them And as to Venial Sins which we frequently fall into and for which we are not excluded from the Grace of God tho' the confessing of and being absolved from them is very profitable to the Soul yet we are not under any such precise obligation of confessing them there being other ways by which they may be pardoned so that it is no sin not to discover them The third part of Penitence is Satisfaction for Sins according to the judgment of the Confessor which satisfaction is chiefly performed by Prayer Fasting and Alms the Penitent being obliged to comply with the Penance imposed upon him by the Priest who being as a Judge in the place of God ought to impose what he thinks to be necessary not only with respect to the amendment of Sin for the future but chiefly with respect to the Satisfaction and Penance of past Sins The Form of this Sacrament is I absolve thee to which necessary words the Church has thought fit to add the words following from all thy Sins in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost There are also some Prayers which the Priest saith immediately after over the Penitent which tho' they are not essential to the form yet are very profitable and healthful for the Penitent Now by pronouncing the form not only all the Sins that are confessed but all those likewise which after a due diligence and Examination of the Conscience do not occurr to the Memory so as to be discovered all such being included in the said Confession are all pardoned tho' with an obligation of confessing them if they should ever after come to be remembred sins being as it were chains to the Soul from which it is delivered by the absolution of the Priest which is applicable to such as by virtue of contrition joyned with a desire of confessing have obtained pardon of God for their Sins which they were under an obligation to have confessed as also to those Sins which were never confessed because not remembred after a due diligence and to those likewise which having been once lawfully confessed and truly pardoned are by the Penitent of his own accord and for the greater Penance confessed and submitted to the Keys several times The Minister of this Sacrament is a Priest who hath Authority to absolve and is either the Ordinary as the Prelates or such as are commissioned and approved of by them The effect of this Sacrament is The absolution and pardon of Sins and for that reason it is by the Doctors properly called the Table after Shipwrack because the Grace which was given to us in Baptism being lost by the commission of Mortal Sin by which we make Shipwrack thereof and of all the other Vertues and Gifts which together therewith were poured down upon us there remains no other remedy or means whereby we can be saved but only by the plank of Penance or the Sacrament of Confession for that without this either actually received or firmly purposed according to the command of Holy Mother Church with contrition wherein such a purpose is always included we cannot be saved nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven for which reason this Sacrament ought to be much reverenced and frequented as the only remedy that sinners have for all their evils Decree I. WHereas an entire Sacramental Confession is of Divine right and necessary to all those who after Baptism fall into any Mortal Sin and Holy Mother Church doth command all faithful Christians who are come to the use of Reason upon pain of Mortal Sin to confess at least once a Year in the time of Lent or at Easter when all that are capable are bound likewise to receive the most holy Sacrament of the Altar declaring all that neglect to do it to be excommunicate and notwithstanding this Precept has not hitherto been in use in this Bishoprick in which no Christian has ever confessed upon Obligation and a great many not at all which was occasioned through their ignorance of this healthful precept and of the necessity of this Divine Sacrament this Church having been governed by Schismatical Chaldaeans and Nestorian Hereticks the particular Enemies of this Sacrament being the cause of their being totally unacquainted with the Virtue Efficacy and Necessity thereof Some not using it all others being perswaded by the Devil into a vain and superstitious Opinion That if they should confess themselves they should die immediately all which having been made known to the most Illustrious Metropolitan in his first Visitation of these Churches he at that time perswaded a great many that had never done it before to confess themselves having undeceived them as to the unreasonable and pernicious mistakes which they lay under therefore the Synod the more to further this doth declare that it is the Duty of every faithful Christian upon penalty of Mortal Sin to observe the precept of the Church concerning Confession at the time by her determined and founded on the Divine precept of Confession for all such as are fallen from Grace by the Commission of any Mortal Sin and doth command all faithful Christians Men and Women that are arrived at the Years of Discretion to confess themselves to their own Vicar or to such Priests as are licensed by the Prelate to hear Confessions at the time of Lent or against Easter and that whosoever shall not have complyed with this Precept or is not confessed sometime betwixt the beginning of Lent and the second Sunday after Easter shall be in the Church declared Excommunicate by the Vicar without waiting for any order from the Prelate to do it until he has effectually confessed himself and has undergone the punishment due to his Rebellion and if the Vicar shall for some just reason think fit to wait any longer for some that have been negligent and who being busie have desired to be dispensed with till Whitsuntide it shall be in their power to bear with them according to what is determined in the 2d Decree of the 5th Action of the Sacrament of the Eucharist having first admonished those that live in the Heaths or are at Sea or engaged in Business in such places where there are no Churches to confess in that when they return home they are bound to do it within a month And that the whole of this may be executed with the more ease and be performed as is reasonable the Vicars of the Churches shall be obliged a month or more before Lent if it be necessary to go to all the Houses of their Parishes belonging to Christians however remote in the Heaths either in Person or by some other Clergyman whom in Conscience they can trust with such a business and taking the Names of all the Christians even to the very Slaves in every Family that are nine Years old and upward and of those too that are abroad observing whether they do return home after the time of the Obligation and having made a Roll of Parchment of
In a word any Person that can Baptize using the Form of the Church and intending to do what she does may administer this Sacrament For seeing none can be saved without being Baptized therefore as our Lord ordained Water than which nothing is more ready at hand to be the matter of this Sacrament so he would exclude no Man from being the Minister thereof the effects and virtue of this Sacrament is the pardon and remission of all sins Original and Actual and of all punishments due to them for which reason there is no Penance to be enjoyned those that are Baptized for any sin they committed before Baptism all that die after Baptism before they have committed any sin going directly to Heaven where they enjoy the Divine Vision for ever Decree I. WHereas in the Examination of the Forms of the administration of the Sacraments of the Church in this Diocess made by the most Reverend Metropolitan in his last Visitation he found that in divers Churches there were different Forms used and written in the Baptisteries some Curates using the Form following * The Ancient Form of Baptizing was by Prayer N. is Baptized and perfected in the name of the Father Amen in the name of the Son Amen in the name of the Holy Ghost Amen Others using the Greek Form saying Baptizetur servus Christi in nomine Patris Amen in nomine Filii Amen in nomine Spiritûs Sancti Amen The Synod in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred doth command that no Person shall presume hereafter to use either these or any other Forms but that which is used in the Holy Roman Church I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all other Forms be blotted out of their Baptisteries and Books and this be put in their place Decree II. THis Synod being informed That at divers times they have used different Forms of Baptism in this Diocess which were introduced by Schismatical and Ignorant Prelates some of which were not Legitimate neither was the Sacrament administred by them as was declared by the most Illustrious Metropolitan and others after a strict Examination and others were very doubtful doth therefore in the name of the Holy Ghost desire and command all the faithful Christians of this Diocess to declare to the said Metropolitan at the Visitation he intends to make of the Churches of this Diocess or to Persons deputed by him the time when they were Baptized that so according to the Form that was then used a saving remedy may be provided in conformity to what shall be ordained therein and that all submit themselves to whatsoever he shall be pleased to order Decree III. FOrasmuch as the Synod is informed that there are many Persons in this Diocess and especially among those that live in the Heaths and are far from any Church who tho' they are not Baptized yet being of a Christian race do profess themselves Christians and when they come where there is a Church do go to it and receive the Holy Sacraments with others and out of meer shame of letting it be known that they are not Christened do die without Baptism and others because they will not pay the Fees which are Simoniacally demanded of them It doth therefore command all Vicars of Churches to make diligent inquiry through their whole Parishes and the Heaths to see if there are any that are not Christened besides the search that the most Illustrious Metropolitan does intend at his next Visitation as he did at his former and that the said Vicars on the high Festivals upon which those that live in the Heaths do usually come to Church shall admonish them all in general that in case there are any among them that have never been baptized or that have some reason to doubt whether they have or not that they go to them and acquaint them therewith in private that so they may be secretly Christened and without paying any Fee letting them know that they are not Christians nor capable of inheriting Eternal Life nor of receiving the Holy Sacraments without being baptized and all Preachers shall frequently give the same admonition and all Confessors must be careful to ask all rude Christians that live in the Heaths whether they have been baptized and in case it appear doubtful they shall then baptize them privately The Synod grants the same License to all Priests within or without this Diocess to baptize all such secretly in what place soever they shall think fit Decree IV. THE Synod being informed that there are some small Villages in this Diocess which by reason of the great distance they are at from any Church and through the negligence of their Prelates and Priests tho' they call themselves Christians of St. Thomas because descended of such yet are not Baptized having nothing of Christians but the bare name doth command a diligent enquiry to be made into this matter recommending the same to the most Reverend Metropolitan and commanding all Vicars of Churches to search all places bordering upon their Parishes and to oblige all such to be Baptized The Synod doth likewise command Chappels to be built in or near to all such Villages and to be provided with such Curates as may instruct them in all matters of Faith that so there may be none in all these parts that call themselves Christians of St. Thomas but what are Baptized and of some Parish where they may receive the Sacraments Decree V. BY reason of the great negligence that is so visible in the Christians of this Bishoprick in bringing their Children to be baptized within eight days after they are born according to the Custom of the Church but chiefly among those that live at a considerable distance from any Church whose Children are many times some Months or Years old before they are Christen'd the Synod doth strictly command That all Children be baptized on the 8th day after they are born according to the custom of the Universal Church without there should be some danger of their dying before in which case they ought to be Christened immediately or that it should so happen that if they are not baptized sooner they cannot be in a long time in which case also they ought to be presently Christened and for those that live in Heaths and far from any Church if they should not be able to bring their Children to be baptized on the eighth day they must not fail to bring them betwixt the fifteenth and the twentieth and all that are found to be negligent herein let them be punish'd severely and whosoever shall neglect to bring their own Children or others that they have the charge of tho' their Slaves to Baptism for above a Month let them be thrown out of the Church neither shall it be lawful for any Priest to go to their Houses or to give them the Casturi or a Visit no not in order to
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
doth command that the Overseers appoint a Capiar who shall be paid out of the Alms for Sweeping the Church and keeping clean the Lamps and Candlesticks and the Capiar shall take care that the Church be Swept at least three times a Week and there be always one Lamp at least lighted before the High Altar and the Vessels wherein the Lamp-Oil is kept without they be so small as not to be seen shall not be kept in the Church nor the Bategas or Kettles nor any thing else that is undecent but shall be kept in the Capiar's or Overseers Houses that so the Church may be kept clean and decent Decree XXVIII THe Synod doth command That in all Vestries of Churches there be Cupboards and Chests with Locks to keep the Cups Corporals and Ornaments in and where there is no Vestry until one shall be built they shall be kept some where in the Church except in the Heaths where the Churches are in danger of being robbed where the Vicars shall keep them in their Houses and shall by no means leave any of them upon the Altars as has been the custom which was the occasion of the Ornaments being so dirty and of the Altars being so much out of order And whereas most of the chief Chapels are extreamly dark they shall take care to have Windows opened and fortified with Iron to let in Air and Light which must nevertheless be so contrived that the Heathens when they come may not see the Divine Mysteries thorow them Decree XXIX WHereas almost all the Churches of this Diocess are without Pictures which was the effect of their being governed by Nestorian Hereticks who do not allow of the healthful use of Sacred Images therefore the Synod doth command That in Churches that are finished the first work that shall be done after that of the Baptismal Font out of the Alms of the Parish shall be to set up some Images according to the directions of the Prelate who shall always be consulted about every Picture and after that of the High Altar is once set up if the Church has any Side-Altars they shall also have Images set up in them and on every Altar besides an Image there shall be a Cross or some Matter or other set up and in all Churches that are large enough and yet have no Pulpits Pulpits shall be erected for the Preaching of the word of God and they shall also put Bells in their Steeples to be rung at meet times and to call the People to Church which shall not be hung within the Church where besides that they cannot be rung as they ought to be they do take up too much room and in places where there is danger of having their Bells stole they shall have their Steeples fortified and shut up after the manner of Towers and where the Kings and Bramens of the Pagods will not consent to their having a Building higher than the Church which often happens through their imagining that the Pagods are made melancholly by the hearing of such Bells they shall hang them within the Church but at such a height that they may ring them without touching them with their hands and that they shall take up no room below in the Church and in those Churches where they have no Bells the Synod grants Licence until such time as they can procure some to make use of Boards as they have done formerly to call the Faithful together and to give the Signal at the Mass Decree XXX THe Synod doth teach and declare That by ancient Right always observed in the Church Churches may be so violated in certain Cases that it is not lawful to Celebrate in them nor to bury the Dead until they are reconciled which through ignorance of the Canons has not hitherto been observed in this Bishoprick the Cases are when humane Blood is injuriously shed in the Church or there is a Natural Cause given of such shedding or of Death as if one has a Mortal Wound given him in the Church or a Wound that fetches Blood notwithstanding the Wounded Person shall be got out of the Church before any Blood is shed but if the Wound was given without the Church notwithstanding the Blood thereof should come to be shed therein the Church is not violated thereby and by a Wound that is injuriously given in the Church whereby Blood is shed tho' the Wound should not prove Mortal the Church is violated The second Case is when humane Seed is voluntarily spent in the Church tho' in conjugal Copulation The third is when one that is Excommunicated is buried in the Church The fourth when an Infidel is buried in it in which Case the Church is not only to be reconciled but the Walls are also to be scraped The fifth is when the Church has been Consecrated or Blessed by a Bishop that was publickly Excommunicate in all which Cases the Church is to be reconciled which reconciliation being to be done to a Church that was Consecrated by a Bishop none but a Bishop can perform it But having been only Blessed by one or by a Priest the Vicar may perform the Reconciliation according to the Form and with the Prayers and Ceremonies contained in the Roman Ceremonial Translated into Syrian and it is to be observed that when a Church is violated the Church-yard that belongs to it is violated also if they are not at some distance the one from the other but when the Church-yard is violated in any of the forementioned Cases the Church it belongs and is joined to is not violated thereby Decree XXXI IT being of mighty moment that Consecrated Churches be had in great Reverence and whereas in this Diocess it is a common thing for Sick People out of Devotion to lie in Churches with their Wives and Families for several days hoping thereby to be cured of their Distempers which cannot be done without many Services wherefore the Synod doth command That no Person whatsoever tho' never so Sick do lie in the Church with his Family the time of War only excepted but the Sick having performed their Devotion shall lie at home at their own Houses or if they shall desire it may Lodge in some Houses that are near to the Church or in the Porches thereof but by no means within the Church Decree XXXII WHereas there is a great neglect in carrying the Corps of those that die in the Heaths to the Church which are sometimes buried without a Priest and in unconsecrated Earth wherefore the Synod doth command That the Kindred or those in whose Houses Christians do die do carry their Corps how far soever they may live off near to the Church where the Vicars shall go to fetch them with the Cross of the Church and in their Surplice and Stole praying all the way they go with the rest of the Clergy and Interr them which all tho' never so poor shall be oblig'd to do And if at the time when they bring the Corps they
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
Church was so much incensed he was obliged at last tho' contrary to his Inclination to send a Franciscan Friar to the Arch-Deacon with authority to take his Subscription to the Roman Creed and to require him to punish the Priests who had beat the Boy for naming the Pope in his Prayers The Arch-Deacon having nothing to object against the Franciscan Friar and being extreamly desirous if it was possible to keep the Arch-Bishop from coming into the Serra tho' he refused to Subscribe the Creed of Pius IV. yet condescended to Subscribe a Confession of Faith wherein he professed himself a Catholick and that he believed as the Church believed but without naming the Roman or acknowledging the Pope as universal Pastor of the Church he is furthermore said upon the Arch-Bishop's signifying his dissatisfaction at the ambiguous Profession he had made to have given his consent publickly to that of Pius IV. being read to him in Portugueze of which he did not understand a Syllable But let that be as it will it is certain that he continued still to teach that the Pope was the head of his own Church but had nothing to do with that of St. Thomas The Arch-Bishop not being able to brook such things any longer fix'd a day for his going towards the Serra and when the Viceroy and the whole Clergy beg'd of him not to expose his Person to such visible danger they could have no other answer from him but this That his life was but too secure in this case seeing he had never merited enough to entitle him to the Honour of being a Martyr However lest his Humility might deceive him in passing a Judgment upon himself he did not think fit to trust too much to his want of Merits and for that reason went attended with a good Guard he had also a Commission to treat with all the Princes of Malabar about Peace and War and particularly to engage the Samorim to assist the Portugueze to take Cunahle a Fortress lately possessed by a company of Mahometan Pyrates who did very much disturb the Portugueze Trade upon that Coast This Nest of Pyrates was first built by one Pate Marca a Mahometan who having in a short time enriched it strangely with the Spoils of the Portuguezes both by Sea and Land left it at his Death to his Nephew Mahomet Cunahle Marca This Mahomet was Governour or rather Prince of it at this time and as he was nothing inferior to his Uncle in Courage or Conduct so he had Fortified the place so as to make it absolutely one of the strongest Garrisons in the Indies neither did he insult the Portuguezes only but the Malabars also and particularly the Samorim in whose Country Cunahle stood and who had given leave to his Uncle to fortifie that place on purpose to incommode the Portugueze And tho' the Portugueze Historians will have it that he took this Affair of Cunahle only in the way to his Visitation yet by the course of his procedure one would be tempted to think that it was what principally carried him to those Parts On the 27th of December 1598. the Arch-Bishop Embarked upon a Gally Commanded by Don Alvaro de Menezes and on the day of Epiphany arrived at the Bar of Cunahle where he joined the whole Portugueze Armada Commanded by the Viceroy's Brother he was saluted with all the Guns and Musick of the Fleet and having called a Council of War and heard the several Opinions of all the Captains concerning the best way to take Cunahle he dispatched the resolution they had come to thereon to the Council of State at Goa a most Apostolical beginning of a Visitation After having put the Siege of Cunahle into a good Posture he departed with a good Convoy to Cananor where he continued 16 days and then sailed to Cochim where he was splendidly received by the Governour and the whole City at the Stairs they had made on purpose for him to Land at Next day when the Magistrates of the City came to Complement him at his House he acquainted them with his design of reducing the Christians of St. Thomas before he returned to Goa desiring their assistance therein which they frankly promised him The day following His Grace having called the common Council of the City together recommended the enterprise of Cunahle to them whom he made so sensible of how great importance it was to their City above all others to have that Fortress wrested out of the hands of the Mahometan Pyrates who had lately made themselves Masters of it that they immediately caused 150 Men to be Raised and Armed at their own Charge whom together with a great quantity of all sorts of Ammunition they sent upon five stout Ships to joyn the Armada before Cunahle the Arch-Bishop also to give the more life to the enterprise sent one of the best of his own Manchua's or Yachts mann'd with his own menial Servants along with them The King of Cochim was much troubled to hear of the Arch-Bishop's being so hot upon the reduction of Cunahle being sensible that a Peace betwixt the Portuguezes and the Samorim without whose assistance by Land it wou'd be hard for them to reduce that Fortress must be the Consequence of the enterprise And as there had been nothing the Kings of Cochim had been always more careful to hinder such a Peace which they than did on purpose to keep the Portuguezes in a closer dependance upon them so the present King following the wise measures of his Ancestors endeavour'd by a Stratagem to destroy the Confidence he saw the Portuguezes had already reposed in the Samorim To which end he sent his Chief Justice and one Joan de Miranda a Gentleman of Cochim to wait upon the Arch-Bishop and to acquaint his Grace from him that he had received certain advice from some Spies he had in the Samorim Cabinet-Council that that Prince whenever the Portuguezes Landed instead of joyning with them had determined to cut them all off in revenge of the many Injuries they had done his Ancestors of which danger he thought himself obliged both as a Friend and a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal to advise him The Arch-Bishop who understood the Intrigues of Princes as well as any Man living returned the King his Thanks for his Intelligence but withal sent him word that they were resolved to trust the Samorim in this occasion and the rather because they did not want Power to be revenged on all that should deceive the King of Portugal either in Peace or War The King when he found his Plot had not succeeded according to his expectation resolved to divert the Samorim from sending an Army to Cunahle by making a War presently upon the Caimal or Prince of Corngeira his Friend and Allie and having with incredible expedition got an Army of 60000 Men together he sent to let the Arch-Bishop know that before he marched he designed to wait upon him The Arch-Bishop tho' he did
them some time to admonish him in and to try whether they could not perswade him to Conformity for which they desired but twenty days promising that if he did not submit within the time that they would never own him more but would submit to any Arch-Deacon that His Grace should set over them Next day they sent six to treat with him who tho' they took a great deal of pains to perswade him to submit himself to the Arch-Bishop could not prevail with him to do it On Easter-Eve the Arch-Bishop had a second Ordination whereat he Ordained a great many that had been hindred by the Regedores from coming to the first The same day Francisco Roz the Jesuite who was afterwards made Bishop of the Serra by the Pope came to wait upon the Arch-Bishop who after Mass told him That he could not believe he was in Carturte where not many Months ago having a mind to say Mass he was forced to have the Church doors opened to him by the Queen's Regedor and where when he elevated the Sacrament the People all shut their Eyes that they might not see it and beat one of his Scholars for having named the Pope in his Prayer's and when he shewed them an Image of our Lady cried out Away with that filthiness we are Christians and for that reason do not adore Idols or Pagods On Easter-day the Arch-Bishop intended to have a most solemn Procession which the Heathens having notice of were resolved either to hinder or disturb it but finding they were not strong enough to do the former by reason of the Regedore's guarding the Arch-Bishop as he did they hired the most infamous Sorcerer of the whole Country to kill the Arch-Bishop in the Procession which he undertook to do with a Charm that had never failed him but as he begun to do his Tricks in the Procession he was seized on and sent to Prison and a Currier was immediately dispatched away to the Queen to acquaint her with what had been done The Queen straightways sent back an Order that he should be put on the Caloete which is a sharp Stake fastned in the Ground which being stuck thorow the Body of the Malefactor he dies thereon in great torment But the Arch-Bishop would not give way to his being punished so but condemned him to greater punishment in sending him to Cochim to Row in the Gallies as long as he lived which shews how great the Arch-Bishop's Power however he came by it was at Carturte where he made his first great Conversion When the Morning-Service was over the Arch-Bishop was invited by the Caçanares to the Nercha which is a Feast kept in the Church on certain days all the Christians that are present sitting down to it The Bishop if present craves the Blessing and in his absence the eldest Priest of the Church The Bishop has one half of the Provision the Priests a quarter and the People a quarter among them In many Churches there are certain Rents dedicated to the maintenance of those Feasts which seem to be the same with the Apostolical Agapae or Love-Feasts I do not know but St. Paul might allude to this double Portion that the Bishop has at these Feasts when he saith That they who rule well and labour in the Word and Doctrine are worthy of double Honour and the rather because he immediately subjoyns Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the Corn c. Besides it is evident from St. Cyprian 34 Ep. to his Church of Carthage that the Clergy were said to be Honoured according to the proportion they had of the Publick Offerings where speaking of Aurelius and Cellerinus two Confessors he writes Presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam sciatis sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur divisiones mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus partiuntur The Arch-Bishop being tired with the Service of the day desired to be excused assisting at the Nercha nevertheless he had his double Portion sent home It was a great branch of Figs and several Cakes made of Rice and Honey with several other Dishes dressed a la Mode de Malabar In the Evening the Arch-Bishop went and visited all the Sick in the Town and gave them both Money and Ghostly Counsel the People imagining that this was the common Practice of all the Roman Prelates began to cry them up to the Skies as much more humble and charitable than the Chaldean Bishop On Easter-Tuesday the Arch-Bishop went out to Nagpili a Church about a quarter of a League from Carturte where having Preached he confirmed a great many and reconciled several Caçanares to the Roman Church By the way it is something strange too how the Arch-Bishop tho' he was able to School their Kings and Regedores who all spoke Portugueze should be so powerful a Preacher as the Portugueze make him to have been among the Malavars considering that he neither knew a word of their Language nor they of his Next day the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Molandurte where when he arrived he found the People much changed from what they were when he was there last for they had shut the Church doors against him neither did there so much as one single Person appear to receive him at the place where he was to Land which was a quarter of a League from the Town The Arch-Bishop understanding how things were ashoar did not offer to Land for fear of raising a Tumult but wrote away immediately to the Governour of Cochim to send the King of Cochim's chief Regedor to him before Molandurte The King tho' he did not love to hear of the Christians of St. Thomas submitting themselves to the Arch-Bishop being very sensible if they were once brought under Portugueze Bishops it would not be long before they would be entirely under the Crown of Portugal too by which means he should lose 50000 of the best Soldiers in his Kingdom yet at the same time he appeared very zealous to promote that work having more than once Commanded all his Christian Subjects in all things to do what the Arch-Bishop would have them and accordingly when the Governour sent him word that the Arch-Bishop desired to speak with the chief Regedor at Molandurte he immediately ordered him to go and wait on him When the Regedor was come the Arch-Bishop complained to him of the vexation his Master had given the Christians of Molandurte for no other reason but for the kind reception they had given him when he was there last The Regedor endeavoured to palliate the matter and promised to acquaint his Master with what the Arch-Bishop had told him Who if any thing were amiss he said would be sure to redress it and to give his Grace satisfaction The Arch-Bishop here took him up short and told him That he expected no kindness from his Master since he had denied him so small a favour as to order the Musquets that were lodged in the Quire of the Church to be removed to
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
the whole Offices of the Advent and Nativity are little else than pure Blasphemy In the Book of Prayers for the great Fast it is frequently said that there were two Persons a Divine and Humane in Christ It contains also several Commemorations of Nestorius and other Hereticks his Followers affirming Marndeay Theodorus and Diodorus and other Nestorian Hereticks to have been the Followers of St. Ephrem In the Greater Breviary which they call Hudre and Gaza or The Treasure of Prayers it is every where said that there are two Persons in Christ and one representation of the Son of God that he is the Image of the Word and the Temple of the same that the Divine Person did enlighten the Humane and that Christ advanced in Grace and Knowledge by degrees that our Lady never carried God in her Womb as Hereticks affirm Christ being a Man like to others and that she ought not to be called the Mother of God but only the Mother of the second Adam that the whole Trinity assumed Humanity and that St. Matthew taught the Hebrews so that God did not make himself Flesh which he only took as a Dwelling to cover his Glory that God accompanyed Christ on the Cross but had not taken the Humanity neither was it God that suffered that the Word of the Father changed it self into Humanity and by the Son of Mary redeemed Mankind that the Father Eternal took Flesh in the same manner as the Son that the Angel delivered his Message to the Virgin in the Temple and not at Nazareth that the pains of travail opened the Womb of the Virgin who brought forth with labour after the manner of other Women that * In the most holy Sacrament The Christians who live scattered about Mesopotamia and Assyria and whose Patriarch resides at the Monastery of St. Raban Hurnez the Persian in the Gordyaean Mountains 40 miles above Niniveh tho' Eutychians and for that reason Enemies to the Chaldean Christians do agree with them in denying Transubstantiation as appears from the following Prayer taken out of their Missal and communicated to me by my Learned Friend Dr. Hide Angeli homines laudabunt te O Christe Sacrificere pro nobis qui per Sacramenta quae sunt in Ecclesia tua docuisti nos secundum magnificentiam tuam quod sicut in Pane Vino Natura sunt à te distincta in Virtute potentia idem sunt tecum Sic etiam Corpus quod à nobis distinctum est à verbo in substantia cum illo tamen qui accipit illud adunitum est in magnificentia potentia Sic credimus non metuimus ab iniquitate quod in uno sc una Hypostasi sit filius fatemur non est duo sicut improbi id est sicut dicunt Nestoriani non enim in completionibus Sacrificii Corpus Corpus frangimus sed unum per fidem sicut docuisti nos in Evangelio tuo laus tibi qui per Sacramenta tua instruxisti nos ut lauâ—emus nomen tuum Now I take this Testimony against Transubstantiation to be much the stronger for it 's being given by the Eutychians to whose Heresie Transubstantiation had it been believed would have given great Countenance as indeed I cannot but reckon those Hereticks having no where made use of that Doctrine to support their Heresie to be a considerable Argument of its not having been believed either by themselves or by the Orthodox for had the latter believed it tho' they had not done it themselves they could not have failed to have used it as Argumentum ad hominem which is what they have no where done It is true this is only a Negative Argument but it is as true that it is so circumstantiated as to be of equal force with one that is positive So again I do not see how we could have had a clearer proof of Transubstantiation not having been believed either by the Manichees or the Orthodox than we have from the Manichees abstaining from the Cup in the Sacrament for no other reason but because they did not think it lawful to drink Wine and from the Orthodoxes proving against them from that very Institution that it was lawful and endeavouring to convince them by several Arguments that it was their Duty to receive the Cup in the Sacrament and all this without ever so much as once intimating that the Liquor in the Cup when it came to be received was Blood and not Wine in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is not the true Body of Christ with a thousand more Blasphemies about it that Nestorius was a Preacher of Truth and in several places God is praised for having declared the Truth to Theodorus and Diodorus who was Master to Nestorius and in several Prayers they beseech God to chastise those that believe otherwise than Nestorius and his Followers whose Faith they say is founded on St. Peter's and the rest of the Apostles Moreover it is said that the Holy Virgin and her Spouse Joseph appeared before the Priests who could not tell how she had conceived and that Images are Idols and ought not to be adored nor so much as kept in Churches or in Houses of Christians there are likewise Offices of Nestorius and his Followers and Commemorations of several Hereticks In the Office for Priests departed it is sung That in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is only the Virtue of Christ but not his true Body and Blood all which Books and Breviaries tho' they do well deserve to be burnt for these and other Errors that they contain yet there being no other at present in this Diocess for the keeping up of Divine Service and the celebration of Religious Offices until such time as they shall be furnished with new Breviaries which the Synod desires they may speedily and that some may be Printed for them at St. Peter's in Rome the Synod doth order them to be corrected and purged from all their Errors and Commemorations of Hereticks and the entire Offices for all such and the Offices of Advent and the Nativity to be entirely tore out of their Breviaries and burnt entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan to see it done at his next Visitation in all the Churches of the Diocess commanding all Curates in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred to produce the said Books and all the other Books that they have as well of publick as of private Use and of Prayers as well as of the Mass before the said Lord Metropolitan at his Visitation in order to their being corrected by Persons appointed for that work in conformity to what is here ordained Decree XVI FOR the preservation of the Purity of the Faith the Synod does command all Priests Curates and all other Persons of whatsoever Condition or Quality within this Bishoprick in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication within two Months after the
comprehend the word Enim which the Church of Rome adds to the Consecration of the Body and Blood for besides that there is the †Tradition This is what she confidenâ—ly pretends to have for all her Nâ—â—elties Cardinal Bâ—â—a in the 23 Chap. of his first Book of Litargies passeth the following true judgment upon the common practice of the Church of Rome in all such Matters Orta deinde est 4 ferè seculis post 6 Synod â—mconâ—roveâ—sia de Azymo fermentato diu agitata inter Graecâ—s Latinos partium potius quam veritatis inveniende studio ut in similibus fieri solet atque hinc factum est ut pertinaciter contenderint suam quisque consuetudinem à Christo ab Apostolis ad nostra usque tempora derivari sed si omissis hac de re Scholasticorum subtilitatibus argumentis quae apud ipsos legi possunt veritatem sincerè sine affectu ad alterutram partem ex veterum Patrum monumentis ex praxi Ecclesiae investigare voluerimus inveniemus proculdubio quam parvi momenti sint in re quae à facto pendet Doctorum speculationes tum perspicuè cognoscemus multum interesse inter tempora quae praecesserunt quae postea secuta sunt eâ—sque turpiter errare qui ex praesenti rerum statu omnem aestimant antiquitatem which is what the Church of Rome has done above these 600 Years and will do for all that Cardinal Bona or any body else can tell her of the unreasonableness of it But the Cardinal goes on Quis non videt Scholasticos ad hanc rem pertractandam prâ—occupatis mentibus accessisse cum enim ab infantia sola azyma offerri viderint eaque sola in scholis in exedris praedicari audierint ea sola semper in usu fuisse crediderunt hoc posito varias subinde convenientias variaque argumenta excogâitrunt ut quod semel conceperant firmius stabilirent Never was there a truer description given of any thing than this the Cardinal gives of the Genius of the People that defend the Novelties of the Church of Rome Tradition of the Holy Apostles for our Lord Christ's having used it in the Consecration of the Body and that St. Matthew also relates it in the Consecration of the Cup it is no Clause or distinct Sentence but a conjunction to a Sentence of the words of Christ which immediately follow As also the word Aeterni in the Consecration of the Cup and the words Mysterium Fidei which tho' not mentioned by the Evangelists yet as it is proved by Apostolical Tradition were used by our Lord Christ in the Consecration of the Cup and for that reason the Holy Church continues to use them in the same but as for the words added to the Consecration of the Cup in the Syrian Missal Et hoc erit vobis pignus in saecula saeculorum they being no where in any of the four Evangelists nor in any Book of the New Testament and it not appearing to the Church by Apostolical Tradition that Christ used them in that Consecration the Synod doth prohibit them to be used therein any more but the words in themselves being good and Holy and agreeable to what Holy Church singeth of this Divine Sacrament that it is the pledge of the Glory that we expect that we may keep to the Old Missal so far as the sincerity of the Faith and the purity of this Divine Sacrifice will permit the Priest shall say them after the elevation of the Cup where making a profound Reverence he shall begin the following Prayers with them only changing the word Vobis which was used as spoke by Christ for Nobis as spoke by himself saying Hoc erit nobis pignus and for the words in saecula saeculorum which follow they being commonly said in the Church of such Matters only as are to last for ever or are wished to be Eternal seeing the use of this Divine Sacrament as well as of the rest is to continue but to the end of the World they having been instituted only as a remedy for our Spiritual necessities in this life for in the other we are to see our Lord no more under Sacramental Species but clearly as he is neither shall we in Heaven eat this Divine Bread of Angels Sacramentally but shall eat as the Angels do in the Vision of the Divine Word The words in saecula saeculorum shall be therefore left out and instead thereof shall be put usque ad consummationem saeculi saying hoc erit nobis pignus usque ad consummationem saeculi the Sacrament being a pledge only for so long as we do not see the Glory that we hope for but is and ever will be such a pledge in this life Christ having promised to his Church that he will be with her to the end of the World so that the Divine Sacraments which were instituted for our benefit can never fail till then after these words the Priest shall go on with what immediately follows in the Mass Gloria tibi Domine gloria tibi and so on Furthermore in the Consecration of the Cup there is added to the words of Christ novi testamenti qui pro vobis c. novi aeterni testamenti mysterium fidei qui pro vobis pro multis c. Therefore the Synod doth command That the words of Consecration of the Body and Blood be reformed and put in all their Missals according to the Canon of the Roman Missal used in the Universal Church without the least addition or diminution and with the same Adorations Inclinations and Ceremonies as are in the Roman Missal Furthermore where the Priest saith Dominus Deus noster quando spirabit in nobis odor suavissimus it is said in the same Prayer cum animae nostrae veritatis tuae scientiâ fuerint illustratae tunc occurremus dilecto filio tuo c. speaking of the day of Judgment it shall be said Cum corporae nostra veritatis tuae splendore fuerint illustrata tunc occurremus dilecto filio tuo the Souls of the Just being illuminated and glorified in Heaven before the day of Judgment which is the time when the Bodies receive their Glory this Passage seeming to allude to the Nestorian Heresie which teacheth that the Souls of the Just do not see God nor are Glorified nor are in Bliss before the day of Judgment Furthermore where the Deacon saith Orando pro sanctis patribus nostris Patriarchâ nostro pastore universalis totius Ecclesiae Catholicae meaning the Schismatick of Babylon Episcopo hujus Metropolis it shall be said Pro sanctis Patribus nostris beatissimo Papâ nostro totius Ecclesiae Catholicae pastore naming him by his Name Episcopo hujus Metropolis naming him also Ministris ipsorum and a little lower where the Deacon praying saith praecipuè nos oportet orare pro incolumitate Patrum nostrorum sanctorum domini
and Heretical wherefore the Synod doth command That since there are no such Prayers used in the Church nor any such Petitions made to God in behalf of the Saints notwithstanding they are said in the Revelation to make them for themselves that those words be blotted out and what follows be joined with what went before saying Confessores hujus loci omnium Regionum oremus inquam ut det nobis ut efficiamur socii eorum c. leaving out the fore-mentioned words and at the end of the Prayer where it is said per gratiam Christi it shall be said Per gratiam Dei Domini nostri Jesu Christi Furthermore where the Priest begins Confitemur laudamus Domine Deus noster where he saith below Dignos nos fecisti dispensatione sacramentorum sanctorum corporis sanguinis Christi tui it shall be said Christi filii tui as also before where the Priest speaketh to those on the right side of the Altar and they answer with the Deacon Christus exaudiat orationes tuas hoc sacrificium quod tu offers pro te pro nobis pro toto orbe à minimo usque ad maximum the last words pro toto orbe à minimo usque ad maximum must be left out for the Mass being a publick Prayer of the Church Infidels Schismaticks and Hereticks are not to be prayed for therein but only Catholicks and such as are united to the Church wherefore instead thereof it shall be said quod tu offers pro te pro nobis pro universâ Ecclesiâ Catholicâ omnibus orthodoxis atque Apostolicae Catholicae fidei cultoribus Furthermore where the Priest begins Etiam Domine Deus Exercituum where he saith pro Sacerdotibus Regibus Principibus it shall be said pro Regibus Principibus Catholicis the Christians of this Church being subject to Infidel Princes and a little lower where the Priest begins Tu Domine cui propter c. where he saith recordatione corporis sanguinis it shall be said Christi filii tui and a little lower in the same Prayer near the end it shall be said sanguine Christi filii tui redempta Furthermore where the Deacon and Clergy praying do say Et pro omnibus Patriarchis Episcopis Presbyteris c. it shall be said pro beatissimo Papâ nostro naming him pro omnibus Patriarchis Episcopis Furthermore in the Hymn said by the Clergy and the Deacon alternatim after the elevation of the most Holy Sacrament in the Verse where the Priest saith Quando ad sanctum altare ingreditur manus suas purè protendit in coelum invitat spiritum qui de superis descendit consecrat corpus sanguinem Christi in which words the Priest seems to call upon the Holy Ghost to come down from Heaven to consecrate the Body of Christ as if it were not the Priest that consecrated it whereas in truth it is the Priest that does it tho' not in his own words but the words of Christ wherefore that no colour may be given to such an error it shall be said manus suas purè protendit in coelum consecrat corpus sanguinem Christi leaving out the words of invitat spiritum qui de superis descendit c. and the following words à saeculo usque in saeculum Furthermore in the Prayer said by the Deacon which begins Omnes timore pariter amore accedamus where it is said unigenitus Dei mortale corpus spiritualem rationalem immortalemque animam ex filiis hominum suscepit that there may be no countenance given to an error held by some and followed by several Nestorians that the Soul as well as the Body is ex traduce or derived from the Parents whereas in truth it is created by God out of nothing and infused into the Body when it is perfectly formed it shall therefore be said unigenitus Dei mortale corpus ex filiis hominum spiritualem rationalem immortalemque animam suscepit As also where the Deacon after the Communion of the Priest inviting the People to communicate saith fratres mei suscipite corpus ipsius filii he shall say ipsius filii Dei Furthermore in the first word of the Benediction of the People where he saith Ille qui benedicit nos in coelis per filium Humanitatis he shall say Per filium suum and in the first Blessing which the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass where he saith Cathedra gloriosa Catholicorum orientalium meaning Schismatical Babylon he shall say benedicatur Cathedra gloriosa Romana and in the following verse of the same Blessing where speaking of the Bishop of the Diocess he saith Dominus totius gregis episcopus plenus sobrietate custodiatur à malo c. he shall name our Lord the Pope saying Dominius totius gregis catholici Papa N. plenus sobrietate custodiatur à malo una cum bono Doctore Episcopo nostro N. naming him by his Name And a little after in the same Blessing where he saith Illustris in congregatione Sanctorum religiosus Hormisda sanctitas sanctitatum c. the name of Hormisda who as has been observed was a Nestorian Heretick shall be left out and instead thereof he shall say Illustris in congregatione Sanctorum S. Apostolus Thomas c. all that follows agreeing very well with that glorious Apostle who first taught the Faith in these parts and not to that false Heretick Furthermore in the first Verse of the Blessing of the Solemn Days where it is said of the Divine Word Qui factus est homo operuit speciem suam in filio hominis for fear of the Nestorian Doctrine it shall be said Qui factus est homo operuit Divinitatem suam humilitate nostrâ and a little lower where it is said Benedic Ecclesiam tuam quae patitur in ovili pessimi Daemonis ecce comprehenditur it shall be said Quae patitur infestationes a pessimo Daemone libera illam c. for the Catholick Church tho' it be infested and persecuted by the Devil is not held nor overcome by him our Saviour having promised that all the Powers of Hell shall never prevail against her And afterwards where it is said Benedic dextrâtuâ Christe congregationem hanc it shall be said Benedic dextrâ tuâ Jesu Christe c. and in the same Blessing where it is said Salva Reges nostros Duces nostros it shall be said Salva Reges nostros Duces nostros Catholicos all the Kings and Princes of this Church being Infidels and so ought not to be prayed for in the publick Prayers of the Mass and a little after where it is said Sicut decet coram ipso Jesu Salvatore it shall be said Coram ipso Jesu Deo Salvatore because of the Nestorian error and in the last Verse but one of that Blessing where it
or of any other by whom they are authorized after having heard the Sins of their Penitents do carry them to the said Prelate to be absolved by him in the Sacramental Court which was what happened to the most Illustrious Metropolitan in these parts the Synod doth therefore teach and declare That none can absolve the Penitent in the Sacramental Court but the Priest only that heard his Sins for whereas he is the Judge it is he that ought to pass sentence and absolve in conformity to what he has heard confessed the contrary being a gross and manifest Error Decree XV. FOrasmuch as there are some ignorant Clergymen who being desired by Christians to read the Gospels and Prayers to them or to give them the Blessing on their heads do ignorantly use the form of Sacramental Absolution saying I absolve thee from thy Sins in the Name of the Father c. wherefore the Synod doth advertise and admonish them not to commit such an Error it being a most grievous Sacrilege to apply the Sacramental form where it ought not to be wherefore they shall only read the Gospels and Prayers allowed ending with the Blessing In the Name of the Father c. The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extream Unction THe fifth Sacrament of Extream Vnction has for its matter the Oyl of Olive blessed by a Bishop it is called Extream Vnction because it is the last of all the Holy Unctions instituted by our Lord Christ in his Church and the last that is received by a Christian this Sacrament is to be administred to an adult Person that is sick when apprehended to be in probable danger of death who is to be anointed by the Priest the only minister of this Sacrament on those parts wherewith he hath offended God chiefly that is to say on the Eyes because of Sins committed by the sight on both the Ears because of Sins committed by hearing on the mouth because of Sins committed by tasting and speaking on both the hands for the sins committed in feeling and touching on both the Feet for the Sins committed in walking on the Loins and Reins for being the chief seat of Carnal pleasure every one of which parts must be anointed by the Priest making the sign of the Cross upon them with his Thumb dipt in Holy Oil and at the same time repeating the words of the form which are By this Holy Vnction and his most tender mercy may our Lord forgive thee all the Sins thou hast committed by thy sight and so on naming every part or sense as it is anointed The effect of this Sacrament is the Health of the Soul and of the Body also so far as it is convenient and necessary to the Soul which is the chief moreover it washeth away the Reliques of sin if there are any remaining in the Soul comforting the Soul of the Sick withall and confirming and exciting in it a great confidence in the Divine Mercy by virtue of which Consolation it suffers the troubles of Sickness with the more patience and with the greater ease resists the Temptations of Satan whose custom it is to assault the Soul with extraordinary violence in its last Hour It likewise cherishes and succours the Body so far as it is convenient for the salvation of the Soul as S. James teacheth us in his Canonical Epistle saying Is any one Sick let him call for the Priests of the Church and they shall pray over him anointing him with Oyl in the Name of the Lord and the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall give him ease and if he be in Sins they shall be forgiven him The Apostle in saying they shall be pardoned demonstrates it to be a Sacrament whose Virtue and Nature is to conferr Grace that pardoneth Sins and in saying If any are sick among you he declares the time when this Sacrament is to be received that is in time of dangerous Sickness and in saying they shall call the Priests of the Church he sheweth that the Priests are the only Ministers of this Sacrament and in saying they shall be anointed with Oil in the Name of the Lord he sheweth that Holy Oil is the matter of this Sacrament and in saying they shall pray over the Sick anointing he sheweth that the form of this Sacrament is to be pronounced by way of deprecation or Prayer and in saying the Lord shall give him ease he sheweth also that the effect of this Sacrament is to give health to the Body so far as it is convenient and necessary to the health of the Soul And whereas this Sacrament was instituted for the use of the Sick none but what are dangerously so must take it and a Person who shall recover after having received it may when dangerously sick receive it again it having been instituted by our Lord for that end and to prepare defend and fortifie us at the time of our departure out of this life whensoever it is Decree I. WHereas in this Bishoprick there has not been hitherto any use of the Sacrament of Extream Vnction in which for want of Catholick Instruction there has been no knowledge of the Institution Effects or Efficacy thereof therefore the Synod does most earnestly recommend the use of this Sacrament commanding the Vicars to be vigilant over the Sick of their Parishes where-ever they live whether in the Villages or in the Heaths and whenever they shall hear of any in danger of Death to carry the most Holy Sacrament of Vnction and administer it to them according to the Roman Ceremonial which is to be translated into Syrian and kept in all Churches anointing them with Oil and making the sign of the Cross with Holy Oil on both their Eyes shut doing the right first and then the left upon the Eye-lashes and upon both the Ears the Nostrils and the Mouth being shut on both the Lips but if the Distemper should be such that the Sick Person 's Mouth cannot be shut or not without danger then the upper Lip shall be anointed making the sign of the Cross upon it as also both the Palms of the Hands the Balls of the Feet and the Loins ordering the Sick Person to be moved gently neither is it necessary that any more of these parts should be anointed than what is convenient for the making the sign of the Cross with the Holy Oil and the Priest must be sure to remember in this as in all other Sacraments to join the Form with the Matter repeating the words of the Form as he anoints the parts If the Sick Person shall happen to expire while the Priest is anointing the Priest being satisfied that he is dead shall proceed no further with the Office and the Vicar through whose negligence any Parishioner shall die without having received this Sacrament shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for six Months Decree II. FOrasmuch as the Troubles the Sick are in together with the want of good Instructions in
for them in the Church and instead of the Prayers that are to be recited by them in the Evening they shall say Thirty-three Pater Nosters and as many Ave Maries with the Gloria Patri c. as in the Morning and when they are ended they shall say * Nine It would have been no true Roman Devotion had not the Ave Maries exceeded the Pater Nosters for one may speak within compass and say that the blessed Virgin has ten Prayers and an hundred Vows made to her in the Church of Rome where Christ has one made to him and of this the Tabulae Votivae in their Churches are a clear demonstration there being few or none of these Tables and there are vast numbers of them in several Churches but what are dedicated solely to the honour of the blessed Virgin nine Ave Maries to our Lady and one Pater Noster and one Ave Mary for the Pope and another for the Bishop as in the Morning provided that such as have Books shall recite by them and not by Beads and such as recite by Beads if they have said any of the Prayers either in the Morning or Evening at Church shall not be obliged to recite them again but shall only recite those which they may have omitted there Decree VI. THe Synod doth command the Creed of St. Athanasius Quicunque vult to be translated into Syrian and to be put into all the Breviaries and Books of Prayer of this Diocess and to be read every Sunday in the Church immediately after Morning Service desiring the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus to translate it and all the Curates and Clergy to learn the said Creed by Heart which is what the Holy Canons recommend to them for as much as that Creed contains in it summarily the chief Mysteries of our Faith and is used and sung in the Universal Church Decree VII THe Synod doth earnestly recommend it to all the Clergymen and Curates not to be absent from Church at the time of Divine Service Morning nor Evening and that none offer to talk or divert themselves there any other way as has been the Custom or to dispose themselves to sleep whilst others are reciting who are also to take notice that in reciting they ought not to begin a new Verse before the Congregation has done with the former and that tho' it has hitherto been the custom for the oldest Clergyman that was present at Divine Service to give the Casture that from henceforward the true Vicar of the Church being present shall in every thing be preferr'd to all others as he is the particular Pastor of the Church Decree VIII THere being no reason why they that do not minister in the Church should be equally rewarded with those that do it seems just to the Synod that the Curates and other Clergymen that are absent either from Morning or Evening Service or from the Mass of the day on Sundays and Holydays be marked by the Vicar or the oldest Clergyman in his absence that when the Dividend comes to be made for every time they have been absent so much may be deducted from their share as they that make the distribution shall think fit in proportion to the quantity of the Dividend which shall be done only when they are not hindred by some lawful Impediment as Sickness or are not otherwise employed in the Service of the Church or by the Prelate in all which cases they are to be excused and the Sconses shall be equally divided among the rest Decree IX THe Synod being informed that great numbers of Clergy-men do use superstitious and Heathen Exorcisms taking words out of an impious and prohibited Book called Parisman for the casting out of Devils doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience that none presume to use any other exorcisms to that effect but such as the Roman Church makes use of and have been approved of by the Holy Fathers which are to be bound up with the Offices of the Administration of the Sacraments and all Clergymen that shall be found to use any other or to use any unknown superstitious words or Ceremonies with such as are possessed shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice for a Year and be subject to what other penalties the Prelate shall be pleased to lay upon them according to the quality of the Superstitions they have made use of and in case they shall after they have been admonished and censured persist therein they shall then be Excommunicated and when it shall appear that any have acted thus upon any compact or contract with the Devil which God forbid as it is said some do they shall be declared Excommunicate until they have done the condign Penance which the Prelate shall have imposed upon them and shall be moreover suspended from their Office and Benefice during their Lives without any hopes of a dispensation and shall be yet further punished as the Law requires they should be who are guilty of such Crimes and are convicted of having had a compact with the Devil Decree X. WHereas there are several Clergymen who according to the superstitious Custom of the Heathens do give good days for Marriages and do several other things at the request of Christians for the Heathens and for that end keep an account of the lucky and unlucky days of the Gentiles in their Books and do use some of their Prayers and do make Schemes after the manner of Astrologers as appears from several even of their Church-books the Synod doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of the greater Excommunication that no Ecclesiastical or Secular or Cassanar shall dare to give good or bad days for Marriages or on any other occasion or to draw any thing out of a Book of Lots and namely out of that which is generally bound up with the Book called Parisman or out of any other place or by whomsoever invented and whosoever shall transgress herein shall be declared excommunicate and shall be suspended from their Office for a Year and six Months from their Benefice it being the duty of the Priests rather to admonish the People to avoid all Heathen Superstitions and to chuse the solemn days of the Church or the Saints days who may intreat God for them for the celebration of their Marriages or any other days they please all days being good to those that do good upon them being all equally the work of Gods hands Those only which are spent in the greatest works and the higher celebration of the Divine Mysteries being the days that are to be most reverenced Decree XI WHereas it is decent that Priests being the Masters from whom the People are to learn good Manners should themselves give good example the Synod is therefore much concerned for the scandal some give by their being disorderly in their eating and drinking to the great disgrace of the Sacerdotal Office among so many Infidels and does recommend Moderation
command that all that is above related be punctually observed according to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent which has been received by this Church in this Synod declaring all Marriages not celebrated in this Form or not by the Parish-Priest before two Witnesses to be null and the Parties not to be Married neither are they to be permitted to live together as Man and Wife And the Priests who shall presume to Marry without leave from the Parish-Priest or Ordinary shall be suspended from their Orders and Benefices for one Year without Indulgence and the Marriage shall be declared void and the Parties shall be obliged to Marry again in the foresaid Form The Synod doth furthermore declare That the Contracted may be Married by the Parish-Priest of either of the Parties tho' the ordinary Custom is to be Married by the Parish-Priest where the Woman lives Decree II. WHereas Matrimony ought to be celebrated with words signifying a present Consent and in many places of this Diocess it is commonly celebrated with words signifying only a Consent for the time to come Therefore the Synod doth command That when the Persons that are to be Married come to the Door of the Church the Parish-Priest or some other Priest having his or the Prelates Licence being in his Surplice with his Stole and at least two Witnesses present shall ask them if they are pleased to Marry and if they say they are or express their Consent by some other evident signs the Priest then shall take one end of his Stole and laying it on the Palm of his left Hand shall take the right Hand of the Bride and lay it on the Stole and lay the Palm of the right Hand of the Bridegroom on the Palm of the right Hand of the Bride in form of a Cross and covering both their Hands with the other end of the Stole and laying his own right Hand upon all so that the Hands of both Parties and both the ends of the Stole are betwixt the Priest's Hands after having blessed them with the sign of the Cross he shall say In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen and shall make the Bride say first I N. receive thee N. for my lawful Husband so as the Holy Mother Church of Rome doth command and shall afterwards make the Bridegroom say the same words I N. receive thee N. for my lawful Wife so as the Holy Mother Church of Rome doth command and after they have both said these words the Priest shall say I by the Authority I have do join you in Matrimony in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen after which he shall sprinkle them both with Holy Water saying By this sprinkling of Holy Water the Lord give you Health and Blessing Amen And if neither of the Parties was ever Married before they shall then be carried before the Higâ— Altar where being upon their Knees the Priesâ— shall give them the Blessings as they are in thâ— Roman Ceremonial of the administration of thâ— Sacraments which is to be translated into Syriaâ— and to be used in all Churches but if eitheâ— of the Parties have been Married before he shall not then give them the said Blessings but dismiss them after having said a Prayer in the Church Decree III. THat there may be no Frauds in Matrimony and that the Impediments which if they were known would hinder the same may be discovered and that in all things we may conform our selves to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent the Synod doth command That what is ordained by the said Holy Council be punctually observed to wit That the Parties to be Married shall have their Banns published by the Vicar or by one appointed by him on three Sundays or Holy-days in the Churches where the Bridegroom and Bride live when the People are assembled at Mass in this Form N. born in such a place does purpose to Marry N. the Daughter of N. and N. born in such a place wherefore if there be any that know any Impediment they must declare it upon pain of Excommunication And the Vicar in case he has any lawful Impediment declared unto him shall not Marry the Parties before he has made the Prelate acquainted therewith that so he may determine what is just to be done therein which Publications cannot be dispensed with by any but by the Prelate or one representing him And in case it is probable that if such Publications are made there are those that will maliciously endeavour to hinder the Marriage tho' in such a case the parties may be received without them yet for the better discovery of other Impediments that may happen to be therein they cannot be joined together nor receive the Blessings tho' capable thereof before the publications are made in the Churches without the Prelate should be pleased to dispense therewith to whose Prudence and Judgment the Holy Council of Trent has committed the whole of this Matter and the Priest who shall receive any couple without a License from the Prelate before such publications have been made shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for six months Decree IV. THis Synod conforming it self in all things to the Holy Council of Trent doth command that in every Parish there be a Book as was ordered as to Baptism wherein the Vicar of the Church shall write the Names of the Married Persons and the Place day of the Month and Year and the Names of the two Witnesses commonly called the Padrinhos where they were Married registring them thus On such a Day of such a Month and Year I N. Vicar of the Church naming the Saint to whom it is dedicated in such a part naming where the said Church is did joyn N the Son of N and N. to N. the Daughter of N. and of N. born in such a place both at the gate of the Church according to the Holy Council of Trent the Witnesses were N. and N. to which the Vicar and the two Witnesses shall sign their Names and when any Priest shall by a License from the Vicar or Prelate marry any couple he shall write On such a day of such a Month and Year I N. a Priest by a License from the Vicar of such a place or from the Bishop if he granted the License did receive at the gate of the Church N. naming him the Son of N. and N. naming his Parents born in such a place naming the Town according to the Holy Council of Trent the Witnesses were N. and N. to which the said two Witnesses and Priest shall put their Names which Book shall be kept among the Registers of the Church and the Prelate at his Visitations shall see that there be no fault or neglect therein Decree V. AS Holy Matrimony is a Sacrament and as such conveys Grace it ought therefore to be received with great Purity and Holiness wherefore this Synod conforming
that in imitation of the Heathens do go to some of them and others to some of their own Superstitious Priests to learn which are the best Days and Hours to be Married on after the manner of the Infidels and do furthermore on their Wedding-day make certain Circles into which they put Rice and certain Persons using several Superstitious Ceremonies which are plainly Heathen and do moreover make certain Figures behind their Doors to make their Marriage Fortunate and use several Prayers with Ceremonies which they call the Ring of Solomon all which being Devilish Superstitious and Heathenish Ceremonies condemned by Holy Mother Church Wherefore the Synod doth command and exhort all Faithful Christians neither to practise any such Ceremonies themselves nor to suffer others to use them in their Houses and that all who shall presume to practise them themselves or permit others to do it in their Houses shall be denied the Sacrament for a whole Year and be rigorously punished at the pleasure of the Prelate and the same shall be done to those that go to Heathens to learn what Days are Fortunate Decree XV. THe Synod having been informed that when Contracts de futuro are celebrated among the Christians of this Diocess or Marriages are concerted that it is performed with some Heathenish and Superstitious Ceremonies and that many times when the Parties contracted are not of Age or have not Judgment enough to give their consent doth command that no such Contracts be made but when the Parties contracting are of sufficient Age to understand what they do and are capable of giving their consent de futuro and if the Parents will make such Matches they shall do it by a simple Writing or by shaking Hands or by any other way that has nothing of Superstition in it neither shall they use any Superstitious Ceremonies upon pain of being severely chastised at the pleasure of the Prelate commanding the Priests in virtue of Holy Obedience not to be present at Contracts where any such damnable Superstitions are performed that so they may not seem to Authorize them by their Person and Dignity Decree XVI THe Synod doth condemn the Custom or abuse that has obtained in this Diocess of the new-married couple's not going to Church till after the fourth day after their Marriage when they use to Wash themselves which is according to the Judaical Ceremonies condemned by the Law of Christ but on the contrary doth exhort all new-married People without respect of Days to go to Church and say their Prayers knowing for certain that if any of the Days that they stay from Church should happen either to be a Saint's-day or a Sunday upon which all People are obliged to hear Mass that they sin mortally in not hearing it if hindred by no other cause Neither are they to imagine that such Washings do any way contribute to the Spiritual Health of their Souls the Worship of God or the Reverence of the Church ACTION VIII Of the Reformation of Church-Affairs Decree I. WHereas the Universal Catholick Church is Ruled Inspired and Taught by the Holy Spirit by whose direction for the better Government of Christians and the more commodious administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful it has divided the Provinces of the whole World into Diocesses which are all subject to their several Bishops and the Diocesses into Parishes which are all subject to their Parish-Priests so that as the Diocesses and all the faithful Inhabitants of the same are subject to their several Bishops and through them to the Bishop of Rome the Vniversal Pastor and Head of the Church and Christ's Vicar upon Earth so all the faithful Inhabitants in every Parish are subject to their Rector or Vicar that administer the Sacraments to them and are the particular Pastors and Curates of their Souls through whom they are subject to their Bishop and through the Bishop to the Pope and through the Pope to Christ which Order has been at all times preserved in the Church all over the World and for want whereof this Church is so Confused and Disorderly as it is every one doing what seems good in his own eyes without ever being called to an Account for what they do having none that are under any obligation to take care of their Souls nor no particular Pastor to assist them in their Necessities nor distinct Parishes unto which every one is bound to resort therefore this Synod conforming it self to the Government of the whole Catholick Church doth ordain that this Diocess be also divided into Parishes allotting such a number of People to each Parish as shall be found most convenient and furnishing them with particular Vicars and Curates to watch over the Souls of the Faithful and as for other Priests and Curates that shall be in any Church they shall be therein as Beneficed Persons and Co-adjutors to the Vicars in the administration of the Sacraments to the People as also in the Divine Service and Worship of the Church as they have hitherto been having the same Profits and Dividend they had formerly save that the Synod intends to deprive them of those Fees which formerly they Simonaically received for administration of the Sacraments as to which they shall observe what is before decreed as the Vicars and Parish-Priests are to have what is allotted for their maintenance in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Decrees and the said Vicars shall make a Roll of all the Inhabitants of their several Parishes that so they may be acquainted with their Customs and way of living and may administer the Sacraments unto them and comfort them in their Troubles and Necessities neither shall the Faithful receive the Sacrament from any but their own Vicar without his Licence in Form Decree II. THe Synod doth declare That the Division of Parishes and the laying of People to them has at all times belonged to the Prelate so that he may at any time Divide or Unite Parishes at his pleasure and as he shall find to be most convenient for the administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful to whom it also belongs to provide Vicars and Curates for Churches whom he may Institute or Depose as often as he shall judge it to be necessary to the better feeding of the Flock of Christ which he is charged with and is to give an account of and for the present the most Reverend Metropolitan shall make such a reparition of Parishes and People in this his Visitation Uniting or Dividing them as shall seem to him to be most commodious for the administration of the Sacraments to the Faithful who at the end of the Synod will name Vicars for every Parish And the Synod for the just Respects and the better Government of the Church will not have any Vicars so Established as not to be removable at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree III. THe Synod doth furthermore declare That no Priest shall hold Two Churches with Cure or receive the Fruits of them according
Arcadio 1 Bispo do Orenes en san Maria Madre autro tanto como este esta en san Payo de Santiago com istas mismas letras destos Santos Martyres That is to say This is the Portraiture of the Altar which the Apostle St. James left with an Inscription upon it to his Disciples who carried another of the same Dimensions and with the same Inscription along with him to Sea upon which his Holy Body was laid and Arcadius the first Bishop of Orenes said Mass upon it in the Church of St. Mary the Mother of God the other which is the same with this is in the Church of St. Payo of Compostella with the same Names of these Holy Martyrs I hope the Reader will pardon me if I offer one or two more instances of the same Nature In the Spanish Martyrology upon the 22d of May it is said Sanctus Publius Bebius Venustus Martyr qui pontem in honorem templi beatae Mariae condidit petente Ordine Oretanorum ut pateret aditus ad Templum XX. CHS in quo ponte suae Pietatis hujusmodi in visceribus lapidis Monumentum reliquit P. BAEBIUS VENUSTUS P. BAEBIIVENETIEP BAESISCERIS NEPOS ORETANUS PETENTE ORDINE ET POPULO IN HONOREM DOMUS DIVINAE PONTEM FECIT EX HS XXC. CIRCENSIBUS EDITIS D. D. This needs no Commentary it being plain from the Monument it self that this P. BAEBIVS was a Heathen and that Domus Divina herein mentioned was not a Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin but to some Heathen god And at Ebora in Portugal St. Viarius who infallibly cures all pains in the Loins and for that reason is very much prayed to was raised out of such another Heathen Roman Monument whereon Viarum Curator was writ as Resendius tells us But as in some places they have made Saints of Heathens in others they have made Heathens of Saints For in the Castle of Liria in Portugal there is over the Inner Gate a Stone Statue with a long inscription under it of which there is nothing legible from the ground but the word Veneris which is very plain the Portugueze who shewed us the place for we were several Protestants in Company told us very gravely that the Castle was built by the Romans and that the Statue we saw so much defaced the Head and Arms being broke of and the Body very much malled with Stones was the Statue of the Roman Goddess Venus we kept our Countenances as well as we could perceiving plainly that neither the Castle nor the Statue were Roman work and the Letters of Veneris were perfectly Gothick so I and two more having industriously lost our Portugueze we resolved if possible to find out the truth of the matter and after some poring we began to discover some more Letters and with some pains spell out the word Ante after Veneris whereupon we concluded that Veneris there must be a Verb and not a Substantive and that Veneris ante must be the end of a Monkish Verse and we were quickly satisfied that it was so by what followed which was Pertransire cave nisi prius dixeris Ave Regina coeli mater What followed was so defaced that we could make nothing of it neither indeed were we solicitous about it being abundantly satisfied from what we had read that it was a Statue of the most Blessed Virgin when we returned to our Portugueze we asked him as we did the People also at our Inn how he came to know certainly that it was the Statue of a Heathen Goddess and we found him and them all in the same Story that the Name of the Goddess was written under it and that it was the constant Tradition of the City and Country nothing known only it is commonly said That they came into these Parts and wrought wrought Miracles and returned afterwards to Babylon from whence they came others affirming that they died in Coulaon there being nothing writ of them that is Authentick neither does it appear that they were ever canonized by the Church but on the contrary since they came from Babylon there is just cause to suspect that they might be Hereticks Wherefore the Synod doth command That all the Churches which are dedicated to them be dedicated to all the Saints and that the Festivities used to be kept to their Honour and the Nerchas that used to be given upon their days shall be given on All Saints day being the first of November and for the future there be no more Churches dedicated to them Churches and Festivities being never to be dedicated nor Prayers made to any but to Saints canonized and approved of by the Church Decree XXVI WHereas Experience has demonstrated that many Churches have been Robbed by reason of the Poors Box being kept in them and not opened in many Years no not when the necessities of the Churches did require it therefore the Synod doth command That in every Church upon the first of January there be chose four substantial and consciencious Men to be Overseers of the Poor and to take care of the Church who at the end of the Year shall open the Poors Box and take out all the Alms they find therein which shall be put down in a Book by one of the four Overseers and the said Alms shall be afterwards put into a Chest Locked with three different Keys which shall stand in any one of their Houses as they shall agree of which Keys the Vicar shall have one and the other two the two Overseers who are not the Scrivener nor in whose Houses the Chest is not kept He that 's the Scrivener shall also have a Book in which he shall set down the Expences of the said Alms how much has been laid out upon the Fabrick of the Church and in the reparation of the Walls and Roof how much in adorning it and in necessary Linen and in Pictures and in keeping it clean And whensoever there is any great extraordinary Expence it shall not be made without the consent of the four Overseers according to custom neither shall the Chest be opened but when they are all five present or some one in the place of him that is lawfully hindred and when new Overseers are chose the old ones shall deliver the said Chest to them for which the Elect shall give a Receipt that so it may always appear how much has been received and how much is remaining And the Prelate in his Visitation shall look over the said Books and inform himself of the Expences and may order the Alms to be disposed of as he shall think fit and necessary And the Synod intreats the most Reverend Metropolitan to see that this Decree be put in execution at the Visitation he intends to make it being a thing of great advantage to the Churches Decree XXVII WHereas most of the Churches of this Diocess are kept very Nasty being full of Dust and Cobwebs for want of an Officer to keep the Church clean therefore the Synod
the Kings and Lords of Malabar Decree XXXVII THe Synod being desirous that the Church of the Serra should in all things be conformable to the Latin customs or Holy Mother Church of Rome unto which See she has now â—ielded a perfect Obedience and whereas in the Roman Church the custom is to make the Sign of the Cross and Blessings from the left to the â—ight so that in saying In the Name of the Faâ—her and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost they â—ut their hand on their Forehead and after that descended to their Breast where after having â—rossed themselves they go next to the left Shoulâ—er and from thence to the right thereby sigâ—ifying among other Mysteries that by virtue of the Cross of Christ the Son of God we are translated from the left hand the place of Reprobates to the right the place of the Elect and the custom of this Diocess is to make the said sign from the right to the left wherefore the Synod doth command that all Children and all other People be taught to cross and bless themselves from the left to the right according to the Latin custom which shall also be observed by the Priests in the blessings they give to the People and in the Crosses they make in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Administration of the other Sacraments Decree XXXVIII THe Synod doth declare That the Execution of Last Wills lawfully made by deceased Christians does by the Canon Law belong to Prelates and Bishops who are to take care that they be observed and that whatsoever Christian has made a Will that is valid according to the custom of the place if it is not complyed with in a Year after the Death of the Testator the Bishop shall by censures and other Penalties if found necessary constrain the Heirs or others whose Duty it is to fulfill the same Decree XXXIX WHereas it often happens that Persons dying who were under the scandal of haâ—â—â—g committed some grievous Sin tho' never â—â—oved upon them are upon that account deâ—â—ed the Prayers and other Offices of the Dead â—â—ecially if they desired Confession and were â—â—â—fessed at their Death which is contrary to the â—â—der and custom of the Church which deprives â—one of her publick Prayers but such as die Excommunicate or in the Act of some Mortal Sin without having given any sign of Contrition Therefore the Synod doth command that whatsoever Sins one may have committed if the cenâ—â—â—e of Excommunication was not annexed to â—â—m or unless the Person died in the very Act 〈◊〉 some Mortal Sin without giving any sign of â—â—ntrition or slowly in his Bed without desiâ—â—â—g to be confessed or to have a Priest called to 〈◊〉 to that effect as is appointed by the Decrees 〈◊〉 the Sacrament of Penance they shall pray and â—â—â—form the Office of the Dead for him and buâ—y him in Holy Ground with the same Prayers they do other People Decree XL. THe Synod having thanked the Jesuits of the College of Vaipicotta in this Diocess â—nd of the other Residencies for the pains they have been at in instructing the Christians of these parts does for the greater benefit of the Souls of the said Christians grant Licence to the said Religious as well of the College as of their other greater Residencies to preach and hear Confessions and administer the Sacraments in all Chuâ—ches where-ever they come without standing 〈◊〉 need of any further Licence the Sacrament of Matrimony only excepted which it shall not be lawful for them to administer without leave froâ— or at the request of the Parish Priests commanding all Vicars and Curates of Churches and 〈◊〉 the People to receive the said Fathers chearfully and to entertain them with great Kindneâ—â— and Thanks for the great trouble they are 〈◊〉 in travelling continually over the Mountains onâ— for the Salvation of their Souls and rejoyce 〈◊〉 learn from them how to administer the Sacraments and to have their Flocks instructed 〈◊〉 them in all such Doctrines as are necessary 〈◊〉 their Souls and their Vicars shall oblige theâ— People to come to Church to hear them when ever they preach the Synod being very conâ—â—dent that the said Fathers will exercise all thâ— said Functions in great Love and Charity with the Parish and all the other Priests of the Church Decree XLI WHereas the Constitutions of the Bishoprick of Goa have been received in the Proâ—â—ncial Councils thereof and have been ordered 〈◊〉 be observed thorow the whole Province of â—hich this Church being a Suffragan is obliged by â—e said Councils and to which this Synod yieldâ—g a due Obedience doth command That in 〈◊〉 things that can be observed in this Bishoprick 〈◊〉 concerning which there is no provision made 〈◊〉 this Synod the said Constitutions be kept â—d obeyed and doth likewise command That â—peals whensoever made from Sentences given 〈◊〉 this Bishoprick to the Metropolitan such Apâ—ls being made in such Cases wherein the Caâ—â—s allow them shall be granted nevertheâ— not intending hereby to alter any thing in â—t mild method of the Prelate and four or â—ore Persons composing Matters amicably to the â—evention of many Discords but if the Parties â—â—ll not submit to such determinations but will â—peal to the Metropolitan it shall not be denyed â—m being done in due form ACTION IX Of the Reformation of Manners Decree I. WHereas of all the evil Customs that are to be rooted from among the Faithful thoâ— are the most dangerous which have something 〈◊〉 the Heathen Superstition in them of which thâ— Bishoprick is full therefore the Synod desiriâ— that all such customs were totally extirpated thâ— so Christians may enjoy Christianity in its purity doth in order thereunto command that all Superstâ—tious washings which are by some most superstitously practised as Holy Ceremonies be utterly abolished such as the washing of Dead Corps the Daâ— after they have given a Dole reckoning it a Sâ— to neglect such washings the making of Circlâ—â— with Rice into which they put the Parties that aâ—â— to be Married having given Rice before to Children as also the taking a thred out with great Superstition when they cut a Web of Cloath and the taking two grains of Nele back again after they have sold and measured it all which Heathenish Vanities the Synod totally prohibits commanding all that shall use them hereafter to be severely punished Decree II. THo' it would much rejoice the Synod to see the Superstitious and absurd Customs of the Heathen Malavars of the better sort not mixing with the lower and of having no communication or correspondence with those that â—ave but touched any of them totally abolished â—mong the Christians of this Bishoprick yet forâ—much as the Christians thereof by reason of â—â—eir being subject to Infidel Princes whom they â—e forced to obey in all things wherein the â—â—ith is no ways concerned and that Christians 〈◊〉 they should but touch those of the baser rank â—â—uld not after that according
God and of Holy Mother Church the Fasts of the â—our Seasons and the Vigils And before â—ent ye shall call upon your People to Confess and shall hear their Confessions with â—â—eat charity and zeal for their Spiritual profit Upon the Feasts of the Nativity Easter and â—hitsuntide ye shall exhort all the Faithful to reâ—eive the most Holy Sacrament of Christ's Body â—nd at Easter at least ye shall take heed that all â—hat are capable do receive it All quarrels diffeâ—â—nces and enmities that shall arise among your â—â—bjects ye shall endeavour to compose and â—blige them all to live as Friends in Christian Charity and if there be any that give offence by refusing to speak to their Neighbours being so malice with them ye shall admonish them thereof and so long as they continue to behave themselves so ye shall not suffer them to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Altar At certain times but chiefly upon solemn Festivities and Fasts ye shall admonish Married Men according to a Holy Council to abstain from their Wives None of you shall wear coloured Cloaths oâ— any Habit but what is grave and decent for Priests to wear Ye shall instruct your People to forbear Working on Sundays and Holy-days neither shall ye suffer Women to Sing or Danâ—â— in the Church Ye shall not communicate wiâ—â— any that are Excommunicate nor presume 〈◊〉 much as to Celebrate where any such are prâ—sent Ye shall admonish your People not 〈◊〉 Marry with any that are contracted to otheâ— nor with their near Kinswomen nor with aâ—â— they have stole out of their Fathers Houses neither shall ye suffer the solemnities of Marriage and of carrying home a Bride to be 〈◊〉 a time prohibited by the Church Ye shall constrain Shepherds and other Servants to heâ—â— Mass at least every Lord's-day and shall aâ—monish God-fathers and God mothers to teaâ—â— their God-children the Creed and Pater Nosteâ— or to appoint others to instruct them The Chrism or Holy Oil of the Catechumeni and Sick shall be kept in the Church under Lock and Key and in a decent and secure place of which ye shall give none away no not by way of Alms it being a most grievous Sacrilege to do it Every one of you must have a Catechism an Exposition of the Creed and of the Prayers of the Church conformable to the Exposition of the Holy Catholick Doctors by which ye may both edifie your selves and others Ye must also have this Synod that so you may govern both your selves and your People by its Rules Ye shall declare the Catholick Faith â—o all that will learn it The Introitus to the Mass the Prayers Epistles Gospels and Creed 〈◊〉 the Mass shall be read with a loud and â—â—telligible Voice but the Secret Prayers of the â—anon and Consecration shall be spoke slowly â—nd distinctly but with a low Voice When â—â—e recite in the Quire ye must let one Verse 〈◊〉 ended before ye begin another and not â—onfound the Service by chopping it up and â—umbling it together Ye must study to have 〈◊〉 Athanasius's Creed which contains the Caâ—holick Faith by heart and repeat it dayly â—he Exorcisms Prayers the order of Baptism â—â—nction of the Sick the recommendation of â—he Soul and the burial of the Dead ye must â—nderstand and practise according to the Holy â—anons and the use of the Holy Roman Church â—â—e Mother and Mistress of all the other Churches 〈◊〉 the World as also the Exorcisms and the â—â—secration of Salt and Water Ye shall study 〈◊〉 understand Singing and the things that are â—hanted in the Church as also the Rubricks of the Breviary and Missal that ye may be able to find what you look for as also the Account of the Moveable Feasts and of Easter in which that you may not be mistaken ye must be sure to have the Martyrology of the Saints in all your Churches which we will take care to have translated into Syrian All which ye shall observe that so by these and your other good Works ye may by the help of God bring both your selves and your People to that Glory which shall endure for ever and be bestowed on you through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth for ever and ever Amen The Speech and Admonition to the Vicars and Priests being ended the most Reverend Metropolitan commanded them all to Sign the Original Decrees of the Synod translated into Malabar desiring them if they had the least scruple concerning any thing commanded or declared in the Synod those excepted that have been decreed and decided already that they would signifie them openly before they Subscribed that there might be no doubt or controversie about any thing hereafter So after several Doubâ— had been considered and satisfied they did all unanimously Subscribe to the Synod Then the Books of the Synod were delivered to the most Reverend Metropolitan who being in his Pontificals and seated on his Throne with a Mitre on his Head Subscribed the said Decrees which being done a Table was set in the middle of the chief Chappel and the Decrees being laid upon it all that were called to the Synod as well Ecclesiasticks as Secular Procurators Signed and Subscribed them with their own hands before the whole Synod and People The Synod consisted of 813 viz. 133 Priests besides Deacons and Sub-Deacons and others of the Clergy and 660 Procurators of the People and other principal Men of the Laity besides the Inhabitants of the Town of Diamper where the Synod was held and of several other neighbouring Villages there were likewise present a great number of Portugnezes who came along with Don Antonio De Neronha Governour of Cochim who together with all the other Magistrates of the City assisted at the Synod The Decrees being Signed the most Reverend Metropolitan rose up and having taken off his Mitre kneeled down before the High Altar and begun the Te Deum with which to the great joy of all that were present a solemn Procession â—ound the Church was begun the Quire singing that and some other Psalms the Latines in Latin and the Native Priests in Chaldee and the People their Festivity in Malabar proceeding to praise God with abundance of tears and joy in three Tongues in the Unity of the Faith and Good-will among them all for having at last obtained that which they had so long desired of Almighty God Three Persons and One Nature the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who liveth and reigneâ—â— for ever Amen After the Procession was over the most Reverend Metropolitan going to the High Altar read the Prayer Exaudi quaesumus Domine as it is in the Pontifical which being ended he seated himself upon his Throne with the Mitre on his Head and his Pastoral Staff in his Hand and directing his Discourse to the People said I give many thanks to Almighty God the Author of all good things for this great favour
Favors would be pleased to take us under your protection and to concern your self in all our Affairs and to favour the Prelate which the Metropolitan with his wonted kindness and benignity to his Flock intends to leave among us And seeing your most Illustrious Lordship in your Charity has been pleased to favour us with a Letter we take confidence from thence to beg of you That whereas our Priests both for their Spiritual Consolation and other Necessities do frequently resort to your City and several parts of your Diocess where it will be necessary for them to say Mass which they have hitherto been hindred from doing by reason of their not being in a perfect Vnion with the Holy Mother Church of Rome we now being in such an Vnion as much as can be desired the Synod doth humbly beseech your Lordship that you would be pleased to give leave to such of our Priests as have a Licence from our Prelate to say Mass in your Churches at least the Roman translated into Syrian that it may appear thereby that we are all one in the Vnity of one only Catholick Church and that the division which Satan had made betwixt us and most other Churches is at an end all Churches making one onely Catholick Church as your Lordship has clearly taught us as a vigilant Pastor in your learned Letter The Lord preserve your Lordship's most Illustrious Person and prolong your Years for the good of the Church and the profit of the Sheep of Christ Writ in the Synod of Diamper the 25th of June 1599. Praise be to God A Preface to a MISSAL The Mass that is henceforth to be used by the ancient Christians of St. Thomas of the Bishoprick of Angamale in the Serra of Malabar in the East-Indies purged of the Nestorian Errors and Blasphemies it abounded with by the most Illustrious and Reverend Dom Frey Aleixo De Menezes Arch-Bishop of Goa and Primate of the Indies at the time when he reduced them to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church Translated word for word out of Syriack or Syrian into Latin AMong the other things which the most Reverend Arch-Bishop of Goa and Primate of the Indies Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes put in Order in the Diocesan Synod assembled by him in the Bishoprick of Angamale of the Serra of Malabar of the Christians of St. Thomas in which he purged the Church of the Nestorian Heresies and reduced it to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church one of the chief was the reforming the Syrian Mass which was said in the Chaldee Tongue in this Bishoprick which having been composed or inlarged by Nestorian Hereticks was full of Errors and Blasphemies both in the Prayers and Commemorations of Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus and several other Nestorian Hereticks to whom as to Saints they prayed for to intercede for them And whereas this People was in a profound Ignorance nay the very Bishops who came from Babylon not knowing the true Form of Consecration all of them adding to it and taking from it at their pleasure there being no certain particular Form of Consecration among them until a certain Arch-Bishop came who had more knowledge than the rest in Ecclesiastical Matters and the Holy Scriptures who perceiving that the Form wherewith they Consecrated contained in it some Errors contrary to the Truth of the Divine Sacrament did establish the true Form adding some words to it both in the Consecration of the Body and Blood in contradiction to the Error and Heresie of those who say that the Sacrament is only the Figure of the Body of Christ our Lord. From whence it is more than probable the Hereticks of our Times the revivers of the Errors of all the ancient condemned Sects took this Opinion The Form established by the forementioned Arch-Bishop was This is in truth my Body this is in truth the Cup of my Blood which was shed for you and for many for the propitiation and remission of your Sins and this shall be a Pledge to you for ever and ever in which Form they have now Consecrated for several Years But the most Reverend Arch-Bishop Primate having removed the words that are not necessary established the proper Form used in the Catholick Church as it is in the Roman Missal laying aside divers and Sacrilegious and ignorant Ceremonies also which signified some Heresies and Errors that were amongst them And having thus reformed their Mass he continued it however in its ancient Form until such time as he had consulted the Apostolical See about it to know what our Lord the Pope would determine in that Matter many of the emendations are noted in the Synod Dec. 10. Act. 5. of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Action of Matters of Faith where they are to be seen I shall here present the Curious only with the Mass reformed and as it s said among them at this time I Have Published this Preface for the sake of the Testimony that is therein of this Church's not having believed Transubstantiation but have forbore to Print the Missal it belongs to because it is the Missal that was imposed upon this Church by Arch-Bishop Menezes or their Old Missal so altered and mangled by him as to be truly what Father Simon calls it A confused indigested Office and withal very tedious FINIS
Flos Sanctorum Let their Legends â—e as fabulous as they will I am sure they cannot be worse than those of the Church of Rome namely her Flos Sanctorum which is certainly the dullest Romance that ever saw the Sun Melchior Canus the Bishop of Canaâ—ies in his 11th Book de Locis Theologicis gives this just Character of them Dolenter hoc dico potiùs quà m contumeliosè multo à Laertio severius vitas Philosophorum scriptas quà m à Christianis vitas Sanctorum longéque incorruptiùs integriús Suetonium res Caesarum exposuisse quà m exposuerint Catholici non res dico Imperatorum sed Martyrum Virginum Confessorum Illi enim in prâ—bis aut Philosophis aut Principibus nec vitia nec suspiciones vitiorum tacent in improbis etiam colores virtutum produnt Nostri autem plerique vel affectibus inserviunt vel de industriâ quoque ità multa consingunt ut eorum me nimirum non solùm pâ—deat sed etiam taedeat In illo enim Miraculorum monstra saepiùs quà m vera miracula legas hanc auream sc legendac homo scripsit serrei oris plumbei cordis animi certè parùm severi prudentis Flos Sanctorum wherein are contained the Lives of a great many Nestorian Hereticks who are there called Saints and not only that entire Book but also any of the Lives contained therein which may be current separately namely those of Abraham stiled the Great of George Abbot Cardeg whom they call a Martyr Jacob Abban Saurixo Johanan Gauri Raban Sabacat Ocama Daniel Barcaula Raban Nuna Jacob Rabai the Great Dadixo Jomarusia Schalita Ihab Abimelech the Expositor Abraham another Abraham Natpraya Jobcarder John Ircasca Nestorius Jaunam Barcurra Raban Gabarona Schabibi Barcima Titus Raban Sapor Gregory the Metropolitan George Monach Xahucalmaran Joseph Nathanael Simon Abbot Chabita Zinai Abbot Audixo John Crascaya Barcahade Italaah John Sahadui Aha Xalita Joanacoreta Xari another John Elias Joadarmah Ananixo another John Barhetta Rabai Simeon Narsai Naban Raban Theodorus Rabai Doctor Abda Abolaminer Rabantarsaha of Cadarvi Xuuelmaran Sergiududa Xuuealmaran Dadixo another Abraham Ezekieldasa Rabai Perca David Barnutar Hormisda Pition Salomon Abbot Raban Machixo another George Muchiqua another Abraham Apuimacan Xaurixo Ixosauran Josedec Raban Camixo Bardirta Abbot Abraham Barmaharail George Raban Zliva Abbot Guiriaco Rabanbaut Joseph Abbot Zaca Nasbian Jesus Abbot Aaron Bucatixo Ascan another Abraham Xonxa Abbot Amanixo Gasraya Sahedona Bishop Joseph Azaya Isahaha Bishop Jacob whom they call a Prophet Ixaiahu Eunuco Ramain Jobar Malchi Who were all Nestorian Hereticks and the chief followers of that cursed Sect as is evident from their Lives which are full of Heresies Blasphemies and false and * Fabulous Miracles For people not only to condemn that in others which they themselves are visibly and infinitely more guilty of but to do it with the Air and assurance of an unquestionable Innocency cannot be denied to be no common privilege for were all the false Miracles that have been pretended to be wrought by all the other Sects of Religion put together they would fall infinitely short of what may be met with in any single Saint's Life or in confirmation of any single Doctrine of the Church of Rome most of which too are what Canus said of them rather Monstra Miraculorum than vera Miracula or any thing else fabulous Miracles with which they pretend to Authorize their Sect. Also the Book called Parisman or the Persian Medicine which is full of Sorceries teaching certain Methods whereby one may do mischief to their enemies and may gain Women and for a great many other lewd and prohibited purposes there are likewise in it strange Names of Devils of whom they affirm that whosoever shall carry the Names of seven of them about him writ in a Paper shall be in no danger of any Evil It contains also many * Superstitious Exorcisms I do not think they had an Exorcism in any of their Books that was more absurd than that we meet with in the Sacerdotale Romanum printed at Venice no longer ago than the Year 1576. where the Priest when he meets wiâ—h a sullen Devil that will not tell his Name nor give any account of himself is order'd to fall upon him with Praecipio tibi sub poenâ Excommunicationis majoris minoris ut respondeas dicas mihi Nomen Diem Horam exicûs tui I shall not make that reflection upon this Exorcism which is very obvious at the first hearing of it It was with some such Exorcism as this doubtless that they got out of the Devil that raised the terrible Persecution in Japan that he was sent thither from England where he had been employed a great many Years in persecuting of Roman Catholicks upon which the Jesuit Luys Pineyro the Writer of the Persecution makes this grave Remark That doubtless it is with Devils as it is with Men that some of them have particular Talents for some particular works and that this Devil's Talent must doubtless have lain chiefly towards the raising of bloody Persecutions against Catholicks and the Christian Faith Superstitious Exorcisms for the casting out of Devils mixing some Godly words with others that are not Intelligible and with the Invocation of the most Holy Trinity oftentimes desiring the doing of lewd things and enormous sins joyning the Merits of Nestorius and his followers many times in the same Prayer with those of the blessed Virgin and those of their Devils with those of the Holy Angels all which is very common in this Diocess most Curates having this Book and making use of it to this very day all which sort of Books the Synod prohibits in this Diocess under the forementioned censures and whosoever from henceforwards shall be found to have any of them besides the censure they have incurred thereby shall be severely punished by their Prelate Decree XV. BUt the forementioned Heresies are not only to be met with in these Books but are likewise in the Common Prayer and Breviaries that they use in their Churches which having been composed by Nestorian Hereticks are full of Blasphemies Heresies Fables and Apocryphal stories whereby instead of praising God they are continually blaspheming him in their Divine Offices In the Book called the Great Breviary it is said That the Divine Word did not assume Flesh ignorantly pretending to prove it thus because if the Word had assumed Flesh to what purpose was the Holy Spirit 's overshadowing the Virgin In the same Breviary the whole Office of Advent is Heretical it being every where affirmed therein that Christ had two Persons and calling him continually only the Temple of God and in the Feast of the Nativity there is a proposition in one of the solemn Antiphona's that directly contradicts St. John in which it is said that the Word was not made Flesh and that all that believe the contrary are disobedient to the Church and are obstinate Rebels against the Faith so that