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
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
of the Faithful Vicars were also nominated to them all and the Churches that were not able to maintain a Vicar were united The Vicars after they were named were brought in one by one to kiss the Metropolitan's Hand who at the same time gave them their Collation declaring to them the greatness of their Authority and of the Obligations of their Office and commanding the People to acknowledge them as their Parish-Priests and the Shepherds of their Souls After they had all one after another performed this Ceremony they were admonished all together in the presence of the People by the most Reverend Metropolitan to comply with the Obligations of their Function and being all upon their Knees before him he delivered the following Charge to them Venerable and beloved Brethren and fellow Priests and particular Pastors of the Faithful We let you all to understand that we tho' unworthy of it are in the place of Aaron and ye of Eleazar and Ehitaman the lower Priests we are in the place of the Apostles of our Lord Christ ye in that of the Seventy-two Disciples we are to give a strict Account of you at the tremendous Day of Judgment you of the People that are now committed to you Now that we may be all found good and faithful Stewards in our Master's House we do admonish and beseech you beloved Brethren in Christ to remember what we are about to say unto you and which is of most importance be sure to observe it and put it in execution In the first place we do admonish and beseech you in the Lord to have your Life and Conversations unblamable yielding the savour of a good Name and Example to the People of God in suffering no Women and especially those of which the World may entertain any suspicion tho' Slaves to live in your Houses neither are you to converse with any of the Sex you must not fail to rise every Night to recite the Divine Office in the Church which must be performed at some certain hour and after that is done none of you must say Mass otherwise than Fasting and after Midnight forward and in the Holy Habits which must always be kept clean ye shall receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with all Reverence and Humility confessing your Sins to some approved Confessor with great contrition and sorrow for them but especially if your Consciences do check you for any fault you have committed The Corporal and Palls must be made of Linen neither can they without an Apostolical dispensation be made of any other Cloth and must be always kept clean The Holy Vessels you are always to wash with your own hands and that in other clean Vessels dedicated to that use putting the Water wherein they were washed either into the Font or into some Cistern dug for the purpose in the Church-yard and drying them with all diligence The Altar must be covered with clean Towels of which at the time of Celebration there must be at least three with a Corporal neither must any thing besides Reliques or Sacred things belonging to the Altar be laid upon it The Missals Breviaries and Prayer-Books must be perfect and entire Your Churches must be well covered and both the Walls and Pavements must be kept clean In the Sacristy or â—omewhere near to the High Altar there must be a place to hold Water wherein the Corporals and Holy Vessels are to be washed as also the Hands of those that have touched any of the Holy Oils and in the Sacristy there must be a Vessel with clean Water for the Priests and others that have ministred at the Altar to wash their Hands and a clean Towel to dry them the Gates and Porches of the Churches must be strong and well shut None of you shall take â—he cure of a Church upon you without the Prelate's knowledge and order notwithstanding you should be called to it by the People neither shall any of you leave the Churches you have a Title to nor be translated to another Church without his Order None shall presume to hold more than one Church contrary to the disposition of the Holy Canons The Jurisdiction of no Church shall be divided among many but every Church shall have its own Parish-Priest and Pastor None shall Celebrate any where but in a Church or with any sort of Arms. None shall give the Holy Saâ—rament to any of another Parish without leave from their Parish-Priest In the celebration of â—he Mass ye shall all observe the same Ceremonies that there may be no Confusion nor Scandal The Chalice or Patten must be of Gold Silver Brass or Tinn and not of Iron Glass Copper or Wood. The Parish and other Priests must visit and comfort the Sick in their Parisheâ— Confessing them and giving them the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and the Holy Unctiâ—â— with their own hands admonishing the Siâ—â— when they visit them to desire those Sacramenâ—â— when they shall judge them necessary Nonâ— shall take any Fee for baptizing or for the administring of any Sacrament or for burying the Dead No Child shall die without Baptisâ— through your negligence nor no sick Persoâ— without Confession and the Holy Communiâ—â— None of you shall Drink to excess or be notâ—â— for the same or for being quarrelsom Noâ—â— of you must bear Arms nor eat and drink 〈◊〉 Taverns and Inns. Ye shall not eat with 〈◊〉 Infidel Mahometan Jew or Heathen neithâ—â— shall you imploy your self in Hawking Huâ—â—ting or Shooting What you know of tâ—â— Gospel of Christ of the Holy Scriptures and of good Examples join'd with pure Catholicâ— Doctrine ye shall deliver to the People on the Lord's-day and Holy-days preaching the word of God to the edification of your Flocks You must take care of the Poor and of Strangâ—â—â— and Widows of the Sick and the Orphans 〈◊〉 your several Parishes You must be sure to keâ—â— Hospitality inviting Strangers to your Tableâ— therein giving good Example to others Upon every Lord's-day before Mass ye shall Blesâ— the Water with Salt in the Church with which you are to sprinkle the People taking it out of a Vessel or Pot made for that purpose Ye shall not pawn any Sacred Vessels or Ornaments of the Church neither to Heathen nor Christiâ—n Ye shall not take Usury nor engage your â—elves in Contracts or Farms nor in any Secular â—ublick Office ye shall not alienate the Goods â—hich ye have acquired after ye were in Orders â—ecause they belong to the Church neither â—hall ye sell or change any thing belonging to â—he Church In Churches where there are Bapâ—â—smal Fonts they shall always be kept clean â—nd where there are none ye shall have a parâ—â—cular Vessel for Baptism which shall be put â—o no other use and shall be kept in some deâ—ent place in the Church or Sacristy Ye shall â—each your Parishioners and especially the Chilâ—ren the Articles of the Creed the Pater Noster â—he Commandments of the Law of
Favors would be pleased to take us under your protection and to concern your self in all our Affairs and to favour the Prelate which the Metropolitan with his wonted kindness and benignity to his Flock intends to leave among us And seeing your most Illustrious Lordship in your Charity has been pleased to favour us with a Letter we take confidence from thence to beg of you That whereas our Priests both for their Spiritual Consolation and other Necessities do frequently resort to your City and several parts of your Diocess where it will be necessary for them to say Mass which they have hitherto been hindred from doing by reason of their not being in a perfect Vnion with the Holy Mother Church of Rome we now being in such an Vnion as much as can be desired the Synod doth humbly beseech your Lordship that you would be pleased to give leave to such of our Priests as have a Licence from our Prelate to say Mass in your Churches at least the Roman translated into Syrian that it may appear thereby that we are all one in the Vnity of one only Catholick Church and that the division which Satan had made betwixt us and most other Churches is at an end all Churches making one onely Catholick Church as your Lordship has clearly taught us as a vigilant Pastor in your learned Letter The Lord preserve your Lordship's most Illustrious Person and prolong your Years for the good of the Church and the profit of the Sheep of Christ Writ in the Synod of Diamper the 25th of June 1599. Praise be to God A Preface to a MISSAL The Mass that is henceforth to be used by the ancient Christians of St. Thomas of the Bishoprick of Angamale in the Serra of Malabar in the East-Indies purged of the Nestorian Errors and Blasphemies it abounded with by the most Illustrious and Reverend Dom Frey Aleixo De Menezes Arch-Bishop of Goa and Primate of the Indies at the time when he reduced them to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church Translated word for word out of Syriack or Syrian into Latin AMong the other things which the most Reverend Arch-Bishop of Goa and Primate of the Indies Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes put in Order in the Diocesan Synod assembled by him in the Bishoprick of Angamale of the Serra of Malabar of the Christians of St. Thomas in which he purged the Church of the Nestorian Heresies and reduced it to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church one of the chief was the reforming the Syrian Mass which was said in the Chaldee Tongue in this Bishoprick which having been composed or inlarged by Nestorian Hereticks was full of Errors and Blasphemies both in the Prayers and Commemorations of Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus and several other Nestorian Hereticks to whom as to Saints they prayed for to intercede for them And whereas this People was in a profound Ignorance nay the very Bishops who came from Babylon not knowing the true Form of Consecration all of them adding to it and taking from it at their pleasure there being no certain particular Form of Consecration among them until a certain Arch-Bishop came who had more knowledge than the rest in Ecclesiastical Matters and the Holy Scriptures who perceiving that the Form wherewith they Consecrated contained in it some Errors contrary to the Truth of the Divine Sacrament did establish the true Form adding some words to it both in the Consecration of the Body and Blood in contradiction to the Error and Heresie of those who say that the Sacrament is only the Figure of the Body of Christ our Lord. From whence it is more than probable the Hereticks of our Times the revivers of the Errors of all the ancient condemned Sects took this Opinion The Form established by the forementioned Arch-Bishop was This is in truth my Body this is in truth the Cup of my Blood which was shed for you and for many for the propitiation and remission of your Sins and this shall be a Pledge to you for ever and ever in which Form they have now Consecrated for several Years But the most Reverend Arch-Bishop Primate having removed the words that are not necessary established the proper Form used in the Catholick Church as it is in the Roman Missal laying aside divers and Sacrilegious and ignorant Ceremonies also which signified some Heresies and Errors that were amongst them And having thus reformed their Mass he continued it however in its ancient Form until such time as he had consulted the Apostolical See about it to know what our Lord the Pope would determine in that Matter many of the emendations are noted in the Synod Dec. 10. Act. 5. of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Action of Matters of Faith where they are to be seen I shall here present the Curious only with the Mass reformed and as it s said among them at this time I Have Published this Preface for the sake of the Testimony that is therein of this Church's not having believed Transubstantiation but have forbore to Print the Missal it belongs to because it is the Missal that was imposed upon this Church by Arch-Bishop Menezes or their Old Missal so altered and mangled by him as to be truly what Father Simon calls it A confused indigested Office and withal very tedious FINIS
St. Mark St. Luke and St. John the Acts of the Apostles writ by St. Luke the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul viz. One to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus one to Philemon and to the Hebrews two of the Apostle St. Peter three of the Apostle St. John one of the Apostle St. James one of the Apostle St. Jude and the Revelation of the Apostle St. John all which Books with all their parts are Canonical and contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true Decree II. THe Synod declareth that in the Books of the New Testament used in this Church and writ in the Syrian or Syriack Tongue there is wanting in the Gospel of St. John the beginning of the 8th Chapter the History of the Adulteress that was carried before our Lord Christ as also in the 10th of St. Luke where it is said that Christ sent seventy two Disciples it is said he sent seventy Disciples and in the 6th of St. Matthew the words For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever is added to the end of the Lord's Prayer there is also wanting in the said Books the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third Epistles of St. John and that of Jude and the Revelation of St. John and in the 4th Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is wanting having been impiously left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo and in the 5th Chapter of the same Epistle these words are wanting There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One and in the Old Testament there are wanting the Books of Esther Tobit and Wisdom all which the Synod commandeth to be translated and the passages that are wanting to be restored to their Purity according to the Chaldee Copies which are emended and the Vulgar Latin Edition made use of by holy Mother Church that so this Church may have the Holy Scriptures entire and may use it with all its parts as it was written and as it is to be used in the Universal Church to which end the Synod desireth the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus and Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta in this Bishoprick that he would be pleased to take the trouble thereof upon him for which he is so well qualified by reason of his great skill both in the Syrian Language and the Scripture Decree III. WHereas the Holy Scriptures are the Pillars that support our Holy Faith and as it were the Foundations whereon it stands and wherein the Truth and Purity thereof is to be met with which has made all Hereticks in their endeavours to destroy the said Faith constantly and industriously to corrupt the Text of the Divine Scriptures partly by taking away such passages as did manifestly contradict their Errors and by perverting other places so as to make them * Seem to favour them It is hard to give any other reason than this why the Church of Rome tho' since the time of the Council of Trent she has corrected some hundreds of Errors in the Vulgar Latin did not think fit to correct that in the 3d. of Genesis which they apply to the Virgin Mary nor that in the 11th of Isaiah which they make use of to promote Pilgrimages to Jerusalem nor that in the 11th to the Hebrews which seems to make for the Adoration of Images nor that in the first Chapter of the 2d Epist of St. Peter which seems to give some countenance to the Invocation of Saints seem to favour them which hath also happened in this Bishoprick through its having been governed by Bishops who were Nestorian Hereticks and that used the same practices upon the Holy Scriptures that were in their hands in favour of their Heresies as in the 20th of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul saith Take heed to your selves and the whole Church over which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God which he purchased with his Blood the word God is impiously changed for that of Christ and it is said that Christ hath made them to govern his Church which he purchased with his own Blood because the Nestorians being instigated by the Devil will not acknowledge according to the Catholick Truth that God suffered and shed his Blood for us and in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo because it contradicts the Nestorians who do impiously divide Christ by making him to have two Persons and in the 3d. Chap. of the same Epistle where it is said In this we know the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us the word God is maliciously left out and that of Christ put in its stead saying That in this we know the Love of Christ c. and so it favours the Nestorian Heresie which denies God to have dyed for us and in the 2d Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle saith We have seen Jesus for the Passion of his Death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death foâ— all men the Surian the better to make a difference of Persons in Christ which was what Nestorius taught has impiously added VVe have seen Jesus for the passion of his death crowned with honour and glory that the Grace of God praeter Deum or besides God might taste death for all and in the 6th of St. Luke where our Lord Christ saith Lend hoping for nothing again to favour and justifie their Usury they have made it Lend and from thence hope for something All which places being depraved and corrupted by Hereticks the Synod commandeth to be corrected in all their Books and to be restored according to the Purity and Truth of the Vulgar Edition used by Holy Mother Church entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan forthwith to visit the Churches of this Diocess either in Person or by some well skilled in the Syrian Tongue whom he shall be pleased to depute Decree IV. THe Synod being informed that the Christians of this Diocess by reason of the Communication they have with Infidels and by living among them have imbibed several of their Errors and Ignorances namely three that are the common Errors of all the Infidels of these parts the first is That there is a * Transmigration This was not the Doctrine of this Church as appears plainly from what is said in twenty places of this Synod of her believing that the Souls of the Just departed this Life were in a Terrestrial Paradise where they were to remain till the day of Judgment Transmigration of Souls which after Death go either into the Bodies
the whole Offices of the Advent and Nativity are little else than pure Blasphemy In the Book of Prayers for the great Fast it is frequently said that there were two Persons a Divine and Humane in Christ It contains also several Commemorations of Nestorius and other Hereticks his Followers affirming Marndeay Theodorus and Diodorus and other Nestorian Hereticks to have been the Followers of St. Ephrem In the Greater Breviary which they call Hudre and Gaza or The Treasure of Prayers it is every where said that there are two Persons in Christ and one representation of the Son of God that he is the Image of the Word and the Temple of the same that the Divine Person did enlighten the Humane and that Christ advanced in Grace and Knowledge by degrees that our Lady never carried God in her Womb as Hereticks affirm Christ being a Man like to others and that she ought not to be called the Mother of God but only the Mother of the second Adam that the whole Trinity assumed Humanity and that St. Matthew taught the Hebrews so that God did not make himself Flesh which he only took as a Dwelling to cover his Glory that God accompanyed Christ on the Cross but had not taken the Humanity neither was it God that suffered that the Word of the Father changed it self into Humanity and by the Son of Mary redeemed Mankind that the Father Eternal took Flesh in the same manner as the Son that the Angel delivered his Message to the Virgin in the Temple and not at Nazareth that the pains of travail opened the Womb of the Virgin who brought forth with labour after the manner of other Women that * In the most holy Sacrament The Christians who live scattered about Mesopotamia and Assyria and whose Patriarch resides at the Monastery of St. Raban Hurnez the Persian in the Gordyaean Mountains 40 miles above Niniveh tho' Eutychians and for that reason Enemies to the Chaldean Christians do agree with them in denying Transubstantiation as appears from the following Prayer taken out of their Missal and communicated to me by my Learned Friend Dr. Hide Angeli homines laudabunt te O Christe Sacrificere pro nobis qui per Sacramenta quae sunt in Ecclesia tua docuisti nos secundum magnificentiam tuam quod sicut in Pane Vino Natura sunt à te distincta in Virtute potentia idem sunt tecum Sic etiam Corpus quod à nobis distinctum est à verbo in substantia cum illo tamen qui accipit illud adunitum est in magnificentia potentia Sic credimus non metuimus ab iniquitate quod in uno sc una Hypostasi sit filius fatemur non est duo sicut improbi id est sicut dicunt Nestoriani non enim in completionibus Sacrificii Corpus Corpus frangimus sed unum per fidem sicut docuisti nos in Evangelio tuo laus tibi qui per Sacramenta tua instruxisti nos ut lauâ—emus nomen tuum Now I take this Testimony against Transubstantiation to be much the stronger for it 's being given by the Eutychians to whose Heresie Transubstantiation had it been believed would have given great Countenance as indeed I cannot but reckon those Hereticks having no where made use of that Doctrine to support their Heresie to be a considerable Argument of its not having been believed either by themselves or by the Orthodox for had the latter believed it tho' they had not done it themselves they could not have failed to have used it as Argumentum ad hominem which is what they have no where done It is true this is only a Negative Argument but it is as true that it is so circumstantiated as to be of equal force with one that is positive So again I do not see how we could have had a clearer proof of Transubstantiation not having been believed either by the Manichees or the Orthodox than we have from the Manichees abstaining from the Cup in the Sacrament for no other reason but because they did not think it lawful to drink Wine and from the Orthodoxes proving against them from that very Institution that it was lawful and endeavouring to convince them by several Arguments that it was their Duty to receive the Cup in the Sacrament and all this without ever so much as once intimating that the Liquor in the Cup when it came to be received was Blood and not Wine in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is not the true Body of Christ with a thousand more Blasphemies about it that Nestorius was a Preacher of Truth and in several places God is praised for having declared the Truth to Theodorus and Diodorus who was Master to Nestorius and in several Prayers they beseech God to chastise those that believe otherwise than Nestorius and his Followers whose Faith they say is founded on St. Peter's and the rest of the Apostles Moreover it is said that the Holy Virgin and her Spouse Joseph appeared before the Priests who could not tell how she had conceived and that Images are Idols and ought not to be adored nor so much as kept in Churches or in Houses of Christians there are likewise Offices of Nestorius and his Followers and Commemorations of several Hereticks In the Office for Priests departed it is sung That in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar there is only the Virtue of Christ but not his true Body and Blood all which Books and Breviaries tho' they do well deserve to be burnt for these and other Errors that they contain yet there being no other at present in this Diocess for the keeping up of Divine Service and the celebration of Religious Offices until such time as they shall be furnished with new Breviaries which the Synod desires they may speedily and that some may be Printed for them at St. Peter's in Rome the Synod doth order them to be corrected and purged from all their Errors and Commemorations of Hereticks and the entire Offices for all such and the Offices of Advent and the Nativity to be entirely tore out of their Breviaries and burnt entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan to see it done at his next Visitation in all the Churches of the Diocess commanding all Curates in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred to produce the said Books and all the other Books that they have as well of publick as of private Use and of Prayers as well as of the Mass before the said Lord Metropolitan at his Visitation in order to their being corrected by Persons appointed for that work in conformity to what is here ordained Decree XVI FOR the preservation of the Purity of the Faith the Synod does command all Priests Curates and all other Persons of whatsoever Condition or Quality within this Bishoprick in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication within two Months after the
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
when they shall be called to administer the Sacrament of Vnction and whensoever they are carried to Church for Baptism or are carried to the Sick they shall be always carried by a Priest if it is possible but at least by one in Holy Orders and upon Holy Thursday they shall either burn all the Oils that remain of that Year in the Lamps of the Church or pour them into the Font so as after that day not to make use of any Oils but such as are new which after Easter they shall either go or send to the Prelate for or to the place where he has ordered them to be distributed and in case the See be vacant they shall then by order from the Governour of the Diocess have recourse to the Bishop of Cochim and the Vicars that shall neglect to go or send for the said Holy Oils for the use of their Churches so as not to have them within a month after Easter shall be suspended by the Prelate who is desired to be very watchful in this matter from his Office and Benefice for six months and be obliged to fetch them and the Children that shall be baptized during that time shall be anointed with the Holy Oils of Baptism when they come neither shall the Vicars depart from hence until they are fully instructed in the use of the Oils by Persons appointed by the Synod to teach them that so they may not be mistaken in the administration of the Holy Sacraments Decree IX THere being a great Confusion in this Bishoprick as to the Holy days that are to be kept under the Obligation of a Mortal Sin as well as to the hearing of Mass as to the doing of Work wherefore the Synod doth declare that they are these following to wit all the Sundays in the Year In January the first day being the Circumcision of our Lord and the sixth being the Feast of the Epiphany In February the second day being the Purification of our Lady and the twenty fourth being the Feast of the Apostle St. Matthew which in the Bissextile is to be celebrated on the twenty fifth In March the twenty fifth day being the Anunciation of our Lady In April the twenty third being the Feast of St. George the Martyr according to the custom of this Bishoprick In May the first being the Feast of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James In June the twenty fourth being the Feast of St. John the Baptist and the twenty ninth being the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul In July the second being the Visitation of our Lady and the third being the Feast of the glorious Apostle St. Thomas which by some is said to be the day of his Translation by others of his arrival in these parts and which has by ancient custom been still kept in this Bishoprick and the twenty fifth being the Feast of the Apostle St. James In August the sixth being the Tranfiguration of our Lord according to the custom of this Bishoprick the fifteenth the Assumption of our Lady and the twenty fourth the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle In September the eighth being the Nativity of our Lady the fourteenth the Feast of the Holy Cross according to the custom of this Bishoprick The twenty first the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle the twenty ninth the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel In October the twenty seventh being the Feast of the Apostles St. Simon and St. Jude In November the first being the Feast of All Saints the thirtieth of St. Andrew the Apostle In December the eighth being the Conception of our Lady the eighteenth being the day whereon the * Holy Cross The stone Cross that was found under ground at Maliapor with the Blood of St. Thomas and Sword wherewith he was Marry'd by Gabriel de Ataide a Portugueze Priest as he was digging a Foundation for a Church about the Year 1547. is reported to have sweat at a most prodigious rate upon the day of our Ladies Expectation being the 18th of December in the Year 1557. and to have continued always to sweat upon the same Festivity until the Year 1566. to which pious Fraud for that is the best that can be said of it the Archbishop and Synod it seems gave so much credit as to dedicate the 18th of December to the Memory thereof Holy Cross of the Apostle St. Thomas did sweat the twenty first being the Feast of the same Holy Apostle St. Thomas the twenty fifth the Feast of the Nativity the twenty sixth the Feast of St. Stephen the Protomartyr the twenty seventh of St. John the Evangelist the twenty eighth of the Innocents The Thursday of our Lord's Supper from the time the Offices are begun in the Church until midnight according to the custom of the Church Easter and the three days following notwithstanding they may have hitherto observed only two days The day of our Lord's Ascension the most Holy Feast of Pentecost with the two following days The most Holy Feast of the Body of God or of the most Holy Sacrament which according to the custom of these parts they celebrate on the Thursday after Easter Also the days of the Consecration of their Churches and the Feasts of the Saints to whom they were Dedicated in their own Parishes only The Synod doth furthermore declare That the Fridays from Christmas to Lent which use to be observed in some Parts shall not be kept hereafter the Saints that were Celebrated on some of them having their particular Feasts and others of them being Dedicated to Hereticks as is above observed whose Memories ought not to be Celebrated and the Vicars shall not fail on Sundays at Mass to warn the People of all the Holy-days of the Week that so they may be advertised to keep them Decree X. NOt only what Holy-days were to be kept were uncertain and not uniformly observed in this Bishoprick but the same also happened to the Fasting-days which Christians are under an obligation to keep wherefore the Synod doth declare that the Fasting-days as well the Ancient ones as those that are now commanded are these following The Holy and Solemn Fast of Lent which according to the Custom of this Bishoprick begins upon the Monday after Quinquagesima The Holy Fast of Advent which is kept in this Bishoprick with great rigor from the Sunday that is next to the first of December until Christmas The first day of February being the Vigil of the Purification of our Lady the 23d being the Vigil of St. Matthias the Apostle The 23d of June being the Vigil of St. John the Baptist and the 28th of St. Peter and St. Paul The 24th of July being the Vigil of St. James the Apostle The 12th of August being the Vigil of the Assumption of our Lady and the 23d of St. Bartholomew the Apostle The 7th of September being the Vigil of our Lady's Nativity the 13th of the Holy Cross The 27th of October being the Vigil of St. Simon and Jude
Church-Yards Which Books being bound shall be kept in all Churches neither shall any Priest presume to apply them to his own private use or to take them out of the Church And the Synod doth earnestly recommend it to the Rector of the College of the Jesuits of Vaipicotta to have always some of these Books Translated by some of the said College by him in order to the supplying of the Necessities of these Churches Decree XXIII THe Synod desiring that this Church may in all things be conformable to the Holy Roman and whole Italian Church doth command That on the second of February being the day of our Lady's Purification before Mass the Wax Candles which are in the Church be Blest as also all the Candles that shall be brought by the People out of Devotion according to the Roman Ceremonial translated into Syrian and after the publick and solemn Benediction is over there shall be a Procession in or round the Church in which all the Clergy shall carry Blessed Candles lighted in their hands as the People shall also do that have any in Memory of the Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ the Divine Light and Splendor of the Father first entrance into the Temple there to offer himself to his Eternal Father cloathed with our Humanity So likewise upon the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday before the Feast of our Lord 's Holy Ascension in the Morning either before or after Mass there shall be a Procession in the Church or where the Vicar shall appoint in which the Litanies shall be said according to the customs of the Church which shall also be translated in the said Roman Ceremonial expunging the Names of all the Hereticks who according to the custom of the Nestorians were commemorated in this Church and it is the desire of the Synod that the use of the said Litanies be brought into this Church to be read in their Necessities or when they desire to implore the Divine Mercy Decree XXIV THe Synod being informed that in the remote parts of this Bishoprick as well towards the South as towards the North the Christians that dwell in the Heaths are guilty of Working and Merchandizing on Sundays and Holy-days especially in the Evenings doth command the Vicars to be very vigilant in this Matter and to admonish and reprehend all that they shall find so doing and if after three particular Admonitions they shall not reform they shall after that be thrown out of the Church and have the Casture denied them neither shall any Priest go into their Houses until they have yielded Obedience Decree XXV WHereas in this Diocess there are many Churches dedicated to Marxobro and Marphrod who are commonly stiled Saints of whom there is * Nothing known At Compostella the most famous place of Devotion in all Spain the People pray to some that they know as little of as the Malabars do of Marphrod For the famous Spanish Antiquary Ambrosius Morales in the 9th Book of his Chronicle gives us a particular Account of an Altar with some Names upon it that he met with there and that had great Devotion paid to it In the famous Monastery of the Benedictine Nuns that joins to the Holy Church of St. James saith Morales and is dedicated to the Glorious Martyr Pelayo whom in that Country they commonly call St. Payo there is an Ara on the Altar which they affirm to have been Consecrated by the Apostles and that they themselves said Mass on it and that it was brought thither with the blessed Body of St. James Now there is not saith Morales not only no foundation for the Truth of this Story but there is just cause to believe that that Stone which is at present in the same state it was in when it was first made could never be an Altar I observed it with great attention in the company of several great and learned Men who had all the same thoughts of it that I had the thing indeed being in clear and manifest for any such to doubt of for it is visible that the Stone is the Grave-Stone of some Heathens with this following Inscription D M S ATIAMO ET ATTE T LVMPS AO VIRIA EMO NEPTIS PIANO Xâ— ET S. E. C. The words are very plain and clear there not being a Letter wanting so that notwithstanding the Blunders committed by the Grace in Spelling it they may be with great ease Translated which I will 〈◊〉 as well as I can into Spanish This Stone is Consecrated to the Gods of the Dead and Dedicated to the Memories oâ— Atiamo and of Atte and oâ— Lumpsa as also to her Memorâ— who Erected it Viria Emâ—sâ— their pious Grand-child being 16 Years of Age. This is what the Stone contains therefore they that Consecrated it an Altar would have done well to have defaced the Letters by which means they would have removed the indignity that states all People in the face that consider what a thing it is to have the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ our Redeemer consecrated and placed upon the Tomb-Stone of Heathens whereon the Devils are invocated Thus far Morales But as this Stone has had a great deal of Honour done it in coming to be Consecrated an Altar in such a famous place of Devotion so the Persons whose Names are upon it have had no less done to them who are all great Saints in that Country and particularly Piano who in all probability is the St. Payo to whom the Church and Monastery is dedicated For first Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology upon the 30th day of December gives this following Account of the said Stone and Persons Don Didacus Sequinus Bishop of Auria who has Epitomized the Life of his Predecessor Serrandus gives therein the following Exposition of the Inscription that is upon this Altar Stone in the Galecian Language which History I have now by me in MSS. Consegrada a Deos Maximo Atiamo Erato Telumpsa Viriamo Nepotispiano Xuuito Teliforo Forem Martyres e padezeron em Galizia no Pago Sarense antes que ô Apostolo se fose a Jerusalem e por isto deyxon esta Ara a seus Discipolos paraque sobre de la dixiesem Missa en membraza destes Santos asi dexou escrito ô Bispo Don Serrando That is to say Consrecated to the greatest God Atiamo Erato Telumpsa Viriamo Nepotispiano Xuuito Teliforo Were all Martyrs and suffered in Galecia in the Village of Sarep before the Apostle went to Jerusalem who for that reason left this Altar to his Disciples to say Mass on in memory of those Saints as Bishop Don Serrando has left upon Record Lobarinus tells us that Don Serrandus after having given a description of the Altar subjoins the following Account of it Este he ò Retrayto de Ara que deyxo escripta o Apostol Santiago a seus discipolos e he un tanto da que trouxa con sigo nó mar sobre que pausaran o santo corpo e sobre de la deria missa