to marry than to burn who saith likewise that a Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife that is unblameable and sober and in the same manner the Deacons and all Ecclesiasticks as well as Secular ought to have their own lawful Wives Our Monks notwithstanding this do not marry and neither Laicks nor Clerks among us can have above one Wife at a time With us Marriages are not celebrated at the Door of the Church but in private Houses we are taught likewise by the Constitution of the Apostles That if a Priest is convicted of Adultery Murther Theft or of having given false Testimony that he ought to be deprived of his Orders and punished as other Malefactors in the same kind and that an Ecclesiastick or Layman after having known his Wife or having been polluted in his sleep ought not in 24 hours after that to enter into the Church which Women are not to enter into till the 7th day after their menstrua's are over and until they have washed all the Clothes they had on at that time Furthermore a Woman that is delivered of a Man-child is not suffered to enter into the Church till after 40 days and of a Female not till about 80 days which Custom of the Old Law is commanded likewise by the Apostles whose Laws Constitutions and Precepts we do so far as we are able observe in all Cases It is likewise forbidden among us to suffer Heathens or Dogs or any other such Creatures The Habassins have a great veneration for their Churches to come within our Churches neither is it lawful for us to go into them otherwise than barefoot or to laugh walk or spit or speak of secular things in them For the Churches of Ethiopia are not like the Land wherein the People of Israel did eat the Paschal Lamb as they were going out of Egypt where God commanded them to eat with their shooes on and with their loins girt because of the pollution of the land But they are like the Mount Sinai where the Lord spoke to Moses saying Moses Moses put off thy shooes for the ground whereon thou treadest is holy Now this Mount Sinai was the Mother of our Churches from which they derive their original as the Apostles did from the Prophets and the New Testament from the Old Furthermore it is not lawful for a Priest or Layman or any other Person of what condition soever after the receiving of the Venerable Sacrament to Spit from Morning till Sun-set The Habassins are all Baptized every year on the day of the Epiphany and whoever does it is severely Punished In Memory of Christ we are also Baptized every Year on the day of Epiphany which is not done by us as a thing necessary to Salvation but only for the Praise and Glory of our Lord Neither is there any Feast that we Celebrate with so great Solemnities as this because it was on this day that the Most Holy Trinity first appeared manifestly when our Lord Jesus Christ was Baptized in the River of Jordan on whose Head the Holy Spirit Descended at that time in the Figure of a Dove and a Voice from Heaven said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which Holy Spirit being in the Shape of a White Dove did appear with the Face and Figure of the Father and Son in One Divinity After the same manner Christ was seen by the Prophets under various Forms and Similitudes first in the Figure of a White Ram for the preservation of Isaac the Son of Abraham after the same manner he called Jacob Israel and Jacob called Judah to whom he gave power over his Brethren A lions whelp saying My son thou wentest up to the prey and resting didst lie down as a lion and as a lioness who shall rouze thee He manifested himself likewise to Moses in the Figure of a flame of fire on mount Sinai and in the likeness of a Rock to the Holy Prophet Daniel and to Ezekiel as the Son of man and to Isaias in the Form of an Infant he appeared to King David and Gideon in dew upon a fleece and besides the forementioned was seen under divers other Similitudes by the Holy Prophets under all which various Figures he still bore the Similitude of the Father and the Holy Ghost and since God when he Created the World said Let us make man after our own image and similitude and he did make Adam after his own Similitude ahd Image we do for that reason say That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Three Faces in one Similitude and Divinity We have also retained Circumcision from the time of Queen Saba till this day They Circumcise both Men and Women this Queen 's true Name was Maqueda who had Worshipped Idols after the manner of her Ancestors until having heard much of the Wisdom of Solomon she sent a Prudent Person to Jerusalem to certifie her whether that King's Wisdom was so great as it was reported and after being satisfied that it was so she took a Journey to Jerusalem her self where among other things she was Instructed by Solomon in the Law and the Prophets and had the Books thereof bestowed upon her As she was on her Journey home she was Delivered of a Son begot by Solomon whom she Named Meilech and carried with her into Ethiopia where having remained till he was Twenty Years Old he went up to Jerusalem to Visit his Father and to learn Knowledge and Wisdom by him the Queen by Letters intreated Solomon to Consecrate his Son Meilech King of Ethiopia A blind story of the Queen of Sheba and her Son before the Ark of the Covenant and the Testament of the Lord and that after such a manner as to make it Unlawful for the future for a Woman to Reign in Etoiopia as was then the Custom and that the Males only in a direct Line should Inherit the Crown Meilech when he came to Jerusalem did with ease obtain all his Mother had desired and instead of Meilech was Named David by Solomon who having sufficiently Instructed him in the Law and other Sciences sent him home to his Mother in much greater State and Splendor than he came with sending several of the Nobles and of their Sons in his Train to serve him and together with them Azarias a Prince among the Priests the Son of Sadock who was likewise a Sacerdotal Prince whereupon Azarias put David upon asking leave of his Father for him to offer Sacrifice before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord for a prosperous Journey which he obtained Azarias after having with great speed and secrecy got Tables made in imitation of the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord did whilst he was offering Sacrifice with great dexterity steal the true Tables of the Ark of the Covenant and put his new ones in the place of them none but God and himself being conscious to what he had done this among us in Ethiopia is declared
in our Mouths and Memories and that I may be always delighting my self in your Gifts For the same reason I do earnestly intreat you to send me some Learned Men and Artificers namely Carvers of Images Sword-Cutlers and Gunsmiths and Gilders and Carpenters but especially Artificers who knew how to Build Houses with Stone and to cover them with Lead and Copper I should be glad likewise to have some that understand how to make Glass and Musical Instruments and how to play well upon them with some Pipers and Trumpeters These Artificers I desire chiefly from your Holiness but in case you should have none to spare I must intreat you to order some of the Christian Kings your Sons who are all at your Commands to send them unto me Which Artificers when they arrive here shall be treated honourably and rewarded according to their deserts they shall also have good Wages and whenever they shall desire it they shall have free leave to return home and be well rewarded for their pains for I will detain no body against his will how beneficial soever his stay should be to me But to pass to other things I must expostulate with you holy Father Why do you not exhort the Christian Kings your Sons to lay down their Arms as becomes Brethren and to agree among themselves seeing they are all your Sheep and you are their Pastor Your Holiness is not ignorant of the Gospel-Commands and of its having said A kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but will become desolate For if those Kings would but all join together they would quickly destroy all the Mahometans and with ease demolish the Sepulchre of their False Prophet Apply your self therefore to this holy Father that so there may be a firm Peace and Confederacy established among them and exhort them to assist us who are besieged on all sides by Wicked Mahometans and Moors The Turks and Moors can assist one another and their Kings and Rulers do all agree together I have a Mahometan for my Neighbour who is constantly supplied with Arms Horses and all Military Weapons by Princes of his own Sect namely the Kings of India Persia and Egypt this is a great mortification to me to see the Enemies of the Christian Religion enjoy Peace and live together like Brethren and at the same time to see Christian Kings my Brethren not in the least concerned at the Injuries I endure not one of them offering to succour me as becomes a Christian notwithstanding the filthy Sons of Mahomet are always ready to succor one another not that I desire any Soldiers of them for I have enough of my own and to spare but all that I desire of them is only their Prayers and Supplications and your Holiness and my Brethren's Favour The reason why I want your Friendship is that I may be furnished by you with such things as are necessary to terrify the Mahometans the Enemies of the Name of Christ And that my Neighbours may be made sensible of my being favoured by the Christian Kings my Brethren and of their being ready to assist me whenever there shall be occasion which would be much for the honour of all of us that are of the same Faith and Religion and do intend to persist therein God fulfil your Desires to the praise of Jesus Christ and of God our Father who is praised by all thorow all Ages and you my Lord and holy Father with all the Saints of Christ at Rome embrace me and let all my Subjects and all that dwell in Ethiopia be received with the same Embraces and let thanks be returned to Christ with your Spirit These Letters your Holiness will receive from my Brother John King of Portugal the most Powerful Son of King Emanuel who will send them to you by our Ambassador Francisco Alvarez A Second Letter of David Emperor of Ethiopia to the Roman Pontiff written in the Year 1524. HAppy and holy Father who art made by God the Conservator of the Nations and who dost sit in the Chair of St. Peter To thee are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatsoever thou binded or loosest on earth is bound and loose in heaven according to what Christ hath said in St. Matthew 's Gospel I the King at whose Name the Lyons tremble who at my Baptism was called Atami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin but who when I took the Administration of my Empire upon me assumed the Names of David the Beloved of God the Pillar of Faith the Prince of Judah the Son of Solomon the Son of the Pillar of Sion the Son of Zara Jacob the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh Emperor of the Great and High Ethiopia and of vast Kingdoms and Dominions King of Xoa and Caffate and Fatigar Angot Baru Baaltinganze Adea Vanga and Mahon and Saba from whence the Queen of Saba went and Barnagays the Lord of all Nubia to the Confines of Egypt All which Countries and a great many more not here mentioned are under our Dominion neither have I mentioned the fore-named out of Pride or Vaingloy or for any other reason but that the Great God may be the more praised who of his singular bounty has been pleased to bestow the foresaid Christian Empires upon my Ancestors and who hath likewise been gracious to me after a special manner that I might constantly do service to his Religion making me Lord of Adel and the Scourge of the Mahometans and Gentiles who do worship Idols I do after the manner of other Christian Kings my Brethren to whom I am no-ways inferior either in Power or Religion send to kiss your Holiness's Feet Within my own Territories I am the Fillar of Faith neither am I assisted with any Foraign Succors but I do place my whole trust and confidence in God as my Ancestors did before me who have all been sustained and governed by him ever since his Angel spoke to Philip who instructed the Eunuch of the powerful Queen Candace Empress of Ethiopia in the Faith as he was coming from Jerusalem to Gaza Philip then baptized the Eunuch and the Eunuch afterwards baptized the Queen with the greatest part of her Court and People who from that day to this have continued Christians and strong in the Faith My Ancesters without any other than Divine Assistance have propagated the Faith thorow vast Regions which I likewise labour daily to do being fixed between the large Borders of my Kingdoms as a Lyon encompassed within a Wood and strongly fortified against the Mahometans and other Nations that are Enemies to the Christian Faith and who will not give ear to the Word of God and my Exhortation For which reason I with my Sword girt about me do persecute them and will by degrees expel them relying on the Divine Assistance which is never wanting to me which is more than all Christan Kings can say who if they would but agree together might with
to yield Obedience to your Holiness in that King's Name and in the Name of all his Subjects We have detained him here for some time being willing for divers Reasons that he should accompany our dear Nephew Martin de Portugal our Councellor and Ambassador whom we have ordered to present the said Francis Alvarez Ambassador of the said King of Ethiopia to your Holiness to yield Obedience to you as also to acquaint you with what the Ambassador of the said King that was sent to us has laid before us together with the Copies of that King's Letters to us wherefore your Holiness will do a thing that will be very acceptable unto God if in all this Affair you do give entire Credit to the said Martin our Ambassador for certainly great thanks ought to be returned to God for having in the time of your Pontificate done so great a favour to your Holiness that a Portion of Christians who as to the largness of their Country are nothing inferior to this of ours should consent to the Catholick Faith and to the Roman Church by yielding Obedience to it We for our parts are very thankful to God for having made use of our Ministry in the Reduction of this King There being nothing more for the praise of true Piety than to behold Ethiopia joyned with Europe in the Unity of the Christian Profession May our Lord God be pleased to encrease and preserve the Felicity of your Holiness according to your own desire Dated at Settuval the 28th of May 1532. King John having made the Habassin Emperor's Complements in his Letters to the Pope to amount to a formal submission of himself his Church and Empire to him must make his having detained an Embassage of that Moment and which he himself Magnifies so much so long at Lisbon to be the more wonderful But what it should be that after having slighted this Embassy for five long Years induced him to trump it up thus if it were not to do his Nephew Honor is a Mystery I shall leave to the Reader to unriddle having only observed that there were two Creations of Cardinals soon after it came to Rome The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors being arrived at Bononia The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia where the Pope and the Emperor Charles the Fifth were together at that time they had the 29th of January given them for the Day of their publick Audience When being introduced into a publick Consistory at which the Emperor was present the Portuguese presented his Master's Letters to the Pope together with the Copies of those which had been sent to him and his Father by the King of Ethiopia When the Portuguese had done the Habassin presented his Master's Letters to the Pope and with them a Gold Cross that weighed about a Pound And having made the submission of the Emperor of Ethiopia and of his whole Church and Empire to his Holiness he was afterwards admitted to kiss his Foot and after that his Hand and at last his Mouth and having delivered the following Speech in Portuguese it was spoke aloud in Latin by the Secretary of the Portuguese Embassy MOST Holy and Blessed Father The Habassiâ— Ambassador's submission to the Pope the most Serene and Potent Lord David King of the Great and High Ethiopia who is commonly called Pretegya and who is no less glorious for the veneration he has for the True Religion than for his Empire Wealth and Kingdoms has sent this Ambassador to your Holiness with the Letters he has delivered to you commanding him to yield obedience and subjection to your Holiness in his Name and in that of his Kingdoms as Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor and the Chief Pontiff of the whole Church and to present you with a Gold Cross which he hopes your Holiness not regarding the value thereof which is but small but the veneration that is due to it for Christ's having suffered thereon for our sakes will be pleased to accept of beseeching your Holiness in the name of the said Prince to accept of all that he has offered with a pious affection of a Father for your most devout Son To which Harangue the Pope's Secretary return'd the following Answer OUR most holy Lord doth receive you The Pope's Answer to the Habassin Ambassador my Lord Francis Alvarez the Ambassador of the most serene David King of Ethiopia together with his Obedience Gift and Letters with a good Will and Paternal Affection and doth return Thanks to God that such Letters and such an Ambassador should come in the time of his Pontificate from so great and remote a Christian Emperor he hath heard what you have said with Attention and great Joy and has with his Venerable Brethren the Cardinals graciously accepted of your Master's Obedience as also of his Gift both for the Honour that is due to the Holy Cross and the good Affection of the Donor And he doth furthermore highly extol in the Lord the most serene King of Portugal who besides the other great Services done by himself and Progenitors to the Common-wealth and Christian Faith has likewise deserved well of King David by having entred into an Alliance with him and having procured your being sent with these Letters to the Pope What remains is his Holiness will endeavour to the utmost of his Power so far as the great distance that is betwixt their Countries will permit so to satisfie the desires of the said King as to make him sensible of his being in the Place of a most dear Son in Christ and in the Affection and Esteem of his Holiness and the Holy Apostolical See no less than other Christian Princes And his Holiness will treat with the Ambassador of Portugal and you concerning these Affairs and will by his Letters and Nuncio's Return an Answer to all that your King has desired Zaga Zaba having nothing else to do at Lisbon Zaga Zaba's the Habassin Ambassador at Lisbon Account of the Religion and Customs of his Countrey and being willing to ingratiate himself with that Court by representing the Habassin Church as agreeing with the Roman in the Chief Doctrines wherein the Reformers contradict her did put Pen to Paper and drew up the following Account of the Religion Customs and Rites of his Countrey An Account of the Habassin Religion and Customs composed by Zaga Zaba the King of Ethiopia's Ambassador and written with his own Hand at Lisbon In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen WE believe in the Name of the Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost who are One Lord and Three Names One Divinity and Three Faces though but One Similitude and are an equal conjunction of Persons equal I say in Divinity One Kingdom One Throne One Word One Spirit the Word of the Father and the Son and the Word of the Holy Spirit and the Son is the same Word the Word with God the Word with the Holy
Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met
privilege and primacy to his Successors in the Chair of Rome where it has continued and will continue to the end of the world so that it shall neither be in the power of Moors nor Turks nor of any other Creature to destroy it those words of our Lord Jesus the Gates of all shall not pervail against it being its sure defence So when a Controversy arose in the Church the first Council of Nice which consisted of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops threw Arius out of the Church for affirming the Son of God to be a Creature as the second Council consisting of One hundred and fifteen Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Constantinople did Macedonius for asserting the Holy Ghost to be a Creature and the third Council consisting of Three hundred Bishops did Nestorius for dividing Christ into Two Persons the Divine and Human and the fourth consisting of Six hundred and thirty Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Calcedon Excommunicated the Rebellious Dioscorus for joyning in Infidelity with Eutyches in mixing the Humanity with the Divinity so as to make One only Nature whereas it is most certain That there are Two Natures in Christ the Divine and Human on the account of which Divine Nature it was that the said Three hundred and eigheeen Fathers did put the following words into the Creed We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Father and who was with him before the World was Created as on the account of his Human Nature the following words were added And was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary with the Consent of the Father and the Son and of the said Holy Ghost Three Persons and One only God the Father and the Son not being named on that occasion being no argument of those Father 's not believing they did not Co-operate therein with the Holy Spirit but it was done on purpose to teach us That in the Most Blessed Trinity besides the operations ad Intra there are operations ad Extra according to the holy Fathers of those ad Extra the Works of Power are attributed to the Father those of Wisdom to the Son and those of Love to the Holy Ghost Wherefore since the Incarnation of the Son of God was for the sake of the Sons of Men and for that reason was a Work of Love The Three hundred and eighteen Fathers did attribute it to the Holy Spirit Though in Virtue and Power and the Creation of things the Father Son and Holy Ghost are One only True God The Virgin Mary was mentioned by them upon account of the Human Nature which in an instant united it self to the Eternal Person of the Son who is equal in Divinity to the Father and that in our Lord Jesus Christ being only One Person there are Two Natures is written in divers Books of the Holy Spirit St. Matthew in the beginning of it calleth his Gospel The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham which was said on the account of his Human Nature as it was on the account of his Divine Nature that St. John saith In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word the Divine Nature having neither Beginning nor End whereas the Human Nature had a Beginning All which Writings notwithstanding Eutyches the Master of Mischief did affirm That there was only One Nature in Christ and so mixed the Humanity with the Divinity now this Rebel was followed by Dioscorus who assisted him both in word and deed and having procured the Murther of Flavianius Patriarch of Constantinople for having Excommunicated Eutyches and some other obstinate Hereticks that were before him namely Arius Macedonius Nestorius and Sabellius all which matters having been submitted to the Holy Roman Church the Head of all other Churches on the account of the Empire and Primacy that it hath by inheriting the Power of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles It is certain the Patriarchs who succeeded Dioscorus in the See of Alexandria have not Preached the true Faith in having taught that there is only One Nature in Christ and so being destitute of the true Faith they have wandered out of the paths of Patriarchs Bishops and Priests in having had Wives and Children and Grand-Children and have been intangled in divers things not fit to be named they have also taken Money for Holy Orders and having Consecrated Salt Stones for Altar Stones have afterwards sold them having likewise tyrannized cruelly over those they Ordained obliging several of them to serve them a Year or Six Months at least in sawing Wood or Stone for their Palaces before they would Ordain them for which Practice they were Excommunicated by the Apostle who said He that buyeth or selleth Orders is excommunicated and has his portion with Simon Magus and Judas The Abuna Mark was Convicted by the Emperor Malec Saged of several carnal Crimes which are not fit to be heard or Uttered they being of that kind for which God rained down fire from Heaven and being Deposed for having been guilty of them he was Banished into the Island of Dek where he dyed a strange death his Belly swelling as hard as a Drum The Abuna Christos Dula kept several Concubines contrary to the custom of Patriarchs as was well known by all his Contemporaries and by some that are still alive His Successor Peter kept a Malaquis Wife and having been convicted of Adultery he did Penance for it as may be testified by several living Witnesses namely one Joseph and one Marino who are both Strangers and not Habassins and who adding sin to sin did Excommunicate the Emperor Jacob after he had Reigned Seven Years as he did all the People of Ethiopia likewise in case they did not Depose him and Banish him to the Kingdom of Narea and having placed Za Danguil in the Throne he afterwards excited his Subjects to Murther him by Excommunicating them if they did not do it and as if all this had not been enough he took the Field with the Emperor Jacob against us and was killed with him in the Fight The Abuna Simon was guilty likewise of divers enormous Grimes who besides his having taken one Mali an Egyptian 's Wife from him and dishonoured several Virgins he kept divers Concubines and happening to have a Child by one who was not able to maintain it to conceal his shame he ordered it to be thrown to the Wolves by whom it was devoured this every body knows to be true namely the Azages and who when Julius Rebelled instead of labouring according to the custom of Patriarchs and Monks to make Peace joyned with him in his Rebellion and having called his Soldiers together told them on the day before the Battel That he forgave them all Young and Old their Sins notwithstanding they had broke all the Commandmendments upon condition they would put all to the Sword
young a man to have attained to so great a stock of Learning I was told likewise that he read my Treatise over and that after he had once read it it was seldom out of his Hand and that he was still shewing it to his Mother and Brothers and the Grandees of the Court and that upon the Abuna's having denounced an Excommunication against all that should read it the King had sent to him for leave to read it again and was put into such a Passion by the Abuna's having deny'd it to him that he called him Mahometan and Heretick saying He would read the Alcoran of Mahomet himself and at the same time not give him leave to read a godly Book commanding him thereupon since he was their Abuna to answer a Book that was written by a poor Clerk who had no Dignity To which the Abuna's answer was That he did not come into Ethiopia to dispute but to confer holy Orders The Court however being divided about this Affair some seeming to favour the Roman but most and especially the Queen-Mother and all her Creatures stickling for the Alexandrian Faith the King resolved to call together some of the most Learned among his Monks to have their Opinion in the matter and in order thereunto he commanded my Treatise to be Translated into Habassin leaving out those Passages he was displeased with when he first looked into it namely that where I spoke of the Pope St. Leo and of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria whom they reckon a Saint as they do Leo to be Excommunicated and Accursed and for whom they have such a detestation that they cannot endure so much as to have him named rejecting the Council of Calcedon and its Decrees which they say erred in the Faith in condemning St. Dioscorus as they unjustly Stile him Since which time they have always been separated from the Roman Church having now for 1067 years been involved in the Heresy of Sergius Paulus and Pyrhus who were all condemned in the Sixth Council of Constantinople and in that of Eutyches likewise which holds that there is but one nature in Christ The time being come when I was to receive the King's Answer I sent to know when I should wait upon him he sent me back word his Father's Embassador waited Ten years in Portugal before he could be dispatched I understood by this the King was for entertaining me with delays on purpose to keep me from returning with the Fleet which waited for us for fear least we might discover the weakness of his Empire to them and so when I went to have my Conge from him in order to my returning to Debora he commanded one to tell me That so great a man as I was and who had come so far was not to be dismissed quickly Besides that I could go no where where I could do so much good as where I was in confessing the Portugueses nevertheless if I was resolved not to remain in Ethiopia he would then desire me only to wait a month longer for his Answer and if I did not receive it then I might look upon my self as dismissed Presently after this he removed his Camp to a place that was two days journey from the place where it was we followed the Camp and being in the Field on Saturday and Sunday we set up an Altar whereon we said Mass on both those days where I was visited by three Monks who desired to have some Discourse with me about Matters of Religion One of them who was a Scholar told me That all that we did appeared well to him excepting that of our not observing Saturday and that of our cating Hare and Swine's Flesh Nevertheless after this he disgorged several Errors in Faith namely That the Souls when they leave the Body cannot presently behold the Divine Essence but are placed in a Terrestrial Paradise That the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son but from the Father only That the Son as to his Humanity was equal to the Father That none but Mahometans and Infidels were damned eternally in Hell I returned answers to all these Errors and declared the contrary Truths to him both from Scripture and Reason with which he was so fully satisfied that whispering me in the Ear that the two other Monks who were illiterate might not hear him he said What I had told him was the truth and that he believed it to be so in his heart The Month being expired I went to wait upon the King for his Answer and for leave to return home he bid me go in a good hour and as for the Fathers the King of Portugal designed to send to him he said He had appointed one to wait at Matrua to receive them when they landed being desirous to hear what they had to say to him With this I took my leave of him and passing thorough the Countries where divers of the Portugueses lived I confessed them and their Families and Married several of them to their Concubines having first reduced them to our holy Faith There was one among them who was nearly related to the King And whereas the Churches of that Countrey besides that they belong to Schismaticks have no Altars accommodated to our Service whereever we went we carried an Altar with us to celebrate on While I was in one of these places I received a Complement from a Prelate of a great Monastery of Monks of the Order of St. Anthony and one likewise from the Prelate of a Nunnery which were two Leagues off This Monastery of Monks is one of the biggest in Ethiopia it is called Debra Libanus and is of such Credit that all the Faith of Ethiopia depends upon it in a manner for which reason the Prelate thereof is in high Esteem I went to give him a Visit being attended by all the Portugueses of the place but he happened to be from home we nevertheless took a view of the Monastery which is no ways like ours neither as to Building nor as to their way of living every Monk having his distinct Dwelling-House and Land belonging to it which he cultivates with his own Hands so that the Habassin Monasteries look like Villages the Monks having their Houses on one side of the Street and the Nuns theirs on the other but not being kept asunder the Nuns are frequently troubled with Great Bellies These Monks are neither of the Order of St. Francis No mention of Rodriguez having seen the old Patriarch tho his chief business in Ethiopia was to fetch him from thence if he found him alive nor St. Austin but were founded by one Tecla Haymanot that is The Plant of the Faith who was of the Order of St. Anthony This Haymanot is a great Saint among them and is said to have killed a prodigious Serpent that was worshipped by the Heathens as a God whom he converted by that means to the Faith that is still taught in Ethiopia Thus much of Rodriguez's Relation the Jesuits have thought
consult with the Viceroy what course they were to take He remains there and sends his Spanish Coadjutor into Ethiopia with a promise of Portuguese Troops to be sent after him the Patriarch notwithstanding Rodriguez melancholy Account of things is said to have been extreamly zealous to have gone to his Province saying He should either be able to effect there what he was sent to do or should have the Honour of dying a Martyr Nevertheless after several Consultations had been held about it it was at last resolved That the Spaniard Bishop Andrew should be first sent thither with some of the Fathers of the Mission but that the Patriarch and the Portuguese Bishop should remain at Goa till things were more promising in Ethiopia than at present they were of which if it ever happened Bishop Andrew was to send them intelligence In pursuance of this Resolution Bishop Andrew embarked in February and towards the latter end of March landed at Arkiko where having made no stay he went on with a good Train of Portuguese to Deboraa and was there received by Bahurnagays the Prince of the Country with great kindness The Bishop so soon as he came to Debora writ the following Letter to the Emperor THE Heavenly Father The Coadjutor's Letter to the Emperor with his Son Consubstantial and Eternal and the Spirit the Comforter one only God and Three Persons be always with your Highness with an abundance of his Divine Graces that so you may in all things know and follow his most Holy Will according to what our Lord Christ hath said in St. John 's Gospel My food is to do the will of him that sent me teaching us likewise in St. Matthew 's Gospel to pray Thy will be done The Catholick and Illustrious Don John the Third King of Portugal after he had prevailed with his Holiness to send a Patriarch with some Associates into Ethiopia being thereunto moved by no worldly Interest but purely by a Zeal for God and the Love he has for your Highness has been at a vast Charge the particulars whereof his Highness might be acquainted with if he pleased to convey them to the Indies where the Patriarch now remains waiting your Highness's Pleasure that when he comes he may serve Christ here the more effectually It was nevertheless thought expedient that I and some of the Fathers of the Society should be sent before the Patriarch having before I left Goa invested me with full Authority as his Coadjutor which I was ordained to by his Holiness and accordingly we are come as far as Deboraa where we have been kindly entertained by Bahurnagays and have met with very good Company namely Francis Jacome and divers other Portugueses Our business here is to serve God and your Highness whose Royal Person and Estate may God preserve for his greater Service and Honour Amen Deboraa the 26th of March 1557. The Coadjutor after having staid three Weeks at Deboraa He goes to Court intriguing with Bahurnagays about the Troops the Viceroy had promised to send after him begun his Journey to Court being waited upon all the way by that Prince and being come within a days Journey of the Camp he was commanded to stop till he received further Orders where having waited two days he received Orders to advance and being come within Cannon-shot of the Camp was commanded to pitch his Tent there where having staid a Day and a Night about Noon a great Troop of the Princes of the Blood and chief Nobility all well-mounted and equipped came to wait on him to his Audience two of which having alighted went into the Coadjutor's Tent and having complemented him in the Name of the Emperor told him His Highness was ready to give him a publick Audience and had sent the splendid Body of Men he saw to wait upon him to it The Coadjutor having returned their Complement he robed himself in his Pontificalibus and mounted a Horse that had been sent to him by the Emperor and besides the Habassins who paid their Respects to him one by one he advanced towards the Royal Tent attended with a numerous Train of Portuguese who to do their Religion and their Country the greater Honour had come from all parts of Ethiopia to be present at this Solemnity The Emperor having contrary to Custom ordered the Coadjutor with his whole Train to ride into the first Court of the Palace had placed himself with his Mother in a Window behind Curtains to see the Cavalcade and after having waited a while in the first Court they were all commanded to alight and to advance to the second where they were not kept long before they were conducted into the Tent He is received with great Ceremony betwixt a Guard of Old Men of the first Quality who with Batoons in their Hands stood all in good order paying their Respects to the Coadjutor as he passed by them with a profound Reverence and Silence from the Antichamber where he did not wait long he was introduced into the Emperor's Presence by two of the Principal Ministers whereof his Friend Bahurnagays was one and having paid the customary Obeisances the Emperor received him with extraordinary Civility asking him several Questions about the King of Portugal and the present State of his Affairs as also concerning himself and his Voyages and Journeys So soon as the Emperor gave over asking him Questions the Coadjutor presented the Pope's Ignatius and the King's Letters to him which the Emperor opened and looked into immediately but he had not read far before the change that was observed in his Countenance did clearly discover that he was not at all satisfied with their Contents and particularly with their supposing him to be a Member of the Roman Church a thing saith a Jesuit who was present at the Ceremony as far from his thoughts as Rome is from Ethiopia nevertheless being a Wise and Well-bred Prince and if they would have let him alone with his Religion a great Friend to the Portugueses he so far dissembled his Resentments as to dismiss the Coadjutor with great demonstrations of Kindness granting him leave to come to him as often as he had any business with him The Coadjutor at all his following Audiences He urges the Emperor to submit himself to the Pope was at the Emperor continually to submit himself and his Kingdoms to the Pope assuring him though he would not be so civil as to believe him That the Pope was Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor upon Earth and that there was no Salvation for any one out of his Obedience The Answer the Emperor returned still to all the Coadjutor's passionate assurances was The Emperor declares his resolution never to do it That the Ethiopick Church had from the beginning been subject to the Chair of St. Mark at Alexandria and that he was so fully satisfied of the Justice of that Obedience that nothing in the world should ever be able to make him throw
sends an Army against the Rebels and routs them and knowing himself not to be strong enough to deal with him he Retreated to the Mountains where his Army's Zeal being allayed by the want of Provisions it moulder'd to nothing in a short time so that he was obliged with a small Party to take fanctuary among the Gauls who having been hired to it by the Emperor put him to death The Emperor being returned to Doncaz where he intended to spend the Winter was invited by the Fathers to come and visit the new Church they had built at Gorgora which he did with great Devotion putting his Shoes off when he entered into it but the late Proclamation had bred too much ill blood in Ethiopia for to let it be long quiet The Damotes a People inhabiting the banks of Nile being thrown into such a rage by Raz Cella their Viceroy's rigorous Execution thereof that they all flew to their Arms as one Man being likewise instigated so to do by great droves of Hermits who being alarmed by the late Proclamation flocked to them from all parts of the Desarts railing all the way they came at the Emperor and his Brother as Apostates and at the Jesuits as the Authors of all their troubles several of them running over the Countrey as men distracted and roaring as they went That all People were bound in Conscience to take up Arms against the Emperor and his Brother in defence of their Religion which they seemed to be resolved to destroy The Viceroy hearing of the mad work the Hermits were making among the Damotes writ to some of his Friends in those parts not to suffer themselves and the People to be any longer abused by such a pack of Ignorant and Hypocritical Rascals who taught them nothing but Lies but he could have no other answer from them than That unless he would burn all his Popish Books and deliver up all his Jesuits to them The Damotes take up Arms for their Religion and are routed that they might hang them all upon one great Tree for the mischiefs they had done in Ethiopia they would have nothing more to do with him being all to a man resolved to live and die in the Alexandrian Faith The Viceroy not caring to part with his Books and Jesuâ—â—s so easily advanced towards them with an Army of Seven Thousand well-disciplin'd Men the Damotes were near double the Number having Four hundred Hermits who had devoted their Lives to their Religion well Armed with Targets and Launces this great inequality in numbers did not hinder the Viceroy from offering them Battel so soon as he came up with them which they having accepted of the two Armies quickly came to blows but the Damotes being raw men and not well Armed were at the first onset put to the rout and besides a great slaughter that was made among the Soldiers as they fled towards the Mountains there were One hundred and eighteen of the Monks with their famous Captain Batare found slain upon the spot where the Fight was the Viceroy is said to have lost but One Man in the Action and he too which made the loss the less was a Heathen A Miraculous Evidence say the Jesuits of the Truth of the Roman and of the falshood of the Alexandrian Faith The Emperor when Father Peter Congratulated him upon this Victory told him He had great reason to thank God for it for that had the Damotes gained the least advantage he should have had the whole Empire presently in Arms against him whose Spirits he believed were now pretty well subdued and that after such a blow it would not be soâ—eâ—â—y for the Monks or Hermits to Roar them into any more Rebellions and whereas he had hitherto been with-held by his fear and his Wife 's The Emperor reconciles himself to the Church of Rome which he was very unwilling to have parted withal from Reconciling himself formally to the Church of Rome he told the Father he would delay to do it no longer the Father over-joyed to hear this upon his having first Abjured all the Alexandrian Errors and made a Confession of his whole Life to him gave him Absolution and Reconciled him to the Pope But the Father overcome it is like by the Joy of this Conversion outlived it but a few days his Death was much Lamented by the Emperor and his Brother to whom the Father was become a perfect Oracle in all State no less than Church-matters Presently after Father Peter's death there were Three Letters writ from Ethiopia to the Provincial and Visitor of the Jesuits in the Indies to send them a Patriarch with as many Fathers as they could spare The first was writ by the Emperor to the Provincial the second and third to the Visitor by Father Luis de Azevedo and Father Antony Fernandez The Contents of which Letters being much the same I shall set down that of Father Antony's only which is the shortest of them Father Antony Fernandez Letter to the Father Visitor of the Indies I Write this with the good News of this Kingdom to your Reverence to engage you to order Processions to be made and to have Masses said and the Te Deum sung to return Thanks to God for the favour he has shewed us in the Conversion of this Empire the doing whereof will very much refresh the Fathers and Brethren who labour here with me and will sweeten the great hardships they undergo The Emperor with his whole Court and all the Grandees and Princes Ecclesiastical and Secular of this Empire have abjured their Errors and made a publick Profession of their Obedience to the holy See of Rome The general Administration of all Churches and Parishes being put into my hands I have Established Curates in them all having made such new Laws as were necessary and abolished all the old ones that were contrary to the Roman Church I have had some thoughts of coming to you and have been ready to begin my Journey but have been still hindered by the Glory of God which obligeth me to keep close to the Emperor The thing we stand most in need of here at present is a Patriarch with a good number of Fathers to help us to carry on these good beginnings Your Reverence cannot but be sensible of this our want without my enlarging upon it Our Fathers and Brethren ought to run thorough fire and water Pikes and Swords for to assist this Countrey lest having the promised Land shewed us we may be excluded it thorough our own fault They ought to flock hither with all possible speed for notwithstanding the Heirs apparent of the Empire and all the Princes and Nobles thereof are at present true Catholicks Nevertheless should we happen to be deprived of the Emperor and his Brother Zela Christos by death it is to be feared that the Monks and Habassins might raise seditions to the pulling down of all that we have built and may persuade the people who are more
changeable than the wind to abandon what they have so lately embraced Wherefore your Reverence would do well to send us all the Fathers you can spare let them be at least Twenty whom we shall endeavour to accommodate the best we can until it shall please God to raise up a Cardinal or Prince to have compassion upon these poor people and to succor those who labour in their Conversion No day passeth wherein the Emperor do's not speak to us to send for Two hundred Fathers saying God will provide for them when they come I am sensible the Society cannot furnish us with so many though if it could the Corn here is so ripe for the Harvest that they would all find work enough We did at first accommodate our selves to the customs of the Countrey that we might with the more ease gain them to the Lord having besides the Fasts that are commanded kept Wednesdays and observed Lent and Easter and the other principal Feasts according to their stile according to which Easter falls sometimes a Month sooner than with us reciting our Offices likewise after their custom on the Evening of Fasting-days but so soon as we found them disposed for it we proposed to them the Rites Customs and Ceremonies of the Latin Church and the decrees of the Pope which they have now universallly agreed to so that of late we have without any contradiction kept Easter and the other Feasts according to the Roman stile For the settlement whereof they have earnestly demanded the Tables of our Moveable Feasts and the Ecclesiastical Epact to prevent their being mistaken I have by Letter desired our Provincial to send us such Tables that any one of a common capacity may accommodate the names that are in them to the names of this Countrey To which end I have sent him a Table that was made here by a Catholick who is very expert in Arithmetick that he may examine it and alter it as he shall think convenient And I do earnestly beseech your Reverence to get this affair dispatched as soon as it is possible and to order continual Prayers to be made to God in our behalf and in behalf of this Countrey We have lost two good Fathers here God take us under his Protection for this Mission has sustained a great loss by their deaths this Empire which wants I do not know how many Priests at present has only Father James Matos and Father Anthony Bruno who have the sole charge of Gojam and Father Lewis d' Azevedo who is gone lately to Ambra and my self who am fixt at Court Praised be God we are all in health at present but Father Lewis 's ordinary distempers are such as demand a writ of ease for him but Charity and a Zeal for Souls overcomes all difficulties I do recommend my self to your Reverence's Prayers and holy Sacrifices March 3d. 1623. How far Popery was from having got such footing in Ethiopia as this Letter represents it to have had will appear from the sequel of the Story Such Reports as these of the Conversion of Ethiopia being transmitted to Rome Mutio Vitelesci the General of the Jesuits to secure the honour of that Conversion to his own Order waited upon the Pope The General of the Jesuits makes the Emperor's submission from the Pope without any commission from him to do it and without any Commission or Order from the Emperor to do it made a submission to the Pope in his name with all the usual Solemnities and not being able to obtain leave no more than Ignatius though he begg'd it of the Pope with the same earnestness as his Patriarch had done to go in person to Ethiopia to finish that great work he contented himself with sending a Nuncio to do it the Jesuit he employed in this Embassy was one Manuel d' Almeyda who at that time resided at Bacaim in the Indies who with Three other Fathers arrived at Fremona in Ethiopia in the Year 1624. where having staid a Month with his Brethren to inform himself of the true state of Affairs he begun his Journey to Court where when he arrived he was received with great Ceremony by the Emperor who when the Nuncio at his first audience offered to have kissed his hand would not suffer him to do it He sends a Nuncio to him to acquaint him therewith but having commanded him to sit down by him he asked him several Questions concerning the Pope and the King of Portugal and the state of Affairs in Europe the Nuncio perceiving that he took no notice of his Master Vitellesci stood up and told him That his Reverend General Mutio Vitellesci not having to his great sorrow been able to obtain leave of the Pope to come in person to wait upon his Highness had sent him to kiss his hand in his name and to return his Highness his thanks for the favours he had shew'd to the Friars of his Order and to acquaint him furthermore with his having made his Highness submission to the Pope who is the head of the Church and Christ's Vicar on Earth by having kissed his Holinesse's feet in his name The Emperor though surprized did not seem to be displeased with the General for having been so officious but having commanded his Letters to be read presently by Father Anthony he was so well satisfied with them that he ordered his Historiographer who was present at the reading of them not to forget to insert them into his life The Emperor reckoning he had so far subdued the Spirits of his Subjects that he might now do what he pleased with them begun to make bolder steps towards the introducing of Popery than he had ventured to make before and in order to make the Alexandrian Faith odious to his People he set forth the following Manifesto on purpose to blacken the Memories of their former Abuna's The Manifesto of the Emperor Saltem Saged cometh to the whole world of his Empire HEAR what we say and write in favour of the holy Faith which is true The Emperor publisheth a reproachful Manifesto against the Alexandrians and has no crookedness in it of the great City of Rome the Chair of St. Peter whom our Lord Jesus Christ Constituted the Prince of the saithful telling him from his own holy mouth from whence no error could flow Thou art Peter c. as he did also when he was ready to be crucifi'd for the Redemption of the world Simon behold Satan hath designed to winnow thee as Wheat but I have pray'd that thy faith may not fail commanding him likewise after his Resurrection and before his Ascension in the flesh into Heaven to feed his Rams his Sheep and his Lambs meaning by Rams men by Ews women and by Lambs children and thus St. Peter had Authority given him over all Christians This venerable Prince of the Apostles when he was about to leave the world that he might go to his Creator to receive his reward bequeathed this
Popery which was slackened so much of late I shall nevertheless set them down as they are published by the Jesuits leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader Pope Urban the VIIIth To Seltem Saged Emperor of Ethiopia Health and Apostolical Benediction MOST dear Son in Christ The Stream of the River Nile doth at this time make glad the City of God Fruits fit for the Banquets of Angels being brought from the thirsty Land of Ethiopia to the Palace of St. Peter there being nothing that the Mother of Riches or that Africk which is so fruitful of Monsters can bring to Rome the Mother of Christianity that is so Precious and wonderful as your Majesty's Letters addressed to Gregory the XVth of happy Memory to whose place though unworthy of it the Holy Spirit has been pleased to call us when we read them we could not forbear weeping for joy to hear that the vast Empire of Ethiopia had submitted it self to the Laws of the Roman Pontificate O happy Prince who after having Conquered divers Nations and triumphed over all your Enemies have been able to exalt the Trophies of the Cross of Christ upon the Towers of your Provinces For you do really plant Heaven in your Empire so long as the favour of so great a King is sought after by the making a profession of the Catholick truth Go on my Dear Son since God favours you and Rome by its applauses exalts you to the Society of those Princes who for having propogated the Kingdom of Heaven have an immortal memory in the praises of Mankind for notwithstanding your Majesty's Empire is beyond the anciently known ways of the Sun the Apostolical Senate which comprehends all the Nations of the Christian Commonwealth beholdeth all your Heroick Actions giving manifold applauses on the Theatre of the world to your Majesty and to all that are employed by you in suppressing the rashness of Rebels and in breaking the horns of Fiends We the Vicar of the Almighty Majesty in this Throne which all Christians do with bended knees adore have turned the eyes of our Apostolical solicitude towards your Majesty praying that the most exalted Arbiter of Princes may send his Angels to be Soliders in your Triumphant Armies we are not ignorant of what some people drive at for we behold whole Legions of Devils fighting against the Scepter of Christ which is the strength of your Majesty's Right-arm we know the Professors of false Doctrines do likewise whet their Tongues as a Sword that so they may with the poison of their Impiety infect the Bread of Life Assume a courage therefore worthy of the Race of David in whom the House of Ethiopia glories as in their Ancestor who when such people placed their Camps against him did put his trust in God and so found by Experience that the name of the Lord was the Tower of David guarded by aâ— heavenly Host and praised by a victorious Army My most dear Son it is undoubtedly as you write that the Pests of their Countrey and the Disturbers of the people shall not God assisting you be suffered to reign We do most affectionately impart our Apostolical Benediction to your self and your best Brother and to all your Royal Family and faithful People and shall pray continually that you may always have the Arms of light from the Sanctuary of the Divinity and we do here with the keys of the Pontiff open unto you the Treasure of the heavenly Indulgence with whose healthful riches we do at this time bless the Ethiopick Church we shall likewise be always mindful to sollicit the most Powerful King of Spain to grant you all that you shall desire of the Austrian House Most Dear Son we do embrace you in the arms of our Apostolical Charity and carrying you in our hearts we shall always adorn you with the Patronage of our Pontificate and while you do with a Royal Piety venerate the Patriarch of Ethiopia and his Coadjutors you give Examples to others to honour the Priesthood and do whet the sollicitude of holy Prelates to labour in Ethiopia we wish you joy of the obedience of your people who so long as a Religious King fights under the standard of Christ do never Desert him Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman this First of February 1627. in the Fourth Year of our Pontificate Pope Urban the VIIIth's Letter to the Prince Our Most Beloved Son in Christ Health and Apostolical Benediction THE Wealth of Nile floweth to the glory of your Name Urban's Letter to the Prince and you the Son of the Ethiopick Empire do grow up in the hopes of a most powerful Principality you do nevertheless understand God having taught you how miserable you had been had you not drank of the streams of the Gospel out of the Fountain of the Catholick Church and if you had not by adoring St. Peter in the Roman Pontificate been made the Son of God whose Possession and Workmanship the whole frame of Heaven and Earth is in the Roman Church The holy Quire of Reigning Priests and of Obedient Nations do applaud the Heir that is to rule in Ethiopia with Christian Virtue rejoicing that a Kingdom is prepared for you out of which your triumphant Father the Scepter of whose Empire is the Rod of Direction do's thorough the Divine Assistance extirpate the Synagogue of Satan you having been Educated in the Domestick imitation of such splendid virtues and being in a Post that draws the eyes of Heaven and Earth upon you Such Councils are expected from your Wisdom as are to be like the lights of the Holy Spirit and the Thunderbolts of the Divine Vengeance And being it is thus beloved Son you must not think of living at ease in your Father's Palace before you have made all Ethiopia throw it self at the feet of St. Peter that so they may find Heaven in the Vatican For the Doctrines of the Pope will not be only the hope of Salvation to you but they will be also the Anchor of quietness and the safety of your Dominions We do embrace you most Dear Son with the Arms of Apostolical Charity and do wish you an obedient people and favourable Angels amidst the Trophies of your Arms and the Joys of your Prosperity and we do from the bottom of our heart impart our fatherly Benediction to you Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman the Twenty Eighth of December 1630. in the Seventh Year of our Pontificate Now besides that the Phrase of these Letters do very much resemble that of the Patriarch Mendez who affected a Tinsil Oratory in every thing he writ That to the Prince bears Date the same Month of the same Year when it was deliver'd This Jubilee The Emperor's Zeal revived by this Letter and a Jabilee notwithstanding it was Laughed at by the Habassins who asked by what Authority the Pope pretended to forgive Sins is said to have warmed
he is or from whence he comes threatening us like Caterpillars against whom when they come the whole Countrey is up in Arms so that according to the word of David I am cast out like a locust you in what you do fulfilling what Christ said to the Jews I came in my Father's name and you received me not another will come in his own name and him you will receive the Children of Israel when they went out of Egypt carried not only their own goods but the Egyptians also which they had borrowed whereas we are forced to leave a great part of our own goods behind us but since we must leave them all when we come to die that gives us but little trouble but what afflicts us most is that your Highness should send the same Message to us which another King delivered with his own Mouth to Moses and Aaron in the Twelfth of Exodus Arise and go from among my people and that with the same haste as he forced the Jews out of Egypt by night it being said the Egyptians pressed the Hebrews to depart suddenly saying if they do not depart this night we are all dead men imputing the death of their First-born to the presence and detention of the Children of Israel whereas in Justice they should have attributed it to the hatred they bore to the Hebrews who had been their deliverers and to their own cruelty in having thrown their Sons into the Nile After the same manner Ethiopia ought to impute the just punishments they have received at the hand of God to the unjust hatred they have for the Portugueses their restorers and to their Manifold publick and scandalous Sins some whereof I shall just mention Most of their men are for having several Wives and their Women are for changing their Husbands Their Monks care not to have any thing more of Monks than the habit chusing the Houses of the Court of Ladies for their Monasteries The Nobles are for making themselves Lords of the Church and her Lands indulging the flesh in all things and would have their Pastors to be as so many Statues in having neither Eyes to see their Sins nor Mouths to reprove them nor hands to chastise them Nâ—w so long as these Sins continue in Ethiopia the Sword will never depart from it Open your Eyes Sir and follow the truth according to your knowledge thereof and suffer not the good Nature and Understanding which God has given you to be ruin'd by evil Counsellors but do justice to your Subjects remembering what God hath said by the Ecclesiasticus That Kingdoms are Translated from one to another and from one Family to another by reason of Injustice And since we are not to see one another again before we meet at the Tribunal of God's Justice I must tell you plainly That though I should not accuse you there you will accuse your self your Empire the Gospel the Councils and the Books of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church which I brought for your Instruction and you have rejected will all accuse you there Nevertheless I the Bishops and Fathers imitating our Master Jesus Christ who when he was on the Cross prayed for his Murtherers not attending to the hatred wherewith they persecuted him but to the precept of his Father's and his own willingness to die for them do from our hearts pray that God of his great Mercy would pardon you and your whole Empire and remove from you and it the Scourges of his wrath which the examples in holy Scripture threaten them withal who will go on in their Sins And whereas the Gauls since the time your Ancestors broke the Oath they made to the Portugueses That they would receive the Roman Faith have become Masters of the greatest part of your Empire so I pray God that the remaining part thereof may not be lost on this occasion wherein there have been so many Oaths and Excommunications with such a clear knowledge of the truth insomuch that what Saint Stephen said of the Jews â—ay be truly appli'd to you You do always resist the holy Spirit after the Example of your Fathers May that Divine Spirit which is the Temple and Fortress of Truth enlighten and strengthen your Highness to know and love the Roman Catholick Faith which is the true way and life Offonso Patriarch of Ethiopia Banished for Jesus Christ The Patriarch having been rifled by the way by a company of Banditties arrived at Fremona on the 24th of April and not being able to think of returning to the Indies to live there as a Private Friar and where he knew his Conduct would be censured if for no other reason for its having been unsuccessful he began to consider whether he might not in case the Emperor should command him to depart his Kingdoms which he every day expected he would do find some Nobles that would undertake to protect him against him but being sensible that that was not to be done any other way but by giving assurances that a Portuguese Army would come in a short time to succor them he immediately dispatched four Fathers to Goa The Patriarch so soon as he arrived at Fremona sends Four Jesuits to the Indies to sollicit for Troops to sollicit the sending of an Army to them as the greatest Service that could be done either to God or the Crown of Portugal and having done this he thought he might very well encourage some of the Grandees to take them under their protection by promises of a Portuguese Army being ready to embark at Goa to come to their assistance and being informed that Prince John Kay the Heir of their old friend Bahurnagays was living discontented upon his own Lands which were Mountainous and not far from the Sea Coast he sent two Fathers to him to try if they could persuade him to undertake their protection by promises of great things the Portuguese Army that was coming would do for him The Envoys managed matters so that they brought O Kay to promise to protect them it being agreed betwixt him and them He sues to O Kay a discontenred Lord for protection against the Emperor That whensoever the Emperor should command the Patriarch and Fathers to leave Ethiopia that he should send a Troop of Horse to fetch them from Fremona into his own Lands where when he had them once he promised to defend them till the Portuguese Army arrived This O Kay you must know was one of the chief Leaders in Guergis's Croisade for the extirpation of Popery O Kay undertakes to protect him which though the Patriarch knew well enough yet being sensible that he was discontented with the Emperor and the Court and believing Ambition to be much stronger in him than Religion he thought he might be a man proper enough for his purpose the very Peasants of Lasta being made use of by the Fathers against me Emperor as we shall see hereafter The Emperor who was too jealous of the Patriarch and
confirmed the Truth of the Gospel conquered Tyrants triumphed over Wild Beasts and with your hands full of Palms and your Heads crowned with Laurels are entered into the Palaces of Heaven pardon my Ignorance and pray for us Sacred Virgins shining Religious the Glory of the World the Honour of Heaven the Beauty of Humane Nature and the singular Ornaments of the Order of St. Dominick Pardon all the Defects of this Book in relation to your Praises and pray for us Amen After this studied Prayer which is a sufficient Indication of the Romantick Genius of the Man he imagining I suppose that Protestants notwithstanding all his Apologies and begging of Pardons for having said so little of his Heroes would not be so civil as to believe one half of what he has said of them falls foul upon them and thanks God that he did not write these things to Luther and Calvin or any other excommunicated Hereticks who do ignorantly brutally rashly and blasphemously deny the profitable Intercession of the most glorious Saints with God but to most Catholick Spaniards whose Cridulity having never been tainted with the Heresies of their Neighbours of France and England he hoped would swallow his Book of Prodigies without chewing and especially coming recommended to them by all its Licenses as a Book of wonderful Edification to all pious Souls most of them vouching likewise for the truth of it Its Licensers and Vouchers being no less Men than Don Batasar de Boria Doctor of Law Archdeacon of Xativa Canon of the Church of Valentia and Vicar-General and Official of the Archbishoprick of Valentia Juan Pasqual Rector of the Church of St. Martin and Licenser of the Patriarch of Antioch and Archbishop of Valentia Fryar Raphael Riphez Prior Provincial of the Dominicans in the Kingdom of Arragon Fryar Lupero de Huette and Fryar Jeronymo Mos Licensers of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition who do all in their Licenses give great Commendations both to this History and its Author But this History having been written chiefly to blast the rising-Reputation of the Jesuits and the credit of all their Reports it s having so many and so great Vouchers for its Truth and the Master of the Sacred Palace likewise to whom it is Dedicated for its Patron was not enough to hinder the Jesuits from exposing it so soon as ever it crept out of its cell to the world in its true colours whole Battalions of them falling upon it at once at such an unmerciful rate that as I have been told they made the Dominicans so much ashamed of this Romance which they had endeavoured to have obtruded upon the world for a true History that they have laboured ever since to get all the Copies of it into their hands to destroy them for which reason I shall do all that I can to preserve that which I have by giving it to a Library which next to that of the Emperor of Ethiopia 's is the greatest in the World But this is not the only pious fraud the Dominicans have miscarried in after having promised their Order great honour from them History of the Lisbon Nun called Maria of the Annunciation but above all is that of the Nun at Lisbon the History whereof I shall here set down more at length than I have seen it any where in one Book Maria of the Annunciation was Born at Lisbon and at the age of Thirteen was put into the Dominican Convent of the Annunciation in that City in which so soon as she was of age to do it she professed her self a Nun which she had not done long before she begun to have Miraculous Visions and to be daily visited by Christ in Person whom she still saluted with the Doxology thus Glory be to the Father and to Thee and to the Holy Spirit Whenever she received the Sacrament her Soul was in a Rapture and was honoured with the Vision of the Heavenly Coire of Angels and when she embraced the Crucifix which she still called her Husband it constantly darted out beams of Light much brighter and stronger than those of the Sun One day as she was at her Devotion Christ appeared to her and made her a promise to visit her again upon St. Thomas Aquinas's day and thereon to do her the greatest honour that any Creature was capable of Maria having acquainted Antonio de la Cerda the Provincial of her Order who upon her Name being so high for Miracles was become her Confessor with the Promise had been made her she was directed by him how to prepare her self for the reception of so great a favour whose Directions she punctually observed for never was any creature more submissive to a Confessor Thomas Aquinas's day being come and all the Nuns and Friars being assembled to Mattins while Maria was in a most profound fit of Devotion Christ Crucified appeared to her and in the sight of the whole Congregation printed all the Wounds of his Head Side Hands and Feet upon the same parts of her Body she had Two and thirty Wounds such as Thorns use to make on her Head and in her Side a Gash that resembled a Wound made with a Spear and on her Hands and Feet the Wounds were of a Triangular Figure as if made by a Nail and in order to excite the Devotion of the absent as well as present the Rags she laid to the Wounds on Thursdays had always the Five Wounds of Christ printed on them in the form of a Cross and happy was the Roman Catholick Prince or Princess who could obtain some of those Sacred Rags The Pope he had one and the King of Spain who was strangely devoted to her had another and the Empress had one sent her against she lay in neither was there a Roman Catholick Prince or Princess in Europe but what had obtained one of them by some interest or other Paramus in his History of the Inquisition saith That he being at that time an Inquisitor in Sicily saw one of them which had been sent to the Viceroy Don Henrique de Gusman's Lady who he saith adored it as the most Sacred Relick in the World And Philip the IId. to satisfie the World that he firmly believed all that was reported of the Sanctity and Miracles of the Lisbon Nun had the Royal Standard of the Armada which came against England in the year 1588. Blessed by her The Inquisition whose business it is to enquire severely into the truth of things which are reported to be Miracles having summoned her Confessor and all the rest of the Friars who belonged to the Convent to appear before them was fully satisfied by their Depositions and Oaths as Eye-Witnesses of the Truth of the whole matter as it was reported Whereupon Gregory the XIIIth writ her a very Godly Letter exhorting her to Humility Thankfulness and Perseverance in her Devotions and as there was no Roman Catholick that did in the least doubt of the truth of what