering expresly that the Priest shall put the Patin into the hand of the Deacon Decree VI. WHereas the Stole that is thrown over the Shoulders is the particular Badge of the Order of Deacon it is not lawful therefore for any Person that has not taken the said Order to use the Stole in the Church with any publick Ceremony and whereas hitherto all of the Clergy that have assisted at Mass tho' but in inferior Orders or without them have wore the said Stole over their shoulders no less than the Deacons contrary to the Ceremoniale which supposeth him that assists at the Mass to be a Deacon the Synod doth therefore ordain and command that from henceforward the Chamazes who do assist at the Mass and are not Deacons be not permitted to wear the Stole it would also be decent for the Deacons when they wear the Stole to be in a Surplice and to have a Towel and not to have it over their ordinary wearing Cloths as has been hitherto the Custom Decree VII THe Synod doth command That in all Churches there be Stamps of Hosts or Instruments wherewith to print the Wafers that are to be Consecrated which shall be bought forthwith out of the Fabrick-money or the Alms of the Church and that the Vicars take care to be always provided of the flour of Wheat for the making of them which they must be sure not to mix with any thing else as is done commonly in other Bread for fear there should be no Consecration therein wherefore they must either make them themselves or employ such as are of known Skill and Fidelity to do it and the same care shall be taken of the Wine that it be no other than that of Portugal and that it be not mixed with the Juice of Raisins or with any other Wines of the Countrey for the same danger Decree VIII THe Synod doth earnestly recommend it to the Priests of this Diocess to take heed in what Wine they celebrate having been informed That as some Churches by reason of their Poverty are without Portugal Wine so where it is that the Priest keeps it in Glass Bottles where being in a small quantity and kept a long time it must necessarily decay and
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
that they might be the better known it was thought fit to have them expressed here Decree XI THe Sentence of Excommunication being the last and most rigorous punishment of the Church and which for that reason ought not to be inflicted but with great Caution and Consideration the Synod doth therefore condemn the facility wherewith it has been used in this Diocess upon very slight and impertinent occasions commanding it not to be inflicted hereafter but for weighty causes and with great consideration and never by word of mouth but always in Writing The Synod doth likewise condemn what has been formerly commanded in this Bishoprick which was that in certain Cases Penitents were not to be absolved but at the hour of Death and in some not then neither which is contrary to Christian Charity and the Rules of the Church who as a Pious Mother at all times receives true Penitents and never shuts the Gates of Salvation against any of her Children So that let their Crimes be never so enormous yet upon their doing Penance and expressing a deep sorrow for their Sins and yielding the satisfaction that is imposed upon them they are graciously received and made free at least in the Internal or Sacramental Court But being there is no other punishment in this Church by reason of its being under Kings that are Infidels beyond that of Excommunication or Exclusion from the Church some who are absolved in the Internal Court may still continue excommunicate in the External so as not to be permitted to enter the Church and tho' the Priests may go to their Houses they shall not give them the Casture until such time as the Prelate shall order it to be done having a regard to the heinousness of their Crimes and the length of time from the Commission of them that by this means the facility wherewith the Christians of this Diocess commit several Crimes namely Murther and the Ceremonies of the Taliconum may be removed Decree XII FOrasmuch as the Ignorance of Confessors is the destruction of Penitents and thorow the Error of the Key there is nothing done and it being known to the Synod that in this Diocess there are many Confessors that are such Idiots as not to know what they do in Confession all the Priests exercising themselves therein without ever having been examined as to their sufficiency it doth therefore command that from henceforward no Priest shall presume to hear Confessions without being Licensed thereunto in writing by the Prelate which License shall not be granted to any but what have been first examined by Learned Persons as to their sufficiency for such an Employment and until such time as this Church is provided of Prelates to regulate all such matters to the best of their understanding the Synod doth commit the Examination and Approbation to the * Fathers This is what the Bishops and other Orders in the Church of Rome complain of so much that the Jesuits every where in the Indies ingross all Jurisdiction and Advantages to themselves Of their ingrossing all to themselves to the exclusion of all other orders in China Japan and the other parts of the East-Indies we have large complaints in the Apologies of Diego Collado a Dominican and in the Letter of Father Luis Sotela a Franciscan written to Vrban VIII and as to the West Indies Bishop Pallabox in his Defence of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction against the Jesuits who had worryed him out of his Archbishoprick after twenty more such charges sayeth En las provincias del Pâ—ru ha setenta annos que se quez an las Cathedrales de que las Religiosos de la Compania com immoderadissimos adquisciones les despoian de los diesmos ellos callando y passando y comprando haziendos con grandissima paz y silencio van desnudando a los ocispos de sus rentas a los pohes de su socorro a los Cabildas de su congrua sustentacion lo mismo hazen ein la nueva Espana quanto mas corre et tiempo tanto mas crâ—ce eldano legan ya con la navaia hasta el huesso That is In the Provinces of Peru the Cathedrals have complained these 70 Years of the Jesuits robbing them of their Tithes by their vast purchases they hold their Tongues and go on purchasing Estates without any noise thereby stripping the Bishops of their Rents the poor of their Alms and the Chapter of a convenient maintenance they do the same in New Spain and this eâ—il has gone on increasing daily so that they are now come to the bone with their Rasor Revego a Dios saith the same Bishop Que ne sean las pinâ—as de un tabardillo peligrosissimo que necessiâ—e de serâ—urado en algunos hijos desta Religion porlamano del pontifice sumo com repitidas sangrias de â—anto poâ—â—r And I pray God that these things be not the spots of a most dangerous malignant Feavour not to be cured in some of the Sâ—ns of that Religion any otherways than by repeated bleedings from the Chief Pontiff Fathers of the Society of Jesus of the College of Vaipicotta upon whose Examination and Approbation and a Licence granted by the Governour whom the most Illustrious Metropolitan will leave in this Bishoprick the Priests may hear Confessions with the limitations expressed in the said Licences and all such as are at present Confessors shall be examined by order of the Lord Metropolitan at his next Visitation and such of the Clergy as shall be made Parish-Priests or Vicars shall be first examined and approved of in the same form to be Confessors that so such as are not qualified to be Confessors may not be admitted Vicars whose precise Obligation it is to confess their Sheep And all Confessors that are not approved of by the said Lord Metropolitan in the form aforesaid this Synod doth suspend from the Office of Confessor till such time as they shall be effectually examined and allowed of and if any Priest which God forbid shall be found hearing Confessions without such a Licence except in the case of danger of Death and where no Confessor is to be had he shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for a Year and be further punished according to the degree of his Contumacy and the Penitents shall be admonished to confess themselves again to some approved Confessor Decree XIII BY reason of the great want there is of knowing and able Confessors in this Bishoprick the Synod for the sake of the Sheep thereof doth approve of all such Confessors as understand the Malabar Tongue and are Licensed Confessors in any other Diocess of whom also the Prelate may make use for the assistance of the Parish-Priests in Lent where it shall be judged necessary and especially of the Priests of this Diocess residing at Cochim Decree XIV THe Synod doth grievously condemn the Sacrilegious Ignorance of those Priests who when they have confessed any at the command of the Prelate
married a Widow nor be Boys that are not come to perfect Age all which is ordered for just Reasons and Considerations and out of respect to the high Mystery wherein they are exercised Decree I. WHereas it has been hitherto the Custom of this Diocess to ordain Boys even Priests and that without examining their Lives and Manners having for Money and not for any extraordinary sufficiency all the Orders Inferiour as well as Holy conferred upon them in one day contrary to the Holy Canons and the Laws of the Church Therefore the Synod doth command That from henceforward none be ordained but what have first been examined as to their Sufficiency Lives and Manners which shall be done by the Prelate or by some appointed by him fearing God and who are observers of the Holy Canons and the Forms of the Holy Council of Trent And whereas in the said Council it is commanded That none be ordained Sub-Deacon under Two and Twenty nor Deacon under Three and Twenty nor Priest till they are Five and Twenty this Synod doth command the same to be inviolably observed declaring that no Prelate can dispense therewith without being particularly impowered and authorized thereunto by the Apostolical See And forasmuch as there are great numbers in this Diocess that have been ordained before they were at that Age the Synod suspends all such whether Priests Deacons or Sub-Deacons from the exercise of their several Functions until such time as they have perfectly attained to it they shall nevertheless hold their Places and reap the benefits thereof in the same manner as if they were in the exercise of their Functions And as to their Sufficiency the Synod doth declare That as the Council of Trent requires that all that are ordained do understand Latin so in this Diocess it is required that all that are ordained if they do not understand Latin should understand Syrian Neither shall any Syrian that does not understand it so well as to be able to read and sing it so as to understand what they say in the Offices be admitted into Orders or at least not into those that are Holy Decree II. ALL that are in Orders in this Diocess having been Simonaically ordained in having pay'd a certain price upon a formal Bargain for their Orders have thereby incurr'd the grievous punishments of the Law Nevertheless in consideration of their Ignorance and the false Doctrine wherein they have been educated by theiâ— former Prelates the Most Reverend Metropolitan both by his ordinary Authority this See being vacant and the Apostolical Authority committed to him over this Church doth Absolve all that have been so ordained from all Penalties and Censures which by the Law they have incurr'd by having been Simonaically ordained commanding them to have no further scruples about that matter and dispensing with them all as to the exercise of their Orders so that they may lawfully officiate as in right they may and ought to do Decree III. THe Synod being informed that there are several Priests who tho' infected with the Leprosie and miserably deformed thereby do presume to Celebrate to the great loathing of the People and to handle the Holy Vessels and Vestments to the endangering of the health of others doth command That none that are notoriously Leprous do presume to Celebrate â—ll such being irregular according to the Law of Corporal defects on the account of the disgust they give to People when they see them Celebrate in such a condition and receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar at their â—ands Decree IV. WHereas it is the custom to receive the Casture or Blessing from the hands of the oldest Clergy-man that officiates in the Quire and for all that are present to return it to him which according to the usage of this Diocess contains in it a Symbol of Charity Communion and Brotherly Love the Synod being informed that there are those who not being in Charity with their Neighbours do not speak to them nor take them by the hand and do neither give nor take the Casture from them thereby discovering that they live in malice with their Neighbours denying them the ordinary Ecclesiastical Salutation used in the Church of this Diocess doth command that all that shall refuse to give or receive the same be punished by the Prelate as Persons living in hatred or out of charity with their Neighbours and that until such time as they shall give the said Casture they shall not be suffered to come to the Altar according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ Neither shall they be permitted to officiate or Minister in the Church neither shall the Blessing be given them until they have effectually reconciled themselves to their Brother Decree V. WHereas it is the Precept of the Universal Church that all that are in Holy Orders do recite the whole Divine Office and the usage of this Diocess is to recite it only when they go to Church and there tho' it happen to be near ended before they come having heard a little to go away immediately reckoning they have complied with their Obligation tho' they do not say over what they were not present at there being very few that recite the Divine Office in their Houses some imagining that they are not bound to do it any where but in the Church and others excusing themselves for want of Books there being but very few and those that are are in Manuscript in this Bishoprick therefore the Synod doth declare That all that are in Holy Orders are obliged upon pain of Mortal Sin to recite the whole Divine Office as it is recited in the Church and that all such as shall come late shall be obliged to recite what they have missed and if they do not recite it in the Church they shall do it at home in their Houses having the conveniency of a Book which being what a great many do want the Synod obligeth all such to recite the said Divine Office by Beads that so there may be none but what perform this duty either by Book or Beads And tho' the Divine Office consists of seven distinct Canonical hours yet in this Church in conformity to the Breviary thereof they shall only recite one part at two times in the Morning and the other part in the Evening without making any other difference in the Divine Office besides that of repeating one part thereof in the Morning and the other in the Evening and whereas they who have no Books are to recite with Beads such beginning in the Morning as the Divine Office is begun in the Church shall say Thirty-three Pater Nosters and as many Ave Maries with the Gloria Patri c. in the Morning and when they are ended they shall moreover say twelve Pater Nosters and twelve Ave Maries for the Souls of the Faithful departed and one Pater Noster and one Ave Mary for the Pope and the same for the Bishop instead of the Prayers that are said
to them ordering such as shall be found at any time overtaken with drink to be sharply reproved by the Prelate and if it appear that they are frequently so drunk as to lose their Judgment they shall be suspended from the Exercise of their Orders for ever tho' not from reading Prayers with others in the Church nor from the profits they may receive from thence The Synod doth likewise command That no Priest shall dare to eat or drink in a Tavern or Publick Eating house it being very unbecoming the gravity of the Sacerdotal Office so to do and is therefore forbid the Priests by Law it doth likewise prohibit all Priests to eat with Infidels whether Heathens Mahometans or Jews upon pain of being suspended for four Months from their Office and Benefice Decree XII IT being convenient that Clergymen should always go in a habit different from that of the Laity and in such a one as becomes their Function wherefore the Synod doth command that no Clergymen presume to go abroad in Doublets with their Skirts flanting out as has been too customary or with any open Linen but when they shall go into Town or to the Church or when they travel upon the Road they shall wear a white and black or blew Vestment according to Custom and a Hat or Bonnet on their Heads neither shall they at any time go disguised no not at Nights nor when they go a hunting or Fishing and all that shall transgress herein shall be severely punished neither shall they wash themselves or if they do it shall not be in the Company of Women according to the custom of the Country it being a thing very unbecoming the gravity of the Ministers of the Church and as for their Beards they shall be left to their liberty to do what they shall think fit only such as are Young shall not suffer their Beards to grow but shall still keep them shaved and they that wear them very long shall take care to * Cut This is one of the many superstitious Cautels that the belief of Transubstantiation has introduced into the Roman Church cut off the Hair that grows near their Lips that so they may not be a hinderance to their receiving the Blood of the Cup in the Mass by being so long as to touch it Decree XIII WHereas the Apostle S. Paul saith That the Persons that are particularly dedicated to the service of God and the Divine Worship ought not to entangle themselves in secular Affairs for which reason all Clerks are by the Sacred Canons prohibited to Merchandize a thing very little observed in this Diocess therefore the Synod doth prohibit all the Clerks thereof to go upon the publick Exchange or to Farm any of the Revenues or to be Factors or Agents or to farm any Contracts singly or in Company or to sell any sorts of Merchant Goods publickly in their houses or any sort of Victuals or to bear any * Secular There are several Custom-houses where you shall seldom fail to find Jesuits dispatching Sugar Tobacco and other Goods The Archbishop who within 5 years was made the Supream Governor of the Indies could not but execute this Decree with a very good Grace secular Office all that shall transgress herein shall be most rigorously punished by the Prelate and if they do not reform shall be suspended from their Orders and such as are Taregas if they shall not renounce that Office within a month shall not be suffered to enter the Church and shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice until such time as they have effectually abandoned it Decree XIV WHereas several Priests in this Diocess not having the fear of God or of the Church or of their Prelates before their eyes and without having a due regard to the high Station and Dignity they are in do occupy themselves in Secular Business and in publick Merchandize and that they may do it the more securely do neither wear the Sacerdotal Habit nor the Tonsure nor any manner of Crown but do wear their Hair long like the Laity Therefore the Synod doth command in vertue of obedience and upon pain of Excommunication That all Clerks in Holy Orders do wear the Habit Tonsure and shaved Crown and not long Hair after the fashion of the Laity and that whosoever shall transgress herein shall be declared Excommunicate until they have put on the said Habit and Tonsure and shall have their Crown shaved as other Ecclesiasticks Decree XV. WHereas there are several Ecclesiasticks as well Cassanars as Chamazes who being unmindful of their obligations to free themselves from some vexations of Infidel Kings or which is yet more scandalous to be favoured and protected by such Princes against their Prelates that they may not punish them for their faults do receive Pay from the said Kings as the Natives do whereby they are obliged to take the Field as Souldiers and Fight when commanded which is expresly contrary to the Holy Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws Therefore the Synod doth command in virtue of obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred That no Cassanar nor Chamaz do from henceforward presume to receive pay from any King as a Souldier and that whosoever shall transgress herein shall be immediately declared Excommunicate and shall not be Absolved before they have renounced the said pay and all the obligations thereof and have undergone condign punishment for their fault Decree XVI IT having been the Universal custom from the beginning of the Church for all that are in Holy Orders and especially Priests to keep Chastity and Continency as is evident from all the ancient Councils Eastern and Western and tho' in the beginning of the Church as well for the want of Priests as for the making use of several Learned Men who were Married when they turned Christians but not having been twice Married several who were Married were not only consecrated Priests but Bishops also which custom still remains both in the Greek Church and in some that are subject to the Apostolical See by which it is tolerated for just Reasons Nevertheless the Church Catholick did â—ever consent that Priests should Marry after they are in Orders but was much rather for having such as were Married to leave their Wives that that they might serve the better in the Holy Ministry And whereas in this Diocess which the Synod has taken notice of with great sorrow through their vile ignorance of the Law and the abounding iniquity of the Times and their having been governed by Schismatical Prelates Priests have Married after they were in Orders nay have taken Orders on purpose that they might Marry the better and have frequently Married Widows and some have Married three or four times making no account of the impediment of Bigamy so strictly observed in the Church from the beginning but did notwithstanding that go on still exercising their Function some few excepted who after they had been twice Married gave
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
that in imitation of the Heathens do go to some of them and others to some of their own Superstitious Priests to learn which are the best Days and Hours to be Married on after the manner of the Infidels and do furthermore on their Wedding-day make certain Circles into which they put Rice and certain Persons using several Superstitious Ceremonies which are plainly Heathen and do moreover make certain Figures behind their Doors to make their Marriage Fortunate and use several Prayers with Ceremonies which they call the Ring of Solomon all which being Devilish Superstitious and Heathenish Ceremonies condemned by Holy Mother Church Wherefore the Synod doth command and exhort all Faithful Christians neither to practise any such Ceremonies themselves nor to suffer others to use them in their Houses and that all who shall presume to practise them themselves or permit others to do it in their Houses shall be denied the Sacrament for a whole Year and be rigorously punished at the pleasure of the Prelate and the same shall be done to those that go to Heathens to learn what Days are Fortunate Decree XV. THe Synod having been informed that when Contracts de futuro are celebrated among the Christians of this Diocess or Marriages are concerted that it is performed with some Heathenish and Superstitious Ceremonies and that many times when the Parties contracted are not of Age or have not Judgment enough to give their consent doth command that no such Contracts be made but when the Parties contracting are of sufficient Age to understand what they do and are capable of giving their consent de futuro and if the Parents will make such Matches they shall do it by a simple Writing or by shaking Hands or by any other way that has nothing of Superstition in it neither shall they use any Superstitious Ceremonies upon pain of being severely chastised at the pleasure of the Prelate commanding the Priests in virtue of Holy Obedience not to be present at Contracts where any such damnable Superstitions are performed that so they may not seem to Authorize them by their Person and Dignity Decree XVI THe Synod doth condemn the Custom or abuse that has obtained in this Diocess of the new-married couple's not going to Church till after the fourth day after their Marriage when they use to Wash themselves which is according to the Judaical Ceremonies condemned by the Law of Christ but on the contrary doth exhort all new-married People without respect of Days to go to Church and say their Prayers knowing for certain that if any of the Days that they stay from Church should happen either to be a Saint's-day or a Sunday upon which all People are obliged to hear Mass that they sin mortally in not hearing it if hindred by no other cause Neither are they to imagine that such Washings do any way contribute to the Spiritual Health of their Souls the Worship of God or the Reverence of the Church ACTION VIII Of the Reformation of Church-Affairs Decree I. WHereas the Universal Catholick Church is Ruled Inspired and Taught by the Holy Spirit by whose direction for the better Government of Christians and the more commodious administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful it has divided the Provinces of the whole World into Diocesses which are all subject to their several Bishops and the Diocesses into Parishes which are all subject to their Parish-Priests so that as the Diocesses and all the faithful Inhabitants of the same are subject to their several Bishops and through them to the Bishop of Rome the Vniversal Pastor and Head of the Church and Christ's Vicar upon Earth so all the faithful Inhabitants in every Parish are subject to their Rector or Vicar that administer the Sacraments to them and are the particular Pastors and Curates of their Souls through whom they are subject to their Bishop and through the Bishop to the Pope and through the Pope to Christ which Order has been at all times preserved in the Church all over the World and for want whereof this Church is so Confused and Disorderly as it is every one doing what seems good in his own eyes without ever being called to an Account for what they do having none that are under any obligation to take care of their Souls nor no particular Pastor to assist them in their Necessities nor distinct Parishes unto which every one is bound to resort therefore this Synod conforming it self to the Government of the whole Catholick Church doth ordain that this Diocess be also divided into Parishes allotting such a number of People to each Parish as shall be found most convenient and furnishing them with particular Vicars and Curates to watch over the Souls of the Faithful and as for other Priests and Curates that shall be in any Church they shall be therein as Beneficed Persons and Co-adjutors to the Vicars in the administration of the Sacraments to the People as also in the Divine Service and Worship of the Church as they have hitherto been having the same Profits and Dividend they had formerly save that the Synod intends to deprive them of those Fees which formerly they Simonaically received for administration of the Sacraments as to which they shall observe what is before decreed as the Vicars and Parish-Priests are to have what is allotted for their maintenance in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Decrees and the said Vicars shall make a Roll of all the Inhabitants of their several Parishes that so they may be acquainted with their Customs and way of living and may administer the Sacraments unto them and comfort them in their Troubles and Necessities neither shall the Faithful receive the Sacrament from any but their own Vicar without his Licence in Form Decree II. THe Synod doth declare That the Division of Parishes and the laying of People to them has at all times belonged to the Prelate so that he may at any time Divide or Unite Parishes at his pleasure and as he shall find to be most convenient for the administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful to whom it also belongs to provide Vicars and Curates for Churches whom he may Institute or Depose as often as he shall judge it to be necessary to the better feeding of the Flock of Christ which he is charged with and is to give an account of and for the present the most Reverend Metropolitan shall make such a reparition of Parishes and People in this his Visitation Uniting or Dividing them as shall seem to him to be most commodious for the administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful who at the end of the Synod will name Vicars for every Parish And the Synod for the just Respects and the better Government of the Church will not have any Vicars so Established as not to be removable at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree III. THe Synod doth furthermore declare That no Priest shall hold Two Churches with Cure or receive the Fruits of them according
Arcadio 1 Bispo do Orenes en san Maria Madre autro tanto como este esta en san Payo de Santiago com istas mismas letras destos Santos Martyres That is to say This is the Portraiture of the Altar which the Apostle St. James left with an Inscription upon it to his Disciples who carried another of the same Dimensions and with the same Inscription along with him to Sea upon which his Holy Body was laid and Arcadius the first Bishop of Orenes said Mass upon it in the Church of St. Mary the Mother of God the other which is the same with this is in the Church of St. Payo of Compostella with the same Names of these Holy Martyrs I hope the Reader will pardon me if I offer one or two more instances of the same Nature In the Spanish Martyrology upon the 22d of May it is said Sanctus Publius Bebius Venustus Martyr qui pontem in honorem templi beatae Mariae condidit petente Ordine Oretanorum ut pateret aditus ad Templum XX. CHS in quo ponte suae Pietatis hujusmodi in visceribus lapidis Monumentum reliquit P. BAEBIUS VENUSTUS P. BAEBIIVENETIEP BAESISCERIS NEPOS ORETANUS PETENTE ORDINE ET POPULO IN HONOREM DOMUS DIVINAE PONTEM FECIT EX HS XXC. CIRCENSIBUS EDITIS D. D. This needs no Commentary it being plain from the Monument it self that this P. BAEBIVS was a Heathen and that Domus Divina herein mentioned was not a Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin but to some Heathen god And at Ebora in Portugal St. Viarius who infallibly cures all pains in the Loins and for that reason is very much prayed to was raised out of such another Heathen Roman Monument whereon Viarum Curator was writ as Resendius tells us But as in some places they have made Saints of Heathens in others they have made Heathens of Saints For in the Castle of Liria in Portugal there is over the Inner Gate a Stone Statue with a long inscription under it of which there is nothing legible from the ground but the word Veneris which is very plain the Portugueze who shewed us the place for we were several Protestants in Company told us very gravely that the Castle was built by the Romans and that the Statue we saw so much defaced the Head and Arms being broke of and the Body very much malled with Stones was the Statue of the Roman Goddess Venus we kept our Countenances as well as we could perceiving plainly that neither the Castle nor the Statue were Roman work and the Letters of Veneris were perfectly Gothick so I and two more having industriously lost our Portugueze we resolved if possible to find out the truth of the matter and after some poring we began to discover some more Letters and with some pains spell out the word Ante after Veneris whereupon we concluded that Veneris there must be a Verb and not a Substantive and that Veneris ante must be the end of a Monkish Verse and we were quickly satisfied that it was so by what followed which was Pertransire cave nisi prius dixeris Ave Regina coeli mater What followed was so defaced that we could make nothing of it neither indeed were we solicitous about it being abundantly satisfied from what we had read that it was a Statue of the most Blessed Virgin when we returned to our Portugueze we asked him as we did the People also at our Inn how he came to know certainly that it was the Statue of a Heathen Goddess and we found him and them all in the same Story that the Name of the Goddess was written under it and that it was the constant Tradition of the City and Country nothing known only it is commonly said That they came into these Parts and wrought wrought Miracles and returned afterwards to Babylon from whence they came others affirming that they died in Coulaon there being nothing writ of them that is Authentick neither does it appear that they were ever canonized by the Church but on the contrary since they came from Babylon there is just cause to suspect that they might be Hereticks Wherefore the Synod doth command That all the Churches which are dedicated to them be dedicated to all the Saints and that the Festivities used to be kept to their Honour and the Nerchas that used to be given upon their days shall be given on All Saints day being the first of November and for the future there be no more Churches dedicated to them Churches and Festivities being never to be dedicated nor Prayers made to any but to Saints canonized and approved of by the Church Decree XXVI WHereas Experience has demonstrated that many Churches have been Robbed by reason of the Poors Box being kept in them and not opened in many Years no not when the necessities of the Churches did require it therefore the Synod doth command That in every Church upon the first of January there be chose four substantial and consciencious Men to be Overseers of the Poor and to take care of the Church who at the end of the Year shall open the Poors Box and take out all the Alms they find therein which shall be put down in a Book by one of the four Overseers and the said Alms shall be afterwards put into a Chest Locked with three different Keys which shall stand in any one of their Houses as they shall agree of which Keys the Vicar shall have one and the other two the two Overseers who are not the Scrivener nor in whose Houses the Chest is not kept He that 's the Scrivener shall also have a Book in which he shall set down the Expences of the said Alms how much has been laid out upon the Fabrick of the Church and in the reparation of the Walls and Roof how much in adorning it and in necessary Linen and in Pictures and in keeping it clean And whensoever there is any great extraordinary Expence it shall not be made without the consent of the four Overseers according to custom neither shall the Chest be opened but when they are all five present or some one in the place of him that is lawfully hindred and when new Overseers are chose the old ones shall deliver the said Chest to them for which the Elect shall give a Receipt that so it may always appear how much has been received and how much is remaining And the Prelate in his Visitation shall look over the said Books and inform himself of the Expences and may order the Alms to be disposed of as he shall think fit and necessary And the Synod intreats the most Reverend Metropolitan to see that this Decree be put in execution at the Visitation he intends to make it being a thing of great advantage to the Churches Decree XXVII WHereas most of the Churches of this Diocess are kept very Nasty being full of Dust and Cobwebs for want of an Officer to keep the Church clean therefore the Synod
doth command that the Overseers appoint a Capiar who shall be paid out of the Alms for Sweeping the Church and keeping clean the Lamps and Candlesticks and the Capiar shall take care that the Church be Swept at least three times a Week and there be always one Lamp at least lighted before the High Altar and the Vessels wherein the Lamp-Oil is kept without they be so small as not to be seen shall not be kept in the Church nor the Bategas or Kettles nor any thing else that is undecent but shall be kept in the Capiar's or Overseers Houses that so the Church may be kept clean and decent Decree XXVIII THe Synod doth command That in all Vestries of Churches there be Cupboards and Chests with Locks to keep the Cups Corporals and Ornaments in and where there is no Vestry until one shall be built they shall be kept some where in the Church except in the Heaths where the Churches are in danger of being robbed where the Vicars shall keep them in their Houses and shall by no means leave any of them upon the Altars as has been the custom which was the occasion of the Ornaments being so dirty and of the Altars being so much out of order And whereas most of the chief Chapels are extreamly dark they shall take care to have Windows opened and fortified with Iron to let in Air and Light which must nevertheless be so contrived that the Heathens when they come may not see the Divine Mysteries thorow them Decree XXIX WHereas almost all the Churches of this Diocess are without Pictures which was the effect of their being governed by Nestorian Hereticks who do not allow of the healthful use of Sacred Images therefore the Synod doth command That in Churches that are finished the first work that shall be done after that of the Baptismal Font out of the Alms of the Parish shall be to set up some Images according to the directions of the Prelate who shall always be consulted about every Picture and after that of the High Altar is once set up if the Church has any Side-Altars they shall also have Images set up in them and on every Altar besides an Image there shall be a Cross or some Matter or other set up and in all Churches that are large enough and yet have no Pulpits Pulpits shall be erected for the Preaching of the word of God and they shall also put Bells in their Steeples to be rung at meet times and to call the People to Church which shall not be hung within the Church where besides that they cannot be rung as they ought to be they do take up too much room and in places where there is danger of having their Bells stole they shall have their Steeples fortified and shut up after the manner of Towers and where the Kings and Bramens of the Pagods will not consent to their having a Building higher than the Church which often happens through their imagining that the Pagods are made melancholly by the hearing of such Bells they shall hang them within the Church but at such a height that they may ring them without touching them with their hands and that they shall take up no room below in the Church and in those Churches where they have no Bells the Synod grants Licence until such time as they can procure some to make use of Boards as they have done formerly to call the Faithful together and to give the Signal at the Mass Decree XXX THe Synod doth teach and declare That by ancient Right always observed in the Church Churches may be so violated in certain Cases that it is not lawful to Celebrate in them nor to bury the Dead until they are reconciled which through ignorance of the Canons has not hitherto been observed in this Bishoprick the Cases are when humane Blood is injuriously shed in the Church or there is a Natural Cause given of such shedding or of Death as if one has a Mortal Wound given him in the Church or a Wound that fetches Blood notwithstanding the Wounded Person shall be got out of the Church before any Blood is shed but if the Wound was given without the Church notwithstanding the Blood thereof should come to be shed therein the Church is not violated thereby and by a Wound that is injuriously given in the Church whereby Blood is shed tho' the Wound should not prove Mortal the Church is violated The second Case is when humane Seed is voluntarily spent in the Church tho' in conjugal Copulation The third is when one that is Excommunicated is buried in the Church The fourth when an Infidel is buried in it in which Case the Church is not only to be reconciled but the Walls are also to be scraped The fifth is when the Church has been Consecrated or Blessed by a Bishop that was publickly Excommunicate in all which Cases the Church is to be reconciled which reconciliation being to be done to a Church that was Consecrated by a Bishop none but a Bishop can perform it But having been only Blessed by one or by a Priest the Vicar may perform the Reconciliation according to the Form and with the Prayers and Ceremonies contained in the Roman Ceremonial Translated into Syrian and it is to be observed that when a Church is violated the Church-yard that belongs to it is violated also if they are not at some distance the one from the other but when the Church-yard is violated in any of the forementioned Cases the Church it belongs and is joined to is not violated thereby Decree XXXI IT being of mighty moment that Consecrated Churches be had in great Reverence and whereas in this Diocess it is a common thing for Sick People out of Devotion to lie in Churches with their Wives and Families for several days hoping thereby to be cured of their Distempers which cannot be done without many Services wherefore the Synod doth command That no Person whatsoever tho' never so Sick do lie in the Church with his Family the time of War only excepted but the Sick having performed their Devotion shall lie at home at their own Houses or if they shall desire it may Lodge in some Houses that are near to the Church or in the Porches thereof but by no means within the Church Decree XXXII WHereas there is a great neglect in carrying the Corps of those that die in the Heaths to the Church which are sometimes buried without a Priest and in unconsecrated Earth wherefore the Synod doth command That the Kindred or those in whose Houses Christians do die do carry their Corps how far soever they may live off near to the Church where the Vicars shall go to fetch them with the Cross of the Church and in their Surplice and Stole praying all the way they go with the rest of the Clergy and Interr them which all tho' never so poor shall be oblig'd to do And if at the time when they bring the Corps they
thee Peter that the †Faith Here the Bishop makes very bold with the Scripture again in quoting the Faith of thy Church as St. Luke's words Faith of thy Church may never fail The Faith of other particular Churches as we have seen may fail but the Faith of the Roman Church has never failed nor never will Wherefore Brethren fasten your selves close to this firm Pillar of the Roman Church against which according to our Saviour's promises the Gates of Hell shall never prevail which Gates are the Heresies that are and have been in the World You ought therefore to render many thanks to God for his having relieved you at this time by sending you the Lord Arch-Bishop for a Spiritual Pastor and Master who having left his Dwelling and quiet is at all this Trouble only for the sake of your Salvation and to rescue you from the errors you have hitherto lived in For I know and am certain that he is one of those Pastors which God spoke of by Jeremiah And I will give you Pastors according to my heart and they shall feed you with Knowledge and Doctrine Hitherto you have been fed with Errors and Ignorances and your Pastors have sought gain and not the Salvation of your Souls This Pastor as you see does not come to take any of your Goods from you but to spend his own for your profit and to put you in the right way to Heaven and Salvation From ‖ Whence I do not believe that the Arch-Bishops of Malabar made half so much of their Bishoprick as Bishop Andre did of his of Cochim or as Father Rez the Jesuit made of Malabar after he was preferr'd to it by the Pope whence you may clearly perceive the great difference there is betwixt him and those other Pastors or to speak more properly those Wolves which you have had hitherto among you as our Lord saith in Sheeps cloathing Hitherto your Errors have had some excuse because you could know no more but what your Masters taught you whereas from henceforward you shall have no manner of excuse neither before God nor Man if you do not become such as all that love you desire you to be The Faith and Doctrine that has been preached to you by the Arch-Bishop is the Faith of all the Christians in the Indies and of all Clerks and Religious in these Parts and which all Portugal Spain and in a word all * Christendom The Reformed the Greek the Muscovite the Georgian the Armenian the Antiochian Alexandrian and Abyssin Church are it seems no part of Christendom with this Declamer Christendom holds This is the Faith that was taught by the Son of God the Faith that St. Thomas preached and was preached also by St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles and if any shall teach the contrary let him be as St. Paul saith Anathema and Excommunicated and expelled the Society of the Faithful as he is from Christ his Faith and Grace The Lord give you a perfect knowledge of himself as it is desired by your Brother in the Lord. Writ at Cochim the 28th of June 1599. Your Brother in the Lord Bishop FREY ANDRE The SYNOD'S Answer The Lord Assist Us. To the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Andre the most worthy Bishop of Cochim The Diocesan Synod of the Christians of St. Thomas of the Bishoprick of the Serra assembled in the Town of Diamper wisheth eternal Health and Prosperity in our Lord. OVr most Reverend Metropolitan ordered your most Illustrious Lordship's Letter to this Synod to be read in a full Assembly of the Priests and People and having heard and understood it we rejoiced exceedingly in the Lord to perceive that the Holy Doctrine taught us by your Lordship is the same with that our Metropolitan has preached in all our Churches and has declared in this Synod as also the same that is preached by the Fathers all over this Diocess by which means we are the more confirmed in the Catholick Faith and the Obedience we owe to the Holy Roman Church our true Mother and to our Lord the Pope the Successor of St. Peter and Christ's Vicar upon Earth as is manifest from the Acts of the said Synod Signed by Vs as your Lordship may see and if we have hitherto been wanting to our Duty in these Matters it did not proceed from any Obstinacy of Mind or from any Inclination we had to be Hereticks or Schismaticks but purely for want of the Light of true Doctrine and healthful and Catholick Food which was not given us by our Prelates but who did instead thereof poyson us with the false Doctrines of Nestorius and several other Errors from which we are now by the Divine Mercy rescued and by the goodness of God and the Ministry of our Metropolitan enlightened from whence also rose the Rebellion which was made by us when the Truth began to be first preached to us as also all the Troubles and Vexations that we gave to our Metropolitan and the manifest Dangers we exposed him to for all which we are now heartily sorry and do dayly more and more lament it But whereas God has been pleased to enlighten us with his Doctrine the Metropolitan being discouraged by none of those things to go on preaching in our Churches the light of the Truth coming to us by that means we have cordially embraced and have with an unanimous consent and great alacrity made profession thereof in this Synod having also put the Affairs of our Church in the best Order we were able and submitting our selves to the Judgment of our Metropolitan Mar Aleixo who as our Master has instructed us in all things But whereas his Lordship after his Visitation of this Diocess is over is to go to reside in his * Own Diocess The Arch-Bishop cured them of these fears for some time at least at the end of his Visitation when he made a solemn renunciation of the Arch-Bishoprick of God and as solemn an acceptation of that of the Serra and that judicially and in Form desiring the Christians of St. Thomas to whom he delivered both those Instruments to sollicite the Pope and King of Spain to give way to the Translation and promising withal to employ all his own interest in both to perswade them to it but it seems all would not do for the next News we hear of him is That instead of being gratified with the Arch-Bishoprick of the Serra he was condemned to be Governour-General of the Indies for three Years and after that translated to the Primacy of Portugal own Diocess which we take notice of to our great Sorrow by which means we shall want a Special Protection we do therefore beg that until such time as God shall be pleased to send the Pastor among us which we expect from the Holy Apostolical See your Lordship as being the Prelate that lives nearest to us and from whom and your Predecessors this Church has received so many
or utter Impenitence p. 385 Dec. XL. Grants Licence to the Jesuits of the College of Vaipicotta and why p. 385 Dec. XLI The Christians of St. Thomas to be obliged by the Constitutions of the Bishoprick of Goa p. 387 ACTION IX Of the Reformation of Manners p. 388 Dec. I. Orders the Extirpation of Superstitious and Heathenish Customs p. 388 Dec. II. Declares what is Superstition and what not p. 389 Dec. III. Forbids Heathenish Purifications p. 391 Dec. IV. Forbids Christians to frequent Heathen Festivities p. 391 Dec. V. Contains some farther directions for Christians p. 392 Dec. VI. Prohibits the consulting of Witches and Fortune-Tellers p. 393 Dec. VII No Christians to practise Witchcraft or Conjuring p. 395 Dec. VIII Against Diabolical Charms p. 396 Dec. IX Declares what Interest is lawful p. 397 Dec. X. More against Extortion p. 398 Dec. XI Forbids Concubinage p. 399 Dec. XII Contains an Admonition to Masters and Fathers of Families p. 400 Dec. XIII Prohibits Christians the Buying and Selling Children or Kindred p. 400 Dec. XIV Approves of giving the Tenth part of their Wives Portion to the Church c. p. 402 Dec. XV. Commands differences among Christians to be decided by the Prelate p. 403 Dec. XVI Christians forbid to make use of Ordeals for tryal of their Innocence p. 403 Dec. XVII Christians commanded to distinguish themselves from the Heathens how p. 405 Dec. XVIII Prohibits Christians to drink or sell Orraca p. 406 Dec. XIX A certain Weight for Merchandize commanded p. 406 Dec. XX. Females to inherit in default of Issue Male p. 407 Dec. XXI Adoption of Sons not lawful except c. p. 409 Dec. XXII Forbids the Prelate to certifie the Adoption of Children where the Adopter has any of his own p. 410 Dec. XXIII Christians desired to cohabit in Villages and why p. 411 Dec. XXIV Desires the King of Portugal to take all the Christians of Malabar under his Protection p. 411 Dec. XXV Orders all Vicars to have a Copy of the Decrees of the Synod and why The Conclusion being a Recapitulation as it were of the whole Synod made by the Metropolitan to the Clergy and People with some other Remarkables p. 413 Dom Andre Bishop of Cochim 's Letter to the Synod p. 432 The Synod's Answer p. 440 A Preface to a Missal A Short History OF THE Church of MALABAR From the time of its being first Discovered by the Portuguezes in the Year 1501. until the Celebration of the following Synod in the Year 1599. THE Country of Malabar begins at Cananor a Town in the Northern Latitude of 11 degrees and 20 minutes and ends at Cape Comorim in the Northern Latitude of 7 degrees and â…”ds It contains divers Kingdoms as Cochim Travancor Gundaca Pimenta Margate c. and abounds with Ports as Calecut Cale Cochim Coulam c. Most of its Princes and Nations are Heathens and extreamly superstitious in the Worship of Pagods of which there are several among them of incredible Riches The Serra or Gate as the Natives call it is a Ridge of Mountains running 200 Leagues from North to South the South end whereof is inhabited by Christians who call themselves the Christians of St. Thomas upon the account of their having first been converted to the Christian Faith by the Apostle of that Name They have always or at least for 1300 years been under the Patriarch of Babylon who as their Meterane or Arch-Bishop died took care to send them another who resided still among them and was had in great Reverence both by Christians and Infidels As for the Doctrines and Customs of this Church I shall referr the Reader to the Accounts he will meet with of them in the following History The first news of this ancient but remote Church was brought to Europe by Pedralvares Cabral who putting into Cranganor in the year 1501. and meeting there with several of those Christians he perswaded two of them who were Brothers to come along with him to Portugal where the eldest whose Name was Matthias died at Lisbon and the other whose Name was Joseph went first to Rome and from thence to Venice where upon his information a Tract was publish'd in Latin of the State of the Church of Malabar and is printed at the end of Fasciculus Temporum The year following the Christians of St. Thomas hearing of Don Vasco da Gama being at Cochim with a considerable Fleet of Ships sent some of their Body to let him know that understanding that he was a Subject of a Christian King they beg'd the favour of him to take them under his Masters Protection that so they might be defended against the Oppressions and Injuries which were done them daily by Infidel Princes and for a lasting Testimony of their having put themselves under the King of Portugal they sent his Majesty a Rod tipp'd at both ends with Silver with three little Bells at the head of it which had been the Sceptre of their Christian Kings for such they are reported to have had formerly tho' upon no very good grounds so far as I can perceive The Admiral Vasco da Gama not being in a condition at that time to do any more for them gave them a great many good words promising them in his Masters name the favour and protection they had desired and which he was sensible they stood in great need of In the year 1505 two Christians who were famous for their great skill in casting great Guns and whom for that reason Don Vasco da Gama had taken along with him to the Indies ran over to the Samorim and were the first that introduc'd the use of Artillery among the Malabars For the Venetians foreseeing that their great Indian Trade would be utterly ruin'd by the new Passage that was discover'd to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope if the Portugueze shou'd once get any footing in those parts are said to have sent those two Engineers who were their natural born Subjects into the Portugueze service on purpose to go over to the Indians to teach them the use of Great Guns and other Fire-arms that they might be the better able to oppose the Portuguezes But after this forementioned Complement of the Admiral we hear no more of these Christians till about the Year 1545 the Portuguezes being all that while too busie in making new Conquests and the Friars who were sent thither too much employed in building and providing commodious Seats for their Convents to attend to any foreign Business of what nature soever This 40 Years neglect of a Christianity which was just under their Noses puts me in mind of what a Minister of State said of the Portugueze Zeal in the Indies Vana es Senor speaking to Philip IV. la Opinion que entre Nationes tudas tienen Portuguezes de Religiosos por las conversiones Orientales Aquilas conquistas las Emprendio la codicia no la Religion las conversiones se Hizieron por obra divina y charidad
who himself complained That for want of it he was forc'd to prattle more like a Child than preach like an Apostle among the Infidels shou'd commence so powerful a Preacher among the Malabars the very first Year of his being in the Indies a Year being a very short time for a Man to make himself so far Master of a strange Language as to be able to Preach therein to any purpose But tho' the Christians of St. Thomas did not deny to send their Sons to this College several of whom after their having been taught Latin were Ordained Priests according to the Roman Rites Yet this had little or no effect as to the reducing of that Church to the Papal Obedience to which they still continued so averse that they treated those Natives with the same disregard that they did the other Latin Priests Thus matters continued with the Church of Malabar till the Year 1587. when the Jesuits imagining the reason why this Christianity was so little benefitted by having several of their Sons bred in the College at Cranganor was their not being taught Chaldee or Syriack which is the Language all their Offices are in did thereupon erect a new College which was built at the sole charge of Antonio Guedes Morales at a place called Chanota or Vaipicotta a Village inhabited by those Christians and which is about a League from Cranganor But notwithstanding the Jesuits by educating several of the Malabars in the Chaldee Tongue and instructing them thorowly in the Latin Faith did qualify them to serve the Roman Church in her Pretensions Yet all this signified very little none that had been educated by them daring so much as to mutter the least Word against any of their ancient Doctrines or in favour of the Roman or to alter any thing in their Offices or forbear praying for the Bishop of Babylon as their Patriarch in the Mass Wherefore the Portuguezes finding that these Christians were not by any thing that Friars could say or do to them to be perswaded out of their ancient Faith or to forsake their present Bishop to submit themselves to the Pope against whom they were so possessed that they cou'd not endure so much as to hear him named resolved at last to try other methods with them that is to try what Violence would do the Method to which Popery where-ever it is owes both its Propagation and Establishment And that they did not betake themselves to this course sooner we are not to imagine was in the least owing to their temper or to any disposition that was in them to try first what fair and gentle means would do for they must know nothing of the Spirit of Popery that can imagine it to be capable of any such thing but it was owing purely to the circumstances of their Affairs for that before their Government had spread it self and taken a good root in those Parts it would not have been safe for them to have made use of those rude and boisterous Methods for the reduction of these Christians which we shall see they did afterwards when they had in a manner gotten that whole Countrey into their own Power In pursuance of the forementioned Resolution the Portuguezes determined to have their Bishop to whose presence among them they attributed their constancy in their ancient Faith seized in order to send him to Rome which was executed accordingly Their Bishop at that time for they had but one of that Order among them was one Mar Joseph who according to ancient Custom had been sent â—â—â—â—er by Mar Audixa Patriarch of Babylon He is acknowledged by the Portuguezes to have reformed divers Abuses in that Church and to have put things in a much better order than he found them in Mar Joseph being brought Prisoner from Cochim to Goa was Embarked upon the first Ships that went to Portugal with an intent of sending him to Rome but being arrived at Lisbon he by his Address and appearances of an extraordinary Sanctity did so far insinuate himself into the favour and good opinion of Dona Caterina who was Queen Regent at that time and of the Infanta Dona Maria that he was sent back by the next Ships to Goa with the Queen Regents Letters ordering him to be permitted to live quietly in his Bishoprick he having promised the Cardinal Infante Don Anrique who was at that time Inquisitor-General and the Pope's Legate à latere to the Crown of Portugal to do all that was in his power towards the reducing of his Diocess to the Roman obedience In the Year 1552 one Tum Siud or Simon Salacan a Monk of the Order of St. Pachomius who pretended to have been chose Patriarch of Mosul or Seleucia Parthorum or Babylon for they are all the same by the whole Clergy of Persia and Assyria came to Rome and submitted himself to the Pope by whom according to some he was consecrated a Bishop tho' others will have it that he had only his Eastern Consecration confirmed and afterwards received the Patriarchal Pallium He presented Letters and a Confession of Faith to the Pope which he pretended were sent by all the Eastern Bishops In the Letters the Pope's Supremacy was exalted as higâ— as if they had been writ by a Parasite Canonist which Letters together with the Confession of Faith were done into Latin and Printed by Masius He gave out also that he was attended by Seventy Persons of note as far as Jerusalem and from thence only by Three whereof one died by the way and another remained sick in the Journey and the third whose name was Calafi came with him to Rome Tum Siud after he was dismissed at Rome instead of returning to Babylon went and lived in an obscure place called Charamet or Amed where in a short time he was put to death by the Mahometans and as it is said at the instigation of the Christians of those Parts who to the great discredit of the pretensions he had made at Rome would never own him nor his Authority But this ill Success did not hinder another Monk of the same Order whose name was Abd Jesu or Hebed who had writ several Books in defence of Nestorianism from coming to Rome with the same pretensions in the Year 1562 and he could never have come in a better time by reason of the Council of Trent being then sitting to which he was sent with great Solemnity to represent nothing less than all the Chaldaean Bishops having before at Rome in their Name made the submission of that whole Church to the Pope This method of making a noise with Mock-Prelates had been made great use of by some former Popes So Eugenius the IV. maintained his tottering reputation against the Council of Basil by an appearance of Graecians and Armenians in the Council of Florence And Paul the III. graced his Translation of the Council from Trent to Bolongia which was so stoutly opposed by the Emperor and Spanish Bishops by sending one Stephen to
Bolognia with the splendid Title of the Armenian Patriarch This Humor was carried on by one Elias who likewise pretended to be chose Patriarch of Babylon he sent several Nuncio's to the Pope with the Submission of the Babylonish Church and a Confession of Faith but these Nuncio's spoiled their business by over-acting their Parts for it having been discovered that the better to support their Pretence of the Chaldaean Church agreeing with the Church of Rome in all things they had tore several Pages out of their Church-Offices they were dismissed with disgrace However this did not discourage Elias as indeed what will a hungry Monk from sending one Adam Camara his pretended Arch-Deacon to Rome three Years after that misfortune who together with his Patriarch's Letter delivered to the Pope a Book of his own composing concerning the Reconciliation of the Chaldaean Church to the Roman which he desired might be diligently examined In his Letter he told Paul V. That let Hereticks do what they will he for his part was resolved never to go against the Holy Precepts of the Apostles and Orthodox Fathers who had all affirmed the See of great Rome to be the Head of all other Sees but would always confess that the Roman Church was the Mother of all the other Churches in the World and that all that did not own her to be so were accursed It 's observable that this Elias had a stretch of Courtship beyond his begging Predecessors which was his assuring the Pope That all their Clergy anciently had their Orders immediately from Rome and that that Custom continued till several that were going to Rome on that Errand were murdered by the way which having several times happened the Pope when he came to hear of it did of his free Grace say Let us ordain them a Patriarch and not only so but permit them to chuse him that so they may not perish thus by the way And thus said good Elias we received all the Authority we pretend to from Rome and not from our selves as they pretend to do and the greater Wretches they who trample upon the Canons of the Apostles and the Laws of the Fathers It is from this blind Story that the Roman Doctors have endeavoured to persuade the World that all the Babylonish Bishops do own that they derived their Power of Ordination from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome no doubt Now what crude Stuff is this that those hungry Monks served up to the Pope and was as greedily swallowed at Rome there being not the least Colour of Truth in any part of the Story For as to the ancient Custom that is so confidently affirmed it is plainly contradicted by the 33d Arabick Canon of the Council of Nice which tho' not the genuine Canons of that Council are yet very ancient The Canon runs thus Canon 33. Let the See of Seleucia which is one of the Eastern Cities be honoured likewise and have the Title of Catholicon and let the Prelate thereof ordain Arch-Bishops as the other Patriarchs do that so the Eastern Christians who live under Heathens may not be wronged by waiting the Patriarch of Antioch's leisure or by going to him but may have a way opened to them to supply their own Necessities neither will any injury be done to the Patriarch of Antioch thereby seeing he has consented to its being thus upon the Synod's having desired it of him From which Canon it is plain That the Church of Seleucia or Babylon was anciently subject to the Patriarch of Antioch who of all the Patriarchs was their nighest Neighbour So that if the Chaldaean Bishops do own that they derived all their Authority from the Western Fathers as is pretended they do they must mean by the Western Fathers the Bishops of Antioch And as to its being said That the Chaldaean Bishops do to this day own that they had their Ordinations from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome the falshood of that Pretence appears evidently not only from what has been said but from the whole Tenor of the following Synod and of all the late Reports of the Portuguezes concerning that Church As it does likewise That all those Patriarchs of Babylon who came to Rome notwithstanding the great Noise they made in this Part of the World were mere Impostors never owned by the Churches they pretended to be Patriarchs of Father Simon speaking of this in the 93 Page of his Histoire Critique confesseth their magnifying the Pope's Power as they did to have been a piece of gross Flattery but withal will have it to have been Pardonable in such poor Wretches who would not otherwise have been suffered to have approached the Pope to whom they came into Europe on purpose to make their Court for as he observes upon the same occasion few or none of the Oriental Prelates ever applied themselves to the Pope but for the promoting of some particular Interest which was one reason why the reunions they pretended to make did not last long But tho' for some time these mock Prelates being supported by the Pope made a shift to keep the face of a Church at Charamet none of them ever daring to go to Mosul yet after a little time the true Chaldaean Prelates obliged them to leave Charamet from whence they retired to Zeinalback a yet remoter Place on the borders of Persia where from little in a short time they dwindled to nothing The Prelates of Babylon we see were anciently stiled Bishops of Seleucia a City not far from Ctesiphon from whence it was that Simon who suffered Martyrdom under Sapor is stiled Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon of which City we meet with this following Account in Strabo Babylon was anciently the Metropolis of Assyria which now Seleucia of Tigris is near to which is a great Village called Ctesiphon where the Kings of Parthia used to spend the Winter to spare Seleucia that it might not be continually oppressed with Soldiers and Scythians but notwithstanding this Change of the Metropolis as the Country all about is still called Babylon so the Natives tho' Born in the very City of Seleucia are still called Babylonians from the Region and not Seleucians In the Bibliotheca Patrum there is a Treatise of Paradise translated out of Syriack into Latine by Masius writ by one Moses Bar Cepha who is stiled Bishop in Bethraman and Bethleno and Curator of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Mozul or Seleucia Parthorum This Moses flourished in the Tenth Century But it is time to leave these Sham Prelates who run so fast to Rome of their own accord and return to the true ones who were forc'd to go thither much against their Wills After the Christians of the Serra had heard of their Arch-Bishop's being sent a Prisoner to Portugal despairing of ever seeing him again they sent secretly to Mar Simeon Patriarch of Babylon desiring him to order them a new Arch-Bishop who straightways sent them one Mar Abraham who having gotten
into the Serra in a disguise notwithstanding the great care the Portuguezes had taken to have intercepted him he was received by the whole Church as their Bishop with great joy But he had not been long there before he had the news of Mar Joseph's being returned to Goa where having presented the Letters he had brought along with him he was permitted to go back to his Bishoprick The Arch-Bishop of Goa who had writ to Portugal that they should by no means ever suffer Mar Joseph to return to the Indies was not without strong jealousies of his having prevaricated in all that he had promised and what did very much confirm him therein was that Mar Joseph when he desired him to take some Friars along with him to preach the Roman Doctrines in his Bishoprick did not only deny to do it but furthermore pretended that it was reveal'd to him the Night before that it was no ways convenient The Arch-Bishop being netled at this pretence told him with great heat That he had better Revelation from the Scriptures of his not being the Pastor whom God would have to feed his Sheep but a Wolf in Sheep's cloathing of whom our Saviour had said That they were to be known by their Fruits and that their Highnesses would quickly be sensible how much they had been imposed upon by him Notwithstanding all this he was permitted to go to his Bishoprick tho' for no other reason its like but to give birth to a Schism by which means the Portuguezes hoped to be able to compass their ends upon that Church the easier Divide impera being a piece of Policy that is well understood and has been much practised by the Roman Church And if this was their drift in sending him back to his Diocess they were not out in their Policy for Mar Joseph was not sooner in the Serra than the whole Bishoprick was divided some adhering to Mar Abraham and others to Mar Joseph as their true Prelate But Mar Joseph finding Mar Abraham's Party to be much the more numerous by reason of the Communication he had had with the Latins did thereupon betake himself to the course that all distressed People who preferr their own Interest to that of the Publick take and complains to the Portuguezes of Mar Abraham not only as an Usurper but as a most bitter Enemy to the Roman Church The Viceroy who was glad of this occasion straightways dispatch'd an Order to the Governour of Cochim to have Mar Abraham apprehended and to send him Prisoner to Goa in order to send him to Rome which was executed accordingly But the Ship whereon Mar Abraham was Embarked being forced by stress of Weather into Mazambique a Port belonging to the Portuguezes in the Southern Coasts of Africk he made a shift to escape and by the way of Melindo and Ormus to get to the Patriarch of Babylon from whom having received new Briefs to Fortifie his Title he resolved to return to his Bishoprick but having afterwards considered better on the matter and being sensible that if he went thither without the Pope's Order that the Portuguezes would quickly make the Serra too hot for him he altered his Mind and resolved to try his Fortune at Rome and to take a Journey thither over Land being come to Rome after having abjured his ancient Faith and reconciled himself to the Church and promised to reduce that of Malabar to its obedience he obtained of Pius the Fourth all such Briefs as were any ways necessary having also the Title of Arch-Bishop which he and his Predecessors had enjoyed given him therein But being at Venice in his way home the Divines there discovering as it is said both from the Nature of the Opinions that he had abjured and from his own Confession that he had never been lawfully Ordained did oblige him to receive all Orders from the first tonsure to the Priesthood He was ordained Priest by the Bishop of St. Salvador and Consecrated a Bishop by the Patriarch of Venice This Venetian Consecration if it is not a downright Naggs-Head Story is a Scurvy reflection upon the Pope's Infallibility who herein was not only deceived in a matter of Fact in giving Briefs to one as an Arch-Bishop who really was not at all in Holy Orders but he must also have been deceived in a matter of Doctrine in being Ignorant that some of the Opinions which had been Abjured before him by Mar Abraham were of such a nature as to incapacitate him for Orders While Mar Abraham was in this Voyage Mar Joseph finding himself in the quiet Possession of his whole Bishoprick did not forbear to profess and teach the Doctrines he had abjured in Portugal The Bishop of Cochim who was his next Neighbour having heard thereof acquainted the Arch-Bishop of Goa therewith and he Don Anrique the Cardinal Infante who at that time Governed Portugal in the Minority of his Nephew Don Sebastian and the Cardinal informed the Pope of the whole matter These repeated Tyrannies of the Portuguezes in the Indies of dragging ancient Bishops thus out of their own Country and Diocess and tumbling them so about the World I cannot but reckon among those violent Injustices for which Manuel de Faria in the very last words of his Asia Portuguesa tells us God has punished them so visibly The observation is so remarkable and to this day so litterally true as I have been told by several intelligent Portuguezes that I shall set it down in the Author 's own words Ponderacion muy notable ay en esto y es que dequanta persona passaran a la India ya como Governadores ya como Capitanes ya como Mercadores aunque esto ultimo siempre fue de todos y de quantos destos alcançaran groessissimas haziendas no seve oy in el Reyno de Portugal ninguna casa o Mayo razgo que se fundasse con ellas o lo menos que sea cosa de importancia ni tam poco ay en la India alguna casa grande desta calidad aunque tambien aya avido allá Portugueses q iuntaron mucho y uvo algunos de a million y de dos milliones y de a tres y a un de a quatro ye'l no luzirse a nadie considerablemente tanta hazienda como tantos iuntaron se hade entendar que fue y es y sera pero por una de dos razones o por ambas la primera porq ' permetiendo Dios este viaie solo para dilatar su nombre y verdedero culto estos navigantes trataron por la mayor parte de lo material de la sacrilega codicia cometiendo muchas maldades para hartarse en vez de tractar de la religion y otra porq ' lo mas desto fue ganado por medios injustos de tiranias robos y toda suerte de insolencia como consta de muchos lugares destas Historias It is remarkable that among all the Persons who have
have Converted five Kings in the Island of Mazacar and tho' he was really no other than a St. Ruth yet he is said by the Portugueze Historians to be another St. Paul in Governing all that came under his Power both with his Sword and with his Voice A Sword and Voice say they worthy of a glorious Eternity It was this Antonio that first discovered the King of Portugal's special Title to the Clove which for having five Points he said had the King of Portugal's Arms which are the five Wounds of Christ stamp'd upon it The same Author tells us and approves of what an Indian said of the Portuguezes when in the height of their Triumphs Let them alone said the Indian for they will quickly come to lose that as Covetous Merchants which they have gained as admirable Soldiers they now Conquer Asia but it will not be long before Asia will Conquer them The Emperor of Persia is reported by the same Author to have made the same Prediction who being told by the Portugueze Ambassador when he asked him how many of the Governours of the Indies Heads his Master had chopped off that he had not taken off one replied If that is true it is not possible the Portuguezes should hold the Indies long About this time the Portuguezes were driven out of the Island of Ito by the Natives They were stirred up to do it by a Speech made by one Gemulio a considerable Native wherein he told the Portuguezes in a full Assembly of them That if they Preached to others that there was a God in Heaven who observed all that was done on Earth and would certainly Reward all Good and Punish all Evil-Deeds without believing it themselves or without practising what they believed they were certainly guilty of the Abomination which such a God must detest above all others He likewise told them They were Strangers come from the very Skirts of the World and will you saith he who are the Off-spring of the Shades which the Sun leaves when it goes down presume to Tyrannize over us who entertained you so kindly and have been so long a Sanctuary to you If these be the Customs of your Country you must know they are what we Abominate return return therefore to your native darkness or your ancient Habitations where the want of Light will hide your Actions and do you not come hither to commit them in the very apple of the Eye of the Sun as it riseth out of his brightest Cradle You preach Christ Crucified to us and at the same time Crucifie those you have perswaded to believe in him You will make others to be Christians without appearing to be such your selves You must know we are not ignorant of what you have done to the King of Xael and how you rewarded his great kindness and Civility to you with Violences and Outrages and his Subjects good turns with dishonouring their Wives We know likewise how you have used the Queen of Aram whom after she had lost both her Kingdom and Husband to secure you you have dishonourably thrown off as one who could be of no further use to you Be gone therefore immediately out of this Island and hereafter don 't you presume to set your Foot or so much as cast your Eye upon it The Historian who relates this tho' a Portugueze makes this reflection upon it Thus we lose Places by our Insolencies which we gained by our Valour When Mar Abraham returned to Goa over Land by the way of Ormus and found Mar Joseph Shipped off for Portugal thereupon he flattered himself with the hopes of meeting with nothing to molest him in the Possession of his Bishoprick but he quickly found himself deceived for having presented the Pope's Briefs and other Papers he brought along with him to the Arch-Bishop the Portuguezes not having the same reason to permit him to return to the Serra as they had when they permitted Mar Joseph which as I have observed was done on purpose to give rise to a Schism he was told that before they would put him in Possession of his Bishoprick they must first have both the Briefs and his Informations strictly examined that so they might be satisfied he had not imposed upon his Holiness Wherefore tho' resolved whatever came on 't never to let Mar Abraham go out of their hands yet that they might not seem to refuse to pay a due respect to the Pope's Briefs the Arch-Bishop and others after having examined all his Papers found several flaws in them which were declared to be sufficient to justifie their detaining of him This is no more than what the Canonists can do and do daily in the clearest cases it being impossible to have any Matrimonial or other cause drawn up or worded so accurately that the Canonists and especially if the Pope desire it will not find several Nullities in Upon the publication of the nullity of the Pope's Briefs as having been obtained by misinformation poor Mar Abraham instead of being sent back in Triumph to his Bishoprick as he expected was after all the Pains he had been at confined to the Dominican Convent at Goa there to remain till such time as the Pope's Answer came to the Arch-Bishop's Information of his Case Mar Abraham being sensible that to be confined till that came was the same thing as to be condemned to be a Prisoner for Life resolved let what would be the Issue to try to make his escape which after several unsuccessful Attempts he did at last upon an Holy Thursday at Night while the Friars were all imployed in the Chapel and having gotten over to the Continent he posted away to Malabar where he was received with great Joy and Festivity by all the Christians who having two of their Arch-Bishops Prisoners among the Portuguezes despaired of ever seeing another Babylonish Bishop among them The Viceroy and Arch-Bishop were much troubled at Mar Abraham's having made his escape thus and writ straightways to the Bishop of Cochim and all the Governours upon the Coast of Malabar to have him apprehended if he was above Ground but Mar Abraham knowing how it would be took care to keep himself as far as he could out of their reach never adventuring to visit any of the Churches that were in the Neighbourhood of Cochim or of any other Portugueze Garrison But tho' after this Mar Abraham is said in all his Letters to the Portuguezes to have still professed himself a Romanist and not only so but to have re-ordained all that had been ordained by him formerly yet it is certain that in all things else he acted quite otherwise in his Diocess where he continued not only to preach his old Doctrines but in his Prayers still named the Bishop of Babylon as his Patriarch Gregory XIII being informed of this by the Arch-Bishop of Goa and other Prelates of the Indies issued forth a Brief bearing date the 28th of November 1578. directing it to Mar Abraham and commanding him
whole Christianity into that for some time none of them were found so hardy as to venture to go among them The news of this great and unexpected Heat as it did strangely afflict the Arch-Bishop who had set his Heart so much on the reducing of those Christians so it was the thing that made him resolve to go in Person to the Serra to try what his Presence and Authority would do Not only the Viceroy but the whole Clergy and Laity and particularly the whole Chapter of Goa together in a body did all they could as it is said to disswade him from so dangerous an enterprise but tho' he was deaf to all the Remonstrances of his Friends yet upon a War breaking out suddenly in the Year 1598. betwixt the Kings of Mangate and Paru in whose Territories most of these Christian Churches stand he thought fit to put off his Journey for that Year satisfying himself with writing a Letter to the Arch-Deacon to perswade him to reconcile himself and his Church to that of Rome and acquainting him with his Intentions to visit all the Churches in the Serra in Person so soon as the forementioned War was over which he believed would be very speedily The Arch-Deacon when he received this Letter dreading nothing so much as the Arch-Bishop's coming in Person among them declared that he had refused to Subscribe the forementioned Profession of Faith for no other reason but because he was Commanded to do it before the Rector of the Jesuites College of Vaipicotta with whom and his whole Order he pretended to be justly dissatisfied giving the Arch-Bishop to understand at the same time that if he would order any other Priest or Friar to take his Subscription that he was ready to make it But the Arch-Bishop looking upon this only as a Trick to throw an Odium upon the whole Order of Jesuites and that for no other reason but because they were the most industrious in the reduction of those Christians to the Roman Faith would not comply with the Arch-Deacon's Request in naming some body else to take his Subscription for which Conduct the Arch-Bishop was very much blamed most People and especially the other Orders of Friars murmuring against him as one grown so fond of the Jesuites as to lose the reduction of so many thousand Souls rather than displease the Jesuites But the Jesuites who sacrifice all Interests and Obligations to the Honour of their Order have requited the Arch-Bishop but very ill for this his great kindness for them in having reported this Affair so here in Europe as to rob him of that which he esteemed his chief Glory to wit the Reduction of this Church to the Roman Faith For in the History of the Jesuites in the Indies published by Pieire du Jarri a Jesuite and printed at Bourdeaux in the Year 1608. we have all that is said by the Portuguezes of Mar Abraham and his Arch-Deacon's great aversion to the Roman Church and particularly to the whole Order of Jesuites flatly contradicted for in that History we are told that Mar Abraham had such an extraordinary kindness for the Jesuites that for some time before his Death he put himself so entirely into their hands as to be governed by them in all things and that the Arch-Deacon George had such an high Opinion of their worth as to declare to all the World that without their aid and assistance he should not know after the Arch-Bishop's Death how to Govern the Diocess It is furthermore said that Mar Abraham when he was upon his Death-bed called the Rector of the College of Vaipicotta to him and having all his Clergy about him declared that he committed his Flock to the Bishop of Rome as the chief Pastor and Prelate of the whole Church and Commanded the Arch-Deacon and all his Priests to obey the Jesuites whom his Holiness had sent to cultivate that Vineyard in all things and to be sure to follow the Doctrines that they taught which were the whole truth and nothing but the truth after which Charge he is said furthermore to have beseeched and conjured the Rector by the love of Christ and the great friendship there had been always between them to take care of the Government of his Church after his Death and to have ordered an authentick instrument to be made of all this to remain as a Testimony of his last Will and of the Faith he died in The same History furthermore tells us That this Church was so far reconciled to the Pope in the Year 1596. that when the Jubile of Clement VIII was published among them by the Jesuites they gave his Holiness a thousand Blessings for it and took a singular pleasure in pronouncing his Name and that during the whole time of the Jubile they were at Church from Morning to Night without taking any refection and were so zealous to confess themselves to the Fathers that they waited in the Church till Midnight in great Crowds to do it Now according to this report of things the Arch-Bishop when he came into the Serra had little more to do than to open his Arms to embrace a People who being before hand prepared by the Jesuites were ready to throw themselves into them But to leave Romance and return to History having only observed by the way that it is visible from this gross misrepresentation of those Affairs how little regard is to be had to the Jesuites Reports of their Feats in the Indies since to support a Story purely invented for the Honour of their Order they do not boggle to pretend to have an authentick instrument of the truth of it and that drawn up by the Order of a dying Prelate But a thing happened at this time which tho' in it self not considerable did abundantly manifest how little disposed the Clergy of this Church was to submit to the Pope A Boy that went to School to the Jesuites at Vaipicotta having been taught by them to name the Pope in his Prayers before the Patriarch of Babylon being over-heard doing it in the Church by some of the Malabar Priests was after they had beat him severely turned out of the Church they spoke also to his Father to whip him out of praying for the Pope who they said was none of their Prelate nor had any thing to do with them The Arch-Bishop being informed thereof writ immediately to the Arch Deacon commanding him to make Examples of those impudent Hereticks for what they had said and done to the Boy which the Arch-Deacon was so far from doing that he Honoured them the more for it By the way the Jesuites teaching their Scholars to pray for the Patriarch of Babylon tho' after the Pope is one instance among others of their Conscience in those Parts being subservient to their Policy But the World continuing still to blame the Arch-Bishop for not putting the Affairs of the Serra into some other hands than those of the Jesuites against whose order that whole
indispensable obligation to submit themselves to the Pope After he had done his Sermon which lasted an hour and an half and explained to them the Doctrine of the Sacrament of Confirmation and then called upon them to come to it the Congregation tho' they had heard him till then very quietly began to cry out with great fury That they would never be Confirmed by him that being a thing that none of their Prelates had ever used and that it was no Sacrament of Christ's Institution but an Invention of the Portuguezes to make them their Slaves by setting a Mark on their Foreheads and giving them a Box on the Ear which is what all the Roman Bishops do in Confirmation and tho' the Dastards in Vaipicotta had been so tame as to suffer themselves to be buffeted and enslaved by him they would never endure it nor suffer him to touch their Beards or their Wives Faces that he might go home in a good hour to his Portuguezes and let them alone with their Religion and if he did continue to disturb them thus it should cost him dear The Arch-Bishop heard all this with great patience and sitting down endeavoured to convince them of the Truth of the Sacrament of Confirmation but when he perceived that they were the worse rather than the better for what he said to them having mustered all his Courage together he rose up and having advanced two steps with his Crosier in his hand he told them with great heat That the Faith he Preached to them was the Faith of Christ and St. Thomas and was believed by all Christians and that he was ready to die to confirm the truth of it but they being as ready to die for their Religion as he was or pretended to be for his that Argument had no effect at all upon them He furthermore challenged all those that Talked against the Roman Faith by Night in Corners to come forth if they durst to dispute with him publickly which the Arch-Deacon who the Night before had assembled most of the considerable Christians of Paru together and had made them promise never to throw off the Patriarch of Babylon taking to himself he rose up in a passion and having asked aloud who they were that taught Heresies in the dark and that Preached no where but in Corners flung out of the Church and going into the Town picked up eight or ten Boys whom he presented to the Arch-Bishop to be confirmed by him pretending that with all that he was able to do he could perswade no more to come The Arch-Bishop having confirmed these Boys returned to his Gallies very angry and finding there was nothing more to be done at Paru he determined to Sail next Morning to Mangate to see how those Christians stood affected When he came to the Church of Mangate a Town chiefly inhabited by Christians he found the Church filled with Houshold Goods and Women by reason of the War that was then on foot between the Kings of Mangate and Paru After having comforted the Christians for the Losses they had sustained and given them his Blessing he began to Preach against the Errors they had been Educated in But having advice that there were some Amouços coming after him from Paru he went straightways aboard his Gallies and rowing away before Night he arrived next Morning at Cheguree a place belonging to his Friend the King of Cochim where having sent ashore an Order to the Caçanares and Christians to meet him at the Church he had word sent him that the Church doors were all shut and there was neither Man Woman nor Child to be seen in the whole Village he was informed at Night that the Arch-Deacon was in the Town but that he had shut himself up in a House and was resolved never to see his Lordship again The Portuguezes that were in his Train as well Ecclesiasticks as Seculars were at him perpetually to give over this enterprise and not to expose his Person and Dignity as he did to no purpose but instead of returning any answer to their Importunities he retired all alone to his Cabin where he wrote a long Letter to the Arch-Deacon in which he swore that he remembred nothing that was past and that he had no design of doing him any harm and if he would but do him the favour to come and speak with him once more he did not doubt but that he should be able to convince him of his Errors promising with all to do great things for him if he would but entirely submit himself to the Roman Church This Letter was delivered the same Night to the Arch-Deacon who having read it called the Caçanares together and told them that it being a scandalous thing in them to decline treating with the Arch-Bishop above board about the Affairs of Religion he was for their going to wait upon him to hear what he could say but with such a Guard that it should not be in his Power to make them Prisoners Having all agreed to this Proposition they sent to the Arch Bishop to let him know That if he would be pleaseâ— to come ashoar they would wait upon him The Arch-Bishop sent them back word That thâ— Sun was too hot to stand in and desired theâ— therefore to come aboard his Galley which laâ— with her Stern on ground The Arch-Deacoâ— and Caçanares seeing the Galley quite surroundeâ— by their People ventured to go aboard wheâ— being come they were conducted to the Arcâ—â—Bishop's Cabin where they found him with aâ— his Priests Jesuites and several Gentlemen eâ—pecting them After some discourse the Arcâ—â—Deacoâ— told the Arch-Bishop That it was true they had not received his Grace so courteously as might have been expected nor indeed as they intended to have done had he not fallen so foul upon their Patriarch whom tho' he had been pleased to call an Excommunicate Heretick they knew to be both a Catholick and a most holy Man and endeavoured to introduce several Novelties into the Serra which they and their Forefathers had never so much as heard of before To all which the Arch-Bishop answered That he was sure they were not ignorant of the Patriarch of Babylon 's being a Professed Nestorian and not to trouble them with any Arguments to prove that all Nestorians must be Hereticks he would only ask them one single Question which was Whether they believed the Gospel of St. John They told him they did and would die rather than deny any thing that was revealed in it Well then said the Arch-Bishop pray tell me how you can reconcile what St. John saith The word was made Flesh and dwelt among us with what your Patriarchs and Bishops have taught you to wit that the Word did not make it self Flesh and that Christ was not God and that God did not make himself Man for do you not sing in your Churches upon the Feast of the Nativity that the Word did not make it self Flesh as the unbelieving Romans teach but did
ventura en el numero de los santos si no passara a Espanna a donde le quito esta gloria en la opinion mortal la deficil del acierto en el maneio de los grandes puestos que vinoa ocupar o fuessen solicitudos o fuessen ofrecidos This Illustrious Prelate had he never returned to Spain had in all probability been made a Saint before this time where thro' the difficulty there is in the managery of high Posts whether offered to him or procured by Sollicitations he lost all the Glory he had acquired in the Indies in the Opinion of the World His High Posts in Spain which the Author saith he does not know whether he procured by Sollicitations or not were the Primacy of Braga and Viceroyship of Portugal under Philip III. for two Years and the Presidentship of the Council of State of Portugal at Madrid in which Office and Court he died What his Miscarriages were in Spain whereby he is said to have forfeited his Glory I have not been able to learn but whatever they were one would think that the violating of a solemn Agreement openly within a Week after it was made and the ordering a Fort belonging to a Prince that was in Peace with them to be treacherously demolished and the dispersing of notorious Falshoods only to serve a turn ought to be no very good title to Saintship But the Arch-Bishop if he could have had hands to have executed it had served the King of Travancor a much worse trick than this when he was upon his Visitation that was after the Synod We are told of a lively thing spoke by a Portugueze Captain that was very brave but had scarce Bread to eat who in this Siege having seven of his Teeth struck out with a Musquet-Bullet after he had wiped his Mouth said The Mahometan had done him no Injury and had known doubtless he had no need of Teeth But to return to the Story The Arch-Bishop after having sent this false News about and having sent to the Queen of Changanate to let her know that he should not be able to meet her according to his Promise until he returned Sailed in great hast to Cochim to conferr with the Captain-General and to consult whether it would not be convenient to make an absolute Peace with the Samorim and the rather because he had been so true to his Word in carrying on the Siege of Cunahle It was agreed on all hands that such a Peace would be convenient at that time however they would not venture to conclude it before they had the Viceroy's Opinion of it to whom they sent the Project The Arch-Bishop after he had dispatched this business Sailed to Molandurte a great place of Christians where he was received very kindly which kindness of theirs is said to have cost them dear for the King of Cochim to whom Molandurte belongs being grown extreamly jealous that the Arch-Bishop under a pretence of reducing the Christians of St. Thomas to the obedience of the Roman Church designed to bring them under the obedience of the Crown of Portugal as it is plain he did from the 24th Decree of the last Action of the following Synod for this very reason laid a great Tribute upon them which they have not been able to this day to shake off and furthermore Commanded them upon pain of Death to repair to Angamale to their Arch-Deacon who being there and having heard it 's like of the Arch-Bishop's having violated their Agreement within less than a Week after it was made begun to thunder out Excommunications against him writing to all his Churches to have nothing more to do with him and to all the Princes of Malabar to have a care of him as a Person that had ill designs upon their Subjects While the Arch-Bishop was at Molandurte where he confirmed and exercised all Episcopal Acts he received Letters from the Viceroy approving his Project of Peace with the Samorim and desiring him to return to Vaipim to Sign it which he did in great haste as did the Governour and Bishop of Cochim also who both met him there This Peace was much promoted on the Samorim side by his Nephew and first Minister Vniare Cherare who notwithstanding he had been privately Christned by Father Roz had leave to continue to Profess himself a Heathen still the better to enable him to serve the Portuguezes which he did effectually both by communicating to them daily all the Secrets of his Uncles Cabinet-Council whereof he was President and by disposing him to have a good opinion of the Portuguezes which was what he would not have been in a capacity to have done but would have been immediately disgraced and turned out of all had he discovered himself to have been a Christian so soon as he was Baptized And as for the Arch-Bishop we find he was so far from condemning either the Prince or the Jesuite for this scandalous dissimulation that after the Celebration of the Synod he confirmed and anointed the Prince therein by giving him the Sacrament of Chrism or Confirmation with the same Secresie and the same Dispensation as the Jesuite had given him that of Baptism After he had dispatched the Peace Signed to the Captain-General he set Sail for Diamper the ancient Seat of several of the Bishops of the Serra where meeting with several that had a mind to take Orders there having been no Ordination in the Bishoprick for two Years he gave notice that he intended to conferr Orders on the Saturday before the Fifth Sunday in Lent He writ also to the Arch-Deacon to come and assist at the Solemnity the Arch-Deacon was much concerned at the news and writ him back word That this was contrary to the late Agreement they had made together and that his doing of it would put an end to the Affair of the Synod which he seemed to desire so much since the principal point that was to be debated therein was Whether he was their Prelate or no But the Arch-Bishop fansying that the Arch-Deacon talked of a Synod only to amuse him and gain time writ him word that nothing should hinder him from Conferring Orders at the time appointed and not only so but that he would exercise all other Acts of Episcopal Jurisdiction in obedience to the Pope's Briefs to whom all the Churches of the World were subject The Arch-Deacon finding he was absolutely determined to Ordain desired him since he was resolved to do 't right or wrong to Ordain none but Latins for so they called not only the Portuguezes but all the Malavars who were bred up under the Jesuites The Arch-Bishop sent him word again that he would Ordain both Latins and Chaldaeans it being his business to destroy that distinction by bringing all Christians under one head Upon this the Arch-Deacon finding nothing else would do ordered an Edict to be published in all the Churches of the Diocess prohibiting all Christians upon pain of Excommunication
them some time to admonish him in and to try whether they could not perswade him to Conformity for which they desired but twenty days promising that if he did not submit within the time that they would never own him more but would submit to any Arch-Deacon that His Grace should set over them Next day they sent six to treat with him who tho' they took a great deal of pains to perswade him to submit himself to the Arch-Bishop could not prevail with him to do it On Easter-Eve the Arch-Bishop had a second Ordination whereat he Ordained a great many that had been hindred by the Regedores from coming to the first The same day Francisco Roz the Jesuite who was afterwards made Bishop of the Serra by the Pope came to wait upon the Arch-Bishop who after Mass told him That he could not believe he was in Carturte where not many Months ago having a mind to say Mass he was forced to have the Church doors opened to him by the Queen's Regedor and where when he elevated the Sacrament the People all shut their Eyes that they might not see it and beat one of his Scholars for having named the Pope in his Prayer's and when he shewed them an Image of our Lady cried out Away with that filthiness we are Christians and for that reason do not adore Idols or Pagods On Easter-day the Arch-Bishop intended to have a most solemn Procession which the Heathens having notice of were resolved either to hinder or disturb it but finding they were not strong enough to do the former by reason of the Regedore's guarding the Arch-Bishop as he did they hired the most infamous Sorcerer of the whole Country to kill the Arch-Bishop in the Procession which he undertook to do with a Charm that had never failed him but as he begun to do his Tricks in the Procession he was seized on and sent to Prison and a Currier was immediately dispatched away to the Queen to acquaint her with what had been done The Queen straightways sent back an Order that he should be put on the Caloete which is a sharp Stake fastned in the Ground which being stuck thorow the Body of the Malefactor he dies thereon in great torment But the Arch-Bishop would not give way to his being punished so but condemned him to greater punishment in sending him to Cochim to Row in the Gallies as long as he lived which shews how great the Arch-Bishop's Power however he came by it was at Carturte where he made his first great Conversion When the Morning-Service was over the Arch-Bishop was invited by the Caçanares to the Nercha which is a Feast kept in the Church on certain days all the Christians that are present sitting down to it The Bishop if present craves the Blessing and in his absence the eldest Priest of the Church The Bishop has one half of the Provision the Priests a quarter and the People a quarter among them In many Churches there are certain Rents dedicated to the maintenance of those Feasts which seem to be the same with the Apostolical Agapae or Love-Feasts I do not know but St. Paul might allude to this double Portion that the Bishop has at these Feasts when he saith That they who rule well and labour in the Word and Doctrine are worthy of double Honour and the rather because he immediately subjoyns Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the Corn c. Besides it is evident from St. Cyprian 34 Ep. to his Church of Carthage that the Clergy were said to be Honoured according to the proportion they had of the Publick Offerings where speaking of Aurelius and Cellerinus two Confessors he writes Presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam sciatis sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur divisiones mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus partiuntur The Arch-Bishop being tired with the Service of the day desired to be excused assisting at the Nercha nevertheless he had his double Portion sent home It was a great branch of Figs and several Cakes made of Rice and Honey with several other Dishes dressed a la Mode de Malabar In the Evening the Arch-Bishop went and visited all the Sick in the Town and gave them both Money and Ghostly Counsel the People imagining that this was the common Practice of all the Roman Prelates began to cry them up to the Skies as much more humble and charitable than the Chaldean Bishop On Easter-Tuesday the Arch-Bishop went out to Nagpili a Church about a quarter of a League from Carturte where having Preached he confirmed a great many and reconciled several Caçanares to the Roman Church By the way it is something strange too how the Arch-Bishop tho' he was able to School their Kings and Regedores who all spoke Portugueze should be so powerful a Preacher as the Portugueze make him to have been among the Malavars considering that he neither knew a word of their Language nor they of his Next day the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Molandurte where when he arrived he found the People much changed from what they were when he was there last for they had shut the Church doors against him neither did there so much as one single Person appear to receive him at the place where he was to Land which was a quarter of a League from the Town The Arch-Bishop understanding how things were ashoar did not offer to Land for fear of raising a Tumult but wrote away immediately to the Governour of Cochim to send the King of Cochim's chief Regedor to him before Molandurte The King tho' he did not love to hear of the Christians of St. Thomas submitting themselves to the Arch-Bishop being very sensible if they were once brought under Portugueze Bishops it would not be long before they would be entirely under the Crown of Portugal too by which means he should lose 50000 of the best Soldiers in his Kingdom yet at the same time he appeared very zealous to promote that work having more than once Commanded all his Christian Subjects in all things to do what the Arch-Bishop would have them and accordingly when the Governour sent him word that the Arch-Bishop desired to speak with the chief Regedor at Molandurte he immediately ordered him to go and wait on him When the Regedor was come the Arch-Bishop complained to him of the vexation his Master had given the Christians of Molandurte for no other reason but for the kind reception they had given him when he was there last The Regedor endeavoured to palliate the matter and promised to acquaint his Master with what the Arch-Bishop had told him Who if any thing were amiss he said would be sure to redress it and to give his Grace satisfaction The Arch-Bishop here took him up short and told him That he expected no kindness from his Master since he had denied him so small a favour as to order the Musquets that were lodged in the Quire of the Church to be removed to
of Purgatory to be an Article of Faith of no long standing in the Church Multa inquit sunt de quibus in primitivâ Ecclesiâ nulla quaestio factura fuerat quae tamen posteriorum diligentiâ subortis dubitationibus jam evaserunt perspicua Nemo certè jam dubitat Orthodoxus an Purgatorium sit de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel quà m rarissima fiebat mentio sed Graecis ad hunc usque diem non est creditum Purgatorium esse Legat qui velit Graecorum veterum Commentarios nullum quantum opinor aut quà m rarissimum de Purgatorio sermonem inveniet Quamdiu enim nulla fuerat de Purgatorio cura Nemo quaesivit Indulgentias nam ex illo pendet omnis Indulgentiarum existimatio quum itaque Pugatorium tam serò cognitum ac receptum Ecclesiae fuerit universae quis jam de Indulgentiis mirari potest quòd in principio nascentis Ecclesiae nullus fuerat earum usus coeperunt igitur Indulgentiae post quam ad Purgatorii cruciatus aliquando trepidatum est Purgatory and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful I do likewise affirm that †The Souls of the Iust This was the common Opinion of the Ancient Fathers namely Irenaeus at the end of his 5th Book Justin Quaest 76th Tertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion Origen in his 7th Homily upon Leviticus and a great many other places Lactantius in the 21st Chap. of his 7th Book Victorinus in his Commentary upon the words I saw under the Altar Ambrosius in his 2d Book of Cain and Abel Chrysostom in his 39th Homily upon those words If in this life only in the 1st to the Corinth The Author of the Imperfect Work in his 34th Homily upon St. Matthew Austin in his Enarration upon the 36th Psalm Theodoret in his Commentaries upon the 11th to the Heb. Oecumenius in his Commentaries upon the same place Theophylact in his Commentaries upon the 23d of St. Luke Aretho on those words How long O Lord c. Euthymius upon the 23d of St. Luke and Bernard in his Sermon upon All-Saints day And to Pope John the 22d being charged with having believed this Doctrine Bellarmin returns the following Answer Joannem hunc 22dum reverâ sensisse Animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectionem caeterum hoc sensisse quando adhuc sentire licebat sine periculo Haeresis nulla enim adhuc praecesserat Ecclesiae definitio Which Confession makes the Doctrines of praying to Saints and of Purgatory and of Indulgences to be very new Articles of Faith the Souls of the Just and Faithful which at their departure out of this Life have entirely satisfied for the Punishment due to the Sins that they have committed as also those in Purgatory which have made an end of satisfying for their sins according to the Divine Pleasure and Ordination as also those who after Baptism have committed no Sin do at the moment of their death go immediately into Heaven where they behold God as he is And I do condemn and anathematize the Heresy of those who think that the Souls of the Just are in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment and that the Damned are not Tormented any otherwise than by the certainty they have of the Torments they are to enter into after the day of Judgment And I do confess and affirm that the Saints now reigning with Christ in Heaven are to be Reverenced and Invoked and that they offer Prayers to God for us whose Relicks are likewise to be reverenced on Earth And moreover that the * Images Gyraldus a Learned Papist in the 18th Page of the History of the Gods speaking of Images in the Church of Rome saith At de istiusmodi magis mutire possumus quam palam loqui idcircò satius ea fuerit Hippocrati Angeronae consignare illud certè non praetermittam Nos dico Christianos ut aliquando Romanos fuisse sine Imaginibus in primitivâ quae vocatur Ecclesiâ Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the other Saints are to be kept used and reverenced with due Honour and Veneration I do also believe that our Lady the most Holy Virgin Mary is the proper and true Mother of God and ought to be called so by the Faithful for having brought forth according to the Flesh without any pain or passion the true Son of God and that she always continued a Virgin in and after her Deliverance having never been defiled by any actual Sin I do confess that the power of granting Indulgences was left to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ the use whereof I do affirm to be healthful and profitable to all Christian People I do acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Head Mother and Mistress of all other Churches in the World and do hold all that are not subject and obedient to her to be Heretical Schismatical and disobedient to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Commands and to the Order that he left in the Church and to be Aliens from Eternal Salvation I do promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope the Roman Bishop the Successor of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth the Head of the whole Church on earth and Doctor and Master of the same and the Father Prelate and Pastor of all Christians and do confess that all who deny Obedience to the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ are Transgressors of the Divine Commands and cannot attain to Eternal Life I do without any scruple receive approve and confess all other Matters defined and declared in the Sacred Canons and General Councils and chiefly in the Holy Council of Trent and do in the same manner condemn reject and anathematize every thing that is contrary to the same together with all Heresies condemned rejected and anathematized by the said Church Namely the Diabolical and perverse Heresie of Nestorius together with its perverse Author Nestorius and its false Teachers * Theodorus They should not have been so hard upon Theodorus for Pope Honorius's sake who by Name was condemned together with him by the 5th General Council and I am mistaken if Pighius and some other Popish Writers have not for that very reason laboured hard to vindicate Theodorus's Memory Theodorus and †Diodorus Du Pin in his 4th Century of Christianity p. 189. saith As to what concerns his Doctrine of the Incarnation we could better judge of it if we had his Books but there is no great probability that one who was praised esteemed and cherished by Meletius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Epiphanius and even by St. Athanasius and his Successors Peter and Timothy of Alexandria who was also considered in a General Council as one of the
of Religion the Greek and Alexandrian Christians have them in such detestation as to reckon an Altar defiled by a Roman Priest's having celebrated thereon And for the Muscovites Possevinus tells us their greatest imprecation is I hope to live to see thee so far abandoned as to turn Papist The Abbyssin Christians as Godinus tells us do not only condemn the Romanists as Hereticks but do affirm that they are worse than Mahometans and in the 28th Chap. of the first Book of Archbishop Menezes's Visitation it is said that the Chaldaean and Malabar Christians did so abhorr the Pope that they could not endure so much as to hear him named and Head of all the Churches in the World and confess that all that were not obedient to her were out of a state of Salvation and if they did promise and swear true Obedience and subjection to the most Holy Father the Pope and Bishop of Rome as Universal Pastor of the Church and Successor of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ upon Earth without any manner of dependance upon the Schismatical Patriarch of Babylon to whom tho' contrary to Justice they had hitherto been subject and if they did promise never to receive any other Bishop into this Diocess but what shall be sent by the Holy Roman Church by the appointment of our Lord the Pope and that whomsoever he shall ordain they will acknowledge and obey for their Prelate as becomes true Catholicks and Sons of the Church anathematizing the Patriarch of Babylon as a Nestorian Heretick out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and promising and swearing never to obey him more in any matter nor to have any further Commerce or Communion with him in things appertaining to the Church To all which and every particular they did all and every one of them for themselves with their hands upon the Cross and the Gospel swear and protest to God by the Holy Gospel and the Cross of Christ After the Ecclesiasticks had made this Profession and Oath the Procurators and Representatives of the People by virtue of the Powers they had made the same in their own Name and in the Name of the People of the Bishroprick as did also all the other Christians that were present Decree III. THe Synod doth command all Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons of this Bishoprick that were not present at this Solemnity to make the foresaid Oath and profession of Faith in the hands of the most Illustrious Metropolitan at the Visitation of their Churches which he intends to make speedily or in the hands of such as he shall depute for those that shall be absent at the time of the Visitation that so there may be none in Holy Orders in this Bishoprick but what has made this Profession in the manner aforesaid The Synod doth likewise declare That hereafter none shall be capable of undertaking any Vicaridge or Cure of a Church until they have made the said Profession in the hands of their Prelate or of some Commissionated by him for that purpose as also that all that take Holy Orders do first make the said Profession in the same manner and if any of the forementioned which God forbid shall refuse to do it that they shall thereupon be declared Excommunicate until they comply and withal be vehemently suspected of Heresy and be punished according to the Sacred Canons ACTION III. BEcause without Faith it is impossible to please God and the Holy Catholick Faith without which none can be saved is the beginning of true Life and the foundation of all our Good the Purity thereof being that that distinguishes Christians and Catholicks from all other People wherefore the Synod being sensible that by means of some Heretical Persons and Books scattered all over this Bishoprick many Errors and Falsities have been sown therein with which many are poisoned and more may be doth judge it necessary besides the profession of Faith that has been made further to declare to the People in some Chapters the chief Articles of our Holy Catholick Faith and to point at and observe the Errors contained in their Books and to have them Preached against in this Bishoprick that so knowing the mischief and falsehood of them they may avoid them CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Faith OUr Holy Faith that is believed with one unanimous consent by the Catholick Church spread all over the World is That we believe in One only True Almighty Immutable Incomprehensible and Ineffable God the Eternal Father Son and Holy Ghost One in Essence and Three in Persons the Father not begotten the Son begotten of the Father and of the same substance with him and equal to him and the Holy Ghost proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son not as from two Principals or two Inspirations but from both as from one only Principal and one only Inspiration the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son but the Father is only the Father the Son is only the Son and the Holy Spirit is only the Holy Spirit none of them being before another in Eternity nor superiour to another in Majesty nor inferiour to another in Power but were all without beginning or end the Father is he who begot the Son is he who was born and the Holy Ghost he who proceedeth Consubstantial Equal alike Almighty and alike Eternal These three Persons are one only God and not three Gods one only Essence and Substance one Nature one Immensity one Principal one Creator of all things Visible and Invisible Corporal and Spiritual who when he pleased created all things with his goodness and would that they should be all very good CHAP. II. FUrthermore That the only begotten Son of God who is always with the Father and the Holy Spirit Consubstantial to the Father at the time appointed by the profound Wisdom of the Divine Mercy for the redeeming of Men from the sin of Adam and from all other sins was truly Incarnate by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the pure Womb of our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary and in her took our true and intire Nature of Man that is a Body and rational Soul into the Unity of the Divine Person which Unity was such that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man and the Son of God and the Son of Man in as much as he was the Son of the Blessed Virgin so that the one Nature is not confounded with the other neither did the one pass into nor mix it self with the other neither did either of them vanish or cease to be but in one only Person or in one Divine Suppositum there are two perfect Natures a Divine and Humane but so that the properties of both Natures are still preserved there being two Wills the Divine and Humane and two Operations Christ still continuing one for as the Form of God does not destroy the Form of a Servant so the
reign with Christ in the Heavens are to be venerated and invok'd by the Faithful desiring of God a Remedy for our wants through their Intercession and of them that they would intercede for us which they do daily by offering up our Prayers and Petitions to God That the Bodies and Reliques of Saints ought to be had in veneration in being carefully kept kissed and adored by the Faithful and placed under the Holy Altars and other consecrated places upon the account of their having been lively Members of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit and because they are to be raised again at the day of Judgment and and clothed with Eternal Glory in Heaven and God vouchsafes many Blessings upon Earth by them CHAP. XI FUrthermore That the Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of the Holy Angels that are painted after our manner and of other Saints which the Church believes to be in Heaven ought to be kept and used in all decent places not only in the houses of the Faithful but chiefly in Churches and Altars and to be reverenced and adored with due veneration and with the same that is due to the Persons they represent not that we believe that there is any thing of Divinity or * Virtue If there is nothing of Virtue in one Image more than another why do People go so many hundred miles to pray to some particular Images of the Virgin Mary when there is scarce a Church or Chappel in their way wherein there is not an Image of her Virtue in them for which they ought to be honoured or that we put our Hope and Confidence in them as the * Heathens The Learned Heathens made the very same declaration concerning their worshipping of Images Heathens did in their Idols but because the Honour which we pay to them referrs to what they represent so that in prostrating our selves before their Images we adore Christ and reverence the Saints whose Images they are In like manner we adore the sign of the Cross with the Worship of †Latria The saying that this Latria or Supream worship is only Relative cannot excuse it from being Idolatrous without excusing the grossest Worship among the Heathen it being impossible in Nature to give any other Worship than what is relative to an Image when worshipped as such Martinus Peresius Aila Bishop of Guidez in Spain in the third part of his Book of Traditions p. 223. passeth a severe but just censure upon the Worship here established Cujus doctrinae nullum quod ego viderim afferunt validum fundamentum quod possit fideles ad id quod docent obligari Nam neque Scripturam neque Tracitionem Ecclesiae neque communem sensum sanctorum neque Concilii Generalis determinationem aliquam nec etiam rationem quâ hoc efficaciter suaderi possit adducunt Et p. 226. Certe haud dissimile imò fortè majâ—s scandalum infirmis paratur qui has distinctiones prorsus ignorant nec possunt nisi errando intelligere ut ego ipse in multis simplicibus experimento deprehendi cum ab eis sciscitarer quid de hac re sentirent in eo quod dicitur eâdem adoratione adorandum esse Imaginem quâ rem cujus est Nam cum videant simulachrum operosè sculptum affabrè expolitum in eminenti loco templi positum ipsumque à multitudine veneratum super haec audiant quòd eodem honore debeat honorari quo res cujus est colitur certè in multis simplicibus periculosissimus erroris affectus facilè potest adgenerari quo putent aliquid Numinis latere in imagine sic quoque rei repraesentatae tum nomen tum gloriam ad imaginem facilè possunt transferre quod maximè periculosum esse judico Latria which is due only to God because it is a sign representing the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross and which he himself hath told us will be the sign of the Son of Man in the Day of Judgment and with the same Worship of Latria we adore the Images of our Lord Jesus Christ because they represent him CHAP. XII FUrthermore the Church professeth that every Person as soon as he is born hath a Guardian Angel given him whose business it is to excite People to what is good and to deliver them from many evils which they would otherwise have fallen into which Angel protects and accompanies People through their whole lives doing all it can to keep them from Sin and all other Evils that so it may bring them to Eternal Life and is always suggesting good things to their Free Will from which we receive many Blessings as well Spiritual as Temporal notwithstanding we neither see them nor understand how they do it and these we call our Guardian Angels CHAP. XIII FUrthermore That the Catholick Church is one and the same all over the World having for its Pastor the chief Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter to whom and by him to his Successors our Lord Jesus Christ delivered the full power of ruling and governing his whole Church from whence it is that the Roman Church is the Head of the whole Church and the Father Master and Doctor of all Christians and the Prelate of all in common and of all Priests Bishops Archbishops Primates and Patriarchs of whatsoever Church they are as also the Pastor of all Emperors Kings Princes and Lords In a word of all that are Christians and of all the Faithful People Hence it is that all that are not under the Obedience of the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ upon Earth are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell as Hereticks and Schismaticks for their Disobedience to the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order that he left in his Church CHAP. XIV FUrthermore that One and the same God is the Author of the New and Old Testament of the Prophets and the Gospels the Saints of both those Testaments being inspired in the Writing of them with the same Holy Spirit and so the Catholick Church receives all the Canonical Books of both Testaments which contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true and was dictated by the Holy Spirit To wit of the Old Testament the five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy as also Joshua the two Books of Judges Ruth the four Books of Kings the two Books of Chronicles the first Book of Esdras the second which is called Nehemias Tobit Judith Esther Job the Psalms of David being 150 the Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the Book of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the four greater Prophets viz. Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel the twelve lesser viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi and the first and second of Maccabees and of the New Testament St. Matthew
Learning having never been taught that the Devil tempted Christ before his Fast of forty days which is contrary to the Gospel that St. Joseph to be satisfied whether the Virgin had committed Adultery carried her before the Priests who according to the Law gave her the Water of Jealousie to drink that our Lady brought forth with pain and parting from her Company not being able to go farther she retired to a Stable at Bethlehem that neither our Lady nor any other Saint is in Heaven enjoying God but are all in a Terrestrial Paradise where they are to remain till the day of Judgment with other Errors too many to be related But it is the Synod's pleasure to instance in some of the chief Errors contained in the Books that it condemns that so all may be satisfied of the reason why they are prohibited to be read or kept upon pain of Excommunication and that all may avoid and burn them with the greater Horror and for other just and necessary respects Also the Book of John Barialdan wherein it is said in divers places That there were two Persons a Divine and Humane in Christ which is contrary to the Catholick Faith which confesses one only Divine Person It is also said That the Names of Christ and Emanuel are the Names of the Humane Person only and for that reason that the most sweet Name Jesus is not to be adored that the Union of the Incarnation is common to all the Three Divine Persons who were all Incarnated that our Lord Christ is the adopted and not the Natural Son of God that the Union of the Incarnation is accidental and is only that of Love betwixt the Divine and Humane Persons Also the Book intituled The Procession of the Holy Spirit wherein it is endeavoured to be proved at large that the Holy Spirit proceedeth only from the Father and not from the Son which is contrary to the Catholick Truth which teaches that he proceeds from the Father and the Son Also the Book entituled Margarita Fidei or The Jewel of Faith wherein it is pretended to be proved at large That our Lady the most Holy Virgin neither is nor ought to be stiled the Mother of God but the Mother of Christ that in Christ there are two Persons the one of the Word and the other of Jesus that the Union of the Incarnation is only an accidental Union of Love and Power and not a substantial Union that there are three distinct Faiths which is divided into three Professions the Nestorian Jacobite and Roman that the Nestorian is the true Faith that was taught by the Apostle and that the Roman is false and Heretical and was introduced by force of Arms and the Authority of Heretical Emperors into the greatest part of the World that to Excommunicate Nestorius is to Excommunicate the Apostles and Prophets and the whole Scripture that they that do not believe his Doctrine shall not inherit Eternal Life that they that follow Nestorius received their Faith from the Apostles which has been preserved to this day in the Church of Babylon of the Syrians That Matrimony neither is nor can be a Sacrament that the sign of the Cross is one of the Sacraments of the Church instituted by Christ that the Fire of Hell is Metaphorical not real that the Roman Church is fallen from the Faith condemning it likewise for not celebrating in leavened Bread according to what the Church has received from the Apostles for which it is said the Romans are Hereticks Also the Book of the Fathers wherein it is said That our Lady neither is nor ought to be called the Mother of God that the Patriarch of Babylon of the Nestorians is the Universal Head of the Church immediately under Christ that the Fire of Hell is not real but spiritual that it is Heresie to say that God was born or dyed that there are two Persons in Christ Also a Book of the Life of Abbot Isaias commented by a Nestorian wherein it is said That the Union is common to all the Three Persons that St. Cyril of Alexandria who condemned Nestorius was an impious Heretick and is now in Hell for having taught that there is but One Person in Christ whereas as often as Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus are named they are stiled Saints and blessed by whose Authority it is there proved that the Saints shall not enjoy God before the day of Judgment and that till then they shall be in an obscure place which they call Eden near to the Terrestrial Paradise and that by so much the worse as any one has been he is tormented * The less for it in Hell This of fixing something that is justly abominable to all Mankind upon her Adversaries has been the constant practice of the Church of Rome So the Emperor Michael Balbus because he was an Enemy to Image-worship is said to have laughed at the Prophets not to have believed there were any Devils and to have placed Judas among the Saints the Templars upon the Pope and the French Kings conspiring together to destroy their Order are said to have obliged all their Novices to blaspheme God to renounce Christ the Virgin Mary and all the Saints in Heaven to spit and trample upon the Crucifix and to declare that Christ was a false Prophet the Albigenses are said to have held it lawful to deny their Faith when interrogated upon it by a Magistrate to have held that promiscuous Venery was lawful but that Matrimony was Hell and Damnation that the Souls of Men were as Mortal as their Bodies that the way of choosing their chief Priests was by tossing an Infant from one to another and that he in whose hands the Infant expired had that Office and that the Devil was unjustly thrown out of Heaven the less for it in Hell by reason of his greater conformity and friendship with the Devils that the Word was not made Man and that it is Blasphemy to affirm it that Christ conquer'd all the Passions of Sin by a Power derived from God and not by his own strength that St. Cyril was a Heretick in teaching that there was but One Person in Christ that the Divine and Humane Nature were united in Christ accidentally by Love that the whole Trinity was incarnated that God dwelt in Christ as in a Rational Temple giving him power to do all the good things he did that the Souls of the Just will be in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment that the Wicked when they dye in Mortal Sin are carried to a place called Eden where they suffer only by the sense of the punishments they know they are to undergo after the day of Judgment Also the Book of Synods wherein there is a forged Letter of Pope Caius with false Subscriptions of a great many other Western Bishops directed to those of Babylon wherein it is acknowledged that the Church of Rome ought to be subject to that of Babylon which with
all that are subject to her are immediately under Christ without owing any reverence to the Roman Bishop they say likewise That the Roman Church is fallen from the Faith having perverted the Canons of the Apostles by the force of Heretical Emperors Arms and that the Romans are Hereticks for not celebrating in leavened Bread which has been the inviolable Custom of the Church derived from our Saviour and his Holy Apostles that all the Bishops that followed Nestorius ought to be much esteemed and when named to be stiled Saints and to have their Reliques reverenced That Matrimony is not a Sacrament that it may be dissolved for the bad conditions of the Parties That Vsury is Lawful and there is no Sin in it Also the Book of Timothy the Patriarch where in three Chapters The most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is blasphemed it being impiously asserted in them That the true Body of our Lord Christ is not there but only the Figure thereof Also the Letter which they pretend came down from Heaven called the Letter of the Lord's day wherein the Roman Church is accused of having fallen from the Faith and having violated the Domingo or Lord's-day Letter Also the Book called Maclamatas wherein the distinction of two Persons in Christ and the accedental Union of the Incarnation are pretended to be proved at large and are confirmed with several false and Blasphemous Similitudes Also the Book intituled Vguarda or the Rose wherein it is said That there are two Persons in Christ that the Union of the Incarnation was Accidental that our Lady brought forth with Pain and the Sons of Joseph which he had by his other Wife being in company went for a Midwife to her with other Blasphemies Also the Book intituled Camiz wherein it is said That the Divine Word and the Son of the Virgin are not the same and that our Lady brought forth with Pain Also the Book intituled Menra wherein it is said That our Lord Christ is only the Image of the Word that the Substance of God dwelt in Christ as in a Temple that Christ is next to the Divinity that Christ was made the Companion of God Also the Book of Orders wherein it is said That the Form and not the Matter is necessary to Orders and the Forms therein are likewise Erroneous that there are only two Orders Diaconate and Priesthood that Altars of Wood and not of Stone are to be Consecrated there are also Prayers in it for those that are converted from any other Sect to Nestorianism in form of an Absolution from the Excommunication they had incurred for not having followed Nestorius and of a reconciliation to the Church Also the Book of Homilies wherein it is said That the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of Christ and is distinguished from him as an Image is from a true Man and that the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there nor no where else but in Heaven That the whole Trinity was Incarnate that Christ is only the Temple of the Divinity and God only by Representation that the Soul of Christ descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden that whosoever affirms the contrary errs and that we therefore err in our Creed There are therein likewise some Letters of some Heretical Synods in which it is said That the Patriarch of Babylon is not subject to the Roman Bishop with an Oath to be taken to the said Patriarch as the Head of the Church wherein People Swear to obey him and him only and not the Bishop of Rome Also a Book intituled An Exposition of the Gospels wherein it is every where pretended to be proved That there are two Persons in Christ and that Christ as a pure Creature was obliged to adore God and stood in need of Prayer that he was the Temple of the most Holy Trinity that Christ's Soul when he died descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden which was the place he promised to the Thief on the Cross That our Lady the Virgin deserved to be reproved for having vainly imagined that she was Mother to one that was to be a great King looking upon Christ as no other than a pure Man and presuming that he was to have a Temporal Empire as well as the resâ— of the Jews That the Evangelists did not Record all Christ's Actions in Truth as they were they not having been present at several of them which was the reason why they differed from one another so much That the Wise Men that came from the East received no favour from God for the Journey they took neither did they believe in Christ that Christ was the adopted Son of God it being as impossible that he should be Gods Natural Son as it is that Just Men should be so that he received new Grace in Baptism which he had not before that he is only the Image of the Word and the pure Temple of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of the Body of Christ which is only in Heaven at the right hand of the Father and not here on Earth That Christ as pure Man did not know when the day of Judgment was to be That when St. Thomas put his Hand into Christ's Side and said My Lord and my God! he did not speak to Christ for that he that was raised was not God but it was only an Exclamation made to God upon his beholding such a Miracle That the Authority that Christ gave to St. Peter over the Church was the same that he gave to other Priests so that his Successors have no more Power or Jurisdiction than other Bishops That our Lady the Virgin is not the Mother of God That the first Epistle of St. John and that of St. James are not the Writings of thole Holy Apostles but of some other Persons of the same Name and therefore are not Canonical Also the Book of Hormisda Raban who is stiled a Saint wherein it is said That Nestorius was a Saint and Martyr and suffered for the Truth and that St. Cyril who persecuted him was the Priest and Minister of the Devil and is now in Hell That Images are filthy and abominable Idols and ought not to be adored and that St. Cyril as a Heretick invented and introduced them There are also many false Miracles Recorded in this Book which are said to have been wrought by Hormisda in confirmation of the Nestorian Doctrine with an Account of what he suffered from the Catholicks for being obstinate in his Heresy Also the Book of Lots into which they put that they call the Ring of Solomon with a great many more Superstitions for the choice of good Days to Marry upon and for several other uses wherein are contained many Blasphemies and Heathenish Observances as also all other Books of Lots and for chusing of Days the Synod prohibits under the same Censure Also the Book written after the manner of â€
the whole Offices of the Advent and Nativity are little else than pure Blasphemy In the Book of Prayers for the great Fast it is frequently said that there were two Persons a Divine and Humane in Christ It contains also several Commemorations of Nestorius and other Hereticks his Followers affirming Marndeay Theodorus and Diodorus and other Nestorian Hereticks to have been the Followers of St. Ephrem In the Greater Breviary which they call Hudre and Gaza or The Treasure of Prayers it is every where said that there are two Persons in Christ and one representation of the Son of God that he is the Image of the Word and the Temple of the same that the Divine Person did enlighten the Humane and that Christ advanced in Grace and Knowledge by degrees that our Lady never carried God in her Womb as Hereticks affirm Christ being a Man like to others and that she ought not to be called the Mother of God but only the Mother of the second Adam that the whole Trinity assumed Humanity and that St. Matthew taught the Hebrews so that God did not make himself Flesh which he only took as a Dwelling to cover his Glory that God accompanyed Christ on the Cross but had not taken the Humanity neither was it God that suffered that the Word of the Father changed it self into Humanity and by the Son of Mary redeemed Mankind that the Father Eternal took Flesh in the same manner as the Son that the Angel delivered his Message to the Virgin in the Temple and not at Nazareth that the pains of travail opened the Womb of the Virgin who brought forth with labour after the manner of other Women that * In the most holy Sacrament The Christians who live scattered about Mesopotamia and Assyria and whose Patriarch resides at the Monastery of St. Raban Hurnez the Persian in the Gordyaean Mountains 40 miles above Niniveh tho' Eutychians and for that reason Enemies to the Chaldean Christians do agree with them in denying Transubstantiation as appears from the following Prayer taken out of their Missal and communicated to me by my Learned Friend Dr. Hide Angeli homines laudabunt te O Christe Sacrificere pro nobis qui per Sacramenta quae sunt in Ecclesia tua docuisti nos secundum magnificentiam tuam quod sicut in Pane Vino Natura sunt à te distincta in Virtute potentia idem sunt tecum Sic etiam Corpus quod à nobis distinctum est à verbo in substantia cum illo tamen qui accipit illud adunitum est in magnificentia potentia Sic credimus non metuimus ab iniquitate quod in uno sc una Hypostasi sit filius fatemur non est duo sicut improbi id est sicut dicunt Nestoriani non enim in completionibus Sacrificii Corpus Corpus frangimus sed unum per fidem sicut docuisti nos in Evangelio tuo laus tibi qui per Sacramenta tua instruxisti nos ut lauâ—emus nomen tuum Now I take this Testimony against Transubstantiation to be much the stronger for it 's being given by the Eutychians to whose Heresie Transubstantiation had it been believed would have given great Countenance as indeed I cannot but reckon those Hereticks having no where made use of that Doctrine to support their Heresie to be a considerable Argument of its not having been believed either by themselves or by the Orthodox for had the latter believed it tho' they had not done it themselves they could not have failed to have used it as Argumentum ad hominem which is what they have no where done It is true this is only a Negative Argument but it is as true that it is so circumstantiated as to be of equal force with one that is positive So again I do not see how we could have had a clearer proof of Transubstantiation not having been believed either by the Manichees or the Orthodox than we have from the Manichees abstaining from the Cup in the Sacrament for no other reason but because they did not think it lawful to drink Wine and from the Orthodoxes proving against them from that very Institution that it was lawful and endeavouring to convince them by several Arguments that it was their Duty to receive the Cup in the Sacrament and all this without ever so much as once intimating that the Liquor in the Cup when it came to be received was Blood and not Wine in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is not the true Body of Christ with a thousand more Blasphemies about it that Nestorius was a Preacher of Truth and in several places God is praised for having declared the Truth to Theodorus and Diodorus who was Master to Nestorius and in several Prayers they beseech God to chastise those that believe otherwise than Nestorius and his Followers whose Faith they say is founded on St. Peter's and the rest of the Apostles Moreover it is said that the Holy Virgin and her Spouse Joseph appeared before the Priests who could not tell how she had conceived and that Images are Idols and ought not to be adored nor so much as kept in Churches or in Houses of Christians there are likewise Offices of Nestorius and his Followers and Commemorations of several Hereticks In the Office for Priests departed it is sung That in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is only the Virtue of Christ but not his true Body and Blood all which Books and Breviaries tho' they do well deserve to be burnt for these and other Errors that they contain yet there being no other at present in this Diocess for the keeping up of Divine Service and the celebration of Religious Offices until such time as they shall be furnished with new Breviaries which the Synod desires they may speedily and that some may be Printed for them at St. Peter's in Rome the Synod doth order them to be corrected and purged from all their Errors and Commemorations of Hereticks and the entire Offices for all such and the Offices of Advent and the Nativity to be entirely tore out of their Breviaries and burnt entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan to see it done at his next Visitation in all the Churches of the Diocess commanding all Curates in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred to produce the said Books and all the other Books that they have as well of publick as of private Use and of Prayers as well as of the Mass before the said Lord Metropolitan at his Visitation in order to their being corrected by Persons appointed for that work in conformity to what is here ordained Decree XVI FOR the preservation of the Purity of the Faith the Synod does command all Priests Curates and all other Persons of whatsoever Condition or Quality within this Bishoprick in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication within two Months after the
publication thereof shall come to their knowledge to deliver all the Books they have written in the Syrian Tongue either with their own hands or by some other Person to the most Illustrious Metropolitan which they may do at the Visitation that he intends to hold speedily or to Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta or to the said College in order to their being perused and corrected or destroyed as shall be thought most convenient the Books of Common Prayer being excepted which are to be emended in the form abovesaid and under the same Precept of Obedience and pain of Excommunication the Synod does command That no Person of what Condition or Quality soever within this Bishoprick shall presume to translate any Book into the Syrian Tongue without express License from the Prelate with a Declaration of the Book to which it is granted the Books of Holy Scripture and Psalms only excepted and until such time as this Church shall be provided with a Bishop the most Illustrious Metropolitan doth commit the Power of granting all such Licenses to the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus by reason of his great skill in those Books and in the Chaldee and Syrian Languages Decree XVII SEeing the Purity of Faith and good Manners doth very much depend on the Doctrine that is preached to the People wherefore the Synod being informed that there are several ignorant Curates who do take upon them to preach and make Discourses in publick wherein they teach several Errors and Heresies that they meet with in Books that they do not understand and several fabulous and Apocryphal things those especially which they take out of the Book of the Infancy of our Saviour and other Apocryphal and Heretical writings doth command that none presume to preach or make any set Discourse to the People but who are Licensed by the Prelate in Writing who shall first examine them diligently as to their sufficiency and Doctrine according to the Holy Council of Trent and when there shall happen to be no Prelate during the vacancy of the See the most Illustrious Metropolitan doth commit the care thereof to the Rector of the Jesuits College of Vaipaicotta in this Diocess that so he and such of the Fathers as he shall name may make the said Examinations of which they shall give a Certificate sealed by the Rector and at the next Visitation the Lord Metropolitan shall name such as shall appear to him to be most for the benefit of the People of this Bishoprick in order to their being rightly instructed and whosoever shall without having undergone such an Examination and without having obtained a License thereupon in writing under the hand of the Bishop or Prelate presume to preach or make any Discourses to the People shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice for a Year nevertheless all Vicars may in their own Churches make such Discourses to their People as they shall judge necessary out of the Holy Scriptures and other approved Books to which end the Synod doth earnestly desire that there may be a Catechism made in the Malabar Tongue out of which there may be every Sunday something read to the People And whereas the Synod is informed that the most Illustrious Metropolitan is already about such a Work and has reason to hope that it may be done by the end of the Visitation it doth command so soon as it is finished and published That all Vicars do every Sunday at the time of Offering or before or after Mass read a Chapter of the same to the People in conformity to the Orders they shall receive Decree XVIII WHereas through the Ignorance and bad Doctrines of the Priests of this Diocess occasioned by their having been accustomed to read Heretical and Apocryphal Books they do many times deliver Errors and fabulous Stories in their Sermons and Admonitions to the People without knowing what they say themselves Therefore to prevent the Peoples being mis-taught the Synod doth command That whensoever it should be proved to the Prelate that any such thing has been delivered in publick or in any Congregation that the Prelate having drawn up a Form of Recantation in Writing shall send to the said Curates or the Persons that have delivered such things commanding them to retract and unsay the same in publick either by reading the said Recantation or by declaring the Contents of it to the People and teaching them the Truth which if any shall refuse to do which God forbid they shall be declared Excommunicate and shall be punished according to the Holy Canons and the quality of the Matter they delivered which shall be executed with great rigour if it shall appear to have been spoke with Knowledge and Malice but where it shall be found to have flow'd from Ignorance and an innocent Mind it shall suffice that a ready Obedience be paid to the said Satisfaction and Recantation Decree XIX THe Synod having been informed of several Meetings that were in this Diocess upon the death of Bishop Mar-Abraham in which both publick and private Oaths were taken against yielding Obedience to the Holy Roman Church several Curates and others obliging themselves never to consent to any change either in the Government of the Bishoprick or in matters of Faith nor to receive any Bishop that should be sent to them by the Holy Apostolical See or by any other way than by the Order of the Schismatical Heretical Nestorian Patriarch of Babylon with several other particulars contrary to the Sacred Canons and the Obedience that is due to the most Holy Roman Pontificate doth declare all * Such Oaths We may see by this what doughty Securities Promises or Oaths made to defend a Church that is not Popish are in the opinion of Papists such Oaths or any other taken or that shall be taken in the same manner to be void and of no force and that they do not only not oblige the Consciences of those that have taken them but that as they were rashly and maliciously taken so it is an Impiety and Schism to keep them denouncing the Sentence of the greater Excommunication upon all those that made them or took them This Synod having above all other things promised and sworn to yield Obedience to the Commands of the Pope and the Holy Apostolical See according to the Holy Canons and never to receive any Bishop or Prelate but what shall be sent by the Holy Roman Church to which it of right belongs to provide Prelates and Bishops to all the Churches in the World and to receive those that he shall send without any doubt or scruple acknowledging them for the true Prelates and Pastors of their Souls without waiting for any other Order besides that of the Bishop of Rome notwithstanding any impious Oaths that may have been made at any time to the contrary Decree XX. THis present Synod together with all the
Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth embrace all the Holy General Councils received by Holy Mother Church believing and confessing all that was determined in them anathematizing rejecting and condemning all that they have rejected and condemned but especially it doth with great Veneration receive and embrace the first Holy Council of Ephesus consisting of 200 Fathers firmly believing all that was therein determined and rejecting and condemning whatsoever it condemned but above all the Diabolical Heresy of the Nestorians which has been for many Years preached and believed in this Diocess which together with its Author Nestorius and all his Followers the said Council did reject and anathematize who being taught by the Devil held that there were Two Persons in our Lord Christ affirming also that the Divine Word did not take Flesh into the Unity of its Person but only for an Habitation or Holy Dwelling as a Temple and that it ought not to be said that God was Incarnate or that he Died nor that our Lady the Glorious Virgin was the Mother of God but only the Mother of Christ with other Diabolical Heresies all which this Synod does condemn reject and anathematize embracing the Holy Catholick Faith in that purity and integrity that it is believed and professed in by the Holy Mother Roman Church the Mistress of all Churches to which in all things it submits it self according to the profession it has made Furthermore this Synod does acknowledge the Glorious Cyril Archbishop and Patriarch of Alexandria who by Order of the Bishop of Rome †Presided St. Cyril presided in the Ephesan Council in his own right being the only Patriarch that was present at it presided in the Holy Ephesan Council to be a Blessed Saint at this time enjoying God in Heaven and that his Doctrine in the said Council against the Nestorians is Holy and universally received in the Catholick Church professing all that reject it to be Excommunicated Hereticks Decree XXI FUrthermore This present Synod with all the Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth embrace the last * Holy Council of Trent Justinianus a Noble Venetian in the 15th Book of his History of Venice gives the following account of the Holiness of the Trent Council Religionis causa in Tridentino Concilio parum prosperos successus habebat ob dissentientes animos coecamque Praelatorum ambitionem Solus autem Cardinalis Lothoringius Vir pietatis Studio dicendi arte clarus que ad Dei honorem veram Ecclesiae reformationem essent fuadebat cui plerique ex Concilii Patribus humanarum potius rerum quà m divinarum curam habentes refragabantur variisque opinionibus Sanctâ Synodâ— dissidente nil quod rectum sanctum piúmque foret decerni potuit omniaque confusione coecitate plena erant tantaque Praelatos ambitio coeperat ut nulla apud eos fidei Religionisque pro verâ Ecclesiae reformatione ratio haberetur Holy and Sacred Council of Trent and does not only believe and confess all that was determined and approved of therein and reject and anathematize all that that Council rejected and condemned but doth moreover receive and embrace the said Council as to all matters therein determined relating to the reformation of the Church and all Christian People promising and swearing to Govern it self according to the Rules thereof and to observe the same Forms that are observed in the Catholick Church and as are observed in this Province of the Indies and in all the other Provinces and Suffragans to the Metropolis of Goa in order to the removing of all Abuses and Customs that are contrary to the Decrees of the said Council of Trent by which only it is resolved to Govern it self as to all matters relating to the Government of the Church and the Reformation of the Manners of this faithful and Catholick People any Customs tho' immemorial in this Bishoprick to the contrary notwithstanding Decree XXII THis present Synod together with all the Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth with great submission and reverence submit it self to the Holy Upright Just and Necessary Court of the Holy Office of the †Inquisition This agrees with what Paul the IIId said of â—he Inquisition upon his Death-â—ed that it was the Pillar of the Church of Rome if he had been in his Chair he could not have delivered a greater truth A Heathen Roman Synod would never have been guilty of calling that an Upright and Just Court which neither suffers its Prisoners to know the particular Crime whereof they are accused nor the Persons that accuse them nor the Witnesses that depose against them Acts 25. ver 16. I referr those that have a mind to be satisfied of the Justice of this Court to the History of the Inquisition of Goa which was the Inquisition this Synod put the Church of Malabar under published by a French Papist who was himself a Prisoner in it tho' I must tell them that as bad as his Treatment was therein that it was but Play to what it would have been had he profess'd himself a Protestant or not to have been of the Roman Communion tho' he had once been of it Bulenger tho' otherwise a fierce Papist gives this following account of this Holy Office Inter haec actum à Pontifice cum Hâ—spaniae Rege ut Inquisitio Hispanica Mediolanum inserretur quod tam acerbè tulêre Insubres ut defectionis consilia inierint Ea quaestio in Hispaniâ Mauris deprehendendis instituta est per cujâ—â— causam nomen crebrò innocentes ac sceleris integri custodiae mancipaâ—tur opibus evertuntur vitâ dignitate falsis criminibus circumventi spoliantur Si vocula fortè à Delatoribus excepta est Majestatis illicò postulantur in ultimae sortâ—â— hominibus crimina praetentata mâ—â— in Viros Principes districta sunt Jacent plerumque tres annos in fitâ— paedore carceris priusquam libeâ—â—â— aut noto crimine arcessantur alâ—â— nullius criminis comperti judicio affliguntur quidam in squalore carcerâ— ignorati contabescunt Auricularii frumentarii quadruplatores subdâ—â—â— grassantur qui rei faciendae Stâ—dâ—â— in Divitum capità involant 〈◊〉 tam crimina judicio qùam objectâ— menta jurgio prolata quaerunt Sermones inter familiares habitos in reâ— non modo seriam sed capitalem ducuâ— And Mazeray a Papist too 〈◊〉 the Life of Henry II. calls the Inquisition a Dreadful Monster Inquisition in these Parts Established and being sensible how much the Integrity of the Faith depends upon that Tribunal it does promise and swear to be obedient to all its Commands in all things thereunto pertaining being after the Example of all other Bishopricks in this Province willing that all matters of Faith should be judged of by the same Court or by such Persons as it shall depute And notwithstanding the said Holy Office has not hitherto by reason of this Church's having been separated and had little or no
correspondence with the Apostolical See or with any of the Churches that are subject to it medled with any Persons belonging to this Bishoprick yet now for the benefit of their Souls as to Absolutions in cases of Faith which are known to be reserved to that Court This present Synod doth beseech the Lords Inquisitors to Authorize some Learned Men within this Bishoprick or the Jesuits of the College of Vaipicotta and of other residences of the same Religion in the said Diocess to Absolve all such as shall stand in need thereof and that with such limitations as they shall think fit considering how difficult it is for the People inhabiting the Serra to have recourse to the Tribunal at Goa neither can it be otherwise considering that they live in the midst of Infidels but that such necessary Cases will sometimes happen and especially to rude and ignorant People Decree XXIII THe Preservation of the Purity of the Faith and the prevention of Peoples being corrupted with false and strange Doctrines being a thing of the greatest importance this Synod doth therefore command all Persons of what Quality or Condition soever in this Bishoprick that whensoever they shall happen to know of any Christians doing speaking or writing any thing that is contrary to the Holy Catholick Faith or of any that shall give assistance or countenance thereunto to * What a Confusion must this is newly and forcibly converted to practice needs make in a place that the Roman Church dilate them with all possible Expedition and Secrecy to the Prelate or to the Vicars of the Church or to some other faithful Person who will immediately give an account thereof that so such a course may be forthwith taken as the necessity of the Matter shall require the Synod in virtue of Obedience commanding the said Vicars and Persons to whom such things shall be denounced to intimate them with all possible speed ACTION IV. Of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation THe Holy Sacraments of the Gospel instituted by our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ the Son of God for the Remedy and Salvation of Men and to which he hath applyed the Virtue of his Holy Passion and infinite Merits and by which all true Holiness begins in us and being begun is encreased and being lost is recovered are †Seven The Doctrine of the Seven Sacraments is so great a Novelâ—â—n the Church of Rome for it is in no other Church that Bellarmine with all his reading was not able to produce the testimony of one Father for it Greek nor Latin Peter Lombard who lived above a thousand years after the Apostles being the first he quotes for it This is a long time for an Apostolical Tradition to run under ground and which is yet more wonderful that it should break out in an Age that knew nothing of Ecclesiastical Antiquity or indeed of any other sort of Learning but this was the common fate of all the Roman Doctrines and Rites which they pretend to have received from the Apostles only by the way of the dark and uncertain conveyance of Oral Tradition Seven to wit Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penitence Extream Vnction Order and Matrimony All which do differ much from the Sacraments of the Old Law which did not cause but did only signifie the Grace that was to be given by the Passion of Christ whereas our Sacraments do contain Grace and give it to all those that receive them worthily the first five were ordained for the Spiritual perfecting of every Man only with relation to himself the two last were appointed for the good Government and encrease of the Church by Baptism we are spiritually born again to God by Confirmation we are advanced in Grace fortified in the Faith and being Regenerated and strengthened we are supported by the Divine Food of the Eucharist and Sacrament of the Altar and when we chance by Sin to fall into any distemper of Soul we are Spiritually restored by Penitence and both Spiritually and Corporally by Extream Vnction by the Sacrament of Order the Church is governed and Spiritually multiplied and by Matrimony Corporally All these Sacraments are perfected by three Causes that is Things as their matter Words as their form and the Person that is to administer them with an †Intention This Doctrine after all their talk of the necessity there is of an infallible certainty in all matters of Religion must make them to be very far from having any such certainty of their being Christians or of their having either a Priest or a Bishop in their Church For as they cannot be infallibly certain of any Bishop or Priest's Intention in the Administration of the Sacraments so they may be certain that it is possible that Bishops and Priests may be so wicked as not to intend what the Church does in such administration nay to intend the contrary for there was a Parish-Priest burnt not many Years ago at Lisbon who confessed at his Death that whenever he baptized or consecrated he had a formed Intention not to administer those Sacraments Intention of doing what the Church doth and where any of these three Causes are wanting they are not perfect neither indeed is any Sacrament administer'd all the Ceremonies and Rites approved and made use of by Holy Mother Church in the administration of the Sacraments are holy and cannot be despised neglected or * Changed This is very strange considering that most of those Rites are but new even in the Roman Church that of the Elevation of the Host not excepted Of the Elevation of the Host Cardinal Bona in the 13th Chap. of his 2d Book of Liturgies saith Non enim liquet quae prima Origo fuerit in Ecclesiâ Latinâ elevandi Sacra Mysteria statim ac consecrata sunt in antiquis enim Sacramentorum libris in codicibus Ordinis Romani tam excusis quà m MSS nec in priscis rituum Expositoribus Alcuino Almario Walfrido Micrologo aliis aliquod ejus vestigium reperitur As to Peoples being present at Mass that did not communicate at the same time the same Cardinal saith in the 14th Chap. of his first Book Primi Secundi post Christum saeculi foelicitas haec fuit cum multitudo credentium quorum erat Cor unum animae una ardentissimo Dei amore succensa nihil impensius desiderabat quà m ad hoc supercoeleste convivium accedere in quo anima de Deo saginatur ut loquitur Tertullianus at propè finem Tertii coepit fervor ille languescere numerus communicantium imminui quam tepiditatem aegrè ferentes Patres Concilii Illiberitani Cap. 28. Statuerunt Episcopum non debere munera ab eo accipere qui non communicat Patres item Conc. Antioch Can. 2. Omnes qui ingrediuntur Ecclesiam se à perceptione Sanctae Communionis avertunt ab Ecclesiâ remover decreverunt Patres denique Conc. Tolet. Cap. 13. Eos abstineri praeceperunt qui intrant
In a word any Person that can Baptize using the Form of the Church and intending to do what she does may administer this Sacrament For seeing none can be saved without being Baptized therefore as our Lord ordained Water than which nothing is more ready at hand to be the matter of this Sacrament so he would exclude no Man from being the Minister thereof the effects and virtue of this Sacrament is the pardon and remission of all sins Original and Actual and of all punishments due to them for which reason there is no Penance to be enjoyned those that are Baptized for any sin they committed before Baptism all that die after Baptism before they have committed any sin going directly to Heaven where they enjoy the Divine Vision for ever Decree I. WHereas in the Examination of the Forms of the administration of the Sacraments of the Church in this Diocess made by the most Reverend Metropolitan in his last Visitation he found that in divers Churches there were different Forms used and written in the Baptisteries some Curates using the Form following * The Ancient Form of Baptizing was by Prayer N. is Baptized and perfected in the name of the Father Amen in the name of the Son Amen in the name of the Holy Ghost Amen Others using the Greek Form saying Baptizetur servus Christi in nomine Patris Amen in nomine Filii Amen in nomine Spiritûs Sancti Amen The Synod in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred doth command that no Person shall presume hereafter to use either these or any other Forms but that which is used in the Holy Roman Church I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all other Forms be blotted out of their Baptisteries and Books and this be put in their place Decree II. THis Synod being informed That at divers times they have used different Forms of Baptism in this Diocess which were introduced by Schismatical and Ignorant Prelates some of which were not Legitimate neither was the Sacrament administred by them as was declared by the most Illustrious Metropolitan and others after a strict Examination and others were very doubtful doth therefore in the name of the Holy Ghost desire and command all the faithful Christians of this Diocess to declare to the said Metropolitan at the Visitation he intends to make of the Churches of this Diocess or to Persons deputed by him the time when they were Baptized that so according to the Form that was then used a saving remedy may be provided in conformity to what shall be ordained therein and that all submit themselves to whatsoever he shall be pleased to order Decree III. FOrasmuch as the Synod is informed that there are many Persons in this Diocess and especially among those that live in the Heaths and are far from any Church who tho' they are not Baptized yet being of a Christian race do profess themselves Christians and when they come where there is a Church do go to it and receive the Holy Sacraments with others and out of meer shame of letting it be known that they are not Christened do die without Baptism and others because they will not pay the Fees which are Simoniacally demanded of them It doth therefore command all Vicars of Churches to make diligent inquiry through their whole Parishes and the Heaths to see if there are any that are not Christened besides the search that the most Illustrious Metropolitan does intend at his next Visitation as he did at his former and that the said Vicars on the high Festivals upon which those that live in the Heaths do usually come to Church shall admonish them all in general that in case there are any among them that have never been baptized or that have some reason to doubt whether they have or not that they go to them and acquaint them therewith in private that so they may be secretly Christened and without paying any Fee letting them know that they are not Christians nor capable of inheriting Eternal Life nor of receiving the Holy Sacraments without being baptized and all Preachers shall frequently give the same admonition and all Confessors must be careful to ask all rude Christians that live in the Heaths whether they have been baptized and in case it appear doubtful they shall then baptize them privately The Synod grants the same License to all Priests within or without this Diocess to baptize all such secretly in what place soever they shall think fit Decree IV. THE Synod being informed that there are some small Villages in this Diocess which by reason of the great distance they are at from any Church and through the negligence of their Prelates and Priests tho' they call themselves Christians of St. Thomas because descended of such yet are not Baptized having nothing of Christians but the bare name doth command a diligent enquiry to be made into this matter recommending the same to the most Reverend Metropolitan and commanding all Vicars of Churches to search all places bordering upon their Parishes and to oblige all such to be Baptized The Synod doth likewise command Chappels to be built in or near to all such Villages and to be provided with such Curates as may instruct them in all matters of Faith that so there may be none in all these parts that call themselves Christians of St. Thomas but what are Baptized and of some Parish where they may receive the Sacraments Decree V. BY reason of the great negligence that is so visible in the Christians of this Bishoprick in bringing their Children to be baptized within eight days after they are born according to the Custom of the Church but chiefly among those that live at a considerable distance from any Church whose Children are many times some Months or Years old before they are Christen'd the Synod doth strictly command That all Children be baptized on the 8th day after they are born according to the custom of the Universal Church without there should be some danger of their dying before in which case they ought to be Christened immediately or that it should so happen that if they are not baptized sooner they cannot be in a long time in which case also they ought to be presently Christened and for those that live in Heaths and far from any Church if they should not be able to bring their Children to be baptized on the eighth day they must not fail to bring them betwixt the fifteenth and the twentieth and all that are found to be negligent herein let them be punish'd severely and whosoever shall neglect to bring their own Children or others that they have the charge of tho' their Slaves to Baptism for above a Month let them be thrown out of the Church neither shall it be lawful for any Priest to go to their Houses or to give them the Casturi or a Visit no not in order to
before he is sold that he refused to be Baptized Decree XI THe Heathens of these Parts being so strangely addicted to Auguries and Superstitions as sometimes to kill their Children which are born on those days which they reckon to be Unlucky imagining they must be miserable if they live the Mothers that they may not Murther them with their own hands leaving them in Heaths or at the bottom of some Tree or in a Ditch there to perish wherefore the Synod doth command all the faithful Christians of this Bishoprick That whereas living among such Heathens and being their Neighbours they cannot for the most part but know what passes in their Houses to be very watchful in this case and whensoever they shall know of any Infants being thus exposed or shall find them at any time in the Heaths to carry them home to their Houses and cherish them with Christian Charity either Baptizing them themselves or procuring it to be done and if when they find them they shall apprehend them to be near dying notwithstanding they may know that their Parents will take it ill of them who by thus exposing them have lost their dominion over them they shall Baptize them immediately whereby the Church will acquire a right in them and as a Holy Mother is glad to receive them and if it should so happen that those by whom they are found are not in a condition to breed them up they shall then carry them to the Vicar and the other Curates of the Church whom we command in the name of Christ to call together the chief Men of the Parish to take some course about the bringing up of the Child and if there is no well-disposed Person that will for the love of God take the charge thereof upon him they shall then procure a Nurse and whatsoever else is necessary if there can be no other way found out of the Alms and Fabrick of the Church Decree XII THe Synod commands That the Infants that are left at the Gates of the Churches or in any other place if it does not manifestly appear that they are already Christned shall be Baptized and shall be brought up in the same manner as is prescribed for the Children of Infidels that are found exposed in the Heaths the Vicars doing all they can to prevail with some to undertake the charge of their Education for God's sake Decree XIII ALL that shall be converted from Heathenism to Christianity being of Age shall be well instructed in the matters of Faith before they shall be admitted to Baptism and shall know at least how to Cross themselves and be able to say the Pater Noster Ave Mary the Creed and the Commandments as well as they can be taught in which Matter there has been hitherto a great Neglect commanding the Vicars to examine all such in the Faith before they Christen them without they should happen to be in danger of Death before they have learn'd those things in which case their making a profession of Faith and the necessary Mysteries thereof and signifying a desire to be Baptized shall be sufficient And whereas the Synod is inform'd that great numbers of Infidels living among Christians have long desired Baptism of them but through the coldness of Priests and others have had none that would be at the pains to instruct them it doth therefore charge the Consciences of the Vicars therewith speedily to set about instructing such according to the fervour of those that desire it that so they may be brought to the Sacred Font of Baptism desiring all other Christians likewise to be diligent and zealous in that Matter Decree XIV THe Holy Oils having hitherto not been used in this Bishoprick in any of the Sacraments and if any have been used it having been without any distinction and without being Blessed by the Bishop wherefore for remedy thereof the most Illustrious Metropolitan in his Reformation of the Affairs of this Church having on the Thursday of the last Holy Week blessed the Oils and furnished all the Churches therewith instructing them in their Holy Uses and Distinctions the Synod doth therefore command all Vicars in virtue of holy obedience to use the said Oils in Baptism Anointing all that are Baptized therewith on the Breast and the Sides and after they are Baptized anointing them with the Holy Chrism on the Head and making the sign of the Cross thereon with their Thumb dipt in the Holy Oils or with a Feather kept in the Vessel for that use wiping the Oil off afterwards with a Cloth or Towel which shall likewise be kept in the same place The Synod doth also command under the same Precept That all Curates and Vicars do celebrate this Sacrament with the Rites and Ceremonies Exorcisms and Prayers that are contained in the Roman Ceremonial which the most Illustrious Metropolitan has order'd to be Translated into Syrian for the administration of all the Sacraments and is to be kept in all Churches and that the Priests when they administer Baptism solemnly in the Church shall have on a Surplice and a Stole about their Necks for the more decent administration of that Sacrament and shall not perform it in their ordinary wearing Habit as they have done hitherto Decree XV. WHereas hitherto the ancient Custom of the Church of having Godfathers and Godmothers has not been in use in this Bishoprick by which means there has been no knowledge therein of the Spiritual Affinity that is contracted betwixt the Party Baptized and the Parents thereof and the Godfathers and Godmothers therefore the Synod does command That all that are Baptized shall have one or two Godfathers and Godmothers to present them in the Church and to touch them on the Head before Baptism and to receive them from the Holy Font The Men must be fourteen Years of Age at least and the Women twelve neither shall any be admitted under those Ages The Synod doth likewise declare That there is such a close Spiritual Affinity betwixt the Godfathers and Godmothers and their God-children and the Parents of the Children that they can never Marry with one another without a Dispensation from the Pope or from one empowered by him and which is seldom granted and never but when there is a very urgent cause for it and that such Marriages celebrated without a Dispensation are void and of no effect The Synod furthermore declares That this Spiritual Affinity reacheth no further than to the one or two Godfathers and one Godmother but not to those that shall stand for them tho' they touch the Heads of the Children neither shall the Priest admit above two Decree XVI SEeing that by our Lord Jesus Christ and his Death we are passed from the Old Law to the New Law of Grace it is therefore reasonable that we should in all things be ingrafted into the same and whereas in this Bishoprick Christians do take several of the Names of the Saints of the Old Testament as also several of
the Names of the Country insomuch that there are but very few called by any of the Names of the Law of Grace wherefore the Synod doth command the Priests to do all they can to have the Names of the Law of Grace given in Baptism but chiefly those of the Holy Apostles and of the Saints that are most celebrated in the Church not intending hereby to take them from any Devotion that several among them may have for some of the Saints of the Old Testament whose Names have been hitherto very common in the Diocess such as Abraham Jacob Zacharias and others nevetheless from henceforward they shall not presume to take the Name of Hijo which has been very common among them neither shall the Priests ever give it to any it being the most sweet * Name of Iesus The Portuguezes had the least reason of any Christians that I know of to be offended with such a Name Emanuel being by much the most common Name in Portugal Name of JESVS to which that Respect and †Reverence Francisco Roz and the other Jesuits ought to have had their Order excepted here for if the Synod's Reason why none ought to be called by that Blessed Name holds good it will reach their Order no less than particular Persons Reverence is due that none ought to take it upon them for that in the naming thereof all Knees both in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth ought to bow themselves and every Tongue ought to confess that it is from that Divine Name that we desire all the good things that we enjoy on Earth commanding all that are called by that Name to change it for another when they come to be Confirmed and as for the common Names of the Countrey they may still retain them if they are such as have been used only among Christians but not among the Heathens for as to those Names which the Heathens have ‖ In common The Popes among whom we have had so many Alexanders and Julius's have had little regard to this Rule in common with Christians the Synod will not have them to be given in Baptism charging the Vicars and Priests that Baptize to take care thereof Decree XVII THe Synod being informed That there are some Christians so far unmindful of their Duties in this Matter as to give other Names to their Children than the * Christian Names This is what several Popes have done who upon their Creation have left their Baptismal Names which were Christian and have taken those that were rank Heathen Christian Names they received in Baptism and sometimes such as are not used among Christians it doth therefore strictly command that no Christian shall presume to give their Children or to call them by any other Names than those that were given them when they were Christened or when there shall happen to be any just cause for the changing of their Baptismal Names it shall be done only at their Confirmation and whosoever shall transgress herein shall be severely punished by the Prelate and the Priests must not be wanting frequently to admonish their People thereof Decree XVIII THe Synod being informed That when many Children are brought together to be Baptized there are great heats which shall be first Christened and that after having lay'd Wagers they give Money to the Curates for the preference all which are intolerable disorders and such scandalous abominations as the Church ought not by any means to give way to and which might be easily prevented if People could but be perswaded to bring their Children to be Christened upon the eighth day it being their deferring of their Baptism so long that is the cause of so many coming together wherefore for the removing of these disorders in the Church the Synod doth command that the Children be baptized as they come without any distinction of first or last and that the Priests do accustom themselves either to baptize the poorest first or all indifferently and the Vicar or Priest that shall be found to have taken Money or any Fee before or after Baptism tho' it should be voluntarily offer'd and of never so small value or only what is to be Eat shall be condemned of Simony and punished according to the Canons Decree XIX IN all Parochial Churches there shall with all possible expedition be Fonts provided for Baptism which may be built with the Fabrick Money or with the Alms Money of the Church or by a Collection among the Parishioners it must be erected in a decent place in a corner of the Church and shall have a hole in the bottom through which the Water may be conveyed away that so it may not be thrown out where it may be trod upon or treated with any irreverence it shall also be close covered at top and locked up and until such time as a Font shall be provided they shall have a Vessel of some Metal or other which shall be put to no other use and shall be always kept in some decent place in the Church or Sacristy neither shall they hereafter make use of any common Vessel as has been the Custom hitherto and the Water they have baptized with shall be thrown in some place of the Church where it will not be trod upon and all the Water that shall be made use of in Baptism whether it be in a Font or a Vessel shall be blessed with the Holy Chrism according to the Roman Ceremonial which they are to make use of Decree XX. THis Synod conforming it self to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent and the Universal usages of the Church doth command every Parish-Church to provide a Book wherein the Vicar shall register the Names of all that are baptized together with the Names of the Parents and of the place where they live and of the Godfathers and Godmothers naming the place also where they were Christened the day of the Month and the Year in this Form On such a day of the month in the Year N I N. Vicar of the Church of N. baptized there or in such a place N. the Son of N. and of N. naming the Father and Mother Natives of such a place and the Godfathers and Godmothers were N. and N. the Vicar signing his Name to it at the bottom and when any Priest that is not the Vicar shall Christen a Child which shall never be done without the Vicars leave he shall Register it thus I N. Curate with leave from the Vicar of such a Church naming both the Vicar and the Church did Baptize N. and so on as above signing his Name at the bottom which Book shall be always kept in the Church and the Vicars shall be obliged to give an account thereof and at every Visitation to shew it to the Prelate out of which the Curates are to give Certificates of the Age of such as are to be Married or to receive Holy Orders that so their Age may be certainly known and that such
Matters may not be so in the dark as they have been formerly when there was no certain way of coming to the knowledge of Peoples Age which must needs create great scruples in the Minds of such as were to be Married or Ordained The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Confirmation THe Second Sacrament is Confirmation which our Lord Christ instituted in order to the confirming and establishing of Christians in the Faith so that nothing might be able to separate them from it through the Power of the Holy Ghost which is given therein particularly to that effect besides the sanctifying Grace which it gives in common with the other Divine Sacraments the Matter of this Sacrament is the Holy Oyl of Chrism made of the Oyl of the Olive-tree signifying the light and purity of the Conscience and of Balsam which signifies the sweet smell of a good Name both mixed together and blessed by the hand of the Bishop the Form are the words spoke by the Bishop when he dips his Thumb into the said Chrism making therewith the Sign of the Cross on the Forehead of the Person that is confirmed saying I sign thee with the sign of the Cross and do confirm thee with the Chrism of Health in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to which the Bishop subjoyns three holy and wholsome Prayers wherein he beseeches God to fill those that are confirmed with his Divine Spirit The ordinary Minister of * The English Jesuits who could not endure that the Pope should put a Bishop over them here in England in their Books wherein they laboured to prove that there was no need of one spoke very slightingly of Confirmation affirming it to be a Sacrament that was not enjoyned but only where it might be had very easily that the effects thereof might be abundantly supplyed by the other Sacraments nay by ordinary Assistances that the Chrism in Baptism had not only the signification but all the effects of Confirmation so far at least as to make it not to be very necessary In a word that Confirmation was not simply necessary neither Necessitate Medii nor Necessitate Praecepti so that it was not likely that the want of it in Eâ—â—land was the cause of so many Peoples apostatizing from the Catholick Faith So little do either the Sacraments or the Hierarchy not excepting the Papacy it self signifie when they stand in the way of the Jesuits ambition I do not except the Papacy because when it was generally believed that Clement the VIIIth was resolved to condemn Molina's Book of Scientia Media the Spanish Jesuits endeavoured to ward off that blow by affirming in their publick Conclusions in their College at Complutum that it was not a matter of Faith to believe that Clement the VIIIth was true Pope for which Luisius Turrianus the President of the Disputation the Rector of the College and Vasquez who were present at the Act were all summoned to appear before the Inquisition of Toledo as Gaspar Hortadus Gregory de la Camara and Alvarez de Villegas were to appear at Rome before the Pope for having defended the same Conclusion publickly in the said University much about the same time so that had Clement the VIIIth condemned Molina's Book after the whole order of the Jesuits had espoused the merits thereof so publickly which the Dominicans say he would certainly have done had he but lived a few Months longer Ignatius Loyola appearing to some Jesuits in Spain and assuring them that Molina's Book would never be condemned by any Pope notwithstanding we should have had Simony or some other Nullity found in his Election by the Jesuits before this time By this we see that Jesuits have wherewith to intimidate Popes as well as Princes and Bishops Confirmation is the Bishop for tho' simple Priests may perform several other Unctions this can be done only by a Bishop the Bishops being the Successors of the Apostles by the imposition of whose hands the Holy Ghost was given in the place of which imposition of hands the Church gives Confirmation Christ having so ordained it wherein the Holy Ghost is given likewise Nevertheless by a dispensation from the Holy See and by no other way when there is any very urgent Occasion or when it happens to be necessary for the good of the Faithful simple Priests may confirm with Chrism that has been consecrated by a Bishop in the forementioned Form the effect of this Sacrament is that therein the Holy Ghost is given to the strengthening and fortifying of the Soul as it was given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost that Christians may with boldness confess the Name of Christ and his Catholick Faith for which reason the Person confirmed is anointed on the forehead with the Sign of the Cross that being the most open place of the Body and the Seat of Shame and Confusion which is very different from what is done to People when they are baptized who are anointed on the Head People are confirmed on the forehead that they may not be ashamed to confess the Name of Jesus Christ and his Cross which as the Apostle saith is to the Jews an Offence and to the Heathens foolishness this Sacrament differs much from that of Baptism for as by Baptism we are born into the Faith so by this we are confirmed therein for as in the Natural Life to be born is different from growing so in the Spiritual Life it is one thing to be born to Grace and Faith which is done in Baptism and another to encrease and grow stronger therein which is done in Confirmation and so in Baptism we are born to a Spiritual Life and are afterwards prepared and confirmed for our Warfare and do receive so much strength that no dangers or terrors of Punishments or Losses or Torments or Deaths are able to separate us from the Confession of the Name of Christ and of the true Faith we profess Decree I. FOrasmuch as hitherto there has been no use nor so much as Knowledge of the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation among the Christians of this Bishoprick the Heretical Prelates that governed it having neglected to feed the People in a great many cases with wholsome Catholick Food therefore the Synod doth declare That all Persons who are come to the use of reason ought to receive this Holy Sacrament having the opportunity of receiving it at the hands of a Bishop and that all Masters of Families and others having the Charge of Children are in Duty bound to command their Children and Slaves to receive the said Sacrament and that all who out of contumacy or contempt shall refuse to receive it or to order such as belong to them to go to it are guilty of a Mortal Sin and if they neglect it out of a conceit of it 's not being a Sacrament they are Hereticks and Aliens from the true Catholick Faith wherefore the Synod doth command that in the Visitation that is
makes many Prayers and Petitions to God yet when he comes to Consecrate he useth only the words of Christ none others belonging to the substance of Consecration so the Priest speaking in the Person of Christ makes this Divine Sacrament because by virtue of those words he turneth the substance of Bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood there remaining nothing of Bread and Wine after that but only the Accidents or Species of them and that after such a manner that the whole of Christ's Body and Soul and Divinity are contained under every Particle of both tho' never so small when separated so that in every crumb of the Host tho' never so small there is Christ intire and in every drop of the Species of Wine that is separated there is Christ entire so that in each of the Species whole Christ God and Man is received as also the true Sacrament for which reason Holy Mother Church does not use to Communicate the Faithful but †Vnder one Species What makes the Sacrilege of denying the Cup to the People in the Sacrament to be something the greater is that most of the Roman Doctors do hold that there is more Grace convey'd to People by communicating under both the Species of Bread and Wine than under that of Bread only Vasquez Cap. 2. Quaest 80. Art 12. Disp 215. Nay Pope Clement the VIth in his Bull to the King of England in the Year 1341 acknowledgeth as much wherein he tells that King that he granted him the privilege of communicating under both kinds that he might receive the more Grace by receiving the Sacrament so under one Species because in that they receive Christ entire To this Divine Sacrament the Worship Veneration and ‖ Adoration The Primitive Christians must have been People of a strange confidence in triumphing as they did over the stupidity of the Heathen Worship for being directed to Objects that were subject to all the Accidents and Casualties that any other Bodies are subject to had they themselves at the same time Worshiped the Host which is subject to more Accidents than the Stone Wood or Brass of the Heathen Images for they that do Worship it cannot deny but that the Host may be Stole Burnt eat by Mice or other Vermine and if kepâ— too long will of it self Mould and Corrupt They must certainly have the privilege of believing what they have a mind to that can believe That if the Primitive Christians had had any such Doctrine as this of Transubstantiation among them considering how many especially in times of Persecution apostatized from the Faith that it was possible for them to have concealed it from Celsus Lucian Porphyry and above all from Julian the Apostate or that those Heathens if they had but had the least inkling thereof would not have made the World to have rung with the noise of it wherefore their having never mentioned any such thing considering the Wit and Spite of the Men is a demonstration that there could be no such Doctrine among Christians in their days neither can Schelstrat's Doctrina Arcani considering the great numbers quality and temper of Renegado's do any service in this case Adoration of Latria is due or the same that is due to God who is contained therein and is really present there The Effect that this Sacrament worketh on the Souls of those that receive it worthily is the Vnion of the Man with Christ and by it through Grace the Man is incorporated into Christ and joyned to his Members Moreover by this Sacrament Grace is increased in all such as receive it worthily so that whatever effects Carnal eating and drinking works upon a Man as to his Corporal Life the same are wrought upon Man by this Divine Sacrament as to a Spiritual Life Decree I. THere being nothing so necessary for the Faithful as the acknowledgement of and thankfulness for so profound a Blessing and so excellent a Mercy as that which our Lord Christ did for us in leaving himself under the Sacramental Species to be the true Food of our Souls and for the consolation support and remedy of the Spiritual Life of Believers we ought therefore wholly to occupy our selves in the Veneration of that Divine Mystery In order whereunto Holy Mother Church besides the continual Thanks and Veneration which she always gives and shews hath ordained a particular Day in the Year for the celebration of the Memory of so great a Blessing which not being * Observed in this This Feast is of later standing by at least 100 Years than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation It was Instituted in the Year 1240 by Pope Vrban as is commonly said upon a Vision a Nun had of the Church's being Imperfect for want of it but the Spaniards will have a Miracle that was wrought in Spain at thâ—â— time which is both too long and too ridiculous to relate to have given occasion to the Pope's instituting it The Indulgences granted to it by Pope Vrban Martin and Eugenius are 500 days Pardon to all that shall be present at its first Vespers 500 to all that shall be present at the Mass of the day 500 to all that shall be at its second Vespers and 500 to every day of its Octaves as also 500 to every hour of them and wheresoever it finds any place interdicted it takes off the Interdict for eight days observed in this Diocess the Synod desiring that in all things this Church may conform her self to the Customs of the Holy Mother the Universal Church of Rome doth command the Festivity of the most Holy Sacrament to be Celebrated in all the Churches of this Diocess on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday according to the Stile of these Parts and the said Day to be kept by all sorts of People and that thereon either before or after Mass they make a Procession through the Town or in some convenient place with all possible Solemnity in the same manner as they do upon Easter-day Decree II. THe Synod doth declare That every faithful Christian so soon as he attains to the Years of perfect Discretion that is to say Men at the Age of fourteen more or less according as their Confessors shall think fit and Women having a Capacity to know what they do at the Age of twelve are obliged to receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist once a Year in Lent or at Easter from the hands of their own Vicar or Curate of their Church and that whosoever does not receive it being capable betwixt the beginning of Lent and the second Sunday after Easter shall be declared Excommunicate on the third Sunday and be held as such untill they have confessed themselves and Communicated Nevertheless the Synod gives Licence to such Vicars as know their Parishes to be of that Nature that it is not possible for the People to comply with this Obligation in so short a time
to wait 'till Whitsuntide and then to declare them provided that before they declare those that live on the Heaths they shall first take care to admonish them either by themselves or by others of known fidelity that so they may do their Duty herein letting them know if they fail that they must be declared Excommunicate The Curates must also be sure to observe who have complyed with this Obligation putting their Names in a Roll as is ordered in Confession But notwithstanding the Sacred Canons do oblige the Faithful only to confess and communicate once a Year at the time aforesaid nevertheless the Vicars shall advise their Parishioners to do it oftner namely at Christmass and Whitsuntide and the Assumption of our Lady giving warning thereof still the Sunday before Decree III. THe Synod doth declare and teach That no Christian how contrite soever for his Sins may lawfully come to receive the Divine Sacrament of the Altar being guilty of any Mortal Sin without having first confessed all his Sins entirely to some approved Priest that has Authority to receive his Confession that being the Tryal and Examination that the Apostle speaks of and saith a Man ought to make of himself and being so approved and confessed let him eat of the Divine Bread and drink of the Divine Cup For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily and with a Conscience of Sin eateth and drinketh Judgment and Condemnation to himself for which reason this Divine Sacrament must not be given to publick Sinners without they have left their Sins as publick Witches and common Women and such as keep Concubines publickly and such as are in open malice before they are reconciled and all other open Sinners whatsoever In which Matter the Vicars must be extreamly careful being sensible that as it is a grievous Sin in such to receive the Divine Sacrament before they have forsaken their Sins so it is likewise a grievous offence in them to give the Sacrament to such publick Sinners and who are known by all to live in such Sins and not to have forsaken them notwithstanding they should have been confessed by others and should bring a Note of their being absolved This matter ought to be laid home to the Consciences of the Vicars by reason of the great dissoluteness that there is in this Bishoprick in giving the Communion to publick Sinners and especially to those that keep Concubines and are Married but will not live with their Wives and to others who live in open Malice without any Body to hinder them of all which the Vicars must give a strict Account to God but at the point of death they may give the Divine Sacrament even to such as have been publick Sinners if they are not finally impenitent Decree IV. THe Synod teacheth That this Divine Sacrament ought to be received Fasting as Holy Mother Church commands and that upon the day on which people are to communicate they are neither to eat nor drink any thing from Midnight untill after they have received the Communion not to do so being * A most grievous Sacrilege Tho' the custom of receiving the Sacrament Fasting is very laudable yet considering that it was not so received by our Blessed Saviour himself nor his Apostles when he first instituted it nor by the Faithful for some Ages they must needs carry the matteâ— too far that call the receiving it otherwise than Fasting a grievous Sacrilege a most grievous Sacrilege such only excepted as are under any great infirmity or much spent with Sickness who may take Electuaries and other light things to strengthen them of which the Confessor must be judge Decree V. CHristians are not only bound to receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar once a Year at Easter but as often as they are in probable danger of Death and especially in any great Sickness for which reason this Divine Sacrament is called the Viaticum that is to say the Support in the way from a Mortal to an Eternal Life wherefore the Synod doth command all Sick People whose Distempers are any thing dangerous to receive it with much Devotion and as they that look after the Sick ought to give the Vicars timely Notice so the Vicars themselves must be diligent to enquire what Persons are sick in their Parishes that so before they come to be too weak at a time when it will do them no prejudice they may be brought in a Palanquin or in something else that covers them to the Church there to receive the Holy Sacrament for which use there shall be a Palanquin or Net made commodious with Carpets in every Church in which the Sick shall be carried with due care which shall be bought within a month after the publication hereof out of the Fabrick money of the Church all which the Synod doth recommend earnestly to the Vicars this being truly the chief Duty of their Office and if it shall any time happen that a Parishioner shall die without having received the Communion thro' the Vicars default the said Vicar shall be suspended for six months from his Office and Benefice and if it happen thorow the Vicars not having been advised thereof then those that attended the Sick Person shall be severely punished by the Prelate Decree VI. WHereas Women are many times in danger of Death in Child-bed a great many dying therein the Synod doth therefore declare That all Women with Child ought about the time when they reckon they are to be delivered to confess themselves and receive the Holy Sacrament but especially before the Birth of their first Child in which the danger is greatest recommending it to them to be careful to do it in time that they may not be prevented by their Labour from going to Church Such also as design to undertake any long and dangerous Voyage ought to do the same to whom the Synod recommends it much and requires it of them Decree VII FOrasmuch as there are several Priests and Cazanares of this Diocess that do never celebrate some by reason of their having been ordained when they were but Boys and so do wait till they come to be of a due Age and others through other Impediments therefore the Synod doth command all such to receive the Holy Sacrament upon all the solemn Festivities and at least once a month wishing they would do it every Sunday with a due preparation and reverence and as often as any Priest doth communicate he shall be in a Surplice and Stole with a Cross on his Breast to distinguish him from other People by reason of the Reverence and Respect that is due to the Sacerdotal Office which he bears Decree VIII SEeing as is aforesaid it is not lawful for any Person to come to the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar having the least scruple of any Mortal Sin about him without having been Sacramentally confess'd the Synod doth declare That even to Priests it is not lawful and that none finding in themselves the
turn to Vinegar with which they celebrate notwithstanding not considering the danger there is of there being no Consecration for remedy whereof the Synod in the strictest manner that it can doth command That in every Church there shall be in the Vicars keeping a sweet pipe or small Runlet of Wood or a Frask in which the Wine for the Masses shall be kept and that the Vicars be extreamly careful that the Wine do not decay or turn to Vinegar which if it should happen so as to have lost the essence of Wine in the Opinion of those that have good Palates they shall not then celebrate therewith it being a great Sacrilege to do it seeing there can be no Consecration Decree IX WHereas for want of Portugal Wine it many times falls out that there are no Masses celebrated in this Diocess to the great prejudice of the Faithful Christians who for that reason are several months without hearing Mass and without an opportunity of receiving the most Holy Sacrament and the Sick of receiving the Holy Viaticum wherefore the Synod for remedy hereof doth entreat his Majesty the King of Portugal out of his great Piety and as he is Protector of the Christians of these parts once a Year to send us as an Alms a Pipe and a half or two Pipes of Muscatel Wine of Portugal to be distributed among the Christian Churches of this Bishoprick and of the whole Indies and till such time as an Answer shall be returned to this Petition the most Illustrious Lord Archbishop of Goa Dom ffray Aleixo de Menezes Metropolitan of this Church Primate of India and President of this Synod is pleased to give the said quantity of Wine to be distributed among the Churches of this Bishoprick the distribution whereof shall be made by the Prelate according to the Informations he shall receive of the Necessities of every Parish and whereas all the successes of this Life are uncertain if this should happen to fail at any time the Prelate shall then at his Visitation take so much out of the stock of every Church as shall suffice to purchase what Wine is necessary and the Wine shall be committed to the Vicar who shall make use of it only in the Masses that are said in the Church and order shall be taken that the Mass of the day which belongs to the whole Parish and is the chief obligation of the Church shall be celebrated without fail Decree X. THis Synod being very doubtful whether the Stones of the Altar on which the Masses are said in the Churches of this Diocess be consecrated with Holy Oil or truly Blessed by reason of the small care and knowledge which the former Prelates coming from Babylon had of such Matters doth command That all such as are not well known to have been lawfully Consecrated shall be brought to the most Reverend Metropolitan that they may be Consecrated by him whom the Synod doth intreat to provide such Churches with Stones as want them Commanding likewise all Cups that are not of Gold Silver Copper or Tin to be broke and * No Cups In the Primitive Church they thought it no such Crime to make use of wooden Chalices in the celebration of the Sacrament So Honorius in the 89 Chap. of his 3. Book De gemma animae saith Apostoli eorum successâ—res in ligneis Calicibus Missas celebrârunt And Boniface Bishop of Mentz being asked in the Council of Triburis whether it were Lawful to celebrate in Wooden Chalices answered Quondam Sacerdotes aurei ligneis Calicibus utebantur nunc è contra lignei Sacerdotes aureis utuntur Calicibus no Cups to be used but what are made of one of these Metals and that Mass be never said in any of these after they are broken and seeing there are many Churches that for want of Cups have no Masses the Lord Metropolitan is desired to give order that all Churches be furnished with Cups Decree XI WHereas there are many poor Churches in this Bishoprick and especially in the Heaths that have no consecrated Vestments for the saying of Mass and for that reason have but few said in them to the great prejudice of the faithful Parishioners therefore the Synod doth command That out of the Alms of the Parish the most Reverend Metropolitan may provide all Churches with Holy Vestments so that none may be without them and for that reason be without having Masses every Sunday and in those Parishes where the Alms shall not be found to be sufficient to do it the said Lord Metropolitan is desired to take such order therein that they may be some way or other provided and have so great a want supplied Decree XII WHereas the Christians of this Diocess have not hitherto heard Mass as upon obligation having never imagined that the not hearing thereof upon some particular days was a mortal sin for which reason some have without any scruple neglected going to hear it and others have not stayed to hear it out therefore the Synod doth declare That it is the Precept of the Universal Church and that upon penalty of a mortal Sin that all Christians Men and Women having no lawful impediment do hear an entire Mass upon every Sunday and Holy-day that is commanded to be kept if they have the opportunity of a Priest to say it to them As also that all Masters of Families are obliged by the said Precept to make their Children and such of their Servants and Slaves as are Christians and all other Persons living in their Families to go every Sunday and Holy-day to hear Mass which every one shall endeavour to hear at his own Parish-Church or at the place where he then happens to be and as for those who with just reason are afraid to leave their Houses alone without any body in them and especially such as live in Heaths and are a great way from any Church they shall so order the matter that all in their Families shall take their turns of going to Mass and staying at home on Sundays and the Vicars of the Churches must be careful to mark all such as are negligent herein and reprove admonish and punish them so as they shall judge necessary and where there is any number of Clergy they shall sing the Mass on Sundays and Holy-days and when there is not a competent number there the Mass shall be said at a convenient hour the whole Parish being present and he shall at the same time Preach publish their Admonitions the Banes of Matrimony and whatsoever else is necessary in the Church Decree XIII THe Synod being informed that most of all the Christians that live out of Towns and Villages in the Heaths being a great way from Church do go to Church but once a Year on the three days before Lent which they call Monorbo and then rather to fill their Bellies with what is given by Christians at that time than to hear Mass and that there are others who content
or of any other by whom they are authorized after having heard the Sins of their Penitents do carry them to the said Prelate to be absolved by him in the Sacramental Court which was what happened to the most Illustrious Metropolitan in these parts the Synod doth therefore teach and declare That none can absolve the Penitent in the Sacramental Court but the Priest only that heard his Sins for whereas he is the Judge it is he that ought to pass sentence and absolve in conformity to what he has heard confessed the contrary being a gross and manifest Error Decree XV. FOrasmuch as there are some ignorant Clergymen who being desired by Christians to read the Gospels and Prayers to them or to give them the Blessing on their heads do ignorantly use the form of Sacramental Absolution saying I absolve thee from thy Sins in the Name of the Father c. wherefore the Synod doth advertise and admonish them not to commit such an Error it being a most grievous Sacrilege to apply the Sacramental form where it ought not to be wherefore they shall only read the Gospels and Prayers allowed ending with the Blessing In the Name of the Father c. The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extream Unction THe fifth Sacrament of Extream Vnction has for its matter the Oyl of Olive blessed by a Bishop it is called Extream Vnction because it is the last of all the Holy Unctions instituted by our Lord Christ in his Church and the last that is received by a Christian this Sacrament is to be administred to an adult Person that is sick when apprehended to be in probable danger of death who is to be anointed by the Priest the only minister of this Sacrament on those parts wherewith he hath offended God chiefly that is to say on the Eyes because of Sins committed by the sight on both the Ears because of Sins committed by hearing on the mouth because of Sins committed by tasting and speaking on both the hands for the sins committed in feeling and touching on both the Feet for the Sins committed in walking on the Loins and Reins for being the chief seat of Carnal pleasure every one of which parts must be anointed by the Priest making the sign of the Cross upon them with his Thumb dipt in Holy Oil and at the same time repeating the words of the form which are By this Holy Vnction and his most tender mercy may our Lord forgive thee all the Sins thou hast committed by thy sight and so on naming every part or sense as it is anointed The effect of this Sacrament is the Health of the Soul and of the Body also so far as it is convenient and necessary to the Soul which is the chief moreover it washeth away the Reliques of sin if there are any remaining in the Soul comforting the Soul of the Sick withall and confirming and exciting in it a great confidence in the Divine Mercy by virtue of which Consolation it suffers the troubles of Sickness with the more patience and with the greater ease resists the Temptations of Satan whose custom it is to assault the Soul with extraordinary violence in its last Hour It likewise cherishes and succours the Body so far as it is convenient for the salvation of the Soul as S. James teacheth us in his Canonical Epistle saying Is any one Sick let him call for the Priests of the Church and they shall pray over him anointing him with Oyl in the Name of the Lord and the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall give him ease and if he be in Sins they shall be forgiven him The Apostle in saying they shall be pardoned demonstrates it to be a Sacrament whose Virtue and Nature is to conferr Grace that pardoneth Sins and in saying If any are sick among you he declares the time when this Sacrament is to be received that is in time of dangerous Sickness and in saying they shall call the Priests of the Church he sheweth that the Priests are the only Ministers of this Sacrament and in saying they shall be anointed with Oil in the Name of the Lord he sheweth that Holy Oil is the matter of this Sacrament and in saying they shall pray over the Sick anointing he sheweth that the form of this Sacrament is to be pronounced by way of deprecation or Prayer and in saying the Lord shall give him ease he sheweth also that the effect of this Sacrament is to give health to the Body so far as it is convenient and necessary to the health of the Soul And whereas this Sacrament was instituted for the use of the Sick none but what are dangerously so must take it and a Person who shall recover after having received it may when dangerously sick receive it again it having been instituted by our Lord for that end and to prepare defend and fortifie us at the time of our departure out of this life whensoever it is Decree I. WHereas in this Bishoprick there has not been hitherto any use of the Sacrament of Extream Vnction in which for want of Catholick Instruction there has been no knowledge of the Institution Effects or Efficacy thereof therefore the Synod does most earnestly recommend the use of this Sacrament commanding the Vicars to be vigilant over the Sick of their Parishes where-ever they live whether in the Villages or in the Heaths and whenever they shall hear of any in danger of Death to carry the most Holy Sacrament of Vnction and administer it to them according to the Roman Ceremonial which is to be translated into Syrian and kept in all Churches anointing them with Oil and making the sign of the Cross with Holy Oil on both their Eyes shut doing the right first and then the left upon the Eye-lashes and upon both the Ears the Nostrils and the Mouth being shut on both the Lips but if the Distemper should be such that the Sick Person 's Mouth cannot be shut or not without danger then the upper Lip shall be anointed making the sign of the Cross upon it as also both the Palms of the Hands the Balls of the Feet and the Loins ordering the Sick Person to be moved gently neither is it necessary that any more of these parts should be anointed than what is convenient for the making the sign of the Cross with the Holy Oil and the Priest must be sure to remember in this as in all other Sacraments to join the Form with the Matter repeating the words of the Form as he anoints the parts If the Sick Person shall happen to expire while the Priest is anointing the Priest being satisfied that he is dead shall proceed no further with the Office and the Vicar through whose negligence any Parishioner shall die without having received this Sacrament shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for six Months Decree II. FOrasmuch as the Troubles the Sick are in together with the want of good Instructions in
matters appertaining to their Salvation do but too often make them unmindful of the Holy Sacraments wherefore the Synod doth command and earnestly recommend it to all Confessors that are called upon to Confess any Sick Person to instruct them in the Doctrine and Efficacy of this Sacrament of Vnction admonishing persuading and intreating them when they shall come to stand in need of it to have it administred to them and they shall also admonish the People and particularly those who attend the Sick Person not to fail to call the Vicar when it is necessary that is when they apprehend the Sick Person to be in any danger and before he has lost his Senses to give him the Holy Vnction and such as shall be negligent therein besides the offence they do to God and the Sick Person shall be punished severely at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree III. THe Synod doth command the Priests that go to anoint the Sick tho' it should be to the Hamlets to go in their Surplice and Stole carrying the Vessel the Holy Oil is in in their hands covered with a piece of Silk with great reverence having the Chamus or Parish-Clerk before them with the Cross of the Church in his Arms who or some other Person shall also carry a Pot of Holy Water and if it is in the Night a Lanthorn or some other Light before him that so all People may know what he is going about and if the Sick Person is in a condition he shall persuade him to Confess himself again and be reconciled notwithstanding he should have Confessed himself the day before letting the Sick Person know that it is necessary in order to his receiving the Holy Sacrament of Vnction with the greater purity and when the Priest shall be to carry this Sacrament a long way to those that live in Heaths he shall go in the best Form he can and shall carry the Surplice and Stole along with him that so when he comes to administer the Sacrament he may do it with all due reverence he shall likewise if the Sick Person has not a Crucifix of his own leave one upon his Pillow exhorting him to fix both his Eyes and confidence thereon at his last minute begging by it the pardon of his Sins of our Lord who for our sake died thereon ACTION VII Of the Holy Sacraments of Order and Matrimony The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Order THe sixth Sacrament is that of Order which was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ the day before he suffered for us after that he had made an end of instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist that so he might institute the Sacrifice and the Priests that were to offer it together at which time he created the Apostles Priests giving them withal power to consecrate others that so the Sacrifice and the Priesthood might be continued in the Church till the end of the World The Matter of this Sacrament is that which is delivered to the Person that is ordained for the exercise of that Order he has received to the Priests a Cup with Wine in it and a Patten with Bread to a Deacon the Book of the Gospels and to a Sub-Deacon an empty Cup and Patten and so as to the other inferiour Orders The Form of the Priesthood and other Orders are the words spoke by the Bishop when he delivers to every one that which belongs to his Ministry and the exercise of his Order The Minister of this Sacrament is only a Bishop to whom only Christ committed the power of Consecrating Priests the effect of it is the encrease of Grace to the end that the Person ordained may be a fit Minister This Sacrament was instituted by Christ as highly necessary in his Church for a Sacrifice and Priesthood are so joined that the one cannot be without the other wherefore since under the New Testament the visible Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist was to be instituted it became therefore necessary that there should be a new visible and eternal Priesthood in the same Church whereby the ancient Priesthood of the Old Law was translated and there were Priests provided accordingly for the Offering of the Divine Sacrifice which Priests being lawfully ordained our Lord Jesus Christ has given them power over his true and real Body to Consecrate Offer and Administer it as also over his Mystical Body the Church giving them power to pardon and retain Sins to which power â—t likewise belongs to rule and govern all Christian People and to lead them in the way to Eternal Life Now the Priesthood being so high an Office that it may be exercised with the more decency and veneration it was convenient that there should be different Orders or Ministers who are bound by their Function to serve the Priesthood and to be divided in such 〈◊〉 manner that after having received the Clerical Tonsure they are to ascend through the lower to the higher Orders The * Lower That there was none of the lesser Ecclesiastical Order in the Primitive Church is acknowledged by Caâ—d Bona in his Book of Liturgies Tertia classis Ministrantium saith the Card. Clericos minorum ordinum complectitur Acolythos scil Exorcistas lectores Ostiarios quos antiquissimos esse ab Apostolis vel ab immediatis eorum Successoribus institutos Doctores Scholastici asserunt sed non probant dicendum igitâ— cum St. Thoma quod temporibâ— Apostolorum omnia Ministeria quâ— ordinibus minoribus competunt non 〈◊〉 distinctis personis sed uno duntaxâ— Ministro exercebantur contingit 〈◊〉 mirum Ecclesiae quod hominibus soleâ— qui dum tenâ—e patrimonium hâ—beâ— uno servo contenti sunt qui solâ— omnia administrat si vero rediâ—â— augeantur servorum etiam augetâ— numerus eoque modo crescit familiâ— lower are the Ostiary Reader Exorcist Acolythus The higher those which are called Holy and are the Sub-Deacon Deacon and Priest to which degrees there is joined that of Bishops who succeeded in the place of the Apostles and as St. Paul saith are ordained to govern the Church of God so that they are in a higher degree than the Priests and to them only it belongs by virtue of their Office to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to Consecrate the Holy Oil of Chrism and to Consecrate Altars and Churches and ordain Priests and other Bishops The Church enjoins Continency and Chastity to all that take Holy Holy that so being disingaged from all other business they may employ themselves wholly in the Ministry of the Altar and be intent only on matters appertaining to our Lord and Divine Worship The Church does not admiâ— Slaves to be Priests because it is necessary to the Divine Worship that the Ministers thereoâ— should be free and not subject to others and that they should not have been guilty of Murther or Blood neither must they have been born out of lawful Wedlock nor have any blemish or maim nor have been twice Married nor have
for them in the Church and instead of the Prayers that are to be recited by them in the Evening they shall say Thirty-three Pater Nosters and as many Ave Maries with the Gloria Patri c. as in the Morning and when they are ended they shall say * Nine It would have been no true Roman Devotion had not the Ave Maries exceeded the Pater Nosters for one may speak within compass and say that the blessed Virgin has ten Prayers and an hundred Vows made to her in the Church of Rome where Christ has one made to him and of this the Tabulae Votivae in their Churches are a clear demonstration there being few or none of these Tables and there are vast numbers of them in several Churches but what are dedicated solely to the honour of the blessed Virgin nine Ave Maries to our Lady and one Pater Noster and one Ave Mary for the Pope and another for the Bishop as in the Morning provided that such as have Books shall recite by them and not by Beads and such as recite by Beads if they have said any of the Prayers either in the Morning or Evening at Church shall not be obliged to recite them again but shall only recite those which they may have omitted there Decree VI. THe Synod doth command the Creed of St. Athanasius Quicunque vult to be translated into Syrian and to be put into all the Breviaries and Books of Prayer of this Diocess and to be read every Sunday in the Church immediately after Morning Service desiring the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus to translate it and all the Curates and Clergy to learn the said Creed by Heart which is what the Holy Canons recommend to them for as much as that Creed contains in it summarily the chief Mysteries of our Faith and is used and sung in the Universal Church Decree VII THe Synod doth earnestly recommend it to all the Clergymen and Curates not to be absent from Church at the time of Divine Service Morning nor Evening and that none offer to talk or divert themselves there any other way as has been the Custom or to dispose themselves to sleep whilst others are reciting who are also to take notice that in reciting they ought not to begin a new Verse before the Congregation has done with the former and that tho' it has hitherto been the custom for the oldest Clergyman that was present at Divine Service to give the Casture that from henceforward the true Vicar of the Church being present shall in every thing be preferr'd to all others as he is the particular Pastor of the Church Decree VIII THere being no reason why they that do not minister in the Church should be equally rewarded with those that do it seems just to the Synod that the Curates and other Clergymen that are absent either from Morning or Evening Service or from the Mass of the day on Sundays and Holydays be marked by the Vicar or the oldest Clergyman in his absence that when the Dividend comes to be made for every time they have been absent so much may be deducted from their share as they that make the distribution shall think fit in proportion to the quantity of the Dividend which shall be done only when they are not hindred by some lawful Impediment as Sickness or are not otherwise employed in the Service of the Church or by the Prelate in all which cases they are to be excused and the Sconses shall be equally divided among the rest Decree IX THe Synod being informed that great numbers of Clergy-men do use superstitious and Heathen Exorcisms taking words out of an impious and prohibited Book called Parisman for the casting out of Devils doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience that none presume to use any other exorcisms to that effect but such as the Roman Church makes use of and have been approved of by the Holy Fathers which are to be bound up with the Offices of the Administration of the Sacraments and all Clergymen that shall be found to use any other or to use any unknown superstitious words or Ceremonies with such as are possessed shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice for a Year and be subject to what other penalties the Prelate shall be pleased to lay upon them according to the quality of the Superstitions they have made use of and in case they shall after they have been admonished and censured persist therein they shall then be Excommunicated and when it shall appear that any have acted thus upon any compact or contract with the Devil which God forbid as it is said some do they shall be declared Excommunicate until they have done the condign Penance which the Prelate shall have imposed upon them and shall be moreover suspended from their Office and Benefice during their Lives without any hopes of a dispensation and shall be yet further punished as the Law requires they should be who are guilty of such Crimes and are convicted of having had a compact with the Devil Decree X. WHereas there are several Clergymen who according to the superstitious Custom of the Heathens do give good days for Marriages and do several other things at the request of Christians for the Heathens and for that end keep an account of the lucky and unlucky days of the Gentiles in their Books and do use some of their Prayers and do make Schemes after the manner of Astrologers as appears from several even of their Church-books the Synod doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of the greater Excommunication that no Ecclesiastical or Secular or Cassanar shall dare to give good or bad days for Marriages or on any other occasion or to draw any thing out of a Book of Lots and namely out of that which is generally bound up with the Book called Parisman or out of any other place or by whomsoever invented and whosoever shall transgress herein shall be declared excommunicate and shall be suspended from their Office for a Year and six Months from their Benefice it being the duty of the Priests rather to admonish the People to avoid all Heathen Superstitions and to chuse the solemn days of the Church or the Saints days who may intreat God for them for the celebration of their Marriages or any other days they please all days being good to those that do good upon them being all equally the work of Gods hands Those only which are spent in the greatest works and the higher celebration of the Divine Mysteries being the days that are to be most reverenced Decree XI WHereas it is decent that Priests being the Masters from whom the People are to learn good Manners should themselves give good example the Synod is therefore much concerned for the scandal some give by their being disorderly in their eating and drinking to the great disgrace of the Sacerdotal Office among so many Infidels and does recommend Moderation
hujus sceleris à judicibus Ecclesiasticis praemissâ I do not deny but the Canons and Bulls of that Church are severe against all sorts of Simony namely the Bull of Julius the II. published in the Year 1553 against Simony in obtaining the Papacy I shall here set down the substance of that Bull and then leave it to any to judge whether according to that Bull we have had so much as one true Pope since it was made or are likely ever to have one so long as the Papacy continues so great a preferment Si Papa elâ—gatur per Simoniam nempe aliquo Cardinale quomodo libet suffragium ferente datâ vel acceptâ vel promissi pecuniâ vel honis cujuslibet generis Castris Officiis Beneficiis Promissionibus vel Obligationibus vel per se vel per alium pro Pontifice non habeatur item etiamsi duarum partium suffragiis vel unanimi Cardinalium concordiâ etiam per viam assumptionis concorditer nemine discrepante etiam sine scrutinio facto sit electio nullus existat nihil juris electus acquirat sive in Spiritualibus sive in Temporalibus contra electum per Simoniam oppâ—ri criminis exceptio possit sicut contra electum potest opponi vera indubitata haeresis electus Simoniacè à nullus pro Papâ habeatur Simony is one of the greatest offences in the Church and a pernicious plague therein which God has always punished with great rigour it being the selling of Spiritual things for Money and this Bishoprick which the Synod takes notice of with great regret having hitherto abounded with it Money having been publickly taken for the administration of the Holy Sacraments and after such a manner that none of them were given before the Money was either put into the Priest's hands or into the Church Box to be divided among them no not so much as the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist at which all pious Ears do tremble nor any other Sacraments or Dispensations for Marriages nor Absolutions from Excommunication nor the Consecrations of Stones nor any of the lesser Orders nor Licences nor Reverenda's to go to receive those Orders in another place nor Letters Dimissory for Clerks to go to other Diocesses all which was done at a Rated Price or by a Publick Agreement All which the Sydod detesting as a most execrable and horrid abomination doth therefore in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred command That no Money nor nothing else be taken for any of the foresaid things and that no Priests shall dare to take any thing for the administration of any of the Sacraments nor to give them upon any such consideration to any Person whatsoever but shall give the Holy Sacrament gratis to the Faithful according to the Precept of our Lord Christ who said Freely you have received freely you shall give neither shall they so much as receive Alms that the Faithful would give voluntarily though not given with any respect to the Sacrament if offered at the same time when the Sacrament is administred And the Priest that shall be found to transgress herein besides being Excommunicated shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for three Years and the Vicars must take care to advertise the People thereof The Synod being moreover informed That a great many poor People who live in the Heaths do not bring their Children to be Baptized because they have not so much Money as is demanded doth order the Priest to be satisfied with the profits arising from the Dead the Alms they receive for their Masses in which the Synod declares there is nothing of Simony but only a congruous maintenance for the Priest that Celebrates given by the Person that he recommends and with the other Alms which the Faithful are accustomed to give which being Just and Holy shall be divided after the same manner as they have been formerly And the Synod doth declare further That such as are absolved from Excommunication if it was for any great Crime that they were under that Censure though there can be nothing taken for their Absolution yet for the Fault that they have committed they may by way of Punishment be Condemned in a Pecuniary Mulct if Authorized by the Prelate which Money must be put to some Pious use or employed in the building of a Church and the Offender being Poor he may be employed in Person to do some work about a Church for so long as shall be thought fit and in that Case no Money shall be required of him Decree XXI THe Synod desiring by all means possible to destroy and root out of this Diocess the pernicious Vice of Simony which it understands to have been encreased in part by the want the Ministers of the Church are in of a necessary maintenance doth therefore most earnestly entreat the People of this Bishoprick to apply a certain Yearly Summ to be raised by the way of Alms Collection or Assessment or by the way of Tithes according to Peoples Abilities for the support of the Vicar and Curate of their Souls and the other Ministers that are necessary to the Divine Service in the Church which the most Reverend Metropolitan may treat about in every Parish for they must know that Christians are bound both by Divine and Humane Laws to maintain the Priests which pray to God for them and give Spiritual Food to their Souls of which they are to render an account to God and their Prelates Decree XXII THat this Synod may by all ways possible supply the Necessities of the Ministers of the Church and by that means extirpate Simony besides what it desires the People to contribute towards their maintenance understanding their Poverty to be such that they are not able to supply them with so much as is necessary it doth further beseech his Catholick Majesty the King of Portugal that as Protector of the Christians of these parts and the only Christian King and Lord in the Indies he would be graciously pleased to provide the Vicars of this Church with a sufficient Maintenance as he does in all the other Churches of the Indies allowing them at least fifteen thousand Cruzado's to be divided among them all besides what shall be gathered for them in their respective Parishes which as the Synod is informed is the Summ that was formerly desired of his Majesty in the third Provincial Council of Goa in order to the reducing of this Church to the Obedience of the Church of Rome and the extirpating of Simony The Synod doth moreover intreat the most Illustrious Metropolitan to present this their Petition to his Majesty in the Name of this Church representing therewith the great Necessities of the Ministers thereof and that until such time as they shall have his Majesty's Answer the said Lord Archbishop Metropolitan of this Church and President of the Synod Dom fray Aleixo de Menezes understanding how effectual a course
this will be for the rooting the Pestilential Sin of Simony out of this Diocess and for the tying of Vicars to their Churches there to govern the Faithful and administer the Holy Sacraments to them would be pleased to give the said Summ of fifteen thousand Cruzado's Yearly out of his own Revenues and to pay it Quarterly at Goa to be divided among the said Vicars the distribution whereof the Synod orders to be made in all Churches according to the Allotments in the Instrument passed and signed and sealed by the said Lord Arch-bishop under the Great Seal of his Chancery every Church being to receive so much as was now read in the presence of the whole Synod Decree XXIII WHereas this Diocess is not only provided with a sufficient number of Clergy but has a great many more than are necessary and the Holy Council of Trent having prohibited that any more should be ordained than what are necessary for the Churches the Synod doth therefore command that during the vacancy of this See none shall be put into * If this was one of the Grievances of this Church the Arch-Bishop did not do well in Ordaining above a Hundred Priests among them in less than three Months time Holy Orders neither shall any Reverenda's or Licences be granted for that purpose such only as are in Holy Orders may go ascending therein as the Governour who is to be left in this Diocess by the most Illustrious Metropolitan shall judge convenient The Synod doth also put such as do aspire to Priests Holy Orders in mind of not failing to learn the Doctrine of the Sacraments and the Form of Sacramental Absolution so as to be ready to use them on all occasions and in all Cases of Necessity as also the absolution from Censures or at least the Conditional one which always goes before the Sacramental Absolution from Sins in Confession The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Matrimony THe seventh Sacrament is that of Matrimomony which according to the Apostle is the signification of that Union which is betwixt Christ and his Church The efficient Cause of Matrimony regularly is the Consent of both parties declared by Words or Signs de praesenti This Sacrament our Lord Jesus Christ Founded on the Matrimonial Contract which has always been in the World and in all Religions from whence it is that Matrimony is to be considered in two respects either as a Natural Contract or as a Sacrament instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ The Bond of Matrimony God hath made to be perpetual insomuch that it cannot be dissolved by any thing but Death according to what Christ said Whom God hath joined let no Man put asunder which is also in it self very convenient As it is a Sacrament there is Grace received therein as in other Sacraments our Lord Christ who was the Author and Institutor of the Divine Sacraments having by his Passion merited Grace for us whereby the Natural Love which is betwixt the Married couple is perfected and the conjunction that is betwixt them is confirmed and made Perpetual and the Husband and Wife are Sanctified There are two Reasons or Ends for which Matrimony was ordained and instituted the first and principal is the Procreation or Generation of Children for the conservation of the World and the multiplication of the Faithful and Servants of God The second is for a remedy for Uncleanness and that such as are inclined to that Vice might have a remedy given them by God so that living with their Wives they might not fall into that Sin from whence it is that People may not only Marry once but as often as one of the Parties dies because this end of Matrimony may not only be compassed in the first but equally in the subsequent Marriages wherefore the Church detests those as Hereticks who condemn second Marriages holding them to be unlawful as some Hereticks did anciently and as some of the most Superstitious Heathens do at this day in these Parts from whence it may also be collected that this Sacrament may not only be lawfully celebrated betwixt Persons capable of having Children but also betwixt those who according to the ordinary course of Nature cannot have any because the second end may be answered in such Marriages but where neither the one nor the other end can be answered as in Children for whom the Church has set a certain time and in such as are under a Natural Impotency that will last as long as they live as to Matrimonial Acts Matrimony is not to be celebrated And tho' both under the Law of Nature and of Moses there were Dispensations whereby Matrimony was made to deviate from its first Original some of the Patriarchs having had several Wives at once by a Divine Dispensation and the Law of Moses having permitted Divorces or the repudiating of Wives yet under the Evangelical Law by which Matrimony was perfected and restored again to its first Estate and Purity it is prohibited for a Man to have more than one Wife at a time and to turn away his Wife and take another so long as she lives The Benefits of Marriage are three principally the first is the Generation and Education of Children for the Worship and Service of the true God the second is the Fidelity which the Married couple ought to keep to one another and the third is the Perpetuity of Matrimony which in that it cannot be dissolved signifies that inseparable Conjunction and Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church And notwithstanding for the cause of Fornication or Adultery it is lawful for the Married couple to part as to Cohabitation yet it is not lawful to Marry with any other because the Bond of Matrimony being once lawfully tied is Perpetual and cannot be dissolved by any thing but the death of one of the Parties Decree I. HOly Mother Church has always so ordered the celebration of Matrimony as to make it to be understood to be a Holy thing and that as Holy it ought to be Holily treated wherefore for the removing of several inconveniencies and those especially that attend Clandestine Marriages she has ordained and commanded that Matrimony be celebrated in the face of the Church by the Vicar or Parish-Priest or some other Priest Licensed by him or the Prelate and in the presence of two or three Witnesses at least and that all Marriages that are not celebrated with this Solemnity by the Parish-Priest before two Witnesses are void and null And that the Priest who without leave from the Parish-Priest and the Parish-Priest who without two Witnesses shall presume to Marry any couple shall be severely punished Now the Synod understanding that this Rule is not observed in this Diocess but that the Persons who are to be married do imploy any Priest and are married where they please from which great Inconveniencies and Disorders do many times follow different Rites and Ceremonies being also used in divers places in the celebration thereof doth
command that all that is above related be punctually observed according to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent which has been received by this Church in this Synod declaring all Marriages not celebrated in this Form or not by the Parish-Priest before two Witnesses to be null and the Parties not to be Married neither are they to be permitted to live together as Man and Wife And the Priests who shall presume to Marry without leave from the Parish-Priest or Ordinary shall be suspended from their Orders and Benefices for one Year without Indulgence and the Marriage shall be declared void and the Parties shall be obliged to Marry again in the foresaid Form The Synod doth furthermore declare That the Contracted may be Married by the Parish-Priest of either of the Parties tho' the ordinary Custom is to be Married by the Parish-Priest where the Woman lives Decree II. WHereas Matrimony ought to be celebrated with words signifying a present Consent and in many places of this Diocess it is commonly celebrated with words signifying only a Consent for the time to come Therefore the Synod doth command That when the Persons that are to be Married come to the Door of the Church the Parish-Priest or some other Priest having his or the Prelates Licence being in his Surplice with his Stole and at least two Witnesses present shall ask them if they are pleased to Marry and if they say they are or express their Consent by some other evident signs the Priest then shall take one end of his Stole and laying it on the Palm of his left Hand shall take the right Hand of the Bride and lay it on the Stole and lay the Palm of the right Hand of the Bridegroom on the Palm of the right Hand of the Bride in form of a Cross and covering both their Hands with the other end of the Stole and laying his own right Hand upon all so that the Hands of both Parties and both the ends of the Stole are betwixt the Priest's Hands after having blessed them with the sign of the Cross he shall say In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen and shall make the Bride say first I N. receive thee N. for my lawful Husband so as the Holy Mother Church of Rome doth command and shall afterwards make the Bridegroom say the same words I N. receive thee N. for my lawful Wife so as the Holy Mother Church of Rome doth command and after they have both said these words the Priest shall say I by the Authority I have do join you in Matrimony in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen after which he shall sprinkle them both with Holy Water saying By this sprinkling of Holy Water the Lord give you Health and Blessing Amen And if neither of the Parties was ever Married before they shall then be carried before the Higâ— Altar where being upon their Knees the Priesâ— shall give them the Blessings as they are in thâ— Roman Ceremonial of the administration of thâ— Sacraments which is to be translated into Syriaâ— and to be used in all Churches but if eitheâ— of the Parties have been Married before he shall not then give them the said Blessings but dismiss them after having said a Prayer in the Church Decree III. THat there may be no Frauds in Matrimony and that the Impediments which if they were known would hinder the same may be discovered and that in all things we may conform our selves to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent the Synod doth command That what is ordained by the said Holy Council be punctually observed to wit That the Parties to be Married shall have their Banns published by the Vicar or by one appointed by him on three Sundays or Holy-days in the Churches where the Bridegroom and Bride live when the People are assembled at Mass in this Form N. born in such a place does purpose to Marry N. the Daughter of N. and N. born in such a place wherefore if there be any that know any Impediment they must declare it upon pain of Excommunication And the Vicar in case he has any lawful Impediment declared unto him shall not Marry the Parties before he has made the Prelate acquainted therewith that so he may determine what is just to be done therein which Publications cannot be dispensed with by any but by the Prelate or one representing him And in case it is probable that if such Publications are made there are those that will maliciously endeavour to hinder the Marriage tho' in such a case the parties may be received without them yet for the better discovery of other Impediments that may happen to be therein they cannot be joined together nor receive the Blessings tho' capable thereof before the publications are made in the Churches without the Prelate should be pleased to dispense therewith to whose Prudence and Judgment the Holy Council of Trent has committed the whole of this Matter and the Priest who shall receive any couple without a License from the Prelate before such publications have been made shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for six months Decree IV. THis Synod conforming it self in all things to the Holy Council of Trent doth command that in every Parish there be a Book as was ordered as to Baptism wherein the Vicar of the Church shall write the Names of the Married Persons and the Place day of the Month and Year and the Names of the two Witnesses commonly called the Padrinhos where they were Married registring them thus On such a Day of such a Month and Year I N. Vicar of the Church naming the Saint to whom it is dedicated in such a part naming where the said Church is did joyn N the Son of N and N. to N. the Daughter of N. and of N. born in such a place both at the gate of the Church according to the Holy Council of Trent the Witnesses were N. and N. to which the Vicar and the two Witnesses shall sign their Names and when any Priest shall by a License from the Vicar or Prelate marry any couple he shall write On such a day of such a Month and Year I N. a Priest by a License from the Vicar of such a place or from the Bishop if he granted the License did receive at the gate of the Church N. naming him the Son of N. and N. naming his Parents born in such a place naming the Town according to the Holy Council of Trent the Witnesses were N. and N. to which the said two Witnesses and Priest shall put their Names which Book shall be kept among the Registers of the Church and the Prelate at his Visitations shall see that there be no fault or neglect therein Decree V. AS Holy Matrimony is a Sacrament and as such conveys Grace it ought therefore to be received with great Purity and Holiness wherefore this Synod conforming
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
privately in their Houses or elsewhere as they shall judge most convenient by any Priest they please there being two Witnesses present according to the form of the Holy Council of Trent And the Synod doth command that henceforward such Dispensations be not granted any otherwise than in form of the Briefs of the Holy Apostolick See in these parts to that effect declaring all that shall be granted otherwise to be null and of no force and the Marriages that are celebrated by virtue of them to be void and the Parties not to be Married Decree IX THe Synod recognizing for the time to come the ancient prohibition observed in the Universal Church of not Marrying from the first day of Advent until the Epiphany and from Ashwednesday until the Sunday of the Octaves of Easter inclusive doth command the same to be inviolably observed in this Diocess adding to those days the time from Quinquagesima Sunday forward when by ancient custom Lent is begun in this Church but that at all other times tho' of Fasting marriage may be celebrated as People shall think fit Decree X. VVHereas in this Diocess there has hitherto been no respect had in the celebration of Matrimony to the Age of the Parties that the Law appoints therefore the Synod doth command that no Man shall be Married hereafter until he has attained the Age of fourteen Years at least nor no Woman before she is full twelve declaring that herein the Prelates have no power to dispense but can only if any that are under that Age should pretend to marry judge in their Consciences whether they are ripe for Matrimony and judging them to be so may grant them a License and dispense with their marrying nevertheless for several just respects and the greater security of Peoples Consciences and to remove as far as is possible for the Synod to do it the imitations of the marriages that are so much in use among the Heathens who marry people very young there being also great numbers in this Diocess who have been married at nine or ten Years old or under the Synod will not have the said Dispensation or Anticipation of time to exceed four months as to men and six as to Women nor to be granted by any but the Bishop and if any man hereafter shall presume to marry without such a Dispensation before he has attained the Age of fourteen or any Woman while she is under twelve all such marriages shall be void but may be resolved into Contracts de futuro and the Priests that shall marry any such shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice for six months and the Parties shall be kept asunder until they are of a due Age. Decree XI THe Synod being informed that great numbers of married people in this Diocess do without any sentence of the Church to which all Matrimonial causes do belong forsake their Wives and to the great offence of God absent themselves from them for a long time together doth command that there be no such separations made without the order of the Church and if any shall presume to make them that they be constrained to come together again upon pain of Excommunication or whatsoever other Penalty the Bishop shall think fit to inflict and in case they refuse to comply they shall be declared Excommunicate until such time as they return to one another and in case they have any just Cause to separate they shall carry it before the Prelate to be Judged according to Law and what is Just and shall be obliged by Censures to stand to his last determination The Synod doth furthermore declare That the non-payment of the Portion that may have been promised is no just Cause to leave their Wives which they might have been careful to have secured before they were Married to them and that whosoever shall forsake their Wives on that account shall be punished and constrained by Excommunication to live with them Decree XII THe Synod being informed that the Black Slaves that are Christians and even such of them as live in the Mountains with Christians do Marry without a Priest by only tying a Thred about the Brides Neck according to the usage of the Heathens doth declare That all such Marriages are void and null and that all that live so do live in Uncleanness commanding all that have been so Married to be brought to the Church there to be Married by the Vicar according to the Form of the Holy Trent Council and as is above ordered The Vicars must take pains to inform themselves of the Marriages of all such Slaves in order to make them observe the said Decree inviolably and the Masters who have consented that their Slaves or Servants should be thus Married and have celebrated such Marriages themselves and shall not send them to Church to be Married tho' they desire it shall be severely punished at the pleasure of the Prelate and shall be told of the great wrong they do to their own Consciences therein and of the Scandal they give to Christianity Decree XIII THe Synod being informed that some of the Christians of the Mountains have been Married to several Women in the face of the Church their first Wife being still alive to the great affront and injury of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony doth command all Vicars and Curates at their first institution into their Churches immediately to make strict enquiry into this Matter and to force all such to live with their first Wives and in case they refuse to declare them Excommunicate until such time as they comply and do turn away all their other Wives removing them from the place where they live which shall be done to all who during the life of their first Wife have presumed to take others until they shall be brought to live only with the first and besides they shall be punished with other punishments at the pleasure of the Prelate or of the Holy Office of * There are two Crimes which both the Inquisition and Civil Courts take cognizance of that is Polygamy and Sodomy The Civil Courts punish both with Death the Inquisition only with Penances This makes that all that are guilty of either of those Crimes when they apprehend themselves in any danger of being accused of them before the Civil Judges do take Sanctuary in the Inquisition where having confessed their Fault and submitted themselves to Penance they are in no further danger and so by that shift save their lives Now this Politick piece of Clemency for it is no other quite drowns the noise of all the barbarous Cruelties of the Court of Inquisition and alone gains it the reputation of being a much more merciful Tribunal than the Civil Inquisition to which this doth belong Decree XIV WHereas it is a thing unworthy of a Christian to observe the Superstitious Ceremonies of the Heathens from whence it is imagined good Success may be derived the Synod being informed that there are some ill Christians
to the Holy Canons And whereas in this Diocess there are many that have two or three Churches which they have had commended unto them in several parts either because they were built by their Relations or for some other Reason all which being a great Abuse the Synod doth declare That after the division of the Parishes is made none shall have any Jurisdiction therein besides their proper Vicars to whom only it shall belong to order all the Affairs of their Churches and to whom whosoever shall deny to yield Obedience shall be declared Excommunicate and shall be punished at the pleasure of the Prelate as disturbers of the Church and all such Priests as are in present possession of the Churches if qualified and there be no just Impediment the Synod will have it be instituted Vicars of one of their Parishes as the most Reverend Metropolitan shall think fit not that the Synod intends to prohibit the Prelate in case he is not provided of a sufficient number of able Priests or where there is not a sufficient maintenance to recommend two Churches to one Vicar provided they are at such a distance that he can look after both without any wrong to the administration of the Sacraments However this shall never be done but when there is an urgent and necessary Reason for it Decree IV. WHereas there are a great many Churches in this Diocess that have no Priests to the great detriment of the Faithful who by that means are for several Years without Mass or any to administer the Sacraments to them as has appeared to the Reverend Metropolitan in his Visitation of the Churches in some of which he found there had been no Masses said in five or six Years and that there are Children of that or a greater Age that have never been Baptized therefore the Synod both command That there be no Church that is made Parochial how poor and inconsiderable soever the People may be for any long time without a Curate or Vicar to administer the Sacraments to the Faithful of which the Prelate is to take special care and if it should so happen as it does too often that he cannot have a Priest to supply such Cures in that Case the Synod declares that the Prelate may oblige whomsoever he pleaseth by Penalties and Censures to serve such Churches that so the Necessities of the Faithful may be provided for giving them whereon to subsist in the said Churches Decree V. THe Synod being informed that there are many Villages in this Diocess which by reason of their great distance from any Church have little of Christianity left in them besides the Name of the Christians of St. Thomas which has been occasioned through the great negligence of the former Schismatical Prelates of this Bishoprick wherefore the Synod doth in virtue of Holy Obedience command all Priests that are nominated Vicars so soon as they shall come to their Churches to make a strict inquiry into the Christians that live in the Skirts of their Parishes and to report what they shall discover as to this Matter to the most Reverend Metropolitan that so he may take such course therein as shall be most for the Service of Christ and the Benefit of Souls and the same diligence shall be used in all Parts where there are such People found and have never been Baptized and where it is thought necessary there shall be New Churches built and Vicars appointed for the reducing such to true Christianity and the use of the Holy Sacraments of the Church Decree VI. WHereas the Church of Travancor is at this time totally demolished the greater part of its Parishioners having above forty Years ago turned perfect Heathens all which has happened through the negligence of sending Priests among them by reason of their great distance from any other Church there being nevertheless several good Christians there still therefore the Synod doth command that a Vicar be forthwith collated to that place who shall set immediately about rebuilding the Church there shall likewise be some Preachers sent along with him to reduce the said People into the bosom of Holy Mother Church and to the Holy Catholick Faith of Christ according to the Orders given therein by the most Reverend Metropolitan and the Vicar shall continue there baptizing and receiving all according to the necessity of the Church for which an Olla or License has been already obtained from the King of Travancor and shall from henceforth continue in the Church according to the necessity thereof Decree VII THe Synod being informed That upon the borders of the Territories belonging to the Samorim King of Calecut at the distance of four leagues from any Church in this Bishoprick there is a Country called Tadamalla in which there are certain Villages of Christians who were anciently of this Church but at present have nothing of Christianity but the bare Name doth command that Priests and Preachers be sent thither immediately from this Church to reduce them to the Catholick Faith and baptize them in which matter through the diligences that have been used by the most Reverend Metropolitan they will meet with no difficulties on the part of those who have lost their Christianity only for want of Instruction and the Synod doth recommend this People as a Member of their Church to the Spiritual Care of the most Reverend Metropolitan Decree VIII WHereas the use of the Holy Oils was instituted by Christ in the Church who made the Oil of Chrism the matter of the Sacrament of Confirmation and Extream Vnction and did furthermore appoint other Holy Unctions for the Catechumeni delivering the Doctrine of the Consecration of such Oils in his last Supper to his Disciples as we are taught by Holy Tradition from the Apostles and the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers of the Church and there having notwithstanding this been no such thing in use or known in this Church to this day Therefore the Synod doth command that in all Parish Churches there be a Box that shall hold three Vessels of Plate Tin or Glass in which the Holy Oils shall be kept with due Decency and Reverence with their several Names upon each Vessel so that they may not be used one for another commanding the Vicars that are to be nominated not to go from hence without carrying these Boxes along with them to their respective Churches which the most Reverend Metropolitan will furnish them withal and with the Holy Oils which he consecrated on Holy Thursday last for this purpose in the Church of Carturte in this Diocess which Boxes they shall put under Lock and Key in their Repositories either in the chief Chapel of the high Altar or in their Vestries or near to the Font having them always decently covered with Silk or in case the Vicars live at a considerable distance from their Churches or in the Heaths in some decent place in their Houses for fear of Infidel Robbers and that they may be always at hand
when they shall be called to administer the Sacrament of Vnction and whensoever they are carried to Church for Baptism or are carried to the Sick they shall be always carried by a Priest if it is possible but at least by one in Holy Orders and upon Holy Thursday they shall either burn all the Oils that remain of that Year in the Lamps of the Church or pour them into the Font so as after that day not to make use of any Oils but such as are new which after Easter they shall either go or send to the Prelate for or to the place where he has ordered them to be distributed and in case the See be vacant they shall then by order from the Governour of the Diocess have recourse to the Bishop of Cochim and the Vicars that shall neglect to go or send for the said Holy Oils for the use of their Churches so as not to have them within a month after Easter shall be suspended by the Prelate who is desired to be very watchful in this matter from his Office and Benefice for six months and be obliged to fetch them and the Children that shall be baptized during that time shall be anointed with the Holy Oils of Baptism when they come neither shall the Vicars depart from hence until they are fully instructed in the use of the Oils by Persons appointed by the Synod to teach them that so they may not be mistaken in the administration of the Holy Sacraments Decree IX THere being a great Confusion in this Bishoprick as to the Holy days that are to be kept under the Obligation of a Mortal Sin as well as to the hearing of Mass as to the doing of Work wherefore the Synod doth declare that they are these following to wit all the Sundays in the Year In January the first day being the Circumcision of our Lord and the sixth being the Feast of the Epiphany In February the second day being the Purification of our Lady and the twenty fourth being the Feast of the Apostle St. Matthew which in the Bissextile is to be celebrated on the twenty fifth In March the twenty fifth day being the Anunciation of our Lady In April the twenty third being the Feast of St. George the Martyr according to the custom of this Bishoprick In May the first being the Feast of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James In June the twenty fourth being the Feast of St. John the Baptist and the twenty ninth being the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul In July the second being the Visitation of our Lady and the third being the Feast of the glorious Apostle St. Thomas which by some is said to be the day of his Translation by others of his arrival in these parts and which has by ancient custom been still kept in this Bishoprick and the twenty fifth being the Feast of the Apostle St. James In August the sixth being the Tranfiguration of our Lord according to the custom of this Bishoprick the fifteenth the Assumption of our Lady and the twenty fourth the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle In September the eighth being the Nativity of our Lady the fourteenth the Feast of the Holy Cross according to the custom of this Bishoprick The twenty first the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle the twenty ninth the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel In October the twenty seventh being the Feast of the Apostles St. Simon and St. Jude In November the first being the Feast of All Saints the thirtieth of St. Andrew the Apostle In December the eighth being the Conception of our Lady the eighteenth being the day whereon the * Holy Cross The stone Cross that was found under ground at Maliapor with the Blood of St. Thomas and Sword wherewith he was Marry'd by Gabriel de Ataide a Portugueze Priest as he was digging a Foundation for a Church about the Year 1547. is reported to have sweat at a most prodigious rate upon the day of our Ladies Expectation being the 18th of December in the Year 1557. and to have continued always to sweat upon the same Festivity until the Year 1566. to which pious Fraud for that is the best that can be said of it the Archbishop and Synod it seems gave so much credit as to dedicate the 18th of December to the Memory thereof Holy Cross of the Apostle St. Thomas did sweat the twenty first being the Feast of the same Holy Apostle St. Thomas the twenty fifth the Feast of the Nativity the twenty sixth the Feast of St. Stephen the Protomartyr the twenty seventh of St. John the Evangelist the twenty eighth of the Innocents The Thursday of our Lord's Supper from the time the Offices are begun in the Church until midnight according to the custom of the Church Easter and the three days following notwithstanding they may have hitherto observed only two days The day of our Lord's Ascension the most Holy Feast of Pentecost with the two following days The most Holy Feast of the Body of God or of the most Holy Sacrament which according to the custom of these parts they celebrate on the Thursday after Easter Also the days of the Consecration of their Churches and the Feasts of the Saints to whom they were Dedicated in their own Parishes only The Synod doth furthermore declare That the Fridays from Christmas to Lent which use to be observed in some Parts shall not be kept hereafter the Saints that were Celebrated on some of them having their particular Feasts and others of them being Dedicated to Hereticks as is above observed whose Memories ought not to be Celebrated and the Vicars shall not fail on Sundays at Mass to warn the People of all the Holy-days of the Week that so they may be advertised to keep them Decree X. NOt only what Holy-days were to be kept were uncertain and not uniformly observed in this Bishoprick but the same also happened to the Fasting-days which Christians are under an obligation to keep wherefore the Synod doth declare that the Fasting-days as well the Ancient ones as those that are now commanded are these following The Holy and Solemn Fast of Lent which according to the Custom of this Bishoprick begins upon the Monday after Quinquagesima The Holy Fast of Advent which is kept in this Bishoprick with great rigor from the Sunday that is next to the first of December until Christmas The first day of February being the Vigil of the Purification of our Lady the 23d being the Vigil of St. Matthias the Apostle The 23d of June being the Vigil of St. John the Baptist and the 28th of St. Peter and St. Paul The 24th of July being the Vigil of St. James the Apostle The 12th of August being the Vigil of the Assumption of our Lady and the 23d of St. Bartholomew the Apostle The 7th of September being the Vigil of our Lady's Nativity the 13th of the Holy Cross The 27th of October being the Vigil of St. Simon and Jude
to restore Heathenism again under a Scheme of Christianity Heathenish Vanities condemned by Holy Mother Church earnestly desiring that all such things may be totally rooted out of the hearts of the very Infidels in this Diocess Decree XIV NOtwithstanding the Synod doth approve of the laudable Custom that has obtained in this Diocess of beginning the Holy Fast of Lent upon the Monday following Quinquagessima Sunday Nevertheless in conformity to the usage of the Universal Church it doth ordain and command that on the Wednesday following they consecrate Ashes in the Church which shall be sprinkled on the Heads of the People by the Priest that celebrates Mass using these words Remember Man that thou art dust and that to dust thou shalt return as he is directed by the Roman Ceremonial translated into Syrian by the order of the most Reverend Metropolitan leading by this Holy Ceremony the Faithful to a deeper Repentance for their Sins and a sense of their own vileness in that Holy time which Ashes so far as it can be done shall be made of the branches that were blessed the former Year upon Palm Sunday which is called Osana in this Diocess aâ— it is likewise ordered in the said Ceremonial buâ— at the same time the People shall be told thaâ— this is only a Holy Ceremony of the Church and not a Sacrament Decree XV. THat this Bishoprick may in all things be conformable to the Customs of the Catholick Church the Synod doth command all the Members thereof upon pain of Mortal Sin not to eat Flesh upon Saturdays in memory of our Lord's Burial but Eggs Milk Butter or Cheese they may lawfully eat upon Saturdays as also upon all Fish days that are not Fasts and since the custom of not eating Flesh on Wednesdays is not observed over the whole Diocess but only in some parts thereof and that but by a few the Synod doth declare that albeit that custom is Holy and Laudable and it were to be wished that it were universally observed by all Christians it doth not think fit to oblige People thereunto upon pain of Sin so that all that list may eat Flesh upon Wednesdays Decree XVI THe Synod doth declare That the Obligati of not eating Flesh on prohibited days lasts from midnight to midnight beginning at the midnight of the prohibited day and ending at the midnight of the day following so that the Obligation of not eating Flesh upon Frydays and Saturdays begins at the midnight of Fryday and ends on the midnight of Sunday and the Obligation of ceasing from labour begins at the midnight of the said day and ends at the midnight of Monday being to understand that in beginning the Fasts and Festivities on the Evening of the former and continuing them to the Evening of the latter day they do conform themselves to the Customs and Rites of the Jews condemned by Holy Mother Church in which days and their observances are not reckoned from Evening to Evening but from midnight to midnight Decree XVII WHereas it is the Custom of the Universal Church to have * Holy This Ceremony of sprinkling the people with Holy Water is no less of Heathen Extraction than the washings condemned in the former Decree as is acknowledged by the Learned Valesius in his Annotations on the 6 Ch. of the 6 Book of Sozomen Holy Water at the entrance of the Churches that so the Faithful by sprinkling themselves therewith may have their Venial Sins pardoned and the Holy Water that has been hitherto made use of in this Diocess has not been blessed by the Priest nor by any Prayer of the Church the Sextons only throwing a little of the Clay into it that is brought by Pilgrims from the Sepulchre of St. Thomas or from some other Holy Place relating to him and where such Clay has been wanting the said Sextons have thrown some Grains of Incense into it Whereupon without any further Consecration it has been esteemed Holy Therefore the Synod doth declare that such Water is not Holy and that the Faithful ought not to make use of it and albeit that all the Earth of Holy places and of the Sepulchres of Saints approved of by the Church ought to be kept with much Veneration yet that the Earth of the Holy places belonging to St. Thomas has not the virtue of such a Consecration in it for which reason it commands all Priests to bless the said Water by throwing Holy Salt into it according to the custom of the Universal Church as is directed by the Roman Ceremonial translated into Syrian by the order of the most Reverend Metropolitan according to the Form whereof the true Vicars shall take care to consecrate Water and every Saturday Evening or Sunday Morning to furnish the Water-pots therewith and upon Sundays the People being assembled the Priest being in his Surplice and Stole but without his Planet shall before he begins Mass sprinkle the whole Congregation repeating the Antiphona and the Prayer contained in the said Ceremonial and at Masses at which the Deacon and Sub-Deacon officiate the Deacon may repeat the Antiphona but the Prayer shall always be said by the Priest The Vicars must also instruct the People at their entring into the Church to take Holy Water and bless themselves therewith in the form of a Cross and to give over the saying the Prayer to the impious Heretick Nestorius which they used to do when they took Holy Water as they entred into the Church the Synod condemning the same as Heretical and Blasphemous Decree XVIII WHereas the greatest part of the People of this Bishoprick are not instructed in the Doctrine and they that are know only the Pater Noster and Ave Mary in the Syrian Tongue which they do not understand and most of the Children know not how to bless themselves nay the Clergy themselves are ignorant thereof not being able to say the Commandments therefore the Synod doth command that in all Parish Churches in the Morning and Evening as the Vicar shall think most convenient one of the Boys or the Bell-man shall ring the little Bell to call the Boys and Girls together in the Church where being assembled the Vicar or some other Clergyman that he shall appoint shall instruct them in the Doctrine that is to say the Sign of the Cross the Pater Noster Ave Mary the Creed and the Commandments of God and the Church the Articles of Faith and other Christian Doctrines in the Malabar Tongue that so all may understand them and not in the Syrian which the People do not understand it being the custom of the Church to teach the Doctrine to Children and to the People in theiâ— Mother Tongue and furthermore upon all Sundays and Holydays either before or after Mass the Vicar shall teach the said Doctrine in the Congregation that so all may be instructed there in and shall also after having called the peoplâ— together with a Bell teach it on the Evenings of Sundays and as
for the Churches that are in the Heaths the Vicars shall give orders that the Children or at least such of them as are nighest to the Church shall upon a certain day of the Week come to learn the Doctrine employing others persons to instruct the rest therein and the Schoolmasters that teach Syrian or that teach to read and write shall every day before they begin School repeat the said Doctrine to their Scholars in Malabar neither shall any inferior Orders no not the first Tonsure be given to Children before they can say the whole Doctrine in Malabar in which they must be examined according to the Holy Council of Trent and in all Church s there shall be a Book of the * Doctrine The Christians of Malabar would certainly lose the second Commandment by receiving this Roman Doctrine in which that Commandment never appears no not as part of the first nay in the Tridentine Catechism tho' writ in Latin and for the use of Parish-Priests there is only the three first words of it mentioned and I do not believe there is one Priest of a thousand in Spain or Portugal who if they should have the whole Second Commandment repeated to them would not say what I have heard more than one and those very grave Priests too say of it That it might be John Calvin's but they were sure it was none of God's Commandments Doctrine in the Malabar Tongue for the instruction of Children which the Synod doth entreat the Father Rector of the College of Jesuits of Vaipicotta to order to be translated by some of that College commanding all the Churches of this Diocess as also exhorting all the Christians thereof at Night to cause the said Doctrine to be taught in their Houses to their whole Families that so their Servants and Slaves may be instructed therein and the Confessors in their Confessions must not fail to examine their Penitents in the Doctrine and to exhort them to learn it Decree XIX THat the Faithful Christians in this Diocess may in their Common Prayer be conformable to the whole Catholick Church they must not from henceforward say the Ave Mary as they have been taught by the Perfidious Nestorians but must say it thus Ave Mary full of Grace the Lord be with thee blessed art thou among Women blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy Womb Holy Mother of God pray for us Sinners now and at the hour of our Death Amen Jesus And in this form it shall be inserted into all the Prayer Books of this Diocess Decree XX. VVHereas the Christians of this Diocess do not shew the least Reverence to the most Holy Name of Jesus when it is mentioned which ariseth from the false Doctrine of the Nestorian Hereticks who do impiously assert That it is not worthy of Reverence being the Name of a Humane Person teaching falsly that there are two Persons in Christ therefore since that Divine Name contains in it so many Divine Mysteries being the Name of our Redemption and the Name above all Names At which St. Paul saith every knee in Heaven and in Earth and below the Earth ought to bow the Synod doth command that as often either in the Gospel or Prayers of the Mass or Offices or any where else that that Name is mentioned all People do reverently bow their Body whether they be sitting or standing and the Clergy and other Christians having their Caps on shall take them off and the Vicars and Preachers must not neglect to put their People frequently in mind thereof and whereas the Name Lyo is the same with the most sweet Name of Jesus in the Malabar Language and is commonly given to Children in Baptism the Synod doth strictly prohibit the giving of that Name to any body for the future commanding all that are called by it to take another Name in Confirmation or at any other time it being a great irreverence for any one to be called by so high and Divine a Name Decree XXI WHereas it is necessary that the Feast of Christ's Nativity should be celebrated with great solemnity and uniformity through the whole Catholick Church the Synod doth command that on the Eve of that Festivity all the Clergy and People do assemble together in the Church there to say the Matins with the greatest Solemnity possible and that after they have done these Prayers which shall end about Midnight they shall make the customary Procession which being over a Solemn Mass shall be said with all possible Festivity after which the Priest may say a Mass at break of day and a third at the usual time of Mass for the Priest must know that for the greater Solemnity of this Festival they are permitted to say three Masses upon it that is one at Midnight one at break of day and a third at the ordinary time or being private Masses all three together after break of day but being publick shall be all said in the fore-mentioned Order neither shall they after the first two take the Lavatory but after having received the Blood shall go on with the Mass without taking the Lavatory that so they may be Fasting to celebrate the third and they shall be very careful to have the Cups well scoured and their Fingers washed clean with Water which shall be preserved in a particular Vessel in order to its being afterwards either thrown into a Pond or poured under the Altar or into the Baptismal Water that is in the Font and if any Priest through carelessness should in either of the two first Masses take the Lavatory after that it shall not be lawful for him to say any more because the Mass is not to be celebrated but Fasting which the taking of the Lavatory breaks Decree XXII THe Synod doth command That the Priests in the solemn administration of the Sacraments of Baptism Matrimony and Extream Vnction or when they administer the Holy Eucharist without the Mass for the greater decency and reverence for what they are about do wear a Surplice with a Stole about their Necks And whereas hitherto there has been no such thing as a Surplice in this Bishoprick the most Reverend Metropolitan having been pleased to provide such Vestments as are necessary in this Bishoprick no Vicar shall go from hence without taking a Surplice along with him which he is to wear in the administration of the Holy Sacraments wherein the Synod commands them likewise to use the Rites and Ceremonies prescribed in the Roman Ceremonial which the said Lord Metropolitan has commanded to be translated into Syrian and to be kept in all Churches which contains the Forms of Baptizing of Anointing the Sick of Marrying of Sacramental Absolution with the customary Prayers therein of administring the Holy Sacrament of the Altar of the Exorcisms of the Church for People possessed with the Devil the Blessings of Holy Water of Ashes of Chains and Branches as also the Form of Burying the Dead Old and Young and of reconciling Churches and
Church-Yards Which Books being bound shall be kept in all Churches neither shall any Priest presume to apply them to his own private use or to take them out of the Church And the Synod doth earnestly recommend it to the Rector of the College of the Jesuits of Vaipicotta to have always some of these Books Translated by some of the said College by him in order to the supplying of the Necessities of these Churches Decree XXIII THe Synod desiring that this Church may in all things be conformable to the Holy Roman and whole Italian Church doth command That on the second of February being the day of our Lady's Purification before Mass the Wax Candles which are in the Church be Blest as also all the Candles that shall be brought by the People out of Devotion according to the Roman Ceremonial translated into Syrian and after the publick and solemn Benediction is over there shall be a Procession in or round the Church in which all the Clergy shall carry Blessed Candles lighted in their hands as the People shall also do that have any in Memory of the Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ the Divine Light and Splendor of the Father first entrance into the Temple there to offer himself to his Eternal Father cloathed with our Humanity So likewise upon the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday before the Feast of our Lord 's Holy Ascension in the Morning either before or after Mass there shall be a Procession in the Church or where the Vicar shall appoint in which the Litanies shall be said according to the customs of the Church which shall also be translated in the said Roman Ceremonial expunging the Names of all the Hereticks who according to the custom of the Nestorians were commemorated in this Church and it is the desire of the Synod that the use of the said Litanies be brought into this Church to be read in their Necessities or when they desire to implore the Divine Mercy Decree XXIV THe Synod being informed that in the remote parts of this Bishoprick as well towards the South as towards the North the Christians that dwell in the Heaths are guilty of Working and Merchandizing on Sundays and Holy-days especially in the Evenings doth command the Vicars to be very vigilant in this Matter and to admonish and reprehend all that they shall find so doing and if after three particular Admonitions they shall not reform they shall after that be thrown out of the Church and have the Casture denied them neither shall any Priest go into their Houses until they have yielded Obedience Decree XXV WHereas in this Diocess there are many Churches dedicated to Marxobro and Marphrod who are commonly stiled Saints of whom there is * Nothing known At Compostella the most famous place of Devotion in all Spain the People pray to some that they know as little of as the Malabars do of Marphrod For the famous Spanish Antiquary Ambrosius Morales in the 9th Book of his Chronicle gives us a particular Account of an Altar with some Names upon it that he met with there and that had great Devotion paid to it In the famous Monastery of the Benedictine Nuns that joins to the Holy Church of St. James saith Morales and is dedicated to the Glorious Martyr Pelayo whom in that Country they commonly call St. Payo there is an Ara on the Altar which they affirm to have been Consecrated by the Apostles and that they themselves said Mass on it and that it was brought thither with the blessed Body of St. James Now there is not saith Morales not only no foundation for the Truth of this Story but there is just cause to believe that that Stone which is at present in the same state it was in when it was first made could never be an Altar I observed it with great attention in the company of several great and learned Men who had all the same thoughts of it that I had the thing indeed being in clear and manifest for any such to doubt of for it is visible that the Stone is the Grave-Stone of some Heathens with this following Inscription D M S ATIAMO ET ATTE T LVMPS AO VIRIA EMO NEPTIS PIANO Xâ— ET S. E. C. The words are very plain and clear there not being a Letter wanting so that notwithstanding the Blunders committed by the Grace in Spelling it they may be with great ease Translated which I will 〈◊〉 as well as I can into Spanish This Stone is Consecrated to the Gods of the Dead and Dedicated to the Memories oâ— Atiamo and of Atte and oâ— Lumpsa as also to her Memorâ— who Erected it Viria Emâ—sâ— their pious Grand-child being 16 Years of Age. This is what the Stone contains therefore they that Consecrated it an Altar would have done well to have defaced the Letters by which means they would have removed the indignity that states all People in the face that consider what a thing it is to have the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ our Redeemer consecrated and placed upon the Tomb-Stone of Heathens whereon the Devils are invocated Thus far Morales But as this Stone has had a great deal of Honour done it in coming to be Consecrated an Altar in such a famous place of Devotion so the Persons whose Names are upon it have had no less done to them who are all great Saints in that Country and particularly Piano who in all probability is the St. Payo to whom the Church and Monastery is dedicated For first Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology upon the 30th day of December gives this following Account of the said Stone and Persons Don Didacus Sequinus Bishop of Auria who has Epitomized the Life of his Predecessor Serrandus gives therein the following Exposition of the Inscription that is upon this Altar Stone in the Galecian Language which History I have now by me in MSS. Consegrada a Deos Maximo Atiamo Erato Telumpsa Viriamo Nepotispiano Xuuito Teliforo Forem Martyres e padezeron em Galizia no Pago Sarense antes que ô Apostolo se fose a Jerusalem e por isto deyxon esta Ara a seus Discipolos paraque sobre de la dixiesem Missa en membraza destes Santos asi dexou escrito ô Bispo Don Serrando That is to say Consrecated to the greatest God Atiamo Erato Telumpsa Viriamo Nepotispiano Xuuito Teliforo Were all Martyrs and suffered in Galecia in the Village of Sarep before the Apostle went to Jerusalem who for that reason left this Altar to his Disciples to say Mass on in memory of those Saints as Bishop Don Serrando has left upon Record Lobarinus tells us that Don Serrandus after having given a description of the Altar subjoins the following Account of it Este he ò Retrayto de Ara que deyxo escripta o Apostol Santiago a seus discipolos e he un tanto da que trouxa con sigo nó mar sobre que pausaran o santo corpo e sobre de la deria missa
shall meet with no Priests in the Church they shall then assemble as many Christians together as conveniently they can and bury the Corps in the Church-yard praying for their Souls with Christian Charity And whosoever shall neglect to bring their Dead to the Church and shall bury them in Profane Ground shall be severely punished by the Bishop Decree XXXIII WHereas the Small-Pox is looked upon in these parts as a very dangerous and infectious Distemper for which reason a great many Christians dying thereof are not carried to the Church nor buried in Holy ground herefore the Synod doth very much recommend it to the Vicars to take order that the Corps of such as die of that Sickness may be brought with due caution to the Church-yard where they with the rest of the Clergy at some distance are to recommend them and pray for them as they do for others and to see them interr'd all which Christian Charity will teach them to do according to the Obligation of their Office Decree XXXIV THe Synod doth order that no Town or Village wherein there is a Church dedicated to any Saint shall dedicate the same to any other or if they do they shall appoint another Orago or Wake so as to have two Festivals to prevent those Emulations that are common in these parts The Synod also condemns the * Ignorance Upon S. Teresa being joyned with St. James in the Patronage of Spain by Pope Vrban the VIIIth how loud did a great many people complain of the Indignity done to St. James their old Patron and General in all their Wars by that Partnership Among others Quivedo as in Honour bound being a Knight of the Order of St. James drew his pen in his Patron 's Quarrel and having laid down this as an undeniable position That St. James must necessarily be disparaged by having one joyned with him and especially a Woman in a Patronage he had enjoyed solely for so many Ages did manfully maintain that its being said in the Pope's Bull That nothing was granted therein to S. Teresa that should be in any wise to the prejudice or diminution of St. James did make that whole grant null and void for that joyning her with St. James in such an Office must necessarily lessen him 2dly That the Saints in Heaven did resent such Affronts 3. That it was monstrous Ingratitude in Spain to treat a Patron thus who had fought personally on Horseback for her in all her Battels with the Moors among whom to this day the Captain on the Whitehorse was formidable As to the Text in Scripture urged by S. Teresa's Friends for such a partnership viz. It is not good for man to be alone I will make him an help meet for him He saith That considering what was the true intent of those words when they were spoke such an application of them was profane and Heretical Ignorance of those Christians who imagine that they do an injury to a Church in dedicating a New one in the same Country to a different Saint from whence it is that all the Churches in the same Country are as it were called by the same Name and doth furthermore command That upon the Orago's of Churches where there are Sermons people having no Sermon in their own Parish do repair thither that so there may be no divisions among Churches to the prejudice of Charity and Christian Unity as the Synod is informed there is in many places all which it is desirous to remove as not becoming Christians and for the further service of the Church commands Fraternities to be erected but especially for the festivities by which means such things as are necessary for the Church may be greatly advanced Decree XXXV THe Synod doth very much recommend it to the Vicars of Churches and other Priests to labour much in the Conversion of Infidels and that by just and gentle methods namely by the preaching of the Gospel to bring them to the Catholick Faith and to omit no opportunity of instructing as well the Naires as the Chegos or baser sort of People in the knowledge of the Truth but above all the poor Malleans who live in the Heaths who as the Synod is informed are less wedded to their Errors particularly that of the Adoration of Idols and are much better disposed to receive the Evangelical Doctrine than others and whensoever any Infidel is converted the Priest shall advise the Prelate thereof that he may take such order therein as he shall judge most convenient and to be most for the service of Christ earnestly entreating that the Conversions that are begun in some parts by the most Reverend Metropolitan may be carried on by the Clergy of this Diocess by providing themselves continually of such Priests as are fit to advance the same and where-ever there is any considerable number of Converts they shall immediately build Churches and appoint Vicars to take the Cure of their Souls Decree XXXVI VVHereas the Synod is informed That the meaner sort of People are much better disposed to receive the Faith than the Naires or Nobles and being extreamly desirous to find some way whereby such well disposed People may be made Christians so as to assemble together with the old Christians as why should they not since they all adore the same God with whom there is no distinction of Persons and are all of the same Faith and do all use the same Sacraments and whereas after mature deliberation and having oftentimes recommended the matter to God and conferred about the most proper methods for the effecting of it in the Congregations we have not been able to find any that are effectual by reason of the Heathen Kings and Lords to whom all the Christians in these parts are subject who if they should observe that we withdraw their common Subjects from their Religion would correspond with us no longer to the loss of the Trade and Commerce we do at present maintain with them all which being observed by the Synod it doth command that if any of the poorer sort of People shall desire to turn Christian that they be received to Baptism and the Prelate shall be advised thereof that he may give order for the building of distinct Churches for them and may appoint Priests to take the Cure thereof that so the meaner sort of People may not have the Gate of Christianity and Salvation shut against them as it has been hitherto in this Church and in case they have not a Church to themselves they shall then hear Mass without doors in the Porch until Christ shall provide some better way for them and the Heathen Kings shall be brought to allow the mean People that turn Christians to be esteemed as Noble upon the account of the Relation that all Christians stand in to one another and the Synod doth beg it of His Majesty the King of Portugal that by means of the great Power he has in these parts he would procure this privilege of
Families to be very watchful over the Lives and Manners of their Slaves and Servants and the rather for having been informed that most of the Black Women belonging to Christians in this Bishoprick do lead very ill Lives in being publick Whores and known to be such by their Masters never going to Mass or Confession and being totally ignorant of the Christian Religion their Mastâ—â— taking no care to have them instructed thereiâ— or of the good of their Souls notwithstandinâ— the Obligation they are under of doing it Sâ— Paul having told us that he that does not taâ—â— care of his Family is worse than an Infidel Wherefore the Synod doth very much recommend it to the Vicars of Churches to be very watchful oveâ— and to make diligent Inquiry into the Lives oâ— the Slaves that are in their Parishes and as they shall see occasion to exhort their Masters and oblige them not to suffer their Slaves to live in a sinful State Decree XIII WHereas several poor wretched Christians following the Custom of the Heathen among whom they live when they find themselves pinched with any want do contrary to all right and reason sell their Children Wherefore the Synod doth in Virtue of Obedience and upon pain of the greater Excommunication prohibit all Christians to sell their Children or any of their Kindred no not to other Christians and doth under the same Precept and censure forbid all Christians to buy any such or to keep them as Slaves except when they see Parents so far despise this prohibition as to be ready to sell their Children to Infidels in which case they may buy them to keep the Christian Children from coming under the power of Heathens whom nevertheless they shall not keep as Slaves but shall forthwith signifie what they have done to the Prelate that he may take such course therein that the Buyer may have his Money and the Child its liberty and the Seller may be punished all that shall buy such Children in any other case as well as those that sell them shall be held Excommunicate until they have effectually dissolved all such Bargains and if the Child do happen to be made an Infidel he that sold it shall not be absolved until he has ransomed the said Child or at least until the Vicar and People are satisfied of his having done all that he is able to have redeemed it and the Synod doth furthermore recommend it to the Vicars and Curates of Churches and to all Christian People that whenever any such thing happens they do all that is in their power to recover such Children and to ransom them whatever it cost by contributing Money towards it and by complaining thereof to their Kings and advising the Prelate of it leaving no means untried to rescue such Children that so they may not be bred up Infidels Decree XIV THe Synod doth approve of the laudable Custom of this Diocess of Mens giving the Tenth part of their Wives Portion when they are Married to the Church as also of that of making a repartition of the said Alms betwixt the Fabrick of the Church and the Priests thereof and whereas this Custom does not obtain all over the Diocess and especially in the Southern Parts the Synod doth intreat and command all People to conform themselves to the same and willeth that the People among whom this Custom is not as yet introduced may be obliged to it by their Procurators there being no reason since it is observed in the greater part of this Diocess why it should not be established all over it Decree XV. WHereas by the ancient Custom consented to by the Infidel Kings of Malabar the whole Government of the Christians of this Bishoprick not only in Spirituals but in Temporals also is devolved to the Church and the Bishop thereof who is to determine all differences that are among Christians and that some dreading the Justice and Judgment of the Prelate in their Controversies do without any fear of God carry them before Infidel Kings and their Judges who are easily bribed to do as they would have them to the great prejudice of Christianity the said Kings taking occasion from thence to intrude themselves into the Affairs of Christians by which means besides that they do not understand such Matters being Tyrants and Idolaters they become very grievous and vexatious to Christians for the avoiding of which and several other mischiefs arising from thence to Christianity the Synod doth strictly command all the Christians of this Diocess not upon any pretence whatsoever to presume to carry any of their Causes before Infidel Kings or their Judges without express Licence from the Prelate which whensoever it shall be judged necessary shall be granted to them as shall be thought fit in the Lord but all Causes shall be first carried before the Prelate that he may judge or compose them according to Reason and Justice and all that shall do otherwise shall be severely punished for the same at the pleasure of the Prelate and be thrown out of the Church for so long time as he shall think fit Decree XVI WHereas the Christians of this Bishoprick are subject to Kings and Lords that are Infidels by whom they are many times obliged to handle Bars of hot Iron or to thrust their Hand into boyling Oil or to swim thorow Rivers that are full of Snakes reckoning that if they are Innocent none of those things can hurt them but will certainly if guilty of what they are accused And seeing there are not wanting some ill-minded Christians who finding themselves unjustly accused do voluntarily offer themselves to undergo the said Ordeals for the manifestation of their Innocency and notwithstanding that it is true that God has sometimes concurr'd with Peoples Innocency and Simplicity in such Cases by not suffering them to be hurt by such things nevertheless since for any to offer themselves to undergo such Ordeals is to tempt God and to pretend to work a Miracle which is not lawful and may sometimes so succeed as to be a great affront to our Catholick Faith therefore the Synod doth prohibit all Christians to presume to offer themselves to undergo any such Ordeals knowing that they sin mortally in so doing in being guilty therein of tempting God commanding all that shall transgress therein to be severely punished And when it shall happen that any such Ordeals shall be so imposed upon them by their Infidel Princes that there is no avoiding it in such Cases they shall submit themselves to the Will of God as to the Injustices and Violences laid upon them by Infidel Tyrants and in case of any Oath being tendred to them by Infidels wherein they must swear by their Pagods they must know that they ought rather to suffer death than take any such Oath the taking of an Oath being an act of Worship and Veneration that is due to God alone Neither shall Christians use any Ordeals among themselves or Oaths but such as were in use
in the Church the foresaid Oaths being what Christians ought to dread more than all the Torments of the World Decree XVII WHereas the distinction of the Faithful from Unbelievers even by outward signs and habits is a thing which has always been endeavoured that so the one may be known and divided from the other therefore the Synod having observed that there is no distinction neither in their Habits nor in their Hair nor in any thing else betwixt the Christians of this Diocess and the Heathen Naires doth command that henceforward no Christian do presume to bore their Ears or to do any thing to make them large except Women among whom it is an Universal Ornament and whosoever shall transgress herein shall be punished at the pleasure of the Prelate who shall not suffer them to wear an Ornament of Gold or of any thing else in their Ears and whosover shall presume to wear any such Ornament shall be thrown out of the Church neither shall the Casture be given them until such time as they are brought to yield effectual Obedience and to leave off all such Ornaments but as for those whose Ears are bored already if they are not Children they may wear what they please or what they have accustomed themselves to Decree XVIII THe Synod being desirous to rectifie whatever is amiss in this Diocess and so far as it is possible to reform all evil Customs and having observed the great Debauchery of many and especially of the poorer sort in drinking Orraca from whence do follow many Disasters Murders and Wounds wherefore in order to the preventing such Mischiefs so far as is possible the Synod doth prohibit the selling of Orraca in any Christian Inn neither shall Christians Trade in that Commodity upon pain of being punished at the pleasure of the Prelate by which means not only Disorders but the great Communication the Faithful hath with the Heathen in such Inns will also be prevented Decree XIX WHereas it is a manifest Injustice to have diverse Weights in the same Country the Synod being informed that in many Markets of this Bishoprick every one sells with what Weights they please doth command That there be but one Weight for the same Merchandize in a Market and all the Shops thereof and that it be the usual Weight of the place to which all that do not yield Obedience shall be admonished by the Vicars and if they do not reform thereupon shall chastised at the pleasure of the Prelate who shall constrain them to the same by Penalties and Censures if they shall be found necessary there being no other Government among the Christians of this Diocess but that of the Church nor no other coercive Power but that of Censures Decree XX. WHereas an unreasonable Custom has obtained in this Diocess viz. That Males only inherit their Fathers Goods the Females having no share at all thereof and that not only when there are Sons but when there are Daughters only and they unmarried and many times Infants by which means great numbers of them perish and others ruin themselves for want of necessaries the Fathers Goods falling to the Males that are next in Blood tho' never so remote or collateral there being no regard had to Daughters no more than if their Parents were under no obligation to provide for them all which being very unreasonable and contrary to the natural right that Sons and Daughters have to succeed to the good of their Parents the Kindred who have thus possessed themselves of such Goods are bound to restore them to the Daughters as the lawful Heiresses to them wherefore the Synod doth decree and declare this Custom to be Unjust and that the next a-kin can have no right when there are Daughters to inherit their Father's Estate and being possessed of such Estates are bound in conscience to restore them neither is it lawful for the Males to divide the Estate among them without giving any equal Portion to the Females or if they have not done it already they stand indebted for their Portions or if the Father has disposed of the third part of his Estate by Will the remaining two parts shall be equally divided betwixt the Sons and the Daughters the Portions that have been received by those that are married being discounted all which the Synod doth command to be observed intreating and commanding all the Christians of the Diocess to receive this Decree as a Law and observe it intirely it being laid as a duty upon their Consciences and if any shall act otherwise and being a Kinsman shall seize upon the Goods belonging to Daughters or being a Son shall deny to give Portions to his Sisters or being in possession of the said Goods shall refuse to make restitution the Prelate if it cannot be done otherwise shall compell them to it by Penalties and Censures declaring them Excommunicate without any hope of Absolution until such time as they shall pay an effectual Obedience and shall make restitution Decree XXI THe Adoption of Sons is not lawful but in defect of natural Children which not being understood by the Christians of this Bishoprick through their ignorance of the Law they do commonly Adopt the Children of their Slaves born in their Houses or of other People disinheriting their lawfully begotten Children sometimes upon the account of some differences they have had with them and sometimes only for the affection they have to Strangers all which is contrary to Law and Reason and is a manifest injustice and wrong done to their legitimate Children wherefore the Synod doth declare that the said Adoptions must not be practised where there are natural Children and being done are void so that the Persons thus Adopted are not capable of inheriting any thing except what may be left them by way of Legacy which must not exceed the third of the Estate no not tho' the Adoption was made before there were any Legitimate Children to inherit The Synod doth furthermore declare That the Adoptions which have been made before the celebration of this Synod where there are Children and the Adopted are not in actual possession of the Estate are void neither shall the Adopted have any share thereof or having had any shall be obliged to restore it to which if it be found necessary the Prelate shall compell them by Pennalties and Censures but as to those who by virtue of such Adoptions have for a long time been in quiet possession of Estates the Synod by this Decree does not intend to dispossess them thereof by reason of the great disturbance and confusion the doing so would make in this Diocess which is what this Synod pretends to hinder leaving every one however in such Cases at liberty to take their remedy at Law Decree XXII WHereas the way of Adopting by ancient Custom in this Diocess is to carry the Parties that are to be Adopted before the Bishop or Prelate with certain Testimonials before whom they declare that they take such a one
for their Son whereupon the Bishop passeth an Olla or Certificate and so the Adoption is perfected the Synod doth command That from henceforward the Prelate do not accept of an Adoption from any that have Children of their own or in case they have none yet it shall be declared in the Olla That if they shall afterwards happen to have any that the said Olla shall be void to all intents and purposes by which means the great Injustices that are now so common in this Diocess will be prevented Decree XXIII THe Synod being desirous to have all the Christians of this Diocess to live together in Villages by reason of the great inconveniencies they are under that live in the Heaths as well by reason of the great communication they must have with Infidels as for wanting opportunities of going to Church and Sacraments whereby they are kept in ignorance of Christianity doth in order thereunto very earnestly recommend it to all Christians that live in Heaths to do all they are able either to come and live in some Village or to build new Villages with Churches that so they may live more civilly and be separated from the communication of Infidels and be the better instructed in the Customs of our Holy Catholick Faith recommending it earnestly to the Vicars to persuade their Sheep thereunto for the Spiritual profit they will receive thereby which the Prelate shall also endeavour with all his power Decree XXIV THe Synod having taken into consideration the manifold Injustices Oppressions and Grievances wherewith Infidel Kings and Governours do often treat the Christians of this Bishoprick and that out of enmity to our Holy Catholick Faith and observing the necessity they are in of Defence and Protection doth with great instance desire That his Majesty the King of Portugal would be graciously pleased to take all the Christians of this Bishoprick under his Favour and * Protection By this we see the King of Cochim was not jealous without reason that the Arch-Bishop had a State design in the great pains and charge he was at in the reduction of his Christian Subjects and tho' nothing was talked of but the Pope and the Roman Obedience that the King of Spain and the augmentation of his strength in the Indies by the accession of so many new Subjects was the main Spring in the Enterprize I will not say tho' it is probable enough that the Arch-Bishop by magnifying this Service at the Court of Spain got first to be Governour of the Indies and afterwards to be Governour of all the Dominions of Portugal and President of the Council of State at Madrid but this we are sure of that that Service to the Crown of Spain was much boasted of here in Europe by others For the Jesuit Ilayus in his Book De Rebus Japonicis speaking of this very thing â—â—ith Cuae res quanto Regie Majestati emolumento sit latura nôrunt qui non ignorant quanti sit momenti gentem in tota India lectissimam à temporibus B. Thomae Christiano cultui deditum támque numerosum potentem ut armatos ad Triginta Millia in promptu habeat cum Lusitanis unire ad Ecclesiae Romanae obedientiam revocare in Fidem ditionemque Regis Catholici accipere But as it is visible that the increasing of the Portugueze strength in the Indies by the accession of so many new Subjects was what both the Arch-Bishop and Spanish Government aimed at chiefly in the troublesome and chargeable reduction of this Church So it is certain that from this very Year 1599 the Portugueze Historians do begin to reckon the declination of their strength in those parts who give the following Account of the three Ages of their Indian Government that it was in its Infancy till the Year 1561 and from that time till the Year 1600 in its Manhood or full strength and ever since has been in its Old declining Age and is now in truth become so decrepid as to be only the Ghost of a great Name Neither is this to be wondred at considering how common a thing it is for God to blast the most promising Securities when obtained by such violent and unlawful Methods Protection he being the only Christian King or Lord in all these Oriental Parts and the Christians of this Diocess shall on their parts be ready at all times to sacrifice their Lives to their Holy Catholick Faith the preservation of Christianity and the defence of Christians which they shall be always prepared to do with their Lives and Fortunes beseeching the most Reverend Metropolitan President of this Synod to present this their Petition to his Majesty and to let him know how ready all the Christians of this Bishoprick are to serve him Decree XXV WHereas in this Synod Matters pertaining to our Holy Catholick Faith the Holy Sacraments of the Church the Reformation of Affairs thereof and the Customs of Christian People have been handled the Synod doth command all Vicars of Churches not to fail to have all its Decrees Transcribed from the Original Malabar and to have a Copy thereof in all their Churches Signed by the Reverend the Arch-Deacon of this Diocess and the Rector of the College of Vaipicotta and upon every Sunday and Holy-day when there is no Sermon nor no Lecture upon the Catechism set forth by the most Reverend Metropolitan that a portion of this Synod be read to the People but on the Seasons when the said Catechism is ordered to be read it shall be read on Sundays and the Synod upon Holy-days that so all that is decreed therein may come to the knowledge of the People and may be remembred and observed by them the Original of the said Synod being Signed by the most Reverend Metropolitan and all the other Members thereof shall be put in the Archives of the Jesuites College of Vaipicotta in this Diocess from whence so many Copies as shall be thought necessary shall be transmitted to the Churches there shall also be another Original Signed by the most Reverend Metropolitan the Arch-Deacon and other Members kept in the Archives of the Church of Angamale called the Arch-Bishop's See that all Copies may at all times be Corrected according to either of those Originals and the Synod doth furthermore recommend it to all Vicars Priests and Curates and to all and every Christian of this Diocess and commands them all in the Lord to conform themselves to the Decrees of this Diocesan Synod and so far as is in their power to observe and cause them to be observed inviolably and to govern themselves by them in all things which the Synod is confident they will do with the help of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who liveth and reigneth for ever Amen After the Decrees were read the Bishoprick was divided into Seventy-five Parishes whose Bounds were greater or lesser as was judged to be most convenient for the administration of the Holy Sacraments and the Spiritual Food
he has vouchsafed to me and you and all the faithful People of this Bishoprick in permitting us to celebrate this Synod maugre all the impediments which Satan the enemy of Souls had created to obstruct it by stirring up Contentions and Debates on purpose to separate this Christianity from the Vnion of the Catholick Church and to keep them in their old Errors as you all very well know I do also give many thanks to God for his having been pleased to order Matters so that this whole Affair should end with so much Joy Peace and Concord as you all see it does and so much to the sorrow of Infidel and Idolatrous Kings and of all the other Enemies of our Holy Catholick Faith I do also thank you my most dear Brethren and fellow Priests and Coadjutors and you my beloved Sons the Procurators of the People and all the other principal Persons who have been present at this Synod that not regarding the troubles of the Ways and Times nor the displeasure of the Kings to whom you are subject you have as true Christians desirous of Salvation over-looked all those Inconveniencies and obeyed our Precept in assembling your selves together to treat about the good of your Souls for which God will reward you with Eternal Life if you persevere in the purity of the Faith you have here profest and which you have been taught by this Synod and shall conform your Lives and Manners to its Decrees I trust in the Lord that he will carry you back safe to your Houses and bless you and your Families and Posterity for ever which God of his infinite Grace and Mercy grant Amen This Discourse being ended the most Reverend Metropolitan rose up and with abundance of tears gave his solemn Blessing to the People and after that the Arch-Deacon with a loud voice said Let us depart in peace to which the whole Synod answered in the name of Christ Amen And thus the Diocesan Synod ended the 26th of June in the Year 1599 to the Honour and Praise of our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The Synod being ended in conformity to what had been ordained therein there was given to every one of the Vicars that was nominated to any Church by the most Reverend Metropolitan a Stone Altar Consecrated by his Lordship for that purpose their former Altars not having been duly Consecrated as also a Box with the Vessels of Holy Oils together with Directions how to use them There was moreover a Book of the Administration of the Sacraments according to the Roman use translated into Chaldee and Syrian given to every Vicar and another which contained the whole Christian Doctrine in the Malabar Tongue for the instruction of Children and others as also a Surplice to be used in the administration of Sacraments which was what had never been in use among them the Churches were also furnished with Corporals Vestments Frontals Cups and what-ever else was necessary to the Ministry of the Altar all which were wanting in most Churches and all the Controversies whether betwixt Corporations or particular Persons that were brought before the Synod were decided by the most Reverend Metropolitan and his Assessors after which they all departed in peace The most Reverend Metropolitan as soon as the Synod was ended begun his Visitation of all the Churches in the Diocess in order to put the Decrees of the Synod in execution reciting the principal and most necessary of them in every Church and delivering the Books Breviaries and Missals as well of th◠Churches as of particular Persons every where and burning the Books condemned by the Synod and correcting others puting the Vicars in possession of their Churches who were every where received as such by the People who settled Revenues upon them of which together with what was given them by the most Reverend Metropolitan they made Ollas or Instruments in the Churches creating four Church-wardens and opening the Church Boxes and in a word ordering whatever was necessary to be done The Clergy who had not been present at the Synod made a profession of the Faith the Confessors were examined and had Licences given them in writing according to their abilities and the necessity of the Church prohibiting all others to hear Confessions Where there was a Font they also Baptized all the Children that they found unchristened and had those brought in that were in the Heaths where there were many that were Eight and Ten Years old unchristened They Confirmed the whole People and Absolved all that were Excommunicate many of which according to their custom had continued so for twenty or thirty Years and especially for Murther for which they never grant Absolution no not at the hour of death the Metropolitan preached every day to Christians in the Church and to Infidels who flocked to see him in the Church Porch treating with them about Baptism when he came to say Ingredimini in Sanctam Dei Ecclesiam several of which he persuaded to turn Christians who after having learned their Catechism were Baptized by him at other places He Catechized the Children in the Malabar Tongue and finding there was none of them that understood their Catechism he ordered them to be taught it every day out of Books that were kept in the Church Finally where he met with any that were disposed to Marry he Married them and gave Orders about every thing else relating to the Synod which he did in the Form following After the most Reverend Metropolitan had been received by the whole People with great Joy and Festivity according to their fashion and carried in Procession to the Church the way as he went being covered with Cloth or Mats or Boughs of Trees after the common Ceremony of Blessing and Absolution the whole People both Men and Women came with a most profound Humility and Reverence to kiss his Hands and to yield Obedience to him he went to Church betimes in the Morning with the whole Clergy and People where after having Confessed himself before the High Altar which he did for the great need there was of having those Christians instructed in the Sacrament of Confession which was in use among them but in few places he said Mass When Mass was ended Father Francisco Roz Master of the Chaldean and Syrian Languages in the Jesuites College at Vaipicotta with the rest of the Fathers deputed to that Work and some of the most learned Caçanares assembled together in the Sacristy or in some other place appointed where in obedience to the Excommunication of the Synod all the Syrian Books were brought before them as well those that belonged to the Churches as those belonging to private Persons all which were emended delivering those which were condemned by the Synod to the Metropolitan who burnt them all The Metropolitan having in the mean time put on his Pontificals sat down and Preached at length to the People all the necessary
Doctrines of Faith and Manners after which Discourse the chief Decrees of the Synod were published and a Procession for the Dead was made round the Church to which such vast multitudes of Heathens resorted to see the Novelty and the Pontifical Vestments that they filled the Church-yard and Windows After the Procession for the Dead was ended and the Doctrine of Purgatory and the benefits of praying for them declared the Metropolitan having seated himself began a Discourse of the Sacrament of Confirmation according to the necessities of the People and after that Anointed all that were present then he Baptized all the Children of Christian Parents in his Pontificals and such of the adult Heathens as desired it who were called together the day before to that purpose The Metropolitan whenever he came to the words Ingredimini Sanctam Dei Ecclesiam beginning a Discourse to the Heathens and Naires that flocked to see the Ceremony performed who tho' all Armed with Bows and Arrows and other Weapons and in their own Country remote from the Portuguezes did quietly and chearfully hear all that he said to them not only concerning the Faith of Jesus Christ but also the indignities and hard words which he bestowed upon their Idols and Priests in order to undeceive them When the Sermon and Baptism was over the Ecclesiasticks that were not present at the Synod made a profession of the Faith before the People in the hands of the Metropolitan and having called all the Children together and ordering them to kneel round his Chair he began a Chamaz or set of Prayers in their own Tongue which they all said after him and having Blessed them all made a Discourse to them suitable to their Age to the great satisfaction of their Parents teaching them the Veneration that is due to the most sweet Name of Jesus to which agreeable to the Nestorian Doctrine wherein they had been educated they had payed no manner of Respect After that he inducted the Vicar in the presence of the People charging him with the Flock which received him for their Pastor and where there were any to be Married he Married them great numbers also Confessed themselves to him and received the most Holy Sacrament at his hands among whom were abundance of Ancient People who had never Confessed themselves before In the Evening the People assembled together and agreed about the Stipend they determined to settle upon their Vicar which was Registred in Ollas that were to be kept in the Church and having opened the Money-Box of the Church they distributed such Alms as they thought necessary The Metropolitan and the Fathers that were in his Company having examined the Caçanares to such as he found to be qualified for it he granted a Licence in writing to be Confessors after that he heard all the Complaints and Controversies that were among Christians and having those four principal Men with the consent of the Parties they decided them all according to the Customs of the Country and the Judgment of the Metropolitan so as to exclude all farther Process or Appeals be then Absolved all that were Excommunicate and several that had lain twenty or thirty Years under that Censure there being several Cases wherein they were so barbarous as never to grant Absolution no not at the hour of Death injoyning every one such Penances as were suitable to their Faults omitting nothing that he judged necessary to the good of the Church and People in all which he was accompanied and assisted by five Jesuites who were all zealous for the Salvation of Souls and well skilled in the Malabar Tongue and two of them in the Chaldee also they were Father Hieronymo Cotta Father Jorgye de Crasto Father Francisco Roz who is now the most worthy Bishop of that Diocess Father Antonio Toscano and Brother John Maria Father Frey Braz de Santa Maria a Divine of the Order of St. Austin was Confessor to the most Illustrious Metropolitan there were also three Canons of the Metropolitan Church of Goa and the Metropolitan's two Chaplains and several Caçanares that were Natives who celebrated the Divine Offices both in Chaldee and Syrian whom the most Illustrious Metropolitan made great use of in several Occasions In the reduction of this Church to the Catholick Faith many remarkable things happened in which God manifested how much that Work was for his Service and in the Visitation of the Churches there were several Successes of great edification and that were much for God's Praise which shall God willing be written in another place for his Glory wâ—â— liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The Letter of Dom Andre Bishop of Cochiâ— to the Synod being Assembled BRethren in my judgment all you who are called the Christians of St. Thomas do owe much to God for his having by means of thâ— Apostle chose you from among such multitudes 〈◊〉 Infidels as the East is filled with to enlightâ—â— your understandings with the Truth and for having made you as St. Peter saith a Holy Nation 〈◊〉 purchased People For you are not to imagine that your Forefathers did deserve more at the hands of God than the other Infidels that were their Contemporaries and yet you see how God was pleased to chuse them and you by their means when 〈◊〉 the same time he left others and their Posterâ—â—â— in their natural Misery for which there can be no other Cause assigned but that it was the Wiâ—â— of God to extend that Mercy to you and your Forefathers which he denied to all the other People of these Parts and what makes this Mercy 〈◊〉 be the greater and more Illustrious is That Goâ— was pleased to bring you to the Faith not by 〈◊〉 Ministry of some obscure Person of small Authority which has been the Case of many other Christians but by sending two chosen and beloved Apostles to you for your greater Honour and that this Church might justly stile it self Apostolical a privilege that was granted but to few Churches that are now in being in the World and which the Metropolitan of Constantinople was long ago ambitious of usurping to himself if he might have been permitted But Satan the great Enemy to all that 's Good envying the great Glory of this Church laboured to sow the Tares of Errours and Heresies in this Field of Christ's and the Apostle St. Thomas and so coming from Babylon and the Land of the Chaldeans he brought along with him some of the Disciples of the perfidious Nestorius to pervert this Churchâ— This Nestorius was condemned as a Heretick in Asia minor in the City of Ephesus in a Council of 200 Bishops and afterwards in a Council of 630 Bishops He was so wicked and perverse an Heretick that besides the punishment inflicted on him for his Sins by Men God also begun to punish him in this Life giving him as it were an earnest of those Punishments and Torments which he is now suffering in Hell for besides his being deposed and deprived of his
Bishoprick and Condemned by the forementioned and other following Councils and Banished by the Sentence of the Emperour Theodosius the II. who then Reigned in the Desarts of Aegypt and his having his Books â—â—rned by the command of the said Emperour before his death his Tongue with which he hâ—d uttered such great Blasphemies rotted in his Mouth as did also his whole Body and being eat up with Lice he expired surrendring his Soul to the Devil as Evagrius a Noble Writer who lived at the same time relates and the same is reported of him by Nicephorus Cedrenus and other Greek Writers The Disciples of this cursed Heretick being brought into this Church by the Devil sowed their Errours in it without being observed by you who were a simple sincere People insomuch that St. Thomas when he was on Earth might have said the same that St. Paul did to those of Ephesus where Nestorius was afterwards Condemned I know that after my departure greedy Wolves shall come among you not sparing the Flock And well might the Pastors you have had among you be called devouring Wolves who being a base and inconsiderable People had no other intent but to rob you of all they could taking Money for Orders * Dispensations What could the poor Malavars conclude from hence but that either no such thing as the taking of Money for Dispensations c. was ever heard of in the Roman Church or that the Declamer was one of a strange assurance to condemn the doing of it at such a Tragical rare as he does Dispensations for Absolutions and for all Sacraments and Sacred things as you very well know a thing so abominable in the sight of God that St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles for this Sin only threw Simon Magus out of the Church and Excommunicated him as you may see in the Acts of the Apostles insomuch Brethren that we see that fulfill'd in you and in your Prelates who came from Babylon which was foretold by God so many Years before by the Prophet Isaiah The Shepherds themselves had no understanding they have all gone out of the Way and from the first to the last are all turned to Covetousness For God's sake Brethren tell me what sort of Prelates and Bishops could they be who sought nothing but their own Interest and who gave Orders and Dispensations and did every thing that belongs to a Bishop without being Bishops themselves or so much as Priests or Clerks but were pure Laicks as they themselves afterwards confessed What Dispensation what Sacrament what Grace could he who was dispensed with and ordained receive from those who were no Bishops nor so much as Clerks but pure Laicks nay Lascares in whose Habit they came out of their own Country Brethren this is the Fruit which they send you from Babylon Hereticks and pure Laicks and Barbarians for Bishops Tell me what has Malabar to do with Babylon and what correspondence is there betwixt the most pure Doctrine of Christ which was preached to you by the great Apostle St. Thomas and the barbarous Errours which were brought hither by Arabians and Chaldeans from Babylon and from their Master the Apostate Nestorius Believe me Brethren these are they of whom St. Paul spoke in his Epistle to his Scholar Titus That there should come Men teaching what they ought not to teach for filthy lucre And so it fell out for these Men that they might not lose the Profits and Honours they were unjustly possessed of did all they could to put into your heads that the Doctrine of St. Peter was different from that which had been taught you by St. Thomas It is true that the Doctrine of the Apostle St. Peter is contrary to the Heresies that have been brought hither from Babylon but not what was preached here by St. Thomas For what St. Thomas that also St. Peter taught and Christ himself and all his other Disciples taught for as St. Paul saith there is one Lord one Faith one Baptism and one Church of which Christ is the Head and that on Earth St. Peter and his Successors the Bishops of Rome For that St. Peter and his Successors are the Head of the whole Church * On earth Bishop Andre did not so fair in quoting And on Earth St. Peter and his Successors the Bishops of Rome c. as St. Paul's words on Earth is plain from what Christ before his Passion promised St. Peter as it is recorded in the 16. Chap. of St. Matthew where Christ after having examined his Faith said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Words which he spoke to ‖ None This is a mistake for he gave the same Commission to all his Apostles after his Resurrection none of the rest of the Apostles but to St. Peter only And St. John in the last Chapter of his Gospel tells us That Christ after his Resurrection having asked St. Peter if he loved him more than all other things and St. Peter had answered that he knew very well that he did said to him three several times Feed my Lambs feed my Lambs feed my Sheep By which words he made him the universal Pastor of his Sheep and after him all the Bishops of Rome who were to succeed him in that Office for Christ hâ—s but one Fold for all his Sheep and one only Church and so in the Creed that is sung in the Mass we say I believe in one Holy and Apostolical Church and so Christ her Spouse said of his Church in the Canticles My Dove my perfect is but one that is to say my Dove my perfect which is the Church is but one And St. John in his 10th Chapter tells us that the Son of God speaking to his Disciples concerning his intent of calling the Gentiles to his Faith said I have other Sheep which are not of this Fold whom I must bring in that there may be one Fold and one Shepherd Now that Fold wherein the Jews and Gentiles were to concurr in one only Faith is the Catholick Church and that Shepherd was St. Peter and all his Successors the Bishops of Rome every one of which as he is Bishop of Rome is the universal Pastor of the * Whole If this had been the Faith of the whole Christian Church at the time when the Creeds were made the compilers of them would and ought to have added Roman to Catholick in the Creed whole Church of God insomuch as that all who will not be subject to him are not of the number of the Sheep of Christ but are without the Fold of the Church being Schismaticks and Hereticks for such are all who are disobedient to the Roman Church in which Roman Church there never was nor will be any error in Faith by reason of Christ's promise who as St. Luke reports speaking to St. Peter said to him I have prayed for
and the last of All-Saints The 29th of November being the Vigil of St. Andrew The 2d of December being the Vigil of the Glorious Apostle St. Thomas on the 24th of our Saviour's Nativity notwithstanding these two do both fall in Advent And that this Diocess may be in all things conformable to the Customs of the Universal Church the Synod doth command the Fast of the four Times to be published and observed therein they are the first Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent and the the first Wednesday and Friday and Saturday after Whitsuntide and the first Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the Feast of the Holy Cross in September and the Wednesday Friday and Saturdaâ— after the Feast of the Holy Cross on the 13th of December which falls in with the Advent Fast And the Synod doth furthermore declare That the Fast of our Lady's Assumption which begins on the first of August and lasts to the day of the Festivity and the Fast that is called the Apostles which begins on the first day after Whitsuntide and lasts fifty days notwithstanding they are Holy and Laudable it wisheth they were not kept as they are by the Christians of this Diocess after the same manner as the ancient Fasts are nevertheless since they are observed by some and not by others that there may be no Scruples nor Disorder the Synod doth declare that the keeping of them is not commanded under the Precept of a Mortal Sin though they may be kept out of Devotion by those that have a mind to 't neither are People under any obligation to a Lent Fare on these Days and as to the three Fasting Days of the Prophet Jonas called Mononebo which begins eighteen days before the first day in Lent the Synod out of respect to its Antiquity and Holiness doth permit it to be observed with great strictness But whereas People do assemble together in the Churches on those days there to eat the Nercha's that are distributed the Synod tho' it is not willing to oblige People to Fast on those three days under the obligation of a Mortal Sin doth nevertheless oblige them to a Lent Diet at least upon them and the Vicars shall be obliged to give notice to the People of all the Fasts of the Week upon Sundays that so all may be warned to observe them Decree XI THe Synod doth approve of the Holy and Laudable Custom observed by the Christians of this Diocess of eating neither Eggs nor Cheese nor any thing made of Milk nor of Fish and of abstaining totally from Wine and from their Wives during the whole time of Lent all which it desires them to continue to observe inviolably as also to begin the Fast upon the day after Quinquagesima Sunday and some Abuses being reformed it doth declare That Fasting doth not only consist in Peoples abstaining from some sorts of Meat but also in their not eating so often as they may desire the Integrity of the Precept of Fasting obliging People not to eat above one Meal a day and that at * The Fasts of the Church of Rome as they are now observed are little else than a Mockery of the Duty of which Card. Bona in the 21st Chapter of his first Book of Liturgies complains as loud as he durst Ita factum est saith the Cardinal ut non prorsus veneranda vetustas interterit dum ordo à sanctis patribus praesciptus saltem in publica officiorum recitatione retinetur quamvis legitimus horarum punctus nullo modo attendatur neque enim horae nonae officium tertia vel quarta post meridiem in Vigiliis psallimus neque vesperas in Quadragesima circa solis occasum sed una vel duabus horis ante meridiem quae anticipatio ut doctissimus Francelinus scribit Cap. 34. quaedam est nostri temporis calamitas ne dicam abusus Caepit hac horaâ—um pra ventio post saeculum duodecimum introduci cum pristina severitas paulatim relaxata mollim disciplina successit de quâ satius est tacere quam loqui And so that they may observe the ancient Rule of not eating upon a Fasting day till after Vespers they have turned the Morning into Evening and say the Vespers â—Ten a Clock that they may go to Dinner at Eleven an hour appointed and at Night they that shall stand in need of it and have an appetite to drink for their Healths-sake may eat a light Collation according to the permission of the Church but if they shall exceed either in the quality or quantity of the said Collation or eat oftner than twice after this manner they do violate the Fast and Sin Mortally and if through infirmity or weakness they should break the Fast upon any day they shall not as some imagine be released by their having broke Lent once from continuing the Fast but on the contrary they shall be guilty of so many Mortal Sins as there are days of Obligation on which they neglect to Fast They are also bound to Fast on all the Saints days tho' never so Solemn that shall fall in Lent Sunday only excepted upon which it is not lawful for any Christian to Fast as to which matter there are great Abuses introduced in to this Diocess Decree XII THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding Fasting is of great benefit that it doth not intend to oblige any that are under one and Twenty nor such as are very ancient or weak or sickly nor Women with Child nor those that give Suck nor those that cannot Fast conveniently by reason of some hard Labour they are obliged to to Fast any otherwise than by eating a Lent Diet on Fasting-days as to which too the weak and sick are excepted who may at all times eat what is necessary to their health and it shall also be lawful for Women with Child to eat whatsoever they long for to prevent Abortion Decree XIII THe Synod doth very much condemn what some ignorant observers of Heathenish Superstition imagine viz. That if they do not wash their Bodies betimes in the Morning on a Fast-day their Fast will be of no worth and that if they happen to touch any of a base Race or a Naires they must wash themselves to make their Fast to be of any Merit and declares that all such Washings and Superstitious touches are commanded neither by God nor the Church and are no ways proper for Christians and doth furthermore command the observers of all such Superstitions to be punished severely by the Prelate as followers of * Heathenish Superstitions The Church of Rome has little reason to condemn any practise purely for being Heathen her Creature Worship with all the Ceremonies thereof being visibly of such extraction for it was a true judgment that the Fathers of the Council of Constantinople under Leo Isaurus passed upon the endeavours of those who were for introducing Images into the Christian Church That to do it would be