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
together with clear Confirmations of the Truth of what we meet with in the Fourteenth and other Decrees of the Third Action of this Synod to wit That the Three great Doctrines of Popery the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation the Adoration of Images were never believed nor practised at any time in this ancient Apostolical Church but on the contrary were rejected and condemned by her and that in her Publick Offices So that upon what we learn from this Synod and History I think one may venture to say That before the time of the late Reformation there was no Church that we know of no not that of the Vaudois abating that one thing of her being infected with the Heresie of Nestorius of which too she is cleared by one of the Roman Communion that had so Few Errors in Doctrine as the Church of Malabar If the Synod I here publish should be well received as I have reason to hope it will by all Protestants and lovers of Truth upon the account of the clear Discoveries it makes of the forementioned Popish Errors having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Universal Church which we know is confidently affirmed and much boasted of and for further satisfaction in so important a Matter the above-named History should be desired I shall be ready to translate and publish it with all expedition alone and in the same Volume with this of the Synod together with the best Account I can procure of the Church of Malabar and the other Oriental Churches that were never within the Bounds of the Roman Empire for it is in those Churches that we are to expect to meet with the least of the Leaven of Popery As to the Synod to prevent all surmises of its being a Piece either forged by some Protestant or of no Authority in the Church of Rome tho' set forth by a Member of her Communion I have together with the whole Title Page which tells where when and by whom it was printed translated and published all the Licences that it came out with And if any should suspect the Translation if they please they may satisfie themselves of its Fidelity by having recourse to the Original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford to which as the safest as well as noblest Repository of Books in the World I design to give it I have here and there added some short Remarks upon some Passages which will not I hope be unacceptable to the Reader The DOCTRINES wherein the Church of Malabar agrees with the Church of England and differs from that of Rome 1. SHe condemns the Pope's Supremacy 2. She affirms that the Church of Rome is fallen from the true Faith 3. She denies Transubstantiation or that Christ's Body and Blood are really and substantially in the Eucharist 4. She condemns Images and the Adoration of them as Idolatrous 5. She makes no use of Oils in the Administration of Baptism 6. She allows of no Spiritual Affinity 7. She denies Purgatory 8. She denies the necessity of Auricular Confession 9. She knows nothing of Extream Vnction 10. She allows her Priests to Marry as often as they have a mind and Ordains such as have been married three or four times and to Widows without any scruple 11. She denies Matrimony to be a Sacrament 12. She holds but two Orders Priesthood and Diaconate 13. She Celebrates in Leavened Bread 14. She Consecrates with Prayer 15. She denies Confirmation to be a Sacrament In the Account that is given of the Doctrines of the Church of Malabar in the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of the Visitation SHe is said 1. Not to adore Images 2. To hold but Three Sacraments Baptism the Eucharist and Order 3. To make no use of Oils 4. To have had no Knowledge of Confirmation or Extream Unction 5. To abhor Auricular Confession 6. To hold many enormous Errors about the Eucharist insomuch that the Author of the History saith he is inclined to believe that the Hereticks of our Times meaning Protestants the revivers of all forgotten Errors and Ignorances might have had their Doctrine about the Eucharist from them 7. To Ordain such as have been married several times and to Widows and to approve of her Priests marrying as often as they have a mind 8. That she abhors the Pope and the Church of Rome as Anti-Christian in pretending to a Superiority and Jurisdiction over all other Churches A Diocesan SYNOD Of the Church and Bishoprick of ANGAMALE Belonging to the Ancient Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra or Mountains of MALABAR Celebrated by the most Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the See being vacant of the above-named Bishoprick by virtue of two Briefs of the most Holy Father Pope Clement 8th on the third Sunday after Pentecost being the 20th day of July in the Year of our Lord 1599. in the Church of All-Saints in the Town and Kingdom of Diamper Subject to the King of Cothin an Infidel in which the said Bishoprick with all the Christians thereunto belonging submitted it self to the Pope and the Holy Roman Church Printed at Conimbra in the Shop of Diogo Gomez Laureyro Printer to the University in the Year of our Lord 1606. THE Father of the Society of Jesus intrusted with the revising of Books in Conimbra having perused the Synod mentioned in the following Petition and the Inquisition of the said City having upon his Approbation given Licence to Print the same we do Order That after it is Printed it be together with the Book Intituled The Journey of the Serra or Mountains transmitted to this Council that it may be compared with the Original and Licensed without which it shall not be made publick Marcos Teixira Ruy Piz de veiga I Have perused this Synod and to me it appears to be a Work that deserves to be Printed for besides the sound Doctrine contained therein it will be of great Use and Consolation to all and very necessary to the extirpating of the Errors Schism and Heresies sown by Hereticks and particularly the Nestorians in the ancient Christianity planted in the Indies by the Apostle St. Thomas Octob. 23d 1605. Joan Pinto BY virtue of a particular Commission to us granted in this behalf by the Council of the General Inquisition of these Kingdoms having seen the Information of Father Joan Pinto Revisor of this City we give Licence for the Printing of the Book Intituled The Synod and the Journey of the Serra provided that after it is Printed it be sent to the said Council to be compared with the Original and to have leave to be made publick Jan. 11. 1606. Joan Alvarez Brandon It may be Printed Conimbra 25th of Feb. 1606. The Bishop Conde THE PUBLICATION and CALLING OF THE SYNOD DOM Frey Aleixo de Menezes by the mercy of God and the Holy Roman See Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the Oriental Parts c. To the
therein to repair to the next Provincial Council that should be Assembled at Goa to assist at it and to observe all the Decrees that should be made therein relating to his Bishoprick and that he might not excuse his not obeying this Brief by pretending that he could not do it with safety the Pope likewise sent him Letters of safe Conduct to go and come without being any ways molested In pursuance whereof Dom Vicente da Fonseca a Friar of the Order of St. Dominick and Arch-Bishop of Goa having called a Provincial Council which was the third of Goa ordered the forementioned Brief to be intimated to Mar Abraham and together with the Pope's his own and the Viceroy's Letters of safe Conduct to be sent to him Mar Abraham having well considered the matter and perceiving how difficult it would be for him to escape being Dragoon'd by the Portuguezes whose power increased daily in those Parts if he should disobey this Summons determined whatever came on it to repair to the Council at which he assisted and was obliged once more to Abjure and make a profession of the Roman Faith promising withal to see all the Decrees made in that Synod in relation to his Bishoprick punctually executed and to send in all the Heretick Books in his Diocess to be burned or amended and having confessed that in the Ordination of Priests there was no Wine in the Cup which he delivered into their hands together with the Host he was commanded to Ordain all that he had Ordained before over-again Now if this of there being no Wine in the Cup which was delivered into the hands of those who were Ordained Priests was the only ground whereon the Romanists founded the invalidity of the Chaldaean Orders as it is the only thing they have been pleased to instance in what a stretch was this to invalidate the Orders of a whole Church by But for Canonists and Schoolmen by Subtilties invented on purpose to support a late Error or to serve a present turn to wound Christianity in its very Vitals is a practice too common to be wondred at I am sure the Church of Rome has much more reason to apprehend that the Sacrilege of denying the Cup to the Laity in the Sacrament may make her Communion imperfect and ineffectual than that this alone should make Ordinations so But after all this stir the Doctrine of the delivering the Bread and Cup into the hands of those who are to be ordained Priests being essential to Orders is so far from being true that it is owned to be a Novelty by all the Modern Learned Divines of the Church of Rome and is moreover contradicted by her daily Practice who as all the World knows allows the Greek Orders to be good in the Collation whereof she knows the Bread and Cup is not put into the hands of those who are ordained Priests It is true the Council of Florence in her Instructions to the Armenians seems to have doted into the same Error with this of the Portuguezes in making that new Ceremony essential to Orders But let that be as it will it is certain that both the present practice of the Roman Church and all her truly Learned Sons the Modern Schoolmen not excepted do condemn it as an Error for which I shall only quote two of her most eminent Schoolmen and one of her ablest Criticks Cardinal Lugo in his 2 Disp de Sacramentis saith as followeth Aliunde autem habemus non porrectionem panis vini determinatè requiri ex divinâ institutione cum Graeci absque illâ porrectione ordinentur ergo fatendum est Christum solum voluisse pro materiâ aliquod signum proportionatum hoc vel illud And Becanus in the third part of his Scholastical Divinity Chap. 26. of the Sacrament of Order has as follows Concilium Florentinum in instructione Armenorum solum meminit materiae accidentalis quae ab Ecclesiâ fuit instituta which was the delivering of the Bread and Cup non autem substantialis quam Christus praescripsit which is the imposition of hands Quia haec ex Scripturis antiquis Patribus erat satis cognita non autem illa Addo si hoc argumentum valeret posse optimè retorqueri ita Antiqua concilia non assignant aliam materiam nisi impositionem manuum ergo c. He concludes thus Nota antiqua concilia assignâsse materiam à Christo institutam Florentinum verò mateam assignâsse quam Ecclesia introduxit that is the Latin only By this one may see that the Church of Rome is not so uniform a Body as she pretends to be being thus inconsistent with her self in a thing of so high a nature as that of what is and what is not essential to Orders and we my see likewise how she will break thorow all ancient Doctrines and Rules rather than not disgrace all Bodies of Christians which deny her Obedience by unchurching them by some subtilty or other and indeed thorow the clearest evidences of matter of Fact as she does in the case of the Orders of the Church of England And furthermore how apt she is to look upon her own novel Inventions as the main Substantials of Religion To whom I shall only add Morinus whose judgment in a case of this nature is of more weight than that of the whole Tribe of Schoolmen Who in the 1 Chap. of his first Exercitation De Sacris Ordinationibus saith Nemo ut mihi videtur dubitare potest antiquos Latinos à quibus accepimus Ordinationes quod sacerdotes sumus legitimè validè sacerdotes consecrasse caetera sacrarum Ordinationum munia contulisse Eadem antiquorum Graecorum ratio Certissimum enim est evidentissimum neminem Ordinationes Graecas criminari posse quin crimen in Latinas redundet cum utrique mutuo alterius Ordinationes probaverint Graecusque apud Latinos Latinus apud Graecos sine ullâ unquam Ordinationis querelâ sacra Mysteria celebraverit pari veritatis evidentia certum est recentiores Latinos in hunc usque diem legitimas Ordinationes celebrasse celebrare eadem ratio hodiernorum Graecorum cum ut ex iis quae manifestissimè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quadam demonstrata sunt ab antiquis non differant eosque publicè in suis Ordinibus ministrantes suscipiat Ecclesia Romana semperque susceperit And in his seventh Exercitation speaking of the delivering the Bread and Cup into the hands of those that are ordained Priests he acknowledgeth it to be a late Ceremony in the Roman Church Antiqui Rituales Latini non secus ac Graeci istam instrumentorum traditionem nobis non exhibent Quidquid specta◠ad illam materiam formam ab iis abest Du◠ritus Ordinationis editi unus Romae in sancti Gregorii sacramentario ex Bibliotheca Vaticanâ alter Parisiis ab Hugone Mainardo ex Bibliothecâ Corbeiens◠ista omnia nobis non repraesentant duo antiquissim Petaviani literis uncialibus scripti
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
least scruple of Mortal Sin and having an opportunity of a Confessor shall say Mass tho' under an Obligation to do it without having first confessed themselves But besides that such when under any scruple are obliged to confess for the greater purity of their Souls tho' under no scruple the Synod commands all Priests to confess at least once a Week Decree IX THe Synod doth furthermore command all Deacons and Sub-Deacons that Minister solemnly in the solemn Masses on Sundays and Saints-days to receive the most Holy Sacrament at those times and on the Festivity of our Lord Christ our Lady and the Holy Apostles all the Chamazes or Clergy that are in the Church of which the Vicars ought to take special care and the Prelate in his Visitations is to make diligent Inquiry how these things are observed The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass THe great Love of God to Mankind does not only appear in the Institution of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and in the putting of his Divine Body and Blood under the Sacramental Species to be the heavenly Food of our Souls by which the Spiritual Life is maintained and preserved but in his having likewise so instituted it that the Catholick Church Militant might have a perpetual and visible Sacrifice for the purging away of our sins and for turning the Wrath of our Heavenly Father who is many times offended with our wickedness into Mercy and the rigour of his just punishment into Clemency So in the Mass there is offered unto God a true and proper Sacrifice for the pardon both of the Living and of the Dead by the offering of the which Sacrifice the Lord is so far appealed as to give Grace and the Gift of Repentance to Sinners and by means thereof does forgive Men their Sins and Offences tho' never so enormous the Host that is offered by the Ministry of the Priest on the Altar of the Church being one and the same that was offered for us on the Cross with no other difference besides that of the reason of their being offered And so it is not only offered for the Sins Punishments Satisfactions and other Necessities of the Faithful that are Living but also for the Dead departed in Christ and that are in the Torments of Purgatory being not as yet fully purged by reason of their not having made a compleat satisfaction for the punishments due to their sins it being but just and reasonable that all should be benefited by a Sacrifice which was instituted for the Remedy and Health of all Mankind which Oblation is of that purity that no indignity or wickedness in the Offerers is able to defile it so that as to the substance value and acceptation it is the same when offered by a wicked and unclean sinner as when by a pure and holy Priest because it does not derive its Dignity from the Offerer but from the Majesty and excellency of what is offered neither does the Eternal Father accept thereof for the Merits and Vertue of the Priest that offers it but for the value of the Sacrifice it self and the infinite Merits of Christ who is offered therein so that our Saviour being about to offer himself to God the Father on the Altar of the Cross could not possibly have given us a greater expression of his immense Love for us than by leaving us this visible Sacrifice in his Church in which the Blood which was presently to be once offered upon the Altar of the Cross was to be renewed every day upon the Altar of the Church and the Memory thereof to our great profit was to be adored every where in the Church until the end of the World which Divine Sacrifice is offered to God only notwithstanding it is sometimes celebrated in Memory and Honour of the Martyrs and other Saints in Bliss it not being offered to them but to God only who has been pleased to Crown them with Immortal Honour rendring him thereby our bounden thanks for the notable Victory of the Martyrs and the publick Mercies and Blessings he has vouchsafed to other Saints and for the Victories which by these means they obtained over the World the Flesh and the Devil beseeching the said Saints to be pleased to intercede for us in Heaven whose Memories we celebrate on Earth and tho' the Divine Eucharist does still continue to be a Sacrament yet it is never a Sacrifice but as it is offered in the Mass Decree I. FOrasmuch as it is of great moment that all things belonging to the Sacrifice of the Mass should be preserv'd pure and undefiled and whereas this Church has been for * 1200 Years It would puzzle them to prove that they had ever been at any time under her obedience however this shows what a Cheat that submission of the Patriarch of Babylon in his own name and in the name of all the Churches that were subject to him to the Pope at the Council of Trent was which Father Paul tells us made a mighty noise in the World the Court of Rome boasting thereupon that the Pope had got more new Subjects by that submission than he had lost by the Reformation 1200 years from under the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church the Mistress of all the other Churches and from whence all good Government and true Doctrines do come all the Bishops that came hither from Babylon having been Schismaticks and Nestorian Hereticks who have added to and taken from the Mass at their pleasure without any order from whence it has come to pass that several things are foisted into the Syrian Mass which is said in this Diocess without any consideration and such things too as may give occasion to many Impious and Heretical Errors For which if due Order were observed all the Missals of this Bishoprick ought to be burned as also for their having been of Nestorian use and compiled by Nestorian Hereticks but being there are no other at present they are tolerated until such time as our Lord the Pope shall take some Order therein and there shall be Missals sent by him printed in the Chaldee Tongue which is what this Synod humbly and earnestly desires may be done And in the mean time it doth command that the Missals now in use be purged and reformed as to all the following Matters and that till such time as they are so purged which the most Illustrious Metropolitan with the assistance of some Persons well versed in the Chaldee Tongue will see done the next Visitation no Priest shall presume to make use of them any more Whereas from the above declared Doctrine of this Sacrament it is evident that the Priest does not Consecrate with his own words but with those of our Lord Christ the Author and Institutor of the said Divine Sacrament it is not therefore lawful to add any Clause how good soever in it self to the Form of Consecration or to what our Lord Christ said therein in which we do not
as the Ceremonies they performed and consented to shall deserve Decree VII THe Synod being informed that some wicked Christians are not content only to go to Witches to consult them but do furthermore send for them to their Houses where they joyn with them in the Invocation of their Pagods and 〈◊〉 making offerings and Sacrifices to them in killing Dogs and performing other Ceremonies that are contrary to the Faith namely one which â—â—ey call Tollicanum Ollicanum Bellicorum Coâ—â—â— which they do often publickly to the great â—â—â—ndal of Christianity as if they were not Chriâ—â—ans and at other times permit the Heathens to â—â—rform them in their Houses doth command in â—â—rtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of â—communication to be Ipso facto incurred that 〈◊〉 Christian shall presume to perform any of 〈◊〉 said Ceremonies or consent to the perforâ—â—ng of them in their Houses and that all that do â—â—nsgress therein shall be declared Excommuniâ—â—te in the Church until they shall beg for mercy and have undergone condign and publick Punishment in the Church and tho' upon their â—epentance appearing to be true and sincere â—hey may be absolved yet they shall not have the Casture given them neither shall any Priest go to their Houses in two Years save in case of peril of Death and they who shall go to offer â—ay thing to a Pagod or shall make any Vow to one shall be punished after the same manner and with the same Penance and shall incurr Excommunication Ipso facto in all which Matters the Vicar must be very watchful for the prevention of all such Idolatries Decree VIII A Great many ignorant Christians of this Bishoprick being unmindful of the Purity of their Christian Obligations do carry Notes about them which have been given them by Witches for the Cure of their Distempers hoping for relief from their vertue hanging them likewise about the Necks of their Cattle to keep them well and putting them in their Orchardâ— to encrease the Fruit and communicating them to several other things for various effects all which the Synod detesting as Diabolical dotâ— command all that are guilty thereof to be severely punished by the Prelate and all Vicars not to permit any such Offenders to enter into the Church nor to give them the Casture and no Priests to go to their Houses and they shall be compell'd to deliver all such Notes to their Vicars to be torn and all that have used any of them tho' they should never do it more shall be punished for the space of six months with the said Penalties Decree IX THe Onzena or practice of Usury is a grievous Sin in the sight of God and is very much condemned in the Scriptures Christ commanding us to lend to others hoping for nothing again and the Synod being very much troubled to find the greatest part of the Christians of this Diocess entangled therein through their ignorance of what gains are lawful and â—hat are not and of what may be kept and what â—â—ght to be restored doth therefore admonish 〈◊〉 the Lord all Faithful Christians to consult â—he Learned about these Matters giving them 〈◊〉 account of all their Contracts in order to â—â—eir being rightly instructed as to what they â—ay lawfully take for Money they have lent out â—nd the Synod doth furthermore declare that â—ccording to the best Information it has receivâ—d the Interest of Money in Malabar is Ten per â—ent and whatever is taken more if the Principal runs no * Risk Most Convents in â—â—ding Cities lend out Money at â— or 7 per Cent. and take as much care to secure their Principal as â—y Usurer whatsoever so that the distinction of Lucrum Cessans and Damnum emergens will either justifie a legal Interest in general or it will not justifie what â—â—e lending Convents do But tho' this Decree falls in exactly with the common practice of the Church of Rome the Monks and Friars not excepted yet it plainly contradicts the Doctrine of that Church which is that all sort of Usury is a Mortal Sin for if the taking of 10 per Cent. for Money and that where the principal runs no risk is not Usury it will be hard to tell what is risk is Onzena or Usury and as to the Ten they shall likewise consult the Learned to whom they shall declare how Money may be improved in the place where it is lent that so they may be able to tell them whether it be lawful for them to take so much for it may happen that in some places there will not be so much to be got by the Negotiating of Money which must make such an high interest to 〈◊〉 there unlawful and whosoever shall take more than Ten per Cent. if his Principal runs no risk after having been three times admonished by the Prelate or Vicar without Amendment shall be declared Excommunicate and shall not be absolved until he has dissolved the said Contract Decree X. THe Synod doth condemn the taking of One per Cent. by the month where the Principal runs no risk being secured by a pledge and of Two per Cent. by the Month if the one is not payed punctually such Contracts being very unjust and manifest Onzena or Usury so that neither the want of a pledge nor any thing else can justifie the taking of Two per Cent. by the month if the Principal is not in danger all which Contracts the Synod doth prohibit and the Vicars to give their consent to any such and where they are made to dissolve them compelling all that are faulty therein by Penalties and Censures if it shall be found necessary The Synod doth furthermore condemn their calling all Gain arising from Money Onzena because it gives occasion for some to imagine that all such Gain is unlawful and notwithstanding such Gain is lawâ—â—l and may be justly taken in several Cases to â—â—ruple the taking any Decree XI WHereas there are great numbers of Christians who for want of having the Fear of God and the Church before their Eyes do coâ—bit publickly with Concubines to the great â—â—ndal of Christianity the Vicars shall thereâ—â—re with great Charity admonish all such Ofâ—â—nders three times declaring to them That if â—â—ey do not reform they must declare them Excommunicate and if after so many Admonitions they do not turn away their Concubines they must be Excommunicated until they are effectualâ—â— parted and be punished with other Penalties 〈◊〉 the pleasure of the Prelate according to the â—â—me that they have lived in that Sin and â—hen it shall so happen that their Concubines are their Slaves they shall constrain them not only to turn them out of their Houses but to send them out of the Country where they live that there may be no more danger of their relapsing which shall be likewise observed as to all other Women where there is the same danger Decree XII THe Synod doth very earnestly recommend it to all Masters and Fathers of
Trent Council suffer'd to preach p. 173 Dec. XVIII All Priests that have delivered any Errors or fabulous Stories in their Sermons are ordered to recant them publickly upon pain of Excommunication p. 174 Dec. XIX Makes Void all Oaths against yielding Obedience to the Roman Church under pain of the greater Excommunication p. 175 Dec. XX. Contains the Profession of the Synod p. 177 Dec. XXI The Synod resolves to be governed in all things by the last Trent Council p. 178 Dec. XXII Submits to the Inquisition p. 179 Dec. XXIII All Persons who shall Act Speak or Write against the Holy Catholick Faith to be prosecuted and punish'd by the Prelate p. 181 ACTION IV. Of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation p. 182 Of the Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism 187. Dec. I. New form for Baptism and the old ones abrogated p. 189 Dec. II. All Baptized according to the old Forms to submit themselves to the Metropolitan at his Visitation for his Directions p. 189 Dec. III. Orders all Priests to make enquiry who have not been Baptized through any Default and to baptize all such privately without taking any Fees p. 190 Dec. IV. To the same Purpose p. 191 Dec. V. Children to be Christened on the 8th Day with some Limitations p. 192 Dec. VI. The Error Condemn'd of not Baptizing the Infants of Excommunicate Parents p. 194 Dec. VII Exhortation to all Parents and such as are present at Womens Labours not to suffer an Infant to die without Baptism Allowance to any Man Woman or Child that knows the Form to Baptize such in case of eminent Necessity How the Child is to be order'd if it recover p. 194 Dec. VIII Christian Daia's or Midwives recommended and Vicars exhorted to instruct them in the Form of Baptism p. 196 Dec. IX Infidel Slaves ordered to be Baptized p. 197 Dec. X. Christians not to be sold to Infidels for Slaves p. 197 Dec. XI Forbids Auguries p. 199 Dec. XII Foundlings how to be ordered p. 200 Dec. XIII Converts how to be order'd p. 200 Dec. XIV Holy Oils commanded with the manner of using them p. 201 Dec. XV. Commands the use of God-Fathers and God-Mothers in Baptism not used before p. 202 Dec. XVI Prohibits Old Testatament some few excepted and Heathenish Names to be given to Children ordering those of the New according to the Christian Oeconomy p. 204 Dec. XVII Orders Children to be called by no other Names than those they were Christened by p. 206 Dec. XVIII Commands that Children be Christened in order as they are brought to Church without any distinction of Persons p. 206 Dec. XIX Commands the building of Fonts p. 207 Dec. XX. Register-Books to be used in all Churches and their Use p. 208 The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Confirmation p. 209 Dec. I. The Sacrament of Confirmation commanded to be used p. 213 Dec. II. Denounces Excommunication against all those that speak against it or vilify it p. 214 Dec. III. God-Fathers and God-Mothers of what 〈◊〉 to be used in Confirmation 〈◊〉 Chrism as well as Baptism p. 216 ACTION V. The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist p. 217 Dec. I. The Holy Eucharist when to be Celebrated p. 220 Dec. II. All Christians above the Age of 14 commanded to Receive this Sacrament once a Year at least p. 222. Dec. III. None to Receive before Confession to a Lawful Priest p. 223 Dec. IV. Commands to Receive Fasting with some Limitation p. 224 Dec. V. The Sacrament to be received as a Viaticum in danger of Death The Vicar that suffers any to die without it though his Fault to be suspended for six Months p. 225 Dec. VI. Women with Child to Confess and Receive a little before their time p. 226 Dec. VII Priests to Communicate once a Month at least in their Surplice and Stole p. 227 Dec. VIII Priests not to Receive the Sacrament before Confession nor say Mass having any scruple of Mortal Sin p. 227 Dec. IX Deacons and Subdeacons when to Receive the Sacrament p. 228 The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass p. 228 Dec. I. Directions for saying Mass and many things in the Chaldaean Missals to be rectified p. 231 Dec. II The Missals of Nestorius Theodorus and Diodoâ—â—s to be burnt p. 245 Dec. III. A grand Error of the Nestorians condemn'd p. 246 Dec. IV. The Roman Mass to be translated iâ—to Syrian and used on particular Occasions c. p. 247. Dec. V. Who to handle the Holy Vessels p 248 Dec. VI. Permits the Stole to none but Deacons p. 248 Dec. VII Orders Stamps to be made in all Churches for the Host p. 249 Dec. VIII Orders what Wine is to be used in celebrating the Eucharist p. 250. Dec. IX The King of Portugal to send a Pipe and an half or two Pipes of Muscatel Wine for the Use of the Sacrament and how to be used p. 250 Dec. X. Stones of the Altar to be consecrated by the Metropolitan p. 252 Dec. XI Holy Vestments to be provided by the Metropolitan out of the Alms of the Parish p. 253 Dec. XII All Persons not having lawful impediment commanded to hear a whole Mass every Sunday and Holyday if c. p. 253 Dec. XIII Directs how often to hear Mass to be capable of the Blessing and such as hear it not so often as directed to be Excommunicate p. 255 Dec. XIV Prohibits Heathen Musicians to remain in the Church after Creed or Sermon is ended p. 256 Dec. XV. Exhorts all to procure Masses to be said for the Souls of their deceased Friends p. 256 ACTION VI. Of the Holy Sacrament of Penance and Extream Unction p. 261 Dec. I. Non-Confession declared a Mortal Sin p. 265 Dec. II. All Persons to come to Confession from Eight Years old and upwards p. 268 Dec. III. All Masters of Families admonished to cause all in their Families to Confess p. 269 Dec. IV. Confession injoin'd upon probable Danger of Death or any great Sickness p. 270 Dec. V. Obliges Women with Child to Confess p. 271 Dec. VI. Orders how those are to be confessed that have the Small-Pox p. 272 Dec. VII Exhorts to frequent Confession p. 272 Dec. VIII Who to take Confessions p. 273 Dec. IX Absolution upon Confession how to be Administred and by whom p. 274 Dec. X. Directs in what Cases Confessors may absolve Penitents p. 275 Dec. XI Excommunication and Absolution when prope p. 277 Dec. XII Priests Confessors to have a written Licence from the Prelate p. 278 Dec. XIII Confessors that understand the Malabar Tongue to be made Use of and why p. 281 Dec. XIV None can absolve in the Sacramental Court but such as took the Confession p. 281 Dec. XV. The Sacramental Form of Absolution not to be used as a Prayer but in its proper Place p. 282 The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extream Unction p. 282 Dec. I. The use of the Extream Vnction recommended with directions therein p. 285 Dec. II. Confessors
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
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
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
Metropolitan upon the account of the manifold Heresies and Blasphemies contained therein and the many false Miracles said to be wrought by him in confirmation of the Nestorian Sect Therefore the Synod does in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit the Observation of the two Festivities that have been dedicated to his Memory the one upon the first of September the other sixteen days after Easter and the dedicating of any Church to him commanding the abovenamed Church to be dedicated to St. Hormisda the Martyr who was also a Persian and whose Festivity is celebrated upon the 8th of August upon which day the Feast of the said Church shall be observed and on the Retablo they are to make the Picture wherein the Martyrdom of the said Saint shall be drawn to the best advantage that so the People may learn to what Saint the said Church is dedicated and all the Prayers and Devotion that used to be performed upon the Festivities of the Heretick Hormisda may be directed to this Glorious Saint Decree XI SEeing in the Creed or Holy Symbol of Faith ordained by the Sacred Apostles and declared by the Holy Councils which is sung in the Mass all the principal Mysteries and Articles of our Faith are contained it is not fit that any thing should be added to it or taken from it but that it should be sung in this Bishoprick as it is all over the Universal Church wherefore the Synod doth Order that the words which are wanting in the Creed that is said in the Mass be added to it where speaking of Christ it it said that he was born of the Father before all Times there is wanting God of God Light of Light very God of very God that so it may in all things be conformable to what is sung in the Universal Church using also the word Consubstantial to the Father and not what is said instead thereof in the Surian Son of the Essence of the Father Decree XII NOtwithstanding it is contrary to the Sacred Canons That the Children of Christians should go to School to Heathen Masters Nevertheless seeing this Church is under so many Heathen Kings who many times will not suffer any but Infidels to be Schoolmasters wherefore the Synod doth command and declare That in all Schools whether for Reading or Writing wherein the Masters have Pagods to which they oblige their Children at their coming into the School to pay their Reverence as the Custom is that it shall not be lawful for Christian Parents or Guardians to send Christian Children to such Schools upon pain of being proceeded against as Idolaters but if there should be any such Schools wherein the Heathen Masters will consent that Christian Children shall pay no Reverence nor be obliged to any Heathen Ceremony in case there is no Christian Master near they may be sent to such Schools their Parents instructing them that they must pay no reverence but only to the Master and that they must use none of the Ceremonies of the Heathen Children that so they may not * Suck in Idolatry They would have done well to have considered whether the introducing of the Adoration of Images into a Christianity that was planted amidst Heathens and under Idolatrous Princes how Innocent soever it may be in other places was safe or not in Malabar before they did it and whether the reconciling them to Images might not dispose them to Heathenism such in Idolatry as Mothers Milk Furthermore the Synod doth earnestly recommend it to all Towns and Villages to do all that is in their Power to have their Children Educated by Christian Masters and as for Reading and Writing to have the Parish-Priests to teach them to do that in their Houses But as to those masters who do oblige Christian Children to do reverence to their Pagods the Synod in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be Ipso facto incurred doth command all Fathers of Families and others that have charge of Children not to consent to their going to such Schools and doing the contrary let them be declared Excommunicate and be rigorously punished by the Prelate neither shall such Children be suffered to enter the Church as to which matter the Vicars and Priests ought to be extreamly vigilant to prevent Childrens being Educated in Idolatry and where-e'er there is a Christian School-master in any Town or near it the Children of Christians are not to go to School to Infidels Decree XIII THe Synod being certainly informed that there are some Christian Schoolmasters who to conform themselves to others and to have the more Scholars do set up Pagods and Idols in their Schools to which the Heathen Children pay reverence doth command all the said School-masters so soon as it shall be intimated to them upon pain of Excommunication to remove the said Pagods Idols and Reverence out of their Schools and not to give way to Heathen Children paying any such adoration and whosoever shall be found guilty thereof shall be declared Excommunicate and denyed the Communion of the Church and of all Christians and dying shall not be buried in holy Ground nor have Christian Burial nor have any Prayers said for them and let this Decree be published by the Vicars of the Churches to which such do belong Decree XIV THe Purity of the Faith being preserved by nothing more than by Books of sound and holy Doctrine and on the contrary there being nothing whereby the Minds of People are more corrupted than by Books of suspicious and Heretical Doctrines Errors being by their means easily insinuated into the Hearts of the Ignorant that read or hear them Wherefore the Synod knowing that this Bishoprick is full of Books writ in the Surian Tongue by Nestorian Hereticks and Persons of other Devilish Sects which abound with Heresies Blasphemies and false Doctrines doth command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of what quality and condition soever shall from henceforward presume to keep translate read or hear read to others any of the following Books The Book intituled The Infancy of our Saviour Or The History of our Lady condemned formerly by the ancient Saints for being full of Blasphemies Heresies and fabulous Stories where among others it is said that the Annunciation of the Angel was made in the Temple of Jerusalem where our Lady was which contradicts the Gospel of St. Luke which saith it was made in Nazareth as also that Joseph had actually another Wife and Children when he was betrothed to the Holy Virgin and that he often reproved the Child Jesus for his naughty Tricks that the Child Jesus went to School to the Rabbins and learnt of them with a thousand other Fables and Blasphemies of the same Nature and things unworthy of our Lord Christ whereas the Gospel saith that the Jews were astonished at his Wisdom asking how he came by so much
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
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
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
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
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
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
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