turn to Vinegar with which they celebrate notwithstanding not considering the danger there is of there being no Consecration for remedy whereof the Synod in the strictest manner that it can doth command That in every Church there shall be in the Vicars keeping a sweet pipe or small Runlet of Wood or a Frask in which the Wine for the Masses shall be kept and that the Vicars be extreamly careful that the Wine do not decay or turn to Vinegar which if it should happen so as to have lost the essence of Wine in the Opinion of those that have good Palates they shall not then celebrate therewith it being a great Sacrilege to do it seeing there can be no Consecration Decree IX WHereas for want of Portugal Wine it many times falls out that there are no Masses celebrated in this Diocess to the great prejudice of the Faithful Christians who for that reason are several months without hearing Mass and without an opportunity of receiving the most Holy Sacrament and the Sick of receiving the Holy Viaticum wherefore the Synod for remedy hereof doth entreat his Majesty the King of Portugal out of his great Piety and as he is Protector of the Christians of these parts once a Year to send us as an Alms a Pipe and a half or two Pipes of Muscatel Wine of Portugal to be distributed among the Christian Churches of this Bishoprick and of the whole Indies and till such time as an Answer shall be returned to this Petition the most Illustrious Lord Archbishop of Goa Dom ffray Aleixo de Menezes Metropolitan of this Church Primate of India and President of this Synod is pleased to give the said quantity of Wine to be distributed among the Churches of this Bishoprick the distribution whereof shall be made by the Prelate according to the Informations he shall receive of the Necessities of every Parish and whereas all the successes of this Life are uncertain if this should happen to fail at any time the Prelate shall then at his Visitation take so much out of the stock of every Church as shall suffice to purchase what Wine is necessary and the Wine shall be committed to the Vicar who shall make use of it only in the Masses that are said in the Church and order shall be taken that the Mass of the day which belongs to the whole Parish and is the chief obligation of the Church shall be celebrated without fail Decree X. THis Synod being very doubtful whether the Stones of the Altar on which the Masses are said in the Churches of this Diocess be consecrated with Holy Oil or truly Blessed by reason of the small care and knowledge which the former Prelates coming from Babylon had of such Matters doth command That all such as are not well known to have been lawfully Consecrated shall be brought to the most Reverend Metropolitan that they may be Consecrated by him whom the Synod doth intreat to provide such Churches with Stones as want them Commanding likewise all Cups that are not of Gold Silver Copper or Tin to be broke and * No Cups In the Primitive Church they thought it no such Crime to make use of wooden Chalices in the celebration of the Sacrament So Honorius in the 89 Chap. of his 3. Book De gemma animae saith Apostoli eorum successâ—res in ligneis Calicibus Missas celebrârunt And Boniface Bishop of Mentz being asked in the Council of Triburis whether it were Lawful to celebrate in Wooden Chalices answered Quondam Sacerdotes aurei ligneis Calicibus utebantur nunc è contra lignei Sacerdotes aureis utuntur Calicibus no Cups to be used but what are made of one of these Metals and that Mass be never said in any of these after they are broken and seeing there are many Churches that for want of Cups have no Masses the Lord Metropolitan is desired to give order that all Churches be furnished with Cups Decree XI WHereas there are many poor Churches in this Bishoprick and especially in the Heaths that have no consecrated Vestments for the saying of Mass and for that reason have but few said in them to the great prejudice of the faithful Parishioners therefore the Synod doth command That out of the Alms of the Parish the most Reverend Metropolitan may provide all Churches with Holy Vestments so that none may be without them and for that reason be without having Masses every Sunday and in those Parishes where the Alms shall not be found to be sufficient to do it the said Lord Metropolitan is desired to take such order therein that they may be some way or other provided and have so great a want supplied Decree XII WHereas the Christians of this Diocess have not hitherto heard Mass as upon obligation having never imagined that the not hearing thereof upon some particular days was a mortal sin for which reason some have without any scruple neglected going to hear it and others have not stayed to hear it out therefore the Synod doth declare That it is the Precept of the Universal Church and that upon penalty of a mortal Sin that all Christians Men and Women having no lawful impediment do hear an entire Mass upon every Sunday and Holy-day that is commanded to be kept if they have the opportunity of a Priest to say it to them As also that all Masters of Families are obliged by the said Precept to make their Children and such of their Servants and Slaves as are Christians and all other Persons living in their Families to go every Sunday and Holy-day to hear Mass which every one shall endeavour to hear at his own Parish-Church or at the place where he then happens to be and as for those who with just reason are afraid to leave their Houses alone without any body in them and especially such as live in Heaths and are a great way from any Church they shall so order the matter that all in their Families shall take their turns of going to Mass and staying at home on Sundays and the Vicars of the Churches must be careful to mark all such as are negligent herein and reprove admonish and punish them so as they shall judge necessary and where there is any number of Clergy they shall sing the Mass on Sundays and Holy-days and when there is not a competent number there the Mass shall be said at a convenient hour the whole Parish being present and he shall at the same time Preach publish their Admonitions the Banes of Matrimony and whatsoever else is necessary in the Church Decree XIII THe Synod being informed that most of all the Christians that live out of Towns and Villages in the Heaths being a great way from Church do go to Church but once a Year on the three days before Lent which they call Monorbo and then rather to fill their Bellies with what is given by Christians at that time than to hear Mass and that there are others who content
and the last of All-Saints The 29th of November being the Vigil of St. Andrew The 2d of December being the Vigil of the Glorious Apostle St. Thomas on the 24th of our Saviour's Nativity notwithstanding these two do both fall in Advent And that this Diocess may be in all things conformable to the Customs of the Universal Church the Synod doth command the Fast of the four Times to be published and observed therein they are the first Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent and the the first Wednesday and Friday and Saturday after Whitsuntide and the first Wednesday Friday and Saturday after the Feast of the Holy Cross in September and the Wednesday Friday and Saturdaâ— after the Feast of the Holy Cross on the 13th of December which falls in with the Advent Fast And the Synod doth furthermore declare That the Fast of our Lady's Assumption which begins on the first of August and lasts to the day of the Festivity and the Fast that is called the Apostles which begins on the first day after Whitsuntide and lasts fifty days notwithstanding they are Holy and Laudable it wisheth they were not kept as they are by the Christians of this Diocess after the same manner as the ancient Fasts are nevertheless since they are observed by some and not by others that there may be no Scruples nor Disorder the Synod doth declare that the keeping of them is not commanded under the Precept of a Mortal Sin though they may be kept out of Devotion by those that have a mind to 't neither are People under any obligation to a Lent Fare on these Days and as to the three Fasting Days of the Prophet Jonas called Mononebo which begins eighteen days before the first day in Lent the Synod out of respect to its Antiquity and Holiness doth permit it to be observed with great strictness But whereas People do assemble together in the Churches on those days there to eat the Nercha's that are distributed the Synod tho' it is not willing to oblige People to Fast on those three days under the obligation of a Mortal Sin doth nevertheless oblige them to a Lent Diet at least upon them and the Vicars shall be obliged to give notice to the People of all the Fasts of the Week upon Sundays that so all may be warned to observe them Decree XI THe Synod doth approve of the Holy and Laudable Custom observed by the Christians of this Diocess of eating neither Eggs nor Cheese nor any thing made of Milk nor of Fish and of abstaining totally from Wine and from their Wives during the whole time of Lent all which it desires them to continue to observe inviolably as also to begin the Fast upon the day after Quinquagesima Sunday and some Abuses being reformed it doth declare That Fasting doth not only consist in Peoples abstaining from some sorts of Meat but also in their not eating so often as they may desire the Integrity of the Precept of Fasting obliging People not to eat above one Meal a day and that at * The Fasts of the Church of Rome as they are now observed are little else than a Mockery of the Duty of which Card. Bona in the 21st Chapter of his first Book of Liturgies complains as loud as he durst Ita factum est saith the Cardinal ut non prorsus veneranda vetustas interterit dum ordo à sanctis patribus praesciptus saltem in publica officiorum recitatione retinetur quamvis legitimus horarum punctus nullo modo attendatur neque enim horae nonae officium tertia vel quarta post meridiem in Vigiliis psallimus neque vesperas in Quadragesima circa solis occasum sed una vel duabus horis ante meridiem quae anticipatio ut doctissimus Francelinus scribit Cap. 34. quaedam est nostri temporis calamitas ne dicam abusus Caepit hac horaâ—um pra ventio post saeculum duodecimum introduci cum pristina severitas paulatim relaxata mollim disciplina successit de quâ satius est tacere quam loqui And so that they may observe the ancient Rule of not eating upon a Fasting day till after Vespers they have turned the Morning into Evening and say the Vespers â—Ten a Clock that they may go to Dinner at Eleven an hour appointed and at Night they that shall stand in need of it and have an appetite to drink for their Healths-sake may eat a light Collation according to the permission of the Church but if they shall exceed either in the quality or quantity of the said Collation or eat oftner than twice after this manner they do violate the Fast and Sin Mortally and if through infirmity or weakness they should break the Fast upon any day they shall not as some imagine be released by their having broke Lent once from continuing the Fast but on the contrary they shall be guilty of so many Mortal Sins as there are days of Obligation on which they neglect to Fast They are also bound to Fast on all the Saints days tho' never so Solemn that shall fall in Lent Sunday only excepted upon which it is not lawful for any Christian to Fast as to which matter there are great Abuses introduced in to this Diocess Decree XII THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding Fasting is of great benefit that it doth not intend to oblige any that are under one and Twenty nor such as are very ancient or weak or sickly nor Women with Child nor those that give Suck nor those that cannot Fast conveniently by reason of some hard Labour they are obliged to to Fast any otherwise than by eating a Lent Diet on Fasting-days as to which too the weak and sick are excepted who may at all times eat what is necessary to their health and it shall also be lawful for Women with Child to eat whatsoever they long for to prevent Abortion Decree XIII THe Synod doth very much condemn what some ignorant observers of Heathenish Superstition imagine viz. That if they do not wash their Bodies betimes in the Morning on a Fast-day their Fast will be of no worth and that if they happen to touch any of a base Race or a Naires they must wash themselves to make their Fast to be of any Merit and declares that all such Washings and Superstitious touches are commanded neither by God nor the Church and are no ways proper for Christians and doth furthermore command the observers of all such Superstitions to be punished severely by the Prelate as followers of * Heathenish Superstitions The Church of Rome has little reason to condemn any practise purely for being Heathen her Creature Worship with all the Ceremonies thereof being visibly of such extraction for it was a true judgment that the Fathers of the Council of Constantinople under Leo Isaurus passed upon the endeavours of those who were for introducing Images into the Christian Church That to do it would be
Reverend in Christ Father George Archdeacon of the Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra of the Kingdom of Malabar and to all other Priests Curates Deacons and Subdeacons and to all Towns Villages and Hamlets and to all Christian People of the said Bishoprick Health in our Lord Jesus Christ We give you all and every one of you in particular to understand that the most Holy Father Pope Clement VIII our Lord Bishop of Rome and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth at this time presiding in the Church of God having sent two Briefs directed to Vs one of the 27th of Jan. in the Year 1595 and the other of the 21st of the same Month in the Year 1597 in which by virtue of his Pastoral Office and that Vniversal Power bequeathed to the Supream Holy and Apostolical Chair of St. Peter over all the Churches in the World by Jesus Christ the Son of God our Lord and Redeemer he commanded us upon the death of the Archbishop Mar-Abraham to take Possession of this Church and Bishoprick so as not to suffer any Bishop or Prelate coming from Babylon to enter therein as has been hitherto the Custom all that come from thence being Schismaticks Hereticks and Nestorians out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Subject to the Patriarch of Babylon the Head of the said Heresy and to appoint a Governour or Apostolical Vicar to Rule the said Diocess both in Spirituals and Temporals until such time as the Holy Roman Church shall provide it of a proper Pastor which being read by us we were desirous to execute the Apostolical Mandates with due Reverence and Obedience besides that the same was incumbent on us of right the said Church having no Chapter to take care of it during the vacancy of the See as Metropolitan and Primate of this and all the other Churches of the Indies and the Oriental Parts But perceiving that our Mandate in that behalf had no effect what we had ordered not having been obeyed in the said Diocess so that what our most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome had designed was like to be frustrated after having laboured therein for the space of two Years Schism and Disobedience to the Apostolical See having been so rooted in that Diocess for a great many Years that the Inhabitants thereof instead of yielding Obedience to the Apostolical and Our Mandates on the contrary upon the intimation thereof did daily harden themselves more and more committing greater Offences against the Obedience due to the Holy Roman Church after having commended the Matter to God and ordered the same to be done through our whole Diocess and after mature Advice by which Methods the Apostolical Mandates might be best executed and being also moved by the Piety of the People and the Mercy God had shewn them in having preserved so many thousand Souls in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ from the time that the Holy Apostle St. Thomas had Preached to them until this day notwithstanding their having lived among so many Heathens and been scattered in divers places their Churches and all belonging to them having been always subject to Idolatrous Kings and Princes and incompassed with Idols and Pagods and that without holding any correspondence with any other Christians before the coming of the Portuguezes into these Parts we being likewise desirous that the Labours of the Holy Apostle St. Thomas which still remained among them should not be lost for want of sound Doctrine and that the Apostolical Mandates might not be frustrated did determine and having provided for the Government of our own Church during our absence did prepare to go in Person to take Possession of the said Bishoprick to see if by our Presence we might be able to reduce them to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and purge out the Heresies and false Doctrines sown among them and introduced by the Schismatical Prelates and Nestorian Hereticks that had governed them under the Obedience of the Patriarch of Babylon as also to call in and purge the Books containing those Heresies and according to our Pastoral Duty so far as God should enable us to Preach to them in Person the Catholick Truth Accordingly going into the said Bishoprick we set about visiting the Churches thereof but at that time Satan the great Enemy of the good of Souls having stirred up great Commotions and much opposition against this our just intent great numbers departing from us and forming a Schism against the Holy Roman Church after having passed through many troubles and dangers out of all which God of his great mercy not remembring our sins and evil deeds was pleased to deliver us and to grant us an intire Peace for the Merits of the glorious Apostle St. Thomas the Patron of this Christianity but chiefly of his own great Clemency and Mercy which makes that he doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather that he should return and live and by coming all to the light of the Truth may joyn with us in the Confession of the Catholick Faith approving our Doctrine and Intention and submitting themselves to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church which being by us observed after having returned Thanks to God we thought fit in order to the compassing and securing of all those good Effects to assemble a Diocesan Synod in some commodious place near the middle of the said Diocess there to Treat of all such Matters as are convenient for the honour of God the exaltation of the Holy Catholick Faith and Divine Worship the good of the Church the extirpation of Vice the Reformation of the Christians of the said Diocess and the profit and peace of their Souls to which end having pitched upon the Town and Church of Diamper We do hereby let all the Inhabitants and Christians of the said Bishoprick as well Ecclesiasticks as Laicks of what State or Condition soever to understand that we do call and assemble a Diocesan Synod in the said Town of Diamper on the 20th of June of this present Year 1599 being the Third Sunday after Whitsuntide and do therefore by Virtue of holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae Command the Reverend the Arch-Deacon of this Diocess and all the other Priests of the same that shall not be hindered by Age or some other just Impediment to be present in the said Town of Diamper there with us to celebrate a Diocesan Synod conformable to the Holy Canons And whereas by immemorial Custom and a Right introduced into this Diocess from its Beginning and consented to by all the Infidel Kings of Malabar the whole Government as it were and the Cognizance of all Matters wherein Christians are any ways concerned has belonged to the Church and the Prelate thereof and it having likewise been an ancient Custom in the same to give an Account to the People of whatsoever has been ordained in the Church in order to its being the
desired may be handled publickly and in the Congregation those Meetings only excepted which are kept by the People in order to their proposing of Matters to be consulted about according to ancient Custom and the Order of the said Metropolitan ACTION II. ON the second Day after the singing of the Antiphony Psalm Prayers and Hymn as they are in the Roman Pontifical the most Reverend Metropolitan being seated in his Chair said Venerable and Beloved Brethren the Priests and you my dearest Sons in Christ the Procurators and Representatives of the People We having done little more Yesterday than celebrate the Divine Offices and Preach to the People it is fit we should begin to Day to Treat of Matters appertaining to the Synod In the first place of those that belong to the Integrity and Truth of our Holy Catholick Faith and the Profession of the same which before we go about I do again admonish you in our Lord Jesus Christ that all such things as you shall judge to stand in need of Reformation in this Bishoprick or any part thereof may be signified to us or to the Congregation that so with the Divine favour and assistance all things by your Diligence and Charity may be brought into so good Estate as is desired for the praise of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Decree II. THat this Synod may in all things Govern it self according to the Directions of the Holy Canons and tread in the Footsteps of the Holy General Councils and particularly of the Holy Council of Trent upon the knowledge it has of the Necessities of this Church and of the diversity of Opinions that have been hitherto therein concerning Matters of our Holy Catholick Faith and of the Errors contrary thereunto which have been sowed in this Diocess by Hereticks and Schismaticks it doth command all Persons Ecclesiasticks and Seculars called hither either in their own Name or in the Name of others Ecclesiasticks or Laicks of this Bishoprick to make Profession and Oath of the following Faith in the hands of the most Illustrious Metropolitan President of this Synod And for the more effectual execution of this Decree and to provoke others by his own Example the most Illustrious Metropolitan having robed himself in his Pontificals but without his Mitre kneeling down before the Altar and having laid his hands upon a Cross that was upon a Book of the Gospels did in his own Name as the present Prelate and Metropolitan of the Diocess and in the Name of all the Christians belonging to the same and every Person thereof Secular and Ecclesiastick make Profession and Oath of the Faith following which was immediately declared to all that were present The Profession and Oath of the Faith IN the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost one only true God in the Year of our Lord 1599 in the Seventh Year of the Pontificate of our most Holy Lord Clement VIII Bishop of Rome in the Town of Diamper in the Kingdom of Malabar in the East-Indies in the Church of All Saints on the 21st of June in a Diocesan Synod of the Bishoprick of Serra Assembled by the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Arch-Bishop Metropolitan of Goa and the Oriental Parts and the See being vacant of the said Bishoprick I N. do of my own free Will without any manner of force and constraint for the Salvation of my Soul believing it in my heart protest that with a firm Faith I do believe and confess all and every one of the Articles contained in the Symbol of Faith which is used in Holy Mother Roman Church I believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come I do firmly receive and embrace all Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and all the Observances and Constitutions of the said Church I admit the Holy Scriptures in that sence wherein it has ever been and is still held by Mother Church to whom it belongeth to judge of the true Sence and Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures neither will I either receive or interpret it but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I do confess likewise that there are Seven true and proper Sacraments of the New Testament instituted by Christ our Lord which are all necessary to the health of Mankind tho' not to every particular Person they are Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Order Penance Matrimony and Extream Unction which do all conferr Grace on those that receive them worthily and of these seven Sacraments that Baptism Confirmation and Orders are to be received but once neither can they be repeated without great Sacrilege I admit and receive all the Customs Rites and Ceremonies received and approved of in the Roman Church in the solemn Administration of the said seven Sacraments and do also receive and embrace all in general and every thing in particular that has been defined and declared concerning Original Sin and Justification in the Holy Council of Trent I do likewise confess that in the Mass there is offer'd to God a true and proper Sacrifice of Pardon both for the Quick and the Dead and that in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the whole substance of the Bread is by Consecration turned into the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation Moreover I do confess that under each Species Christ is entire and the true Sacrament is received I do constantly hold and confess that there is a * Purgatory John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in his 18th Article against Luther does acknowledge the Doctrine
of Purgatory to be an Article of Faith of no long standing in the Church Multa inquit sunt de quibus in primitivâ Ecclesiâ nulla quaestio factura fuerat quae tamen posteriorum diligentiâ subortis dubitationibus jam evaserunt perspicua Nemo certè jam dubitat Orthodoxus an Purgatorium sit de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel quà m rarissima fiebat mentio sed Graecis ad hunc usque diem non est creditum Purgatorium esse Legat qui velit Graecorum veterum Commentarios nullum quantum opinor aut quà m rarissimum de Purgatorio sermonem inveniet Quamdiu enim nulla fuerat de Purgatorio cura Nemo quaesivit Indulgentias nam ex illo pendet omnis Indulgentiarum existimatio quum itaque Pugatorium tam serò cognitum ac receptum Ecclesiae fuerit universae quis jam de Indulgentiis mirari potest quòd in principio nascentis Ecclesiae nullus fuerat earum usus coeperunt igitur Indulgentiae post quam ad Purgatorii cruciatus aliquando trepidatum est Purgatory and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful I do likewise affirm that †The Souls of the Iust This was the common Opinion of the Ancient Fathers namely Irenaeus at the end of his 5th Book Justin Quaest 76th Tertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion Origen in his 7th Homily upon Leviticus and a great many other places Lactantius in the 21st Chap. of his 7th Book Victorinus in his Commentary upon the words I saw under the Altar Ambrosius in his 2d Book of Cain and Abel Chrysostom in his 39th Homily upon those words If in this life only in the 1st to the Corinth The Author of the Imperfect Work in his 34th Homily upon St. Matthew Austin in his Enarration upon the 36th Psalm Theodoret in his Commentaries upon the 11th to the Heb. Oecumenius in his Commentaries upon the same place Theophylact in his Commentaries upon the 23d of St. Luke Aretho on those words How long O Lord c. Euthymius upon the 23d of St. Luke and Bernard in his Sermon upon All-Saints day And to Pope John the 22d being charged with having believed this Doctrine Bellarmin returns the following Answer Joannem hunc 22dum reverâ sensisse Animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectionem caeterum hoc sensisse quando adhuc sentire licebat sine periculo Haeresis nulla enim adhuc praecesserat Ecclesiae definitio Which Confession makes the Doctrines of praying to Saints and of Purgatory and of Indulgences to be very new Articles of Faith the Souls of the Just and Faithful which at their departure out of this Life have entirely satisfied for the Punishment due to the Sins that they have committed as also those in Purgatory which have made an end of satisfying for their sins according to the Divine Pleasure and Ordination as also those who after Baptism have committed no Sin do at the moment of their death go immediately into Heaven where they behold God as he is And I do condemn and anathematize the Heresy of those who think that the Souls of the Just are in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment and that the Damned are not Tormented any otherwise than by the certainty they have of the Torments they are to enter into after the day of Judgment And I do confess and affirm that the Saints now reigning with Christ in Heaven are to be Reverenced and Invoked and that they offer Prayers to God for us whose Relicks are likewise to be reverenced on Earth And moreover that the * Images Gyraldus a Learned Papist in the 18th Page of the History of the Gods speaking of Images in the Church of Rome saith At de istiusmodi magis mutire possumus quam palam loqui idcircò satius ea fuerit Hippocrati Angeronae consignare illud certè non praetermittam Nos dico Christianos ut aliquando Romanos fuisse sine Imaginibus in primitivâ quae vocatur Ecclesiâ Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the other Saints are to be kept used and reverenced with due Honour and Veneration I do also believe that our Lady the most Holy Virgin Mary is the proper and true Mother of God and ought to be called so by the Faithful for having brought forth according to the Flesh without any pain or passion the true Son of God and that she always continued a Virgin in and after her Deliverance having never been defiled by any actual Sin I do confess that the power of granting Indulgences was left to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ the use whereof I do affirm to be healthful and profitable to all Christian People I do acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Head Mother and Mistress of all other Churches in the World and do hold all that are not subject and obedient to her to be Heretical Schismatical and disobedient to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Commands and to the Order that he left in the Church and to be Aliens from Eternal Salvation I do promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope the Roman Bishop the Successor of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth the Head of the whole Church on earth and Doctor and Master of the same and the Father Prelate and Pastor of all Christians and do confess that all who deny Obedience to the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ are Transgressors of the Divine Commands and cannot attain to Eternal Life I do without any scruple receive approve and confess all other Matters defined and declared in the Sacred Canons and General Councils and chiefly in the Holy Council of Trent and do in the same manner condemn reject and anathematize every thing that is contrary to the same together with all Heresies condemned rejected and anathematized by the said Church Namely the Diabolical and perverse Heresie of Nestorius together with its perverse Author Nestorius and its false Teachers * Theodorus They should not have been so hard upon Theodorus for Pope Honorius's sake who by Name was condemned together with him by the 5th General Council and I am mistaken if Pighius and some other Popish Writers have not for that very reason laboured hard to vindicate Theodorus's Memory Theodorus and †Diodorus Du Pin in his 4th Century of Christianity p. 189. saith As to what concerns his Doctrine of the Incarnation we could better judge of it if we had his Books but there is no great probability that one who was praised esteemed and cherished by Meletius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Epiphanius and even by St. Athanasius and his Successors Peter and Timothy of Alexandria who was also considered in a General Council as one of the
of Beasts or of some other Men which besides that it is a great Ignorance is also an Error contrary to the Catholick Faith which teacheth That our Souls after Death are carried to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory or Limbus according to every ones Merits and that there is no such fabulous and false Transmigration The second is That all things come necessarily to pass or through * I am very apt to believe that they are here falsely accused of attributing all things to Fate for no other reason but because they believed Predestination which if it was so Arch-Bishop Menezes who was himself an Austin Fryar shewed but little respect to the Memory of his pretended Father in making Predestination and Fate to be equally destructive of humane Liberty Fate or Fortune which they call the Nativity of Men who they say are compelled to be what they are and that there is no help for it which is a manifest Error and condemned by Holy Mother Church for as much as it destroys that Liberty of Will with which God created us leaving us in the power of our own Will to do Good or Evil to obey his Holy Inspirations and Internal Motions by which he excites to Good or to resist Evil so that as it depends on his Divine mercy and goodness to move us to Good so it depends on our Free-Will whether by his assistance we will obey those Inspirations and will profit our selves of his Internal Motions or of our own free Will refuse to do it or in a word do Well or Ill so that if we perish for doing any thing that is Ill it is the fault of our own Free-Will as the Catholick Faith teaches us and not from the fate of our Nativity as the ignorant Heathens will have it The third is †This is an Error that Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and others of the Philosophical Fathers seem to have been in That every one may be saved in his own Law all which are Good and lead Men to Heaven Now this is a manifest Heresy there being no other Law upon earth in which Salvation is to be found besides that of our Saviour Christ for that he only teacheth the Truth so that all that live in any other Sect are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell there being no other Name given to Men by which we can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who was Crucified for us All which Errors the Synod commandeth the Vicars and Preachers often to preach against in the hearing of the ignorant People and all Confessors to examine their Penitents concerning them and to teach them the Catholick Truth Decree V. THis Synod being informed that there is a dangerous Heresy and very injurious to our Lord Jesus Christ sown and preached through this Diocess which is That it is a * Grievous Sin How does this consist with their having so many Crosses in their Churches and Houses as they tell us they had or with their administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist or with their Preaching that it was Christ and not the Son of God that suffered upon the Cross grievous sin so much as to think or speak of our Saviour's Holy Passion and as there are a great many of this Opinion so the doing of it has formerly been prohibited by impious Censures all which is a manifest Error and extreamly prejudicial to the Souls of all faithful Christians and the fruit and profit of Souls arising from such Considerations and Discourses which is very great as well for that love and affection which they beget in us for our Saviour who suffer'd for our Salvation as for the Example of those Vertues which were so Illustrious in his Holy Passion and the hatred of Sin for which he suffer'd so much and the fear of the Divine Justice which he so rigorously satisfied and the confidence of our Salvation by such a plenteous Redemption and the use of the Sacraments to which he applyed the virtue of his Holy Passion and other infinite benefits which are derived from thence to our Souls which Error included another no less prejudicial and which is also common among the Nestorians the condemning of Holy Images for that if it were an Impiety to think of the Passion of our Lord Christ it must follow that all those things are unlawful that move or contribute thereunto as the Sign of the Holy Cross and all Images of the Holy Passion all which is a gross and manifest Heresy Wherefore the Synod doth recommend it to all Preachers Confessors and Rectors of Churches frequently to perswade their People to the consideration of those Divine Mysteries and to that end they shall advise them to the Devotion of the Rosary of our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary wherein are contained all the principal Mysteries of the Life of our Lord Christ with profitable Meditations upon them Decree VI. AMong the many Errors sown in this Diocess and left in the Books thereof by the perfidious Nestorian Hereticks there being several against our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God the only Remedy of Christians the Mother of Mercy and the Advocate of Sinners the Queen of Angels The Synod doth therefore declare That it is the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith that the Holy Virgin was never at any time stained with the guilt of any actual sin and that it is Pious to believe that she was also Conceived without Original Sin it seeming to be most agreeable to the Dignity of the Mother of God that it should be so tho' it is true that Holy Mother Church †Has not as yet determined It is much she has not since the Invention of the Holy Reliques in the Mountains of Granada among which there was a Book in Arabick of S. Cecilius who was consecrated Bishop of Eliberis by St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome with this Title De Dono Gloriae Dono Tormenti in which there is the following Definition of the Immaculate Conception made by all the Apostles being met together to Solemnize the Exequies of the Blessed Virgin Illa Virgo Maria Illa Sancta Illa electa à primo Originarioque peccato praeservata fuit ab omni culpâ libera atque haec veritas Apostolorum Concilium est quam qui negaverit maledictus excommunicatus erit salutem non consequetur sed in aeternum damnabitur All which Reliques and this Book among the rest were after a severe and impartial Examination approved of and received as genuine by a late Provincial Synod in Spain has not as yet determined any thing about that matter Furthermore the Catholick Faith teacheth that she was always before in and after Child-birth a most pure Virgin and that she brought forth the Son of God made Man without any Pain or Passion having none of those things which are common to other Women after Child-birth
correspondence with the Apostolical See or with any of the Churches that are subject to it medled with any Persons belonging to this Bishoprick yet now for the benefit of their Souls as to Absolutions in cases of Faith which are known to be reserved to that Court This present Synod doth beseech the Lords Inquisitors to Authorize some Learned Men within this Bishoprick or the Jesuits of the College of Vaipicotta and of other residences of the same Religion in the said Diocess to Absolve all such as shall stand in need thereof and that with such limitations as they shall think fit considering how difficult it is for the People inhabiting the Serra to have recourse to the Tribunal at Goa neither can it be otherwise considering that they live in the midst of Infidels but that such necessary Cases will sometimes happen and especially to rude and ignorant People Decree XXIII THe Preservation of the Purity of the Faith and the prevention of Peoples being corrupted with false and strange Doctrines being a thing of the greatest importance this Synod doth therefore command all Persons of what Quality or Condition soever in this Bishoprick that whensoever they shall happen to know of any Christians doing speaking or writing any thing that is contrary to the Holy Catholick Faith or of any that shall give assistance or countenance thereunto to * What a Confusion must this is newly and forcibly converted to practice needs make in a place that the Roman Church dilate them with all possible Expedition and Secrecy to the Prelate or to the Vicars of the Church or to some other faithful Person who will immediately give an account thereof that so such a course may be forthwith taken as the necessity of the Matter shall require the Synod in virtue of Obedience commanding the said Vicars and Persons to whom such things shall be denounced to intimate them with all possible speed ACTION IV. Of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation THe Holy Sacraments of the Gospel instituted by our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ the Son of God for the Remedy and Salvation of Men and to which he hath applyed the Virtue of his Holy Passion and infinite Merits and by which all true Holiness begins in us and being begun is encreased and being lost is recovered are †Seven The Doctrine of the Seven Sacraments is so great a Novelâ—â—n the Church of Rome for it is in no other Church that Bellarmine with all his reading was not able to produce the testimony of one Father for it Greek nor Latin Peter Lombard who lived above a thousand years after the Apostles being the first he quotes for it This is a long time for an Apostolical Tradition to run under ground and which is yet more wonderful that it should break out in an Age that knew nothing of Ecclesiastical Antiquity or indeed of any other sort of Learning but this was the common fate of all the Roman Doctrines and Rites which they pretend to have received from the Apostles only by the way of the dark and uncertain conveyance of Oral Tradition Seven to wit Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penitence Extream Vnction Order and Matrimony All which do differ much from the Sacraments of the Old Law which did not cause but did only signifie the Grace that was to be given by the Passion of Christ whereas our Sacraments do contain Grace and give it to all those that receive them worthily the first five were ordained for the Spiritual perfecting of every Man only with relation to himself the two last were appointed for the good Government and encrease of the Church by Baptism we are spiritually born again to God by Confirmation we are advanced in Grace fortified in the Faith and being Regenerated and strengthened we are supported by the Divine Food of the Eucharist and Sacrament of the Altar and when we chance by Sin to fall into any distemper of Soul we are Spiritually restored by Penitence and both Spiritually and Corporally by Extream Vnction by the Sacrament of Order the Church is governed and Spiritually multiplied and by Matrimony Corporally All these Sacraments are perfected by three Causes that is Things as their matter Words as their form and the Person that is to administer them with an †Intention This Doctrine after all their talk of the necessity there is of an infallible certainty in all matters of Religion must make them to be very far from having any such certainty of their being Christians or of their having either a Priest or a Bishop in their Church For as they cannot be infallibly certain of any Bishop or Priest's Intention in the Administration of the Sacraments so they may be certain that it is possible that Bishops and Priests may be so wicked as not to intend what the Church does in such administration nay to intend the contrary for there was a Parish-Priest burnt not many Years ago at Lisbon who confessed at his Death that whenever he baptized or consecrated he had a formed Intention not to administer those Sacraments Intention of doing what the Church doth and where any of these three Causes are wanting they are not perfect neither indeed is any Sacrament administer'd all the Ceremonies and Rites approved and made use of by Holy Mother Church in the administration of the Sacraments are holy and cannot be despised neglected or * Changed This is very strange considering that most of those Rites are but new even in the Roman Church that of the Elevation of the Host not excepted Of the Elevation of the Host Cardinal Bona in the 13th Chap. of his 2d Book of Liturgies saith Non enim liquet quae prima Origo fuerit in Ecclesiâ Latinâ elevandi Sacra Mysteria statim ac consecrata sunt in antiquis enim Sacramentorum libris in codicibus Ordinis Romani tam excusis quà m MSS nec in priscis rituum Expositoribus Alcuino Almario Walfrido Micrologo aliis aliquod ejus vestigium reperitur As to Peoples being present at Mass that did not communicate at the same time the same Cardinal saith in the 14th Chap. of his first Book Primi Secundi post Christum saeculi foelicitas haec fuit cum multitudo credentium quorum erat Cor unum animae una ardentissimo Dei amore succensa nihil impensius desiderabat quà m ad hoc supercoeleste convivium accedere in quo anima de Deo saginatur ut loquitur Tertullianus at propè finem Tertii coepit fervor ille languescere numerus communicantium imminui quam tepiditatem aegrè ferentes Patres Concilii Illiberitani Cap. 28. Statuerunt Episcopum non debere munera ab eo accipere qui non communicat Patres item Conc. Antioch Can. 2. Omnes qui ingrediuntur Ecclesiam se à perceptione Sanctae Communionis avertunt ab Ecclesiâ remover decreverunt Patres denique Conc. Tolet. Cap. 13. Eos abstineri praeceperunt qui intrant
Ecclesiam non Communicant What the Cardinal saith here of these two Practices makes almost the whole Roman Worship at this time to be a meer Novelty the whole of that Worship consisting almost now in Peoples going o Mass upon Sundays and Holy-days which the Church obliges them to not obliging them at the same time to communicate above once a Year and in adoring the Host when the Priest elevates it As to the Priest's putting the Sacrament into the mouth of the Communicants the same Cardinal in the 17th Chap. of his second Book saith Sacra Communio antiquo ritu non ore excipi solebat ut hodiè fit sed manu quam qui susceperat Ori reverenter admovebat As to the Priest's speaking the words of Consecration so low that no body can hear him in his 12th Chap. of the same Book he saith Graeci alii Orientales verba consecrationis elatâ voce pronunciant populus respondet Amen Eundem morem servabat olim Ecclesia Occidentalis omnes enim audiebant verba consecrationis postea statutum est ut Canon submissa voce recitaretur sic desiit ea consuetudo seculo decimo ut conjicio As to the usage of her denying the Cup to the People in the 18th Chap. of his second Book he saith Semper enim ubique ab Ecclesiae primordiis usque ad saeculum duodecimum sub specie panis Vini in Ecclesiis communicârunt fideles coepitque paulatim ejus saeculi initio usus calicis obsolescere plerisque Episcopis eum populo interdicentibus sic paulatim introducta est Communio sub solâ specie panis quod à nullo negari potest qui vel levissimâ rerum Ecclesiasticarum notitiâ imbutus est And as to her making use of Unleavened Bread in the 23d Chap. of his first Book he saith Quod si Veteres Patres percurrere omnem evolvere antiquitatem libeat inveniemus proculdubio sic à tempore Apostolorum de inceps de pane Eucharistico omnes loqui ut non nisi de communi fermentato commodè intelligi explicari queant As to her giving the Sacrament in Wafers in the 23d Chap. of the same Book he saith Vivente Humberto qui floruit Anno 1245. panis consecrandus in Eucharistiâ tantae magnitudinis erat ut ex eo consecratae tot particulae frangi possent quot erant necessariae ad populum communicandum panis qui tradebatur talis fuit ut deglutiri non posset nisi dentibus comminutus And as to her keeping the consecrated Bread or Hosts as she calls them after the Communion is over he saith in the same Book Ne reliquiae Sacramenti superessent saepe decretum est ut tot particulae consecrarentur quot erant parati ad communionem si quid residuum foret à sacerdete seu Ministris commederetur quod si contigerit ut Ministrorum incuria putrescerent statuit Concilium Arelatense apud Joan. X. 2. Cap. 56. ut igne comburatur cinis juxta Altare sepeliatur idque in usu fuisse docet Algerus Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Now I take this acknowledged change of Rites in the Administration of the Eucharist to be a very great Evidence that there has been a Change of belief about it and indeed to have been the Natural Consequence of such a Change and so I believe will any body else that shall consider it impartially changed for others without a great Sin notwithstanding they do not appertain to the Integrity or Essence of the Sacraments there are three that imprint a Spiritual sign on the Soul that can never be blotted out it is called a Character which is the reason why those Sacraments are never to be repeated they are Baptism Confirmation and Orders the other four that is Penitence the Eucharist Extream Vnction and Matrimony imprint no Spiritual Sign in the Soul and so may be repeated with due Order but tho' these seven Sacraments are all Divine and do contain Grace and dispense it to their worthy Receivers deserving our most profound Reverence and Adoration on the account of the Majesty of their Institutor who was our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God as also for the assistance of the Holy Spirit who operates in conjunction with them and for the virtue that is in them for the curing of Souls the Treasure of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ being deposited in them and dispensed to us by their means Nevertheless this does not hinder but that in some respects some of them may be more worthy than others and may deserve a greater reverence and veneration These Sacraments were all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ before his Ascention into Heaven that so by their means he might communicate Grace and other Spiritual Benefits he had merited for us by his Death on the Cross confirming them to the faithful by his Word and Promises that so by using them lawfully and with due dispositions we might be ascertained of his communicating himself and all the fruits of his Passion to us in every one of them in such a manner as he represents himself in them The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism THe first of all the Sacraments is that of Baptism which is the Gate of the Spiritual Life and that whereby we are made capable of the other Sacraments of which without it we are no ways capable for as a Man must first be born before he can enjoy the good things of the Natural Life so Men before they are born again in Baptism are not capable of enjoying the heavenly advantages of a Spiritual Life it being by Baptism that we are made Members of Christ and are incorporated into the Christian Common-wealth and the Mystical Body of the Church for as by the first man Death came upon all for the Sin of Disobedience committed by him and us for which Sin we were excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and were born Children of Wrath and separated from God so that without being born again of Water and the Spirit we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ himself has taught us so that as we were born Children of Wrath by Baptism we return to be Children of Grace and as we were born in sin the Sons of Men in Baptism we are born the Sons of God all that are baptized in Christ as St. Paul hath it having put on Christ The Matter of this Sacrament is true natural and common Water as of the Sea Rivers Fountains Lakes or Rain and no other tho' never so pure and clean all others being Liquors and not natural Water The Form is I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Minister of this Sacrament is a Priest to whom it belongs by virtue of his Office but in case of necessity not only a Priest or Deacon but a Lay-man or Woman nay an Infidel a Mahometan a Heretick or Jew
to be made speedily by the most Illustrious Metropolitan in the Churches of this Bishoprick all Men and Women that are above seven years old do come to be Christen'd or Confirmed those only excepted who were confirmed by the said Lord in his former Visitation or at some other or on some other occasion by some other Bishop this Sacrament as well as that of Baptism being never to be repeated in so much that all that receive it a second time wittingly are guilty of a great piece of Sacrilege besides that they receive no Sacrament thereby But in case any are doubtful whether they have ever been confirmed or not or should not remember that they were ever they shall declare so much to the said Lord or to the Bishop that is to confirm them that they may order the matter according to the merit of their doubts But if any which God forbid should sacrilegiously and obstinately despise the said Sacrament it being proved upon them they shall be declared Excommunicate until such time as they have done condign Penance and shall be punished at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree II. THe Synod to its great sorrow having been informed that some ignorant Persons in Sacred Matters and the Doctrine of the Holy Sacraments of the Church being instigated by the Devil to persist in their cursed Schism did in several places resist the most Illustrious Metropolitan in his former Visitation of these Churches so far as not only to refuse to receive the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation from him but did also oppose him publickly in the Churches and that many did absent themselves some whereof excused themselves by pretending that it was an unnecessary thing and that they had never seen nor heard of it before and others that they should be affronted by the Holy Ceremony of the Prelates touching their Cheek scurrilously upbraiding those that had received it with base provoking words telling them that they had suffer'd themselves to be affronted and buffeted with other such Sacrilegious Expressions full of Infidelity and Heresy arising from the Schism wherein they have been brought up Whole Towns conspiring together so far in this Mutiny that the despising or receiving this Holy Sacrament became the Test of their obedience or disobedience to the said Metropolitan doth therefore notwithstanding it knows they have all in common and every one in particular repented of this and being sensible of the greatness of the error they committed therein have beg'd pardon for it and upon their having confess'd their Ignorance have been graciously received by the said Lord Metropolitan and having submitted themselves to the obedience of the Holy Roman Church are ready to do all that shall be enjoyned them to prevent the life however that none for the time coming may commit the like faults or Sacrileges command That if any which God forbid shall dare to do or say any such thing against this Sacrament or the Holy Ceremonies and Rites wherewith it is administred to the Faithful that they be declared Excommunicate and be separated from the Church and the Communion of the Faithful until such time as they have undergone condign Penance at the pleasure of the Prelate and shall demonstrate their due subjection to the obedience of the Holy Church and have taken the Oath of the Faith contained in this Synod and declared that all that reject and despise the Rites and Ceremonies approved of and received in the Church in the solemn administration of this and the other Sacraments are Hereticks and Apostates from our Holy Catholick Faith as was determin'd in the Holy Council of Trent and ought to be proceeded against and punished as such according to the Sacred Canons Decree III. THe Synod doth declare That in the Sacrament of Confirmation or Chrism there must be a Godfather and Godmother as well as in Baptism to present such as are to be Confirmed according to the ancient Custom of Holy Mother Church but there shall be but only one Godfather and Godmother who must themselves have been Confirmed it being very indecent that any Person should present one to have that done to him which they have not had done to themselves and that the Man shall be above 14 and the Woman above 12 Years Old or one of them at least shall be of that Age and in this Case the Godfathers and Godmothers do contract the same Spiritual Affinities and the same Impediments that the others do in Baptism the said Spiritual Affinity being equally contracted in both these Sacraments ACTION V. Of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist THe third Sacrament in the Order of the Spiritual Life is the Holy Eucharist tho' in Veneration Sanctity and Dignity it is the first and most excellent for containing in it the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God true God and true Man our Saviour and Redeemer which was instituted by him the day before he suffer'd for us as the most sweet Remate or Conclusion of all his Works and a Memorial of his Passion the fulfilling of all the ancient Figures the greatest of all the Miracles that ever he wrought and for the singular Consolation of the Faithful in his absence The Matter of this Sacrament is Bread of Wheat and Wine of the Grape only so that all that Consecrate in Bread made of Rice or of any thing else but the Flower of Wheat or of Wine that was not pressed out of the ripe Grape of the Vine do not make the Sacrament there must also be Water mixed with the Wine before it is Consecrated but in a much smaller quantity than the Wine that so it may easily * Turn For Water to turn it self into Wine is as great a Miracle as for the Priest to turn Wine into Blood turn it self into Wine before the Consecration which mixture is therefore made because from the Testimony of Holy Fathers Holy Mother Church believes that our Lord Christ himself did so whose having mixed Water with the Wine that he Consecrated makes it a great Sin to omit to do it It is also agreeable to the representation of the Mystery of what passed on the Cross and of our Lord Christ out of whose precious Side flowed Water and Blood as also to signifie the Effect of this Sacrament which is the Vnion of the Faithful with Christ the Water signifying the Faithful and the Wine our Lord Christ and the conversion of the Water into the Wine the Union of our Souls with Christ by means of this Divine Sacrament according to what our Lord said He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him The Form of this Sacrament is the words of our Saviour by which the Sacrament is made for tho' the Priest pronounceth many and divers words in the Mass and
least scruple of Mortal Sin and having an opportunity of a Confessor shall say Mass tho' under an Obligation to do it without having first confessed themselves But besides that such when under any scruple are obliged to confess for the greater purity of their Souls tho' under no scruple the Synod commands all Priests to confess at least once a Week Decree IX THe Synod doth furthermore command all Deacons and Sub-Deacons that Minister solemnly in the solemn Masses on Sundays and Saints-days to receive the most Holy Sacrament at those times and on the Festivity of our Lord Christ our Lady and the Holy Apostles all the Chamazes or Clergy that are in the Church of which the Vicars ought to take special care and the Prelate in his Visitations is to make diligent Inquiry how these things are observed The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass THe great Love of God to Mankind does not only appear in the Institution of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and in the putting of his Divine Body and Blood under the Sacramental Species to be the heavenly Food of our Souls by which the Spiritual Life is maintained and preserved but in his having likewise so instituted it that the Catholick Church Militant might have a perpetual and visible Sacrifice for the purging away of our sins and for turning the Wrath of our Heavenly Father who is many times offended with our wickedness into Mercy and the rigour of his just punishment into Clemency So in the Mass there is offered unto God a true and proper Sacrifice for the pardon both of the Living and of the Dead by the offering of the which Sacrifice the Lord is so far appealed as to give Grace and the Gift of Repentance to Sinners and by means thereof does forgive Men their Sins and Offences tho' never so enormous the Host that is offered by the Ministry of the Priest on the Altar of the Church being one and the same that was offered for us on the Cross with no other difference besides that of the reason of their being offered And so it is not only offered for the Sins Punishments Satisfactions and other Necessities of the Faithful that are Living but also for the Dead departed in Christ and that are in the Torments of Purgatory being not as yet fully purged by reason of their not having made a compleat satisfaction for the punishments due to their sins it being but just and reasonable that all should be benefited by a Sacrifice which was instituted for the Remedy and Health of all Mankind which Oblation is of that purity that no indignity or wickedness in the Offerers is able to defile it so that as to the substance value and acceptation it is the same when offered by a wicked and unclean sinner as when by a pure and holy Priest because it does not derive its Dignity from the Offerer but from the Majesty and excellency of what is offered neither does the Eternal Father accept thereof for the Merits and Vertue of the Priest that offers it but for the value of the Sacrifice it self and the infinite Merits of Christ who is offered therein so that our Saviour being about to offer himself to God the Father on the Altar of the Cross could not possibly have given us a greater expression of his immense Love for us than by leaving us this visible Sacrifice in his Church in which the Blood which was presently to be once offered upon the Altar of the Cross was to be renewed every day upon the Altar of the Church and the Memory thereof to our great profit was to be adored every where in the Church until the end of the World which Divine Sacrifice is offered to God only notwithstanding it is sometimes celebrated in Memory and Honour of the Martyrs and other Saints in Bliss it not being offered to them but to God only who has been pleased to Crown them with Immortal Honour rendring him thereby our bounden thanks for the notable Victory of the Martyrs and the publick Mercies and Blessings he has vouchsafed to other Saints and for the Victories which by these means they obtained over the World the Flesh and the Devil beseeching the said Saints to be pleased to intercede for us in Heaven whose Memories we celebrate on Earth and tho' the Divine Eucharist does still continue to be a Sacrament yet it is never a Sacrifice but as it is offered in the Mass Decree I. FOrasmuch as it is of great moment that all things belonging to the Sacrifice of the Mass should be preserv'd pure and undefiled and whereas this Church has been for * 1200 Years It would puzzle them to prove that they had ever been at any time under her obedience however this shows what a Cheat that submission of the Patriarch of Babylon in his own name and in the name of all the Churches that were subject to him to the Pope at the Council of Trent was which Father Paul tells us made a mighty noise in the World the Court of Rome boasting thereupon that the Pope had got more new Subjects by that submission than he had lost by the Reformation 1200 years from under the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church the Mistress of all the other Churches and from whence all good Government and true Doctrines do come all the Bishops that came hither from Babylon having been Schismaticks and Nestorian Hereticks who have added to and taken from the Mass at their pleasure without any order from whence it has come to pass that several things are foisted into the Syrian Mass which is said in this Diocess without any consideration and such things too as may give occasion to many Impious and Heretical Errors For which if due Order were observed all the Missals of this Bishoprick ought to be burned as also for their having been of Nestorian use and compiled by Nestorian Hereticks but being there are no other at present they are tolerated until such time as our Lord the Pope shall take some Order therein and there shall be Missals sent by him printed in the Chaldee Tongue which is what this Synod humbly and earnestly desires may be done And in the mean time it doth command that the Missals now in use be purged and reformed as to all the following Matters and that till such time as they are so purged which the most Illustrious Metropolitan with the assistance of some Persons well versed in the Chaldee Tongue will see done the next Visitation no Priest shall presume to make use of them any more Whereas from the above declared Doctrine of this Sacrament it is evident that the Priest does not Consecrate with his own words but with those of our Lord Christ the Author and Institutor of the said Divine Sacrament it is not therefore lawful to add any Clause how good soever in it self to the Form of Consecration or to what our Lord Christ said therein in which we do not
themselves with going to hear Mass twice or thrice in the Year and so have no opportunity of being instructed in matters of Faith and Religion as they ought to be nor of complying with their Obligations doth command all Christians living within two Leagues of the Church to go to Mass at least once a Month and on the principal Festivities of our Lord and Lady commanding the Vicars also to constrain them to do it and all such as are but one League to hear Mass once a Fortnight and such as are less than a League to hear it every Sunday and Holy-day commanding all that shall trangress herein being obstinate after the third Admonition to be thrown out of the Church when they come thither neither shall the Priest go to their Houses or give them the Casture or Blessing until they shall come to hear Mass more or less in the Form aforesaid and besides they shall be punished by the Prelate as he shall think good Decree XIV WHereas upon several Festivals of the Church there are Musicians called to the celebration thereof according to the custom of the Country who are all Heathens small care being taken in what part of the Church they are placed or to hinder them from playing during the time of the Holy Sacrifice at which no Excommunicate Person or Infidel ought to be present therefore the Synod doth command that great care be taken not to suffer them to remain in the Church after the Creed is said or the Sermon if there be one is ended that so they may not behold the Holy Sacrament the Vicar shall also be careful to drive all Heathens who may come upon such occasion from the Doors and Windows of the Church Decree XV. WHereas there is nothing that is so great a help to the Souls of the Faithful that are in the Fire of * Purgatory I shall give the Reader one instance out of a hundred of the Popes liberality in the matter of Indulgences to Souls in Purgatory INdulgencias Concedidas pello Papa Adriano VI. de boa Memoria ás contas ou graos que benzeo á Instancia do Illustrissimo Cardeal Laquinaues Trigermano Barbarino no Anno de 1523. E. Confirmadas pelo Santissimo Padre Gregorio Decimo tercio aos 26 de Mayo de 1576. E bien assi confirmadas pelo Sanctissimo Padre Pape Paulo quinto no anno de 1607. E. tambem agora confirmadas por nosso santissimo Papa Urbano Octavo no quarto anno de sue Pontificado Primeiramente quem tiuer huma destas contas rezando hum Pater Noter et huma Ave Maria cada dia tira tres Almas das penas do Purgatorio de for em Domingo ou em Dia se festa rezando dobrado tira de is Item Cada sexta feira rezando sinco vezes O Pater Noster Ave Maria à honra das sinco chagas de Christo ganha setenta mil annos de perdam et remissam de todos seus peccados Item em cada Sabbado rezando sete Pater Nostres et sete Ave Marias aos sete gozos de nossa Senhora ganha indulgencia sem numero Item Quem nano poder correr as estaçoens de Roma na Quaresma rezando sinco Pater nostres et sinco Ave Marias diante da imagem de nam Crucifixo ganha as ditas estaçoens dentro et fora dos muros de Roma Jerusalem Item Trazendo consigo huma destas contas confessado et comungado ganha indulgencia plenaria et remissam de todos seus peccados Item O Sacerdote que confessa et comunga ganha indulgencia plenaria et remissam de todos seus peccados et alem disto ganha tam bem todas as indulgencias que estam dentro et fora de Roma Hierusalem Item avendo comungado quantas vezes rezer O Pater Noster à Ave Maria tantas almas tira do Purgatorio Item Concede sua Santidade que estas contas qua sua Santidade benzeo possam tocar a outras as quaes tocadas ficam com as mesmas graças salvo que estas tocadas nam possam tocar as outras Dada em Roma a 15 de Janeiro de 1607. Nos Joano Ambrosio Referendario Apostolico Visto estar conforme com o Original pòde correr este Summario de Indulgencia Lisboa 11. de Junho de 1642. Er. Joano de Vascocel Franc. Card. de Torn Sebastiano Caesar de Meneses Com. Licença Em. Lisboa Na Officina de Domingos Carneyro Anno 1660. Indulgences granted by Pope Adrian VI. of Blessed Memory to some Beads or Grains which he blessed at the instance of the most Illustrious Cardinal Laquinaues Trigermano Barbarino in the Year 1523. and which were confirmed by the most Holy Father Gregory X. on the 26 of May 1576. and were also confirmed by the most Holy Father Pope Paul V. in the Year 1607. and were now again confirmed by our Holy Father Pope Urban VIII in the 4th Year of his Pontificate First Whosoever shall have one of these Beads and shall recite a Pater Noster and an Ave Mary every day shall take three Souls out of the Torments of Purgatory and if he shall double them upon a Sunday or Holy-day he shall take out six 2. If he shall say five Pater Nosters and five Ave Maries to the honour of the five Wounds of Christ upon a Friday he shall gain seventy thousand Years Pardon and Remission of all his Sins 3. If he shall every Saturday say seven Pater Nosters and seven Ave Maries to the seven Joys of our Lady he shall gain Indulgences without number 4. He that cannot go the Stations at Rome in Lent if he shall say five Pater Nosters and five Ave Maries before a Crucifix he shall gain the said Stations within and without the Walls of Rome and Jerusalem 5. He that shall bring one of these Beads along with him and shall Confess and Communicate shall gain a plenary Indulgence and remission of all his Sins 6. The Priest that shall Confess him and give him the Sacrament shall likewise gain a plenary Indulgence and the remission of all his Sins and moreover all the Indulgences which are within and without Rome and Jerusalem 7. Having Communicated as often as he shall say a Pater Noster and Ave Mary so many Souls he shall take out of Purgatory His Holiness does likewise grant That these Beads which have been blessed by his Holiness may touch other Beads which being touched by them shall have the same Graces saving that those which are touched cannot touch others Dated at Rome the 15th of January An. 1607. We John Ambrosio Referendary Apostolick having seen this summary of Indulgence to be conformable to the Original it may be Published Er. Joan. de Vasconcel Franc. Card. de Torn Caesar de Meneses With Licence In Lisbon in the Shop of Domingo Carneyro 1660. Purgatory as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass of which there is no memory remaining in this Diocess that Holy
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
all that are of Age to confess themselves they shall afterwards make a mark at their Names as they come to Confession that so they may know certainly who have and who have not complyed that the Disobedient may be Excommunicated which we declare to be the precise Obligation of their Office the Pastor being bound to know his Sheep that he may give them Food and so far as he is able supply all their necessities Temporal as well as Spiritual and to have their number that he may know when any are lost and for the perfecting of such a Roll the Vicars may take the advantage of the Monoibo at which time all Christians do flock to the Churches at which time likewise they may hear of many that live in the Heaths And as to those that have confessed themselves to some other approved Confessors they shall bring a Note signed by them of their having been confessed which they shall deliver to their Vicar who shall thereupon mark them in his Roll but tho' it is lawful for them to confess themselves to Confessors that are Strangers yet they cannot receive the most Holy Sacrament nor the Communion upon Obligation in Lent any where but in their own Parish Churches and the Prelates in their Visitations shall call for those Rolls in order to inform themselves how this Decree is observed Decree II. WHereas the Precept of Confession obligeth all that have the use of Reason and conscience of mortal Sin which happens sooner to some than others the Synod therefore taking the most safe and probable way according to the knowledge it hath of the People of Malabar doth ordain That at eight Years old and upward all People shall Confess themselves and that without prohibiting such as are younger and capable to do it sooner on the contrary the Vicars if they shall understand that there are any under eight of so much Judgment and Discretion as to be capable of committing a mortal Sin they shall immediately constrain them to come to Confession as being oblig'd to it which must be left to the discretion of the Parish Priests Decree III. THe Synod doth admonish all Masters of Families and all that have the charge of others to be careful to make all the Persons in their Families to confess themselves at the time of Obligation and particularly their Servants and Slaves both Men and Women who if they do never come to Confession their Masters and none else must be certainly in the Fault in having neglected to put them in mind of it and to order them to do it it being their Duty and that upon penalty of Mortal Sin to call upon them to do it of which they must give a strict Account to God the Apostle St. Paul affirming That he who does not take care of his Servants has denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel which words are chiefly to be understood of the Spiritual Necessities of those of his Family and of Matters appertaining to their Salvation about which matters the Vicars ought to be very careful and must observe whether the Slaves whose Names as well as others they must have down in their Rolls do come to Confession declaring such of them as have not complied with their obligation at the time appointed Excommunicate having first admonished their Masters to command them to come and acquainted them with the Declaration that will be made if they do not and the Vicars that shall be found negligent herein shall be punished at the discretion of the Prelate Decree IV. ALL faithful Christians are not only obliged to Confess themselves once a Year under penalty of mortal Sin but also as often as they are in any probable danger of Death or are very Sick they are under the same obligation wherefore the Sick Persons or those that attend them so soon as ever they shall apprehend any danger where-ever they live tho' in the Heaths shall send to call a Confessor and shall advise the Vicar of the Church thereof who shall either go himself or send another to hear their Confessions The Vicars are also to understand that it is their indispensible duty to enquire after the Sick and either to go to Confess them themselves or to send another to do it whensoever they shall be sent for that so none may die without the Holy Sacrament of Confession they being guilty of the Condemnation of such of their Sheep as go to Hell for not having confessed their Sins before they died if it was through their fault or negligence it was not done And the Vicar through whose fault or negligence any of the Parish shall die without Confession shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for a whole Year without any dispensation and another shall be appointed to supply his Cure and the Persons that attend the Sick that shall neglect to send for the Parish-Priest shall be severely punished at the discretion of the Prelate and such as die in Hamlets or in Heaths without Confession if they did not send to call a Confessor if their death was not so sudden as to prevent them shall not be buried in Holy Ground neither shall the Clergy go to their Houses or say the Office of the Dead for them nor so much as the Chata Decree V. NOt only such as are dangerously Sick but all that are any ways in danger of Death are obliged to Confess themselves wherefore since all Women in Child-birth are in danger thereof they shall before they are in Labour Confess themselves but especially before the birth of their first Child at which time the danger is known to be the greatest and shall likewise if capable receive the most Holy Sacrament and if any such not being surprized by their Labour shall die without Confession or being in visible danger did not desire it their negligence being proved and especially if they lived in Towns they shall be proceeded against in the same manner as those are who through their own fault die without Confession as is above decreed Decree VI. THe Synod being informed that the greatest part of those that die of the Small-Pox tho' they lived in Towns and desired Confession do die without it that Distemper being so very dangerous and infectious that the Priests are afraid of coming near those that have it doth command all Vicars to be careful that none such do die without Confession and either to go themselves in Person or to send one to Confess them a due regard being still to be had to their own health either by confessing them at some distance or so that the Wind shall blow the steams from them and by having taken preservatives against the Distemper that so none may die without Confession which is what the Synod doth very earnestly recommend to them in the Lord. Decree VII THe Synod doth earnestly recommend to all the faithful Christians Inhabitants of this Bishoprick not to satisfie themselves with having confessed their Sins once a
that they might be the better known it was thought fit to have them expressed here Decree XI THe Sentence of Excommunication being the last and most rigorous punishment of the Church and which for that reason ought not to be inflicted but with great Caution and Consideration the Synod doth therefore condemn the facility wherewith it has been used in this Diocess upon very slight and impertinent occasions commanding it not to be inflicted hereafter but for weighty causes and with great consideration and never by word of mouth but always in Writing The Synod doth likewise condemn what has been formerly commanded in this Bishoprick which was that in certain Cases Penitents were not to be absolved but at the hour of Death and in some not then neither which is contrary to Christian Charity and the Rules of the Church who as a Pious Mother at all times receives true Penitents and never shuts the Gates of Salvation against any of her Children So that let their Crimes be never so enormous yet upon their doing Penance and expressing a deep sorrow for their Sins and yielding the satisfaction that is imposed upon them they are graciously received and made free at least in the Internal or Sacramental Court But being there is no other punishment in this Church by reason of its being under Kings that are Infidels beyond that of Excommunication or Exclusion from the Church some who are absolved in the Internal Court may still continue excommunicate in the External so as not to be permitted to enter the Church and tho' the Priests may go to their Houses they shall not give them the Casture until such time as the Prelate shall order it to be done having a regard to the heinousness of their Crimes and the length of time from the Commission of them that by this means the facility wherewith the Christians of this Diocess commit several Crimes namely Murther and the Ceremonies of the Taliconum may be removed Decree XII FOrasmuch as the Ignorance of Confessors is the destruction of Penitents and thorow the Error of the Key there is nothing done and it being known to the Synod that in this Diocess there are many Confessors that are such Idiots as not to know what they do in Confession all the Priests exercising themselves therein without ever having been examined as to their sufficiency it doth therefore command that from henceforward no Priest shall presume to hear Confessions without being Licensed thereunto in writing by the Prelate which License shall not be granted to any but what have been first examined by Learned Persons as to their sufficiency for such an Employment and until such time as this Church is provided of Prelates to regulate all such matters to the best of their understanding the Synod doth commit the Examination and Approbation to the * Fathers This is what the Bishops and other Orders in the Church of Rome complain of so much that the Jesuits every where in the Indies ingross all Jurisdiction and Advantages to themselves Of their ingrossing all to themselves to the exclusion of all other orders in China Japan and the other parts of the East-Indies we have large complaints in the Apologies of Diego Collado a Dominican and in the Letter of Father Luis Sotela a Franciscan written to Vrban VIII and as to the West Indies Bishop Pallabox in his Defence of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction against the Jesuits who had worryed him out of his Archbishoprick after twenty more such charges sayeth En las provincias del Pâ—ru ha setenta annos que se quez an las Cathedrales de que las Religiosos de la Compania com immoderadissimos adquisciones les despoian de los diesmos ellos callando y passando y comprando haziendos con grandissima paz y silencio van desnudando a los ocispos de sus rentas a los pohes de su socorro a los Cabildas de su congrua sustentacion lo mismo hazen ein la nueva Espana quanto mas corre et tiempo tanto mas crâ—ce eldano legan ya con la navaia hasta el huesso That is In the Provinces of Peru the Cathedrals have complained these 70 Years of the Jesuits robbing them of their Tithes by their vast purchases they hold their Tongues and go on purchasing Estates without any noise thereby stripping the Bishops of their Rents the poor of their Alms and the Chapter of a convenient maintenance they do the same in New Spain and this eâ—il has gone on increasing daily so that they are now come to the bone with their Rasor Revego a Dios saith the same Bishop Que ne sean las pinâ—as de un tabardillo peligrosissimo que necessiâ—e de serâ—urado en algunos hijos desta Religion porlamano del pontifice sumo com repitidas sangrias de â—anto poâ—â—r And I pray God that these things be not the spots of a most dangerous malignant Feavour not to be cured in some of the Sâ—ns of that Religion any otherways than by repeated bleedings from the Chief Pontiff Fathers of the Society of Jesus of the College of Vaipicotta upon whose Examination and Approbation and a Licence granted by the Governour whom the most Illustrious Metropolitan will leave in this Bishoprick the Priests may hear Confessions with the limitations expressed in the said Licences and all such as are at present Confessors shall be examined by order of the Lord Metropolitan at his next Visitation and such of the Clergy as shall be made Parish-Priests or Vicars shall be first examined and approved of in the same form to be Confessors that so such as are not qualified to be Confessors may not be admitted Vicars whose precise Obligation it is to confess their Sheep And all Confessors that are not approved of by the said Lord Metropolitan in the form aforesaid this Synod doth suspend from the Office of Confessor till such time as they shall be effectually examined and allowed of and if any Priest which God forbid shall be found hearing Confessions without such a Licence except in the case of danger of Death and where no Confessor is to be had he shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for a Year and be further punished according to the degree of his Contumacy and the Penitents shall be admonished to confess themselves again to some approved Confessor Decree XIII BY reason of the great want there is of knowing and able Confessors in this Bishoprick the Synod for the sake of the Sheep thereof doth approve of all such Confessors as understand the Malabar Tongue and are Licensed Confessors in any other Diocess of whom also the Prelate may make use for the assistance of the Parish-Priests in Lent where it shall be judged necessary and especially of the Priests of this Diocess residing at Cochim Decree XIV THe Synod doth grievously condemn the Sacrilegious Ignorance of those Priests who when they have confessed any at the command of the Prelate
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
matters appertaining to their Salvation do but too often make them unmindful of the Holy Sacraments wherefore the Synod doth command and earnestly recommend it to all Confessors that are called upon to Confess any Sick Person to instruct them in the Doctrine and Efficacy of this Sacrament of Vnction admonishing persuading and intreating them when they shall come to stand in need of it to have it administred to them and they shall also admonish the People and particularly those who attend the Sick Person not to fail to call the Vicar when it is necessary that is when they apprehend the Sick Person to be in any danger and before he has lost his Senses to give him the Holy Vnction and such as shall be negligent therein besides the offence they do to God and the Sick Person shall be punished severely at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree III. THe Synod doth command the Priests that go to anoint the Sick tho' it should be to the Hamlets to go in their Surplice and Stole carrying the Vessel the Holy Oil is in in their hands covered with a piece of Silk with great reverence having the Chamus or Parish-Clerk before them with the Cross of the Church in his Arms who or some other Person shall also carry a Pot of Holy Water and if it is in the Night a Lanthorn or some other Light before him that so all People may know what he is going about and if the Sick Person is in a condition he shall persuade him to Confess himself again and be reconciled notwithstanding he should have Confessed himself the day before letting the Sick Person know that it is necessary in order to his receiving the Holy Sacrament of Vnction with the greater purity and when the Priest shall be to carry this Sacrament a long way to those that live in Heaths he shall go in the best Form he can and shall carry the Surplice and Stole along with him that so when he comes to administer the Sacrament he may do it with all due reverence he shall likewise if the Sick Person has not a Crucifix of his own leave one upon his Pillow exhorting him to fix both his Eyes and confidence thereon at his last minute begging by it the pardon of his Sins of our Lord who for our sake died thereon ACTION VII Of the Holy Sacraments of Order and Matrimony The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Order THe sixth Sacrament is that of Order which was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ the day before he suffered for us after that he had made an end of instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist that so he might institute the Sacrifice and the Priests that were to offer it together at which time he created the Apostles Priests giving them withal power to consecrate others that so the Sacrifice and the Priesthood might be continued in the Church till the end of the World The Matter of this Sacrament is that which is delivered to the Person that is ordained for the exercise of that Order he has received to the Priests a Cup with Wine in it and a Patten with Bread to a Deacon the Book of the Gospels and to a Sub-Deacon an empty Cup and Patten and so as to the other inferiour Orders The Form of the Priesthood and other Orders are the words spoke by the Bishop when he delivers to every one that which belongs to his Ministry and the exercise of his Order The Minister of this Sacrament is only a Bishop to whom only Christ committed the power of Consecrating Priests the effect of it is the encrease of Grace to the end that the Person ordained may be a fit Minister This Sacrament was instituted by Christ as highly necessary in his Church for a Sacrifice and Priesthood are so joined that the one cannot be without the other wherefore since under the New Testament the visible Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist was to be instituted it became therefore necessary that there should be a new visible and eternal Priesthood in the same Church whereby the ancient Priesthood of the Old Law was translated and there were Priests provided accordingly for the Offering of the Divine Sacrifice which Priests being lawfully ordained our Lord Jesus Christ has given them power over his true and real Body to Consecrate Offer and Administer it as also over his Mystical Body the Church giving them power to pardon and retain Sins to which power â—t likewise belongs to rule and govern all Christian People and to lead them in the way to Eternal Life Now the Priesthood being so high an Office that it may be exercised with the more decency and veneration it was convenient that there should be different Orders or Ministers who are bound by their Function to serve the Priesthood and to be divided in such 〈◊〉 manner that after having received the Clerical Tonsure they are to ascend through the lower to the higher Orders The * Lower That there was none of the lesser Ecclesiastical Order in the Primitive Church is acknowledged by Caâ—d Bona in his Book of Liturgies Tertia classis Ministrantium saith the Card. Clericos minorum ordinum complectitur Acolythos scil Exorcistas lectores Ostiarios quos antiquissimos esse ab Apostolis vel ab immediatis eorum Successoribus institutos Doctores Scholastici asserunt sed non probant dicendum igitâ— cum St. Thoma quod temporibâ— Apostolorum omnia Ministeria quâ— ordinibus minoribus competunt non 〈◊〉 distinctis personis sed uno duntaxâ— Ministro exercebantur contingit 〈◊〉 mirum Ecclesiae quod hominibus soleâ— qui dum tenâ—e patrimonium hâ—beâ— uno servo contenti sunt qui solâ— omnia administrat si vero rediâ—â— augeantur servorum etiam augetâ— numerus eoque modo crescit familiâ— lower are the Ostiary Reader Exorcist Acolythus The higher those which are called Holy and are the Sub-Deacon Deacon and Priest to which degrees there is joined that of Bishops who succeeded in the place of the Apostles and as St. Paul saith are ordained to govern the Church of God so that they are in a higher degree than the Priests and to them only it belongs by virtue of their Office to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to Consecrate the Holy Oil of Chrism and to Consecrate Altars and Churches and ordain Priests and other Bishops The Church enjoins Continency and Chastity to all that take Holy Holy that so being disingaged from all other business they may employ themselves wholly in the Ministry of the Altar and be intent only on matters appertaining to our Lord and Divine Worship The Church does not admiâ— Slaves to be Priests because it is necessary to the Divine Worship that the Ministers thereoâ— should be free and not subject to others and that they should not have been guilty of Murther or Blood neither must they have been born out of lawful Wedlock nor have any blemish or maim nor have been twice Married nor have
married a Widow nor be Boys that are not come to perfect Age all which is ordered for just Reasons and Considerations and out of respect to the high Mystery wherein they are exercised Decree I. WHereas it has been hitherto the Custom of this Diocess to ordain Boys even Priests and that without examining their Lives and Manners having for Money and not for any extraordinary sufficiency all the Orders Inferiour as well as Holy conferred upon them in one day contrary to the Holy Canons and the Laws of the Church Therefore the Synod doth command That from henceforward none be ordained but what have first been examined as to their Sufficiency Lives and Manners which shall be done by the Prelate or by some appointed by him fearing God and who are observers of the Holy Canons and the Forms of the Holy Council of Trent And whereas in the said Council it is commanded That none be ordained Sub-Deacon under Two and Twenty nor Deacon under Three and Twenty nor Priest till they are Five and Twenty this Synod doth command the same to be inviolably observed declaring that no Prelate can dispense therewith without being particularly impowered and authorized thereunto by the Apostolical See And forasmuch as there are great numbers in this Diocess that have been ordained before they were at that Age the Synod suspends all such whether Priests Deacons or Sub-Deacons from the exercise of their several Functions until such time as they have perfectly attained to it they shall nevertheless hold their Places and reap the benefits thereof in the same manner as if they were in the exercise of their Functions And as to their Sufficiency the Synod doth declare That as the Council of Trent requires that all that are ordained do understand Latin so in this Diocess it is required that all that are ordained if they do not understand Latin should understand Syrian Neither shall any Syrian that does not understand it so well as to be able to read and sing it so as to understand what they say in the Offices be admitted into Orders or at least not into those that are Holy Decree II. ALL that are in Orders in this Diocess having been Simonaically ordained in having pay'd a certain price upon a formal Bargain for their Orders have thereby incurr'd the grievous punishments of the Law Nevertheless in consideration of their Ignorance and the false Doctrine wherein they have been educated by theiâ— former Prelates the Most Reverend Metropolitan both by his ordinary Authority this See being vacant and the Apostolical Authority committed to him over this Church doth Absolve all that have been so ordained from all Penalties and Censures which by the Law they have incurr'd by having been Simonaically ordained commanding them to have no further scruples about that matter and dispensing with them all as to the exercise of their Orders so that they may lawfully officiate as in right they may and ought to do Decree III. THe Synod being informed that there are several Priests who tho' infected with the Leprosie and miserably deformed thereby do presume to Celebrate to the great loathing of the People and to handle the Holy Vessels and Vestments to the endangering of the health of others doth command That none that are notoriously Leprous do presume to Celebrate â—ll such being irregular according to the Law of Corporal defects on the account of the disgust they give to People when they see them Celebrate in such a condition and receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar at their â—ands Decree IV. WHereas it is the custom to receive the Casture or Blessing from the hands of the oldest Clergy-man that officiates in the Quire and for all that are present to return it to him which according to the usage of this Diocess contains in it a Symbol of Charity Communion and Brotherly Love the Synod being informed that there are those who not being in Charity with their Neighbours do not speak to them nor take them by the hand and do neither give nor take the Casture from them thereby discovering that they live in malice with their Neighbours denying them the ordinary Ecclesiastical Salutation used in the Church of this Diocess doth command that all that shall refuse to give or receive the same be punished by the Prelate as Persons living in hatred or out of charity with their Neighbours and that until such time as they shall give the said Casture they shall not be suffered to come to the Altar according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ Neither shall they be permitted to officiate or Minister in the Church neither shall the Blessing be given them until they have effectually reconciled themselves to their Brother Decree V. WHereas it is the Precept of the Universal Church that all that are in Holy Orders do recite the whole Divine Office and the usage of this Diocess is to recite it only when they go to Church and there tho' it happen to be near ended before they come having heard a little to go away immediately reckoning they have complied with their Obligation tho' they do not say over what they were not present at there being very few that recite the Divine Office in their Houses some imagining that they are not bound to do it any where but in the Church and others excusing themselves for want of Books there being but very few and those that are are in Manuscript in this Bishoprick therefore the Synod doth declare That all that are in Holy Orders are obliged upon pain of Mortal Sin to recite the whole Divine Office as it is recited in the Church and that all such as shall come late shall be obliged to recite what they have missed and if they do not recite it in the Church they shall do it at home in their Houses having the conveniency of a Book which being what a great many do want the Synod obligeth all such to recite the said Divine Office by Beads that so there may be none but what perform this duty either by Book or Beads And tho' the Divine Office consists of seven distinct Canonical hours yet in this Church in conformity to the Breviary thereof they shall only recite one part at two times in the Morning and the other part in the Evening without making any other difference in the Divine Office besides that of repeating one part thereof in the Morning and the other in the Evening and whereas they who have no Books are to recite with Beads such beginning in the Morning as the Divine Office is begun in the Church shall say Thirty-three Pater Nosters and as many Ave Maries with the Gloria Patri c. in the Morning and when they are ended they shall moreover say twelve Pater Nosters and twelve Ave Maries for the Souls of the Faithful departed and one Pater Noster and one Ave Mary for the Pope and the same for the Bishop instead of the Prayers that are said
over celebrating and performing all other Exercises and Ministeries of Priests all which they thought they might do lawfully by virtue of a Licence granted by their Prelates who notwithstanding they prohibited them to Marry upon pain of Excommunication and had declared them Excommunicate did nevertheless Absolve them for a sum of Money or upon some Simonaical contract so that notwithstanding that Excommunication they did all Marry and continued in Wedlock reckoning themselves safe in Conscience upon their having obtained a Licence after such a manner All which being detested by the Synod as the inventions of the Devil and devised by the covetousness of Schismaticks and desiring to restore this Church to its due purity and the usage of the Roman Church doth command in virtue of obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae that henceforward no Clerk in Holy Orders presume to Marry nor shall any Cassanar Marry any such nor shall any presume to be present at any such Marriage nor give Council Favour or Assistance thereunto And whoever shall offend in any of these particulars must know that they are Excommunicate and Cursed and are to be declared as such by the Church and as to those who are already Married the Synod suspends them all whether Married once or oftner from the Ministery of their Orders and all Sacerdotal Acts until such time as they have put away their Wives effectually which is what the Synod intreats them in the Lord to do And to those who have been twice Married or have Married Widows or Women that were publickly dishonest the Synod doth command all such as being Bigamists and having Married contrary to their consciences as it appears several of them have done by their giving over thereupon to Celebrate notwithstanding their having obtained a Licence from their Bishop in virtue of obedience and upon pain of being declared Excommunicate so soon as this Decree shall come to their knowledge to turn off the said Women not only as to Bed and Board but so as not to dwell in the same House with them declaring that until they have done it they are in Mortal Sin and do live in Concubinate such Marriages having never been true or valid but on the contrary void and of no force neither can any Prelate or Bishop grant Licences in such cases having no Authority to do it by reason of its being contrary to the Rules of the Church that have been always punctually observed and contrary to the Holy general Councils received all over the World and as to those who have been but once Married the Synod will consult the most Holy Pope and Bishop of Rome that he as Prelate and Head of the whole Church of God and Master and Doctor of the same may teach and command what ought to be done therein and whatsoever his Holiness shall ordain shall be punctually observed Decree XVII THe Synod doth declare That those Priests who as obedient Sons shall follow the advice of the Synod in turning away their Wives may after they have so done continue in the exercise of their Functions and if not otherwise hindered may Celebrate notwithstanding they have been twice Married or may have Married Widows since by such Weddings not being true Marriages they did not incurr the irregularity of Bigamy All which the Synod grants out of pure Grace being extreamly desirous to have them turn away such Women and out of respect to their Ignorance and the Cheat that was put upon them by their Prelates who instead of instructing them better granted them Licences And whereas all Priests that Marry are Irregular according to the Holy Canons the most Illustrious Metropolitan by the Ordinary as well as the Apostolical Authority that he has in this Church by reason of the See 's being vacant doth dispense with the Priests and all the other Clergy-men in Holy Orders that shall yield obedience to the Synod in turning away their Wives and shall desire to continue to officiate as to the said irregularity which they have incurred granting them Licence as to this freely and without scruple to exercise their Orders Decree XVIII WHereas the Wives of Priests who are called Catatiaras or Cassaneiras have not only the most Honourable place in the Church for their being such and are the more reverenced but do moreover partake of the profits of the Churches wherein their Husbands ministred equally with the surviving Priests and have sometimes a greater share of them than any of the Priests by reason of the Seniority and Preheminence that their Husbands had in the Church therefore the Synod doth ordain That such of them as do not from henceforward depart from their Husbands shall receive no such benefit but if obeying the admonition of the Synod they shall leave their Husbands they shall then immediately receive their proportion as an Alms to help to sustain them and their Families and shall injoy the same place and Honour in the Church and every where else which they did before Decree XIX THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding it has received the Holy Council of Trent with all its Decrees relating both to the good Government of the Church and Manners nevertheless that what was declared therein relating to Priests Bastards not being permitted to Minister in the same Church wherein the Fathers have Ministered before is not to be extended to the Sons of the Married Priests in this Diocess that are now born by reason of the great numbers there are of such at present in all Churches and of other great inconveniencies that would follow thereupon it is therefore permitted to such to Minister nay to be Vicars of the Churches wherein their Fathers have officiated but this is to be understood of such only as were born of Marriages that were reputed true the provision of the forementioned Holy Council being to take place as to all that shall be born hereafter Decree XX. WHereas the sin of * Simony This noise of Simony was raised for no other reason but to throw Dirt on the Memory of their former Bishops whose Fees at their Ordination were not in all probability so great as they are at Goa and had as little in them of a formal Bargain But the truth is Simony as well as Heresy is a Stone the Church of Rome throws blind-fold at all that displease her tho' at the same time she 's the Church in the World that 's most guilty of it so when she was crying shame of the Emperors as Simoniacks Petrus Clemangis tells us she her self was totius negotiationis latrocinii rapinae officina in quo venalia exponuntur Sacramenta venales ordines And Didacus Abulensis a learned Spanish Bishop and who was no stranger at Rome at the same time she was thus reproaching the poor Church of Malabar tells us in his Book of Councils that vitium Simoniae frequens est veluti res honestissima in usum deducitur in Curiâ Romanâ nulla unquam punitione
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
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
as the Ceremonies they performed and consented to shall deserve Decree VII THe Synod being informed that some wicked Christians are not content only to go to Witches to consult them but do furthermore send for them to their Houses where they joyn with them in the Invocation of their Pagods and 〈◊〉 making offerings and Sacrifices to them in killing Dogs and performing other Ceremonies that are contrary to the Faith namely one which â—â—ey call Tollicanum Ollicanum Bellicorum Coâ—â—â— which they do often publickly to the great â—â—â—ndal of Christianity as if they were not Chriâ—â—ans and at other times permit the Heathens to â—â—rform them in their Houses doth command in â—â—rtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of â—communication to be Ipso facto incurred that 〈◊〉 Christian shall presume to perform any of 〈◊〉 said Ceremonies or consent to the perforâ—â—ng of them in their Houses and that all that do â—â—nsgress therein shall be declared Excommuniâ—â—te in the Church until they shall beg for mercy and have undergone condign and publick Punishment in the Church and tho' upon their â—epentance appearing to be true and sincere â—hey may be absolved yet they shall not have the Casture given them neither shall any Priest go to their Houses in two Years save in case of peril of Death and they who shall go to offer â—ay thing to a Pagod or shall make any Vow to one shall be punished after the same manner and with the same Penance and shall incurr Excommunication Ipso facto in all which Matters the Vicar must be very watchful for the prevention of all such Idolatries Decree VIII A Great many ignorant Christians of this Bishoprick being unmindful of the Purity of their Christian Obligations do carry Notes about them which have been given them by Witches for the Cure of their Distempers hoping for relief from their vertue hanging them likewise about the Necks of their Cattle to keep them well and putting them in their Orchardâ— to encrease the Fruit and communicating them to several other things for various effects all which the Synod detesting as Diabolical dotâ— command all that are guilty thereof to be severely punished by the Prelate and all Vicars not to permit any such Offenders to enter into the Church nor to give them the Casture and no Priests to go to their Houses and they shall be compell'd to deliver all such Notes to their Vicars to be torn and all that have used any of them tho' they should never do it more shall be punished for the space of six months with the said Penalties Decree IX THe Onzena or practice of Usury is a grievous Sin in the sight of God and is very much condemned in the Scriptures Christ commanding us to lend to others hoping for nothing again and the Synod being very much troubled to find the greatest part of the Christians of this Diocess entangled therein through their ignorance of what gains are lawful and â—hat are not and of what may be kept and what â—â—ght to be restored doth therefore admonish 〈◊〉 the Lord all Faithful Christians to consult â—he Learned about these Matters giving them 〈◊〉 account of all their Contracts in order to â—â—eir being rightly instructed as to what they â—ay lawfully take for Money they have lent out â—nd the Synod doth furthermore declare that â—ccording to the best Information it has receivâ—d the Interest of Money in Malabar is Ten per â—ent and whatever is taken more if the Principal runs no * Risk Most Convents in â—â—ding Cities lend out Money at â— or 7 per Cent. and take as much care to secure their Principal as â—y Usurer whatsoever so that the distinction of Lucrum Cessans and Damnum emergens will either justifie a legal Interest in general or it will not justifie what â—â—e lending Convents do But tho' this Decree falls in exactly with the common practice of the Church of Rome the Monks and Friars not excepted yet it plainly contradicts the Doctrine of that Church which is that all sort of Usury is a Mortal Sin for if the taking of 10 per Cent. for Money and that where the principal runs no risk is not Usury it will be hard to tell what is risk is Onzena or Usury and as to the Ten they shall likewise consult the Learned to whom they shall declare how Money may be improved in the place where it is lent that so they may be able to tell them whether it be lawful for them to take so much for it may happen that in some places there will not be so much to be got by the Negotiating of Money which must make such an high interest to 〈◊〉 there unlawful and whosoever shall take more than Ten per Cent. if his Principal runs no risk after having been three times admonished by the Prelate or Vicar without Amendment shall be declared Excommunicate and shall not be absolved until he has dissolved the said Contract Decree X. THe Synod doth condemn the taking of One per Cent. by the month where the Principal runs no risk being secured by a pledge and of Two per Cent. by the Month if the one is not payed punctually such Contracts being very unjust and manifest Onzena or Usury so that neither the want of a pledge nor any thing else can justifie the taking of Two per Cent. by the month if the Principal is not in danger all which Contracts the Synod doth prohibit and the Vicars to give their consent to any such and where they are made to dissolve them compelling all that are faulty therein by Penalties and Censures if it shall be found necessary The Synod doth furthermore condemn their calling all Gain arising from Money Onzena because it gives occasion for some to imagine that all such Gain is unlawful and notwithstanding such Gain is lawâ—â—l and may be justly taken in several Cases to â—â—ruple the taking any Decree XI WHereas there are great numbers of Christians who for want of having the Fear of God and the Church before their Eyes do coâ—bit publickly with Concubines to the great â—â—ndal of Christianity the Vicars shall thereâ—â—re with great Charity admonish all such Ofâ—â—nders three times declaring to them That if â—â—ey do not reform they must declare them Excommunicate and if after so many Admonitions they do not turn away their Concubines they must be Excommunicated until they are effectualâ—â— parted and be punished with other Penalties 〈◊〉 the pleasure of the Prelate according to the â—â—me that they have lived in that Sin and â—hen it shall so happen that their Concubines are their Slaves they shall constrain them not only to turn them out of their Houses but to send them out of the Country where they live that there may be no more danger of their relapsing which shall be likewise observed as to all other Women where there is the same danger Decree XII THe Synod doth very earnestly recommend it to all Masters and Fathers of
hujus sceleris à judicibus Ecclesiasticis praemissâ I do not deny but the Canons and Bulls of that Church are severe against all sorts of Simony namely the Bull of Julius the II. published in the Year 1553 against Simony in obtaining the Papacy I shall here set down the substance of that Bull and then leave it to any to judge whether according to that Bull we have had so much as one true Pope since it was made or are likely ever to have one so long as the Papacy continues so great a preferment Si Papa elâ—gatur per Simoniam nempe aliquo Cardinale quomodo libet suffragium ferente datâ vel acceptâ vel promissi pecuniâ vel honis cujuslibet generis Castris Officiis Beneficiis Promissionibus vel Obligationibus vel per se vel per alium pro Pontifice non habeatur item etiamsi duarum partium suffragiis vel unanimi Cardinalium concordiâ etiam per viam assumptionis concorditer nemine discrepante etiam sine scrutinio facto sit electio nullus existat nihil juris electus acquirat sive in Spiritualibus sive in Temporalibus contra electum per Simoniam oppâ—ri criminis exceptio possit sicut contra electum potest opponi vera indubitata haeresis electus Simoniacè à nullus pro Papâ habeatur Simony is one of the greatest offences in the Church and a pernicious plague therein which God has always punished with great rigour it being the selling of Spiritual things for Money and this Bishoprick which the Synod takes notice of with great regret having hitherto abounded with it Money having been publickly taken for the administration of the Holy Sacraments and after such a manner that none of them were given before the Money was either put into the Priest's hands or into the Church Box to be divided among them no not so much as the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist at which all pious Ears do tremble nor any other Sacraments or Dispensations for Marriages nor Absolutions from Excommunication nor the Consecrations of Stones nor any of the lesser Orders nor Licences nor Reverenda's to go to receive those Orders in another place nor Letters Dimissory for Clerks to go to other Diocesses all which was done at a Rated Price or by a Publick Agreement All which the Sydod detesting as a most execrable and horrid abomination doth therefore in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred command That no Money nor nothing else be taken for any of the foresaid things and that no Priests shall dare to take any thing for the administration of any of the Sacraments nor to give them upon any such consideration to any Person whatsoever but shall give the Holy Sacrament gratis to the Faithful according to the Precept of our Lord Christ who said Freely you have received freely you shall give neither shall they so much as receive Alms that the Faithful would give voluntarily though not given with any respect to the Sacrament if offered at the same time when the Sacrament is administred And the Priest that shall be found to transgress herein besides being Excommunicated shall be suspended from his Office and Benefice for three Years and the Vicars must take care to advertise the People thereof The Synod being moreover informed That a great many poor People who live in the Heaths do not bring their Children to be Baptized because they have not so much Money as is demanded doth order the Priest to be satisfied with the profits arising from the Dead the Alms they receive for their Masses in which the Synod declares there is nothing of Simony but only a congruous maintenance for the Priest that Celebrates given by the Person that he recommends and with the other Alms which the Faithful are accustomed to give which being Just and Holy shall be divided after the same manner as they have been formerly And the Synod doth declare further That such as are absolved from Excommunication if it was for any great Crime that they were under that Censure though there can be nothing taken for their Absolution yet for the Fault that they have committed they may by way of Punishment be Condemned in a Pecuniary Mulct if Authorized by the Prelate which Money must be put to some Pious use or employed in the building of a Church and the Offender being Poor he may be employed in Person to do some work about a Church for so long as shall be thought fit and in that Case no Money shall be required of him Decree XXI THe Synod desiring by all means possible to destroy and root out of this Diocess the pernicious Vice of Simony which it understands to have been encreased in part by the want the Ministers of the Church are in of a necessary maintenance doth therefore most earnestly entreat the People of this Bishoprick to apply a certain Yearly Summ to be raised by the way of Alms Collection or Assessment or by the way of Tithes according to Peoples Abilities for the support of the Vicar and Curate of their Souls and the other Ministers that are necessary to the Divine Service in the Church which the most Reverend Metropolitan may treat about in every Parish for they must know that Christians are bound both by Divine and Humane Laws to maintain the Priests which pray to God for them and give Spiritual Food to their Souls of which they are to render an account to God and their Prelates Decree XXII THat this Synod may by all ways possible supply the Necessities of the Ministers of the Church and by that means extirpate Simony besides what it desires the People to contribute towards their maintenance understanding their Poverty to be such that they are not able to supply them with so much as is necessary it doth further beseech his Catholick Majesty the King of Portugal that as Protector of the Christians of these parts and the only Christian King and Lord in the Indies he would be graciously pleased to provide the Vicars of this Church with a sufficient Maintenance as he does in all the other Churches of the Indies allowing them at least fifteen thousand Cruzado's to be divided among them all besides what shall be gathered for them in their respective Parishes which as the Synod is informed is the Summ that was formerly desired of his Majesty in the third Provincial Council of Goa in order to the reducing of this Church to the Obedience of the Church of Rome and the extirpating of Simony The Synod doth moreover intreat the most Illustrious Metropolitan to present this their Petition to his Majesty in the Name of this Church representing therewith the great Necessities of the Ministers thereof and that until such time as they shall have his Majesty's Answer the said Lord Archbishop Metropolitan of this Church and President of the Synod Dom fray Aleixo de Menezes understanding how effectual a course
this will be for the rooting the Pestilential Sin of Simony out of this Diocess and for the tying of Vicars to their Churches there to govern the Faithful and administer the Holy Sacraments to them would be pleased to give the said Summ of fifteen thousand Cruzado's Yearly out of his own Revenues and to pay it Quarterly at Goa to be divided among the said Vicars the distribution whereof the Synod orders to be made in all Churches according to the Allotments in the Instrument passed and signed and sealed by the said Lord Arch-bishop under the Great Seal of his Chancery every Church being to receive so much as was now read in the presence of the whole Synod Decree XXIII WHereas this Diocess is not only provided with a sufficient number of Clergy but has a great many more than are necessary and the Holy Council of Trent having prohibited that any more should be ordained than what are necessary for the Churches the Synod doth therefore command that during the vacancy of this See none shall be put into * If this was one of the Grievances of this Church the Arch-Bishop did not do well in Ordaining above a Hundred Priests among them in less than three Months time Holy Orders neither shall any Reverenda's or Licences be granted for that purpose such only as are in Holy Orders may go ascending therein as the Governour who is to be left in this Diocess by the most Illustrious Metropolitan shall judge convenient The Synod doth also put such as do aspire to Priests Holy Orders in mind of not failing to learn the Doctrine of the Sacraments and the Form of Sacramental Absolution so as to be ready to use them on all occasions and in all Cases of Necessity as also the absolution from Censures or at least the Conditional one which always goes before the Sacramental Absolution from Sins in Confession The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Matrimony THe seventh Sacrament is that of Matrimomony which according to the Apostle is the signification of that Union which is betwixt Christ and his Church The efficient Cause of Matrimony regularly is the Consent of both parties declared by Words or Signs de praesenti This Sacrament our Lord Jesus Christ Founded on the Matrimonial Contract which has always been in the World and in all Religions from whence it is that Matrimony is to be considered in two respects either as a Natural Contract or as a Sacrament instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ The Bond of Matrimony God hath made to be perpetual insomuch that it cannot be dissolved by any thing but Death according to what Christ said Whom God hath joined let no Man put asunder which is also in it self very convenient As it is a Sacrament there is Grace received therein as in other Sacraments our Lord Christ who was the Author and Institutor of the Divine Sacraments having by his Passion merited Grace for us whereby the Natural Love which is betwixt the Married couple is perfected and the conjunction that is betwixt them is confirmed and made Perpetual and the Husband and Wife are Sanctified There are two Reasons or Ends for which Matrimony was ordained and instituted the first and principal is the Procreation or Generation of Children for the conservation of the World and the multiplication of the Faithful and Servants of God The second is for a remedy for Uncleanness and that such as are inclined to that Vice might have a remedy given them by God so that living with their Wives they might not fall into that Sin from whence it is that People may not only Marry once but as often as one of the Parties dies because this end of Matrimony may not only be compassed in the first but equally in the subsequent Marriages wherefore the Church detests those as Hereticks who condemn second Marriages holding them to be unlawful as some Hereticks did anciently and as some of the most Superstitious Heathens do at this day in these Parts from whence it may also be collected that this Sacrament may not only be lawfully celebrated betwixt Persons capable of having Children but also betwixt those who according to the ordinary course of Nature cannot have any because the second end may be answered in such Marriages but where neither the one nor the other end can be answered as in Children for whom the Church has set a certain time and in such as are under a Natural Impotency that will last as long as they live as to Matrimonial Acts Matrimony is not to be celebrated And tho' both under the Law of Nature and of Moses there were Dispensations whereby Matrimony was made to deviate from its first Original some of the Patriarchs having had several Wives at once by a Divine Dispensation and the Law of Moses having permitted Divorces or the repudiating of Wives yet under the Evangelical Law by which Matrimony was perfected and restored again to its first Estate and Purity it is prohibited for a Man to have more than one Wife at a time and to turn away his Wife and take another so long as she lives The Benefits of Marriage are three principally the first is the Generation and Education of Children for the Worship and Service of the true God the second is the Fidelity which the Married couple ought to keep to one another and the third is the Perpetuity of Matrimony which in that it cannot be dissolved signifies that inseparable Conjunction and Union that is betwixt Christ and his Church And notwithstanding for the cause of Fornication or Adultery it is lawful for the Married couple to part as to Cohabitation yet it is not lawful to Marry with any other because the Bond of Matrimony being once lawfully tied is Perpetual and cannot be dissolved by any thing but the death of one of the Parties Decree I. HOly Mother Church has always so ordered the celebration of Matrimony as to make it to be understood to be a Holy thing and that as Holy it ought to be Holily treated wherefore for the removing of several inconveniencies and those especially that attend Clandestine Marriages she has ordained and commanded that Matrimony be celebrated in the face of the Church by the Vicar or Parish-Priest or some other Priest Licensed by him or the Prelate and in the presence of two or three Witnesses at least and that all Marriages that are not celebrated with this Solemnity by the Parish-Priest before two Witnesses are void and null And that the Priest who without leave from the Parish-Priest and the Parish-Priest who without two Witnesses shall presume to Marry any couple shall be severely punished Now the Synod understanding that this Rule is not observed in this Diocess but that the Persons who are to be married do imploy any Priest and are married where they please from which great Inconveniencies and Disorders do many times follow different Rites and Ceremonies being also used in divers places in the celebration thereof doth