an hundred of his men to fetch the Empress to his Camp 126. He is intercepted in his march towards the Emperor by Granhe 132. An huffing Message with a ridiculous Present is sent to Gama by Granhe ib. Gama returns Granhe a Message with a Present no less huffing than ridiculous 133. Gama besieged on all sides by Granhe 134. He opens a passage to himself with the bravery of his men being assisted with Artillery ib. He obligeth Granhe to retreat Gama conducted by a Jew to a Mountain of which and a great drove of Horses he makes himself Master 137. He routed and taken Prisoner 140. Is beheaded 141. The Gauls invade Ethiopia surprize Buco the Viceroy and are driven home by Raz Cella 348. Granhe a Mahometan Prince obtains several Victories over David 119. He drives him at last in a manner out of his Empire ib. Granhe being reinforced by a Body of Turks and a Train of Artillery forceth Gama to come to a Battel 139. Granhe killed fighting 144. H. THE King of Habassia victorious over the King of Aden 19. Pretty Stories sent from Habassia 346. The Habassins hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of Faith 31. Their Monasteries little Villages 30. Monkery much the same in Habassia as it was in the beginning ib. They are Eutychians ib. They deny the Pope's Supremacy ib. The Emperor is Head of the Church 32. Their Priests marry ib. They have divers Forms of Baptism ib. All that are present at the Celebration of the Sacrament must communicate They do not elevate nor adore the Host nor keep it after the Communion They break it after 't is consecrated ib. They reckon the receiving of it breaks their Fast ib. They do not believe Transubstantiation 33. They have only a General Confession 34. They deny Purgatory Confirmation and Extreme Unction They condemn Graven Images They keep Saturday and Sunday Their Offices are all in the Vulgar Tongue 34. They are devout They never go into a Church with their Shoes on nor sit in it but upon the ground 35. They seldom preach ib. The Habassin Embassy to the Pope little regarded 74. After having lay'n five years neglected at Lisbon it was sent to Rome as an honourable Appendix to a Portuguese Embassy 75. The Habassins believe Original Sin 89. Their Clerks may marry ib. The Habassins have a great Veneration for their Churches 91. They are all baptized every year on the day of the Epiphany 92. They circumcise both Men and Women 93. They give the Eucharist to Children when they are baptized 95. Circumcision is not observed by them as a Sacrament but a Civil Custom 96. Children of Christian Parents before baptized called half Christians 98. Confirmation and Extreme Unction no Sacraments The Scripture the perfect Rule of Faith 100. They all receive the Sacrament in both Elements It is not kept in their Churches it is never received but in the Church 101. It is never administred but once a day in a Church it is not shew'd to the People No Masses said for the Dead 102. Justification of their abstaining from Meats made unclean by the Law 103. An expression of the greatness of the Habassin Zeal against Popery 164. The Empress Helena sends two Envoys to Albuquerque 44. Father Hierom is sent into Europe to solicit for Troops and to justify the Jesuits Conduct in Ethiopia 443. He obtains nothing at Rome but Blessings and at Madrid and Lisbon but fair Promises 444. The Homerites conquered by the Ethiopians Their Deliverers 16. I. A Ridiculous Imposture does Popery some disservice 362. The Infante Don Henry the first and most zealous Promoter of the discovery of unknown Countries 36. Ignatius Loyola labours to engross the Habassin Mission to his new Order 149. The Jesuits leaping so quickly into such high Dignities contrary to their Vows create them Enemies 159. Two Jesuits are sent in a disguise to Ethiopia 226. They were discovered and made Slaves in Arabia 227. A Maronite Jesuit is sent in disguise to Ethiopia ibid. He is discovered and put to death for having professed himself a Mahometan 228. The Jesuits erect a College at Diâ— 233. Jacob the Natural Son of Malac Sagued was then Emperor 237. Jacob is deposed and Za Danguil made Emperor 239. Some Instances of the Jesuits sacrificing all other Interests to that of their own Order 241. Upon Jacob's delay of coming to the Army he is chosen Emperor by them 264. A Message is sent to him by the Army 265. The Army upon receiving a Letter from Jacob declare for him 266. Jacob comes to the Army 267. Jacob makes Susunaeus great Offers provided he would give over pretending to the Crown 268. Jacob marcheth towards Susunaeus 269. His General goes over to Susunaeus 270. Jacob and Susunaeus come to a Battel 271. Jacob is killed fighting ibid. The General of the Jesuits makes the Emperor's Submission to the Pope without any Commission from him to do it 323. He sends a Nuntio to acquaint him therewith ibid. The Jesuits reckon their work done before it was well begun 345. They never wrought Miracles in Ethiopia 379. The Cruelty of the Persecutions raised by them 410. The two remaining Jesuits in Ethiopia are protected by the Peasants of Lasta 451. Julius enters into an Association and takes the Field against the Emperor 303. Julius the Emperor's Son-in-law takes up Arms for the defence of their Religion 308. He marcheth with a great Croisade against the Emperor 309. K. THE great Champion Kebo is sent into Tigre to be sacrificed 359. The King of Spain's Letter to the Emperor of Ethiopia 286. L. A Lady put to death for her Religion 351. The History of the Lisbon Nun called Maria of the Annunciation 481. The Imposture discovered 485. Her Penances assign'd 486. M. THE Island of Madera first discovered No Masses are said for the Dead by the Habassins 102. A long Justification of their abstaining from Meats that are made unclean by the Law 103. The King of Mombucca's Speech to his Subjects after he had massacred all the Portugueses that were in the City 436. He is justified in part by a Portuguese Historian 442. The Portuguese are baffled before Mombucca 443. N. RIver Nile its Original 3. Cause of its Rising 5. It was known by the Ancients ibid. Diverted from coming down to Egypt and turned into its old Channel again upon the intercession of the Bishop of Alexandria 19. O. O Kay undertakes to protect the Patriarch 422. He promises to carry the Patriarchs and Fathers to Matzua 429. Okay finding no Portuguese Succors come delivers the Bishop of Nice and three Fathers who by his Connivence remain'd behind in his Country to the Emperor 445. They are all Four condemned as Traytors and executed by the Mob 446. P. A Patriarch two Bishops Coadjutors with ten Fryars all of the Jesuits Order are nominated to go into Ethiopia 150. The Patriarch and one of his Coadjutors are consecrated at Lisbon 158. The old Patriarch was lodged at
their own I do not find they have any besides some Fabulous Legends of the Lives of their Monks of which I shall only give the Reader a Taste In the Life of Tecla Haymanot the most famous of all their Monks both for Piety and Miracles the following Account of the Succession of their Grand Abbots is given The Angel St. Michael gave the Cowl to St. Anthony St. Anthony gave it to St. Macarius Macarius gave it to Pachomius Pachomius to Abbot Araguni or Michael who was one of the Nine Monks that came into Ethiopia Araguni gave it to Bazana Bazana to Mazralmoa Mazralmoa to Abbot John John to Abbot Jesus Jesus to Tecla Haymanot to whom Christ appeared and promised that whosoever should kill a Serpent upon a Friday should be pardoned all the Sins he had committed in Forty Years But notwithstanding the Lives of the Habassin Monks are all of a piece with the Lives of all the other Monks that are extant that is extreamly fabulous yet this must be said for them that Monkery continues to this day much the same among them as it was in the beginning from which in the Church of Rome it is so strangely degenerated For in Habassia Monkery much the same in Habassia as it was in the beginning any one that has a mind to be a Monk retires thereupon to the Desart where he puts on what Habit he pleaseth or judgeth to be most sutable to his pretensions Their Obligation so long as they profess themselves Monks which they are always at their liberty to give over is to fast every day in the Year till three a Clock in the Afternoon and to Assemble together at Midnight and at other certain Hours to perform their Devotions they do generally exercise great Austerities upon themselves being very strict in their Fasts many of them eating but once in two days and some never but upon Sundays some of them are said to have made Holes in the Trunks of Trees and to have lodged in them till the Trees have grown to shut them in Their Monastries are more like Villages than Roman Convents Their Monastries are little Villages every Monk having his distinct dwelling House with as much Land laid to it as a Man is able to cultivate and when they come to dye they dispose of their Goods as they please only the Land remains still to the Monastries Now this course falls in exactly with that of the Primitive Monks who always lived in Deserts where they work'd hard and were under no Vows whereas the Roman Monks have their Monastries in or near Princes Courts and in all Populous Cities and tho generally hurried into that Profession either by their Parents or by some sudden fit of Melancholy are fettered in it by Vows for their Lives and are so far from putting their Hand to any work that they are every where become proverbial for Laziness and as for their Buildings they are much more like Palaces than the Dwellings of People that have renounced the World and taken a Vow of Poverty upon them The most famous of all their Monastries is that of Alelujah wherein formerly there are said to have been 40000 Monks together all the Country about having been given to the Monks thereof to cultivate I do not find that any sort of Learning did ever flourish among the Habassins so that they have but few Books besides the Bible the Canons of the first Councils the Homilies of the Greek Fathers and the Lives of their Saints The Habassins do hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of the Christian Faith The Habassins hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of Faith insomuch that they deny it to be in the Power of a General Council to oblige People to believe any thing as an Article of Faith without an express warrant from thence Their Canon of Scripture consists of 85 Books the Old Testament consisting of 46 and the New of 39. As to the Doctrine of our Saviour's Incarnation They are Eutychians they are all Eutychians holding that there is but one Nature in Christ which is the Divine by which they will have the Humane to have been swallowed up they were led into this Heresy by Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria who was condemned with Eutyches for it by the General Council of Calcedon whose Authority they for that reason reject pretending that its Decrees were imposed on the Church by Marcian the Emperor on which account they call all those who have yielded Obedience to it Mellites or Royalists as they themselves are called Jacobites from one James a Syrian who was a great Stickler for the Eutychian Heresy They allow the Bishop of Rome to be the first Patriarch They deny the Popes Supremacy but condemn his pretending to a Supremacy over the whole Church as Antichristian and do detest Popery to that degree as to declare That of the two they would sooner turn Mahometans than Roman Catholicks The Supream Authority in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil The Emperor is Head of the Church is in the Emperor They have but one Bishop at a time who is stiled the Abuna that is our Father he is always an Alexandrian Monk and upon notice of a Vacancy is consecrated and sent into Ethiopia by the Alexandrian Patriarch to whom this Church hath always been subject he has the seventh place in a General Council he Ordains only by Imposition of Hands he hath Lands both in the Kingdom of Dembea and Tigre from which besides several Perquisites he receives a considerable Revenue Their Priests Marry Their Priests may Marry after they are in Orders and as often as they are Widowers They are said to have divers Forms of Baptism viz. I baptize thee in the Holy Spirit They have divers Forms of Baptism I baptize thee in the Water of Jordan Let God Baptize thee Come thou to Baptism They Circumcise both Males and Females and all are Baptized every Year on the Feast of Epiphany they hold that Men derive their Souls no less than their Bodies from their Parents and that the Children of Christian Parents and especially of a Christian Mother are saved notwithstanding they dye without Baptism They celebrate the Eucharist but once a day in a Church All that are present at the Celebration of the Sacrament must communicate They do not elevate nor adore the Host nor keep it after the Communion They break it after it is consecrated They reckon the receiving of it breaks their Fast at which none must be present without communicating the Laity as well as the Clergy receive the Cup they do not elevate nor Worship the consecrated Elements neither are they kept after the Communion they consecrate unleavened Bread which they break after it is consecrated they reckon the receiving of the Sacrament breaks their Fast for which reason they never receive it on Fasting-days till after Three a Clock in the Afternoon They do not
body and drinketh my blood shall be with me Paul likewise speaketh to the same purpose when he saith the unbelieving husband is justified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband otherwise your children would be unclean whereas now they are holy Now if the Children of an Unbelieving Mother are notwithstanding that Sanctified by the Faith of their Father how much more holy must they be whose Father and Mother are both Believers For which reason it is much more pious to call such Infants before they are Baptized Half-Christians than Pagans The Apostles in their Book of Synods do likewise affirm That all who had Faith though they were not Baptized may be called Half-Christians in which Books it is said that if a Jew or Gentile or Mahometan do embrace the Faith he shall not be received presently but must first come to the door of the Church there to hear Sermons and the words of our Saviour Christ and that being disposed to Believe he may understand what Christ's yoke is after which he may be called an Half-Christian even before he is admitted to Baptism which is also according to the Gospel which saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned It is also the custom among us for Women when they are with Child to Confess their Sins and receive the Lord's Body before they are Delivered and they who neglect to do this are looked upon as Wicked and Impious Christians as are also their Husbands for not having obliged them to it Confirmation and Extream Unction are not reckoned Sacraments among us Confirmation and Extream Unction no Sacraments neither are they in use in our Church as I see they are in the Roman We do surthermore reckon it contrary to the Law of Moses and the Institutions of the Apostles to eat unclean Meats from all which we do abstain merely in Obedience to the Law and the Scriptures which with us consists of Eighty one Books that is to say the Old Testament consists of Forty one Books The Scripture the perfect Rule of Faith and the New of Thirty five which Canon or Number of Books we have expresly delivered to us by the Apostles themselves and to which it is not lawful for us to Add or Diminish any thing no not though an Angel from Heaven should persuade us to it and we do look upon him as Accursed that shall offer to do any such thing so that neither our Patriarch nor our Bishop do reckon that they can either by themselves or in a Council make any Laws That People are under an Obligation of a Mortal Sin to observe In the Books of our Synods it is ordained by the Holy Apostles That we must confess our selves before we can receive Penance from a Confessor according to the greatness of our Sin They teach us likewise how we ought to Pray and Fast and how to exercise Charity Confession is much in use among us for we have no sooner committed a Sin than we run and throw our selves at the feet of a Confessor this is the constant practice of all Men and Women of whatsoever Quality or Condition and whenever we Confess we do receive the Body of our Lord under both Species They all receive the Sacrament in both Elements It is not kept in their Churches and in Wheaten and Unleavened Bread so that if we Confess our selves daily we do daily receive the Sacrament as well Layicks as Ecclesiasticks The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not kept in our Churches as it is here in Europe neither is it at any time Administred to the Sick until after they are recovered All among us Layicks as well as Clerks do receive the Sacrament at least Three times a Week which is never received any where but in the Church It is never received but in the Church no not by the Patriarch or Precious John himself We do always make use of the same Confessor and do never go to any other but when our own is absent to whom when he returns we are bound to repair The Confessors do in the Name of the Church absolve from all Sins there being no cases no not the most heinous reserved to the Bishop or Patriarch Presbyters are not allowed to Confess themselves to those that they Confess and among us all Presbyters and Monks and all Officers of the Church do live by their own Labour for the Church hath no Tythes it has Lands which are Cultivated by the Priests and Monks either in Person or by their servants and as for Alms they receive none but those that are offered in the Church for the Burial of the dead and other Holy Offices it not being lawful for any of them to beg about the streets or to extort Alms from the common people Furthermore The Sacrament is never administred above once a day in a Church It is not shewed to the People No Masses are said for the Dead in our Churches there is never but one Mass a day which we do reckon to be a Sacrifice neither is it lawful for us according to ancient Custom to Celebrate more for which Mass we never receive any Money the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not shewed to the People among us as I observe it is here and all Priests Deacons and Subdeacons and all People whatsoever that are present at the Celebration are obliged to Communicate We say no Masses for the remission of Souls but our Dead are Buried in a Consecrated Place with Prayers and Crosses over whom among other things we recite the beginning of St. John's Gospel and do offer Alms for them the day after they are Buried and at certain other times when we have Funeral Feasts This is what I have to say of our Faith and Religion But whereas since my coming to Portugal I have had several Debates with some Doctors namely with Didacus Ortis Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dean of the King's Chappel and Pedro Magalho concerning the distinction of Meats it will not be improper for me to say something of it in this place It is to be observed that it is in obedience to the Old Testament that we observe a distinction of meats which distinction is ordained by the Word of God who was afterwards born of the Virgin Mary and walked and conversed with his Apostles which Living Word of God had always an entire and irrevocable Speech or Word and who did no where in his Gospel say that such things might be eat as were before prohibited as unclean For as to those words in the Gospel That whatsoever entreth into the mouth doth not defile the man but that which cometh forth of the mouth Christ's intent therein was not to dissolve the Law he had formerly enacted but only to confute the Superstition of the Jews who blamed the Apostles for having eat Bread with unwashen hands neither did the Apostles
Belly There is a great mixture of People in Habassia There is a great mixture of People in Ethiopia from which the Countrey is said by some to have had its Name As Heathens Jews and Mahometans of sever Nations but the Main Body of its People are Christians The Jews speak Hebrew or rather Syriack the Heathens as many different Languages as there are Kingdoms but the Court-Language and which is spoke by all Persons of any Quality is the Amehara The Empire does not descend to the Eldest Son but to him whom the Emperor at his death is pleased to Name for his Successor The Emperors formerly kept their Court in the City of Axum from which the African Ethiopians were commonly called Axumites which is at present reduced to a Village of about a hundred Families The Royal Arms of Habassia are a Lyon holding a Cross with this Motto The Lyon of the Tribe of Judah is Victorious I do but just mention these things my Intention in this Work being to write the Ecclesiastical and not the Natural or Civil History of Ethiopia Of the Religion of the Habassins IT is a constant Tradition among the Habassins The Queen of Sheba is reported to have been Empress of Ethiopia That the Queen of Sheba that went to Visit Solomon was Empress of their Countrey whose Name they say was Maqueda and who within a few weeks after she returned home was delivered of a Son Begat by Solomon whom she Named Menileher Menileher so soon as he was of Age to undertake so long a Journey was sent by his Mother to Jerusalem to receive his Father's Blessing and to be Instructed by him in the Law of Moses and all other useful Sciences Solomon having received his Son when he arrived at Jerusalem with great Tenderness and Affection made him change the Name of Menileher for that of David and having thoroughly Instructed him in the Jewish Religion Her Son by Solomon is said to have introduced Judâ—ism into it and made him promise to introduce it into his Empire he dismissed him with Noble Presents giving him also several Priests and Levites to take home with him to assist him in so good a Work David being returned home did with the help of the Priests and Levites set immediately about introducing the Mosaical Law into his Empire and was so successful that in a few years it was embraced by the whole Body of his People and continued to be professed by them until the Publication of the Gospel among them Upon which Fable for I cannot look upon it as any other they have built an hundred more which are much sitter for a Legend than an History Neither is the Habassins having used Circumcision any argument at all of their having been ever of the Jewish Law since there is nothing more certain than that that Rite was the ancient usage of the Ethiopians and divers other Nations who were always Enemies both to the Jews and their Religion And as the Habassins will have their Forefathers to have been of the Jewish Faith from the days of Solomon till the Preaching of the Gospel so they will have Christianity to have come among them early in the Apostles time It being a Tradition among them The Eunuch that was baptized by Philip is said to have been of this Countrey and to have introduced Christianity into it That the Eunuch that was Baptized by Philip the Deacon was Steward to their Empress and who returning home after he was Christened Converted his Mistress and her whole Empire to the Christian Faith in the Profession whereof they have ever since continued stedfast Which Story notwithstanding I take it to be of a piece with that of the Queen of Sheba and her Son yet this may be said for it That it has a greater Air of probability than most of the Traditional Histories of the first Conversions of Countries What is known from History of the first Introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia is That in the beginning of the Fourth Century one Meropius a Christian Philosopher going into India with Two of his Scholars whose Names were Frumentius and Aedesius Frumentius Bishop of Axum was the Apostle of Ethiopia had the misfortune to touch on the Coast of Ethiopia where Meropius was inhumanly Murthered by the Natives but his Two Scholars having their Lives spared and being found to be Youths of fine Parts as well as Beauty they were carried to Court where Frumentius was put into the Secretaries Office and Aedesius into the Buttery When the Emperor who had always been very kind to them came to Die he gave them both their Liberty but as they were preparing to make use of it and return home the Queen Regent was importunate with them to stay and to undertake the Tutelage of her Son till he was of Age which they having consented to did during that time write to all the Roman Merchants residing in the ports of Ethiopia that were Christians to assemble together to Worship God as they themselves and the Converts they had made at Court did Daily When their Pupil came to take the Administration of the Government upon himself they both desired Leave to return home which having obtained with great difficulty they left Ethiopia Aedesius went to Tire to live with his Relations but Frumentius having a greater love for his Religion repaired directly to Alexandria with an intention to acquaint the Bishop thereof who at that time was the Great Athanasius with the footing Christianity had taken in Ethiopia St. Athanasius who was overjoyed at this good news having consulted with his Clergy what was fit to be done persuaded Frumentius whom he observed to be a Person of great Zeal and Piety to be Consecrated a Bishop by him and to return into Ethiopia with that Character to accomplish a Work he had so happily begun and accordingly he was Consecrated a Bishop by St. Athanasius and going back to Ethiopia did in a short time Convert both the Emperor and the main Body of his People to the Christian Faith This Account of the Introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia is to be met with in the 9th Chapter of the 1st Book of Ruffinus who saith he had not this Story from the chat of the People but from Aedesius's own mouth who was Ordained a Presbyter at Tire And as Frumentius was undoubtedly Orthodox as to the Doctrine of our Lord's Divinity when he was Consecrated a Bishop by St. Athanasius so the World coming afterwards to complain of its being turned Arian could not shake his Constancy in the True Faith as appears from Constantius's Letters to the Princes of Axum whose Names were Abra and Azba which Letter I shall here set down as I find it in St. Athanasius's Apology to that Emperor AS there is nothing we study so much as the knowledge of the Truth Constantius's Letter to the Princes of Axum so we reckon our selves obliged to recommend the same diligence and
Countries they might march from hence without crossing any Sea Which Heathens being a simple sort of people and not much addicted to Idolatry might be converted with great ease We have been told that great numbers of them have petitioned the King of Ethiopia to be made Christians but have been denied out of temporal respects the Ethiopians reckoning that after they are Christians it is not lawful to make them Slaves as they do now in vast numbers The Heathens that desired this were of Damut a Countrey that abounds with Pure Gold and is said to reach to the King of Portugal 's Territories which are about Mosambique and Sefalia There are Heathens likewise in another Countrey called Sinaxi which is also full of Fine Gold and who about three years ago offered to a Prince who is nearly related to the King of Ethiopia if he would but desist from the War he had begun upon them both to turn Christians and to pay him a Yearly Tribute It is from among these Heathens but chiefly those of Dambut that the Mahometan Merchants who are in great numbers in these parts do daily buy vast numbers of Slaves which they sell to the Moors and Turks These Heathens would turn Christians with all their hearts for they cry and take on lamentably when they are carried to the Ships to which they are driven in such herds that I am persuaded that the Turks have had at least an Hundred thousand of them who make them all Mahometans and who afterwards are known by experience to become stout Soldiers and to do the Saracens great Service both by Sea and Land All which mischiefs Five or Six hundred Portuguese Soldiers if we had them here would remedy and would do extraordinary service to the state of India and to all the Christians thereof for if the Turks should once make themselves Masters of Ethiopia it would be of fatal consequence to the Portuguese Interest in the Indies there being divers things in this Countrey that would be serviceable to them in reference to their Galleys as Slaves Iron and other Provisions The King that first began to persecute our Holy Faith and all his Ministers are now in their Graves and his Son who now reigns is not Absolute the Royal Authority having been much shaken and impaired of late God in his Justice having so ordered things that he that refused to obey him and submit himself to the Roman Church from which all that have separated themselves obstinately have been destroyed and have fallen under the yoke of Infidels should not be obeyed by his own Subjects The people here are all in pieces and are so cowed by the devastations the Turks have made among them that they think of nothing but how to live and keep their Estates But tho the late King and his Ministers were possessed with a strange Rage against the Catholick Faith and us Catholicks the common people and some others seemed to be well enough disposed towards it For our part we have not been sparing of our pains to preach to them and besides divers Conferences and Disputations both private and publick that we have had with them we have written divers Treatises against their Errors and have got them translated into Habassin so that all the Doctrines of Faith have been sufficiently promulgated to them if they could but be persuaded to embrace them not but that there are great numbers of them who are satisfied of the truth of our Faith but who either out of shame or fear of punishment are afraid to profess it For which reason there are several that would be glad to see some Portuguese Troops here to defend them in the Faith after they have professed it out of which by reason of their being but weak therein they are now easily terrified as a great many have been tho there are some who notwithstanding all the contradiction they have met withal do continue stedfast therein It is a common Tradition here That the Portugueses are to come among them to make them of the same Faith with themselves and they say further and we believe it to be true That this distracted Empire will never be in peace or any tolerable order until they come which though they should and with an intention of offering Violence would give no offence to any body not to Catholicks to be sure there being no reason why they should be offended at it no nor the Habassins neither for I am persuaded that if such a number of Portuguese Troops were here their name without striking a stroke would do the work so that they would look more like Friends than Enemies and I am certain that if they had come when we expected them this whole Empire had been in the Obedience of the Roman Church before this time and it will be the same thing if they should come now Wherefore most holy Father since all these things do belong to your Office who are the Universal Pastor feed these your sheep with wholsome food and provide a necessary remedy for them by writing to the most Serene King of Portugal for some Troops and by acquainting his Ambassador at your Court with the necessity there is of sending them hither for to tell your Holiness my mind frankly I am of opinion That Ethiopia ought not to be deserted But after all if there is no persuading the King of Portugal to send a body of Soldiers hither for which for the good of Ethiopia let me beg it of your Holiness a second time to write to him he must then be desired to send a good Fleet hither to carry off the Catholicks for should it be such a one as is talked of it would not be able to carry one of them to the Indies the Turks being very strong at present in Matzua and all these Sea-ports and whatever is done let us not lose any of the Catholicks that are here by leaving them in the hands of Hereticks and Infidels who after the Heads of their Families and Priests who are mortal as well as other men are dead will be in danger of being lost Finally I desire to be advised of what your Holiness would have done and as to what concerns my own Person most holy Father I am by God's Grace prepared to Obey your Will by either continuing where I am or by going to Japan or to the Turks if your Holiness should Command me or by laying down my Patriarchal Dignity to serve my Fathers the Jesuits or your Holiness in your Kitchen or in any other post And if it shall seem good to your Holiness I do beg some Indulgences of you for the remission of our Sins Farewel great Father From Ethiopia the 15th of June 1566. Andrew Patriarch of Ethiopia This Letter of the Patriarch's gives the Reader a clear view of the true temper of the Roman Missionaries and of the methods they are for making use of in the Conversion of Heretical Kingdoms to the Roman Church it discloseth