things and bear alwayes in their mind Jesus Christ crucified 4. All the Brethren and Sisters are to confess and communicate once every month on all the Feasts in the year principally on all the Feasts of our Lord of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints of the Order of the Friar Minors if they will communicate oftner they may so it be done with the advice of their Ghostly Father 5. They must shew themselves very diligent in the service of God in hearing Sermons Mass and other exercises of Devotion 6. They are to be present at the monthly Processions of the Confraternity which ordinarily are on the second Sundays of the Month as also at the Procession on our Lady of Angels day which is the principal Feast of this Confraternity They shall do well to be present at all the Processions of the Order 7. When any of the Confraternity die each one shall endeavour to be present at the burial and thereto pray for the soul departed and they shall never fail to assist the poor in such occasions be they of the Confraternity or no. 8. They are to help the poor and visit the sick especially in hospitals and prisons and never omit to accompany the Blessed Sacrament to them 9. They are to pray for the Dead in all their exercises for to that end the Pope hath granted that special favour and Grace of applying all the aforesaid Indulgences for the Dead 10. They are to bear great devotion and reverence to the Seraphical Father St. Francis whom they have chosen for their Patron and who no doubt will incessantly pray for them and must endeavour to imitate him in his devotion to our blessed Lady but principally to the Passion of our Saviour 11. If any one at the time of their death desire to be more perfectly united to the Order they may request the habit of the Frier-Minors which by reason of this Cord they are capable of as many Christians of all sorts even Popes themselves have done 12. Let them know that they are bound to none of these under sin either mortal or venial but each according to the resolution he maketh at the entrance into this Confraternity must endeavour to shew their devotion in their practices that they may not be said to abuse the talent received and so loose the merit and reward they might obtain 13. For the gaining of all Indulgences granted to this Confraternity it is necessary that they be in state of Grace and that they accomplish the works and other things enjoyned for that end with intention to gain the Indulgence A brief Declaration of the principal Indulgences of this Arch-Confraternity A Plenary Indulgence on the day of their enterance into this Confraternity Once in their lives when they please with a plenary Absolution Four times every year at their pleasure with a plenary Absolution also At the Article of Death by invocating the Name of Jesus On all the Feasts of our Lord to wit on Christmas day New-years day Twelf day Easter day Ascension day Whitsunday Corpus Christi day and the Transfiguration on all the Feasts of our Lady Conception Nativity Presentation Annunciation Purification Assumption and ad Nives Also on the Feast of our Lady of Angels which is the principal feast of this Confraternity On all the Feasts of the Order of St. Francis S. Bonaventure S. Lewis S. Antonie S. Bernardine S. Didaeus the 7 Martyrs the 5 Martyrs S. Clare and S. Elizabeth of Hungary On the Feasts of all the Apostles and Evangelists On all the Sundayes of the year Also on S. Agnes S. Joseph S. Mary Magdalen S. Anne S. Laurence S. Augustine S. Michael S. Catherine S. Nicolas S. Stephen On the Feast of S. John Baptist of the holy Cross on Innocents day on all Saints and all Souls day with many other in all which the Brethren may gain a plenary Indulgence provided that they confess and communicate For assisting at the monthly Procession for saying the Crown of our Saviour for saying the crown of our Lady containing 72 Paters and Aves with a Pater and Ave for his Holiness For celebrating or hearing the Mass of the Conception for saying the ten Passional Psalms or for saying the Gradual Psalms All which Indulgences together with the Indulgences of the Stations of Rome Jerusalem and Compostella the Brethren of the Cord may gain by saying five Paters and Aves in the honour of the five Wounds of our Saviour adding one Pater and Ave for his Holiness There are many other which are too long to be set down here The sick Brethren and such as have any Impediment that they cannot come to the Church which is much to be noted for those in England may gain the aforesaid Indulgences in any place where they are I have thought it convenient to set down the particular Indulgences of the City of Rome which were printed in the time of Pope Gregory the XIII and afterwards by one Hierom Francin with the approbation of Pope Sixtus V. who desired that they should be set forth in divers languages which hath been done in Latine French Spanish Italian and others and lastly in our Vulgar where the studious Reader may see them at full STATIONS OF ROME January 1. Circumcision or our New-years day 6. Epiphany 13. The Octave of the Epiphany 14. The feast of the holy Name of JESUS 16. Five first Martyrs Fransciscans 17. St. Anthony Abbot 18. The Chair of S. Peter at Rome 20. S. Sebastian 21. S. Agnes 23. Conversion of S. Paul 28. Agnes the second February 2. Purification or Candlemas day 5. 23. Franciscan Martyrs of Japonia 15. Translation of S. Antony of Padua 19. S. Conrade of the Third Order 22. S. Peters Chair at Antioch 23. S. Margarite of Cortona 3. Order 24. S. Matthias Apostle March 6. S. Collet poor Clare 7. S. Thomas of Aquin. 12. S. Gregory 14. Translation of S. Bonaventure 19. S. Joseph 20. S. Benedicts Eve and Day 25. Annunciation of our Lady April 23. S. George 25. S. Mark 29. S. Peter Martyr May. 1. S. Philip and James 3. Invention of the holy Cross 6. S. John and Portam Latinam 8. The Apparition of S. Michael 13. S. Paschal 18. Translation of S. Bernardine 19. S. Felix 20. S. Bernardine 23. Translation of S. Francis June 13. Antony of Padua 24. S. John Baptist 29. S. Peter and Paul 30. Commemoration of S. Paul July 1. The octave of S. John Baptist 2. The Visitation of our Lady 4. S. Elizabeth of Portugal 14. S. Bonaventure 17. S. Alexius 22. S. Mary Magdalen 25. S. James the Apostle 26. S. Anne August 1. S. Petri ad vincula and 8 days following 2. Our Lady of Angels Feast of the 3. Cord. Invention of S. Steven 4. S. Dominick 5. Our Lady ad Nives 6. Transfiguration of our Lord. 10. S. Laurence and through his whole octave 12. S. Clare 15. Assumption of our Lady 16. S. Roch. 19. S. Lewis Bishop 22. The Octave of
this Mystery how the Angel Gabriel saluted our Blessed Lady with the title of Full of Grace and declared unto her the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Then say Our Father once Hail Mary ten times OVr Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil Amen Hail Mary full of Grace our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death Amen The Prayer O Holy Mary Queen of Virgins by the most high Mystery of the Incarnation of thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ by which our salvation was so happily begun obtain for us by thy Intercession light to know this so great benefit which he hath bestowed upon us vouchsafing in it to make him our Brother and thee his own most beloved Mother our Mother also Amen The second Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this mystery how the blessed Virgin Mary understanding from the Angel that her Cousin St. Elizabeth had conceived went with hast into the Mountains of Judaea to visit her and remained with her three moneths The Prayer O Holy Virgin most spotless mirror of Humility by that exceeding Charity which moved thee to visit thy holy Cousin St. Elizabeth obtain for us by thy Intercession that our hearts may be so visited by thy most Holy Son that free from all sin we may praise him and give him thanks for ever Amen The third Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the B. Virgin Mary when the time of her delivery was come brought forth our Redeemer Christ Jesus at midnight and laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the Inns of Bethlem The Prayer O Most pure Mother of God by thy Virginal and most joyful delivery by which thou gavest unto the world thy only Son our Saviour we beseech thee obtain for us by thy Intercession grace to lead so pure and holy a life in this world that we may worthily sing without ceasing both day and night the mercies of thy Son and his benefits to us by thee Amen The fourth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the most B. Virgin Mary on the day of her Purification presented the child Jesus in the Temple where Holy Simeon giving thanks to God with great devotion received him into his armes The Prayer O Holy Virgin most admirable Mistris and pattern of obedience who didst present in the Temple the Lord of the Temple obtain for us by thy Intercession Grace of thy beloved Son that with Holy Simeon and devout Anna we may praise and glorifie him for ever Amen The fifth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how the blessed Virgin Mary having lost without any fault of hers her Beloved Son in Jerusalem she sought him for the space of three dayes and at length found him the third day in the Temple in the midst of the Doctors disputing with them being of the age of twelve years The Prayer MOst blessed Virgin more then Martyr in thy suffering and yet the comfort of such as are afflicted by that unspeakable joy wherewith thy soul was ravished in finding thy beloved Son in the Temple in the midst of the Doctors disputing with them obtain him for us so to seek him and so to find him in the Holy Catholick Church that we may never be separated from him Amen Salve Regina HAil Holy Queen Mother of Mercy our life our sweetness and our hope To thee do we cry poor banished sons of Eve To thee do we send our sighs mourning and weeping in this valley of tears turn then Most gracious Advocate thy eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile ended shew unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus O most Clement most Pious and most sweet Virgin Mary Vers. Pray for us holy Mother of God Resp That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ Let us pray HEar O merciful God the Prayer of thy servants that we who are met together in the society of the B. Virgin Mother of God by her intercession may by thee be delivered from the dangers that continually hang over us Amen The dolorous or sorrowful Mysteries for Tuesdayes and Frydayes through the year and Sundayes in Lent The first Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus was so afflicted for us in the Garden of Gethsemany that his Body was bathed in a bloody sweat which ran trickling down in great drops unto the ground Our Father Hail Mary as before The Prayer MOst holy Virgin more then Martyr by that ardent Prayer which thy beloved Son poured forth unto his Father in the Garden vouchsafe so to intercede for us that our passions reduced to the obedience of Reason we may alwayes and in all things conform and subject our selves to the Will of God Amen The second Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ was most cruelly scourged in Pilate's house the number of the stripes they gave him being above five thousand As was revealed to St. Brigit The Prayer O Mother of God ever flowing fountain of patience by those stripes thy only and most Beloved Son vouchsafed to suffer for us obtain of him for us grace that we may know how to mortifie our rebellious sences and cut off all occasions of sinning with that sword of grief and compassion which pierced thy most tender soul Amen The third Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mysterie how those cruel Ministers of Satan platted a Crown of sharp thorns and most cruelly planted it on the most Sacred Head of our Lord Jesus Christ The Prayer O Mother of our Eternal Prince and King of Glory by those sharp thorns wherewith his most holy head was pierced we beseech thee that by thy Intercession we may be delivered here from all motions of Pride and in the day of Judgement from that confusion which our sins deserve Amen The fourth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how our Lord Jesus Christ being sentenced to die bore with great patience the Cross which was laid upon upon him for his greater torment and ignominy The Prayer O Holy Virgin Example of patience by the most painful carrying of the Cross in which thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ bore the heavy weight of our sins obtain for us of him by thy intercession courage and strength to follow his steps and bear our Cross after him unto the end of our life Amen The fifth Mystery The Meditation LEt us contemplate in this Mystery how
honour of the Passion of Jesus Christ who is the Holy of Holies and whose Merits are Infinite Whereby the Prophesie of King David is verified for speaking in the person of Christ he saith That the Cords and Bands of his Death and Passion are finally to become glorious Psal 15. Cords are fallen to me in godly places Sith so many Kings and Queens Princes and Princesses Lords and Ladies do wear these little Cords in memory of the Band wherewith Christ was bound in the time his Passion So then the Cord being worn in remembrance of the Passion which is the cause of our Redemption Graces Merits and Spiritual Good let us see here How we ought to have the Passion of our Saviour alwayes in our memory THE Seraphical Father St. Francis a little after his conversion weeping and lamenting very bitterly said to a Gentleman that desired to know the reason thereof Jesus Christ is crucified for us and no man thinketh of it no man is mindful of it Non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum No man setteth Christ Jesus in his Passion before their eyes Dion Carth. maketh the like complaint saying Our Lord hath ministred unto us copious matter of consideration of his love yet alas it doth not touch our hearts so that it seemes that we are more senseless than insensible creatures and more obdurate than hard stones For when he suffered death on the Cross the Earth did quake Darkness ascended Rocks were rent Monuments opened and the Dead arose as it were suffering with him and detesting the cruel injuries done unto him But we alas do little compassionate him O great perversity He hath suffered grievous things for us and scarce any affection of compassion toucheth our hearts If we were his members and he our head we could not but grieve at his paines If there were any bowels of pitty in us and we should see a brute beast to suffer such things we should naturally be moved to condole him And it doth not move us when we see our Lord and Master of his exceeding charity to suffer so grievous paines for us Quid commisisti saith St. Augustine ut sie judicareris O blessed Saviour what crime hast thou committed to be thus judged What sin hast thou perpetrated What offence hast thou given What is the cause of thy death What is the occasion of thy slaughter O! saith he the wicked sinneth and the just is punished the guilty offendeth and the innocent is chastised the impious committeth the offence and the godly is condemned what the wicked deserveth the good suffereth what the servant oweth the master payeth what man meriteth God endureth O amiable death O desirable passion O admirable profundity The least that we can do is to have a continual memory of so great a benefit of so great charity and as the same holy Father saith Sit nobis toto fixus in corde qui pro nobis fuit totus fixus in cruce Let him be wholly fixed and placed in our hearts who was wholly fixed and fastened on the Cross for us and the Spouse in the Canticles saith Chap. 8. Put me as a seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thy arm Let thy heart be alwayes occupied in the cogitation and memory of my Passion and let thy strength vertue and force be sustained by the vertue of my sufferings I do alwayes conserve the wounds of my body that thou mightest keep the memory of my Passion alwayes in thy mind and soul the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Wiseman doth also invite us thereto Eccl. 29. Forget not the kindness of a surety for he hath given his life for thee Let us as St. Bernardine saith by mental consideration gather together in a bundle all his derisions flagellations thorns nails dolours pains exprobrations mockings buffets blowes spittings confusions and such like to contemplate devoutly behold mentally and tast sweetly that we may say with the Spouse in the Canticles Chap. 1. A bundle of myrrh my beloved in his Passion is to me he shall abide between my breasts that is between our understanding contemplating his passion and our will or affection tasting it How pleasing this bundle was to the holy Father St. Francis is manifest in that having had an apparition of our Saviour Crucified his Soul was so penetrated by the force thereof that thenceforth whensoever it came to his mind he could scarce containe himself from tears and sighs And S. Bonaventure saith of him that Christ crucified did continually abide between the breasts of his mind as a bundle of myrrh into whom by the fire of excessive love he desired to be transformed And in another place he saith That by a sevenfold apparition of our Saviour on the Cross he was wholly transformed into the Image of Christ crucified by extatical love and in the 13. Chapter of his life he in a manner assigneth the reason of that miracle which Cardinal Bellarmine calleth the greatest and most singular miracle of all others and as it were a wonder of wonders of his sacred stigmats to have been the continual meditation of Christs Passion Conformably thereunto St. Bernardine saith He was transformed with so great love and fervent ardour into Jesus Christ crucified that by a miracle never heard of in any ages the benignity of our Saviour hath impressed in his flesh the similitude of his most holy Passion ordaining him his Standard-bearer in a new rememoration of his Crucifying And therefore Saint Antonine the glory of St. Dominicks Order and Arch-bishop of Florence said That because the memory of Christs Passion seemed to be extinguished in the minds of men through coldness and tepidity therefore our Lord would exsuscitate and renew the memory thereof by the manifest impression of his wounds or stigmats in the body of Saint Francis whereby the Clemency of Almighty God condescending to his lovers beyond all estimation hath given him the banner of the Crosse to be carried in his body that he who was prevented by a wonderful love of the Cross might also become marvellous by the wonderful honour of the Cross How profitable a thing is it to have always the Passion of our Saviour in our Minds THe Devout servant of Christ Saint Francis col 23. of his works saith I desire you that you have always before your eyes our Lords Passion which will roborate you and animate you to suffer more valiantly for him And the Prince of the Apostles offereth us no other coat of fence no other Armour against all incursions and wounds but this saying 1 Pet. 4. Christ having suffered in the flesh be you also armed with the same cogitations As if he should say Christ hath suffered so great things for you excogitate and consider what ye ought to do and suffer for him rather for your selves to flie vice and follow vertue which he hath commended unto us by his Passion Saint Paul teacheth us the same saying Think diligently seriously consider and ponder him
nos inducas in tentationem Sed libera nos a malo Oremus DOmine Jesu Christe qui pro salute humani generis quinque vulnera pati voluisti tribue qua sumus ut ob reverentiam illorum vulnerum tuoorum absolvi mereamur ab omnibus peccatis nostris da praesentem vitam bono fine terminari a tuae dulcissimae visionis contemplatione nunquam sepaparari Oremus DEus qui manus tuas pedes tuos totum corpus tuum pro nobis peccatoribus in ligno crucis posuisti coronam spineam a Judaeis in despectum tui sacratissimi nominis super caput tuum impositam sustinuisti quinque vulnera pro nobis peccatoribus in ligno crucis passus fuisti da nobis hodie quotidie usum poenitentiae abstinentiae patientiae humilitatis castitatis lumen sensum intellectum puram conscientiam usque in finem Per te Jesu Christe Salvator mundi Qui cum Patre Spiritu sancto vivis regnas Deus Per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen We have here added the Profession of our Faith which is often to be read to confirm our selves in the belief of the holy Church to exercise and increase our Faith and obtain the effect of our Prayers the impetration thereof being attributed to Faith A PROFESSION OF THE Catholick Faith Set out according to the Decrees of the holy Council of Trent IAB Do with a stead fast Faith Believe and Profess all and every Point contained in the Symbol of the Faith that the holy Roman Church doth use to wit I do believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth of all things both visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God and born of the Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten and not made of the same 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 was crucisied also for us under Pontius Pilate suffered and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended up to Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end And in the Holy Ghost our Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is adored and conglorified who spake by the Prophets And in one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I profess one Baptism for the remission of sins And I expect the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen I do steadfastly admit and embrace the Traditions of the Apostles and of the Church and all other Observations and Constitutions of the same Church I do also admit the holy Scriptures according to that sense which our holy Mother the Catholick Church hath held and doth hold to whom it appertaineth to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures neither will I ever understand nor interpret the same otherwise then according to the uniform consent of the Fathers I do also profess that there be truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary for the salvation of mankind although all be not necessary for every one to wit Baptism Confirmation Extream Vnction Order and Matrimony and these Sacraments do give Grace and that of them Baptism Confirmation and Order cannot be reiterated without Sacriledge I do also receive and admit all the received and approved Ceremonies of the Catholick Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I do receive and embrace all and every of the things which in the holy Council of Trent have been defined and declared touching Original sin and Justification I do profess also that in the Mass is offered up to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is truly really and substantially the body and blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ And that there is made a Conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood which Conversion the holy Church calls Transubstantiation I do also confess that under either form only is received Christ whole and entire and the true Sacrament I do constantly hold that there is Purgatory and that the Souls which be there detained are holpen by Prayers of the Faithful Also that the Saints who raign together with Christ are to be honored and called upon and that they offer up prayers to God for us and that their Reliques are to be reverenced and honoured I do most steadfastly affirm that the Images of Christ of the Mother of God always Virgin and of all Saints are to be had and retained and that due honor and reverence is to be given them I affirm that the authority of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the use of them is very behoofeful for Christian People I do acknowledge the holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches And I do promise and swear true obedience to the Bishop of Rome who is the Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ And all other things also defined and declared by the holy Canons and Oecumenical Councils and chiefly by the holy Council of Trent I do undoubtedly receive and profess And also all contrary things and whatsoever Heresies condemned and accursed by the Church I likewise do condemn reject and accurse This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved now I willingly and truly hold the same A. B. do promise and swear to hold and confess most constantly by God his help entire and uncorrupted even to the last end of my life So God help me and the holy Gospels of God Amen Anglia chara Deo Felix Sancta fuisti Sis modo qualis eras sic pia vota petunt FINIS