of the Faithful Vicars were also nominated to them all and the Churches that were not able to maintain a Vicar were united The Vicars after they were named were brought in one by one to kiss the Metropolitan's Hand who at the same time gave them their Collation declaring to them the greatness of their Authority and of the Obligations of their Office and commanding the People to acknowledge them as their Parish-Priests and the Shepherds of their Souls After they had all one after another performed this Ceremony they were admonished all together in the presence of the People by the most Reverend Metropolitan to comply with the Obligations of their Function and being all upon their Knees before him he delivered the following Charge to them Venerable and beloved Brethren and fellow Priests and particular Pastors of the Faithful We let you all to understand that we tho' unworthy of it are in the place of Aaron and ye of Eleazar and Ehitaman the lower Priests we are in the place of the Apostles of our Lord Christ ye in that of the Seventy-two Disciples we are to give a strict Account of you at the tremendous Day of Judgment you of the People that are now committed to you Now that we may be all found good and faithful Stewards in our Master's House we do admonish and beseech you beloved Brethren in Christ to remember what we are about to say unto you and which is of most importance be sure to observe it and put it in execution In the first place we do admonish and beseech you in the Lord to have your Life and Conversations unblamable yielding the savour of a good Name and Example to the People of God in suffering no Women and especially those of which the World may entertain any suspicion tho' Slaves to live in your Houses neither are you to converse with any of the Sex you must not fail to rise every Night to recite the Divine Office in the Church which must be performed at some certain hour and after that is done none of you must say Mass otherwise than Fasting and after Midnight forward and in the Holy Habits which must always be kept clean ye shall receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with all Reverence and Humility confessing your Sins to some approved Confessor with great contrition and sorrow for them but especially if your Consciences do check you for any fault you have committed The Corporal and Palls must be made of Linen neither can they without an Apostolical dispensation be made of any other Cloth and must be always kept clean The Holy Vessels you are always to wash with your own hands and that in other clean Vessels dedicated to that use putting the Water wherein they were washed either into the Font or into some Cistern dug for the purpose in the Church-yard and drying them with all diligence The Altar must be covered with clean Towels of which at the time of Celebration there must be at least three with a Corporal neither must any thing besides Reliques or Sacred things belonging to the Altar be laid upon it The Missals Breviaries and Prayer-Books must be perfect and entire Your Churches must be well covered and both the Walls and Pavements must be kept clean In the Sacristy or â—omewhere near to the High Altar there must be a place to hold Water wherein the Corporals and Holy Vessels are to be washed as also the Hands of those that have touched any of the Holy Oils and in the Sacristy there must be a Vessel with clean Water for the Priests and others that have ministred at the Altar to wash their Hands and a clean Towel to dry them the Gates and Porches of the Churches must be strong and well shut None of you shall take â—he cure of a Church upon you without the Prelate's knowledge and order notwithstanding you should be called to it by the People neither shall any of you leave the Churches you have a Title to nor be translated to another Church without his Order None shall presume to hold more than one Church contrary to the disposition of the Holy Canons The Jurisdiction of no Church shall be divided among many but every Church shall have its own Parish-Priest and Pastor None shall Celebrate any where but in a Church or with any sort of Arms. None shall give the Holy Saâ—rament to any of another Parish without leave from their Parish-Priest In the celebration of â—he Mass ye shall all observe the same Ceremonies that there may be no Confusion nor Scandal The Chalice or Patten must be of Gold Silver Brass or Tinn and not of Iron Glass Copper or Wood. The Parish and other Priests must visit and comfort the Sick in their Parisheâ— Confessing them and giving them the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and the Holy Unctiâ—â— with their own hands admonishing the Siâ—â— when they visit them to desire those Sacramenâ—â— when they shall judge them necessary Nonâ— shall take any Fee for baptizing or for the administring of any Sacrament or for burying the Dead No Child shall die without Baptisâ— through your negligence nor no sick Persoâ— without Confession and the Holy Communiâ—â— None of you shall Drink to excess or be notâ—â— for the same or for being quarrelsom Noâ—â— of you must bear Arms nor eat and drink 〈◊〉 Taverns and Inns. Ye shall not eat with 〈◊〉 Infidel Mahometan Jew or Heathen neithâ—â— shall you imploy your self in Hawking Huâ—â—ting or Shooting What you know of tâ—â— Gospel of Christ of the Holy Scriptures and of good Examples join'd with pure Catholicâ— Doctrine ye shall deliver to the People on the Lord's-day and Holy-days preaching the word of God to the edification of your Flocks You must take care of the Poor and of Strangâ—â—â— and Widows of the Sick and the Orphans 〈◊〉 your several Parishes You must be sure to keâ—â— Hospitality inviting Strangers to your Tableâ— therein giving good Example to others Upon every Lord's-day before Mass ye shall Blesâ— the Water with Salt in the Church with which you are to sprinkle the People taking it out of a Vessel or Pot made for that purpose Ye shall not pawn any Sacred Vessels or Ornaments of the Church neither to Heathen nor Christiâ—n Ye shall not take Usury nor engage your â—elves in Contracts or Farms nor in any Secular â—ublick Office ye shall not alienate the Goods â—hich ye have acquired after ye were in Orders â—ecause they belong to the Church neither â—hall ye sell or change any thing belonging to â—he Church In Churches where there are Bapâ—â—smal Fonts they shall always be kept clean â—nd where there are none ye shall have a parâ—â—cular Vessel for Baptism which shall be put â—o no other use and shall be kept in some deâ—ent place in the Church or Sacristy Ye shall â—each your Parishioners and especially the Chilâ—ren the Articles of the Creed the Pater Noster â—he Commandments of the Law of
reign with Christ in the Heavens are to be venerated and invok'd by the Faithful desiring of God a Remedy for our wants through their Intercession and of them that they would intercede for us which they do daily by offering up our Prayers and Petitions to God That the Bodies and Reliques of Saints ought to be had in veneration in being carefully kept kissed and adored by the Faithful and placed under the Holy Altars and other consecrated places upon the account of their having been lively Members of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit and because they are to be raised again at the day of Judgment and and clothed with Eternal Glory in Heaven and God vouchsafes many Blessings upon Earth by them CHAP. XI FUrthermore That the Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of the Holy Angels that are painted after our manner and of other Saints which the Church believes to be in Heaven ought to be kept and used in all decent places not only in the houses of the Faithful but chiefly in Churches and Altars and to be reverenced and adored with due veneration and with the same that is due to the Persons they represent not that we believe that there is any thing of Divinity or * Virtue If there is nothing of Virtue in one Image more than another why do People go so many hundred miles to pray to some particular Images of the Virgin Mary when there is scarce a Church or Chappel in their way wherein there is not an Image of her Virtue in them for which they ought to be honoured or that we put our Hope and Confidence in them as the * Heathens The Learned Heathens made the very same declaration concerning their worshipping of Images Heathens did in their Idols but because the Honour which we pay to them referrs to what they represent so that in prostrating our selves before their Images we adore Christ and reverence the Saints whose Images they are In like manner we adore the sign of the Cross with the Worship of †Latria The saying that this Latria or Supream worship is only Relative cannot excuse it from being Idolatrous without excusing the grossest Worship among the Heathen it being impossible in Nature to give any other Worship than what is relative to an Image when worshipped as such Martinus Peresius Aila Bishop of Guidez in Spain in the third part of his Book of Traditions p. 223. passeth a severe but just censure upon the Worship here established Cujus doctrinae nullum quod ego viderim afferunt validum fundamentum quod possit fideles ad id quod docent obligari Nam neque Scripturam neque Tracitionem Ecclesiae neque communem sensum sanctorum neque Concilii Generalis determinationem aliquam nec etiam rationem quâ hoc efficaciter suaderi possit adducunt Et p. 226. Certe haud dissimile imò fortè majâ—s scandalum infirmis paratur qui has distinctiones prorsus ignorant nec possunt nisi errando intelligere ut ego ipse in multis simplicibus experimento deprehendi cum ab eis sciscitarer quid de hac re sentirent in eo quod dicitur eâdem adoratione adorandum esse Imaginem quâ rem cujus est Nam cum videant simulachrum operosè sculptum affabrè expolitum in eminenti loco templi positum ipsumque à multitudine veneratum super haec audiant quòd eodem honore debeat honorari quo res cujus est colitur certè in multis simplicibus periculosissimus erroris affectus facilè potest adgenerari quo putent aliquid Numinis latere in imagine sic quoque rei repraesentatae tum nomen tum gloriam ad imaginem facilè possunt transferre quod maximè periculosum esse judico Latria which is due only to God because it is a sign representing the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross and which he himself hath told us will be the sign of the Son of Man in the Day of Judgment and with the same Worship of Latria we adore the Images of our Lord Jesus Christ because they represent him CHAP. XII FUrthermore the Church professeth that every Person as soon as he is born hath a Guardian Angel given him whose business it is to excite People to what is good and to deliver them from many evils which they would otherwise have fallen into which Angel protects and accompanies People through their whole lives doing all it can to keep them from Sin and all other Evils that so it may bring them to Eternal Life and is always suggesting good things to their Free Will from which we receive many Blessings as well Spiritual as Temporal notwithstanding we neither see them nor understand how they do it and these we call our Guardian Angels CHAP. XIII FUrthermore That the Catholick Church is one and the same all over the World having for its Pastor the chief Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter to whom and by him to his Successors our Lord Jesus Christ delivered the full power of ruling and governing his whole Church from whence it is that the Roman Church is the Head of the whole Church and the Father Master and Doctor of all Christians and the Prelate of all in common and of all Priests Bishops Archbishops Primates and Patriarchs of whatsoever Church they are as also the Pastor of all Emperors Kings Princes and Lords In a word of all that are Christians and of all the Faithful People Hence it is that all that are not under the Obedience of the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ upon Earth are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell as Hereticks and Schismaticks for their Disobedience to the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order that he left in his Church CHAP. XIV FUrthermore that One and the same God is the Author of the New and Old Testament of the Prophets and the Gospels the Saints of both those Testaments being inspired in the Writing of them with the same Holy Spirit and so the Catholick Church receives all the Canonical Books of both Testaments which contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true and was dictated by the Holy Spirit To wit of the Old Testament the five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy as also Joshua the two Books of Judges Ruth the four Books of Kings the two Books of Chronicles the first Book of Esdras the second which is called Nehemias Tobit Judith Esther Job the Psalms of David being 150 the Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the Book of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the four greater Prophets viz. Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel the twelve lesser viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi and the first and second of Maccabees and of the New Testament St. Matthew
of Beasts or of some other Men which besides that it is a great Ignorance is also an Error contrary to the Catholick Faith which teacheth That our Souls after Death are carried to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory or Limbus according to every ones Merits and that there is no such fabulous and false Transmigration The second is That all things come necessarily to pass or through * I am very apt to believe that they are here falsely accused of attributing all things to Fate for no other reason but because they believed Predestination which if it was so Arch-Bishop Menezes who was himself an Austin Fryar shewed but little respect to the Memory of his pretended Father in making Predestination and Fate to be equally destructive of humane Liberty Fate or Fortune which they call the Nativity of Men who they say are compelled to be what they are and that there is no help for it which is a manifest Error and condemned by Holy Mother Church for as much as it destroys that Liberty of Will with which God created us leaving us in the power of our own Will to do Good or Evil to obey his Holy Inspirations and Internal Motions by which he excites to Good or to resist Evil so that as it depends on his Divine mercy and goodness to move us to Good so it depends on our Free-Will whether by his assistance we will obey those Inspirations and will profit our selves of his Internal Motions or of our own free Will refuse to do it or in a word do Well or Ill so that if we perish for doing any thing that is Ill it is the fault of our own Free-Will as the Catholick Faith teaches us and not from the fate of our Nativity as the ignorant Heathens will have it The third is †This is an Error that Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and others of the Philosophical Fathers seem to have been in That every one may be saved in his own Law all which are Good and lead Men to Heaven Now this is a manifest Heresy there being no other Law upon earth in which Salvation is to be found besides that of our Saviour Christ for that he only teacheth the Truth so that all that live in any other Sect are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell there being no other Name given to Men by which we can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who was Crucified for us All which Errors the Synod commandeth the Vicars and Preachers often to preach against in the hearing of the ignorant People and all Confessors to examine their Penitents concerning them and to teach them the Catholick Truth Decree V. THis Synod being informed that there is a dangerous Heresy and very injurious to our Lord Jesus Christ sown and preached through this Diocess which is That it is a * Grievous Sin How does this consist with their having so many Crosses in their Churches and Houses as they tell us they had or with their administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist or with their Preaching that it was Christ and not the Son of God that suffered upon the Cross grievous sin so much as to think or speak of our Saviour's Holy Passion and as there are a great many of this Opinion so the doing of it has formerly been prohibited by impious Censures all which is a manifest Error and extreamly prejudicial to the Souls of all faithful Christians and the fruit and profit of Souls arising from such Considerations and Discourses which is very great as well for that love and affection which they beget in us for our Saviour who suffer'd for our Salvation as for the Example of those Vertues which were so Illustrious in his Holy Passion and the hatred of Sin for which he suffer'd so much and the fear of the Divine Justice which he so rigorously satisfied and the confidence of our Salvation by such a plenteous Redemption and the use of the Sacraments to which he applyed the virtue of his Holy Passion and other infinite benefits which are derived from thence to our Souls which Error included another no less prejudicial and which is also common among the Nestorians the condemning of Holy Images for that if it were an Impiety to think of the Passion of our Lord Christ it must follow that all those things are unlawful that move or contribute thereunto as the Sign of the Holy Cross and all Images of the Holy Passion all which is a gross and manifest Heresy Wherefore the Synod doth recommend it to all Preachers Confessors and Rectors of Churches frequently to perswade their People to the consideration of those Divine Mysteries and to that end they shall advise them to the Devotion of the Rosary of our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary wherein are contained all the principal Mysteries of the Life of our Lord Christ with profitable Meditations upon them Decree VI. AMong the many Errors sown in this Diocess and left in the Books thereof by the perfidious Nestorian Hereticks there being several against our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God the only Remedy of Christians the Mother of Mercy and the Advocate of Sinners the Queen of Angels The Synod doth therefore declare That it is the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith that the Holy Virgin was never at any time stained with the guilt of any actual sin and that it is Pious to believe that she was also Conceived without Original Sin it seeming to be most agreeable to the Dignity of the Mother of God that it should be so tho' it is true that Holy Mother Church †Has not as yet determined It is much she has not since the Invention of the Holy Reliques in the Mountains of Granada among which there was a Book in Arabick of S. Cecilius who was consecrated Bishop of Eliberis by St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome with this Title De Dono Gloriae Dono Tormenti in which there is the following Definition of the Immaculate Conception made by all the Apostles being met together to Solemnize the Exequies of the Blessed Virgin Illa Virgo Maria Illa Sancta Illa electa à primo Originarioque peccato praeservata fuit ab omni culpâ libera atque haec veritas Apostolorum Concilium est quam qui negaverit maledictus excommunicatus erit salutem non consequetur sed in aeternum damnabitur All which Reliques and this Book among the rest were after a severe and impartial Examination approved of and received as genuine by a late Provincial Synod in Spain has not as yet determined any thing about that matter Furthermore the Catholick Faith teacheth that she was always before in and after Child-birth a most pure Virgin and that she brought forth the Son of God made Man without any Pain or Passion having none of those things which are common to other Women after Child-birth
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