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
have Converted five Kings in the Island of Mazacar and tho' he was really no other than a St. Ruth yet he is said by the Portugueze Historians to be another St. Paul in Governing all that came under his Power both with his Sword and with his Voice A Sword and Voice say they worthy of a glorious Eternity It was this Antonio that first discovered the King of Portugal's special Title to the Clove which for having five Points he said had the King of Portugal's Arms which are the five Wounds of Christ stamp'd upon it The same Author tells us and approves of what an Indian said of the Portuguezes when in the height of their Triumphs Let them alone said the Indian for they will quickly come to lose that as Covetous Merchants which they have gained as admirable Soldiers they now Conquer Asia but it will not be long before Asia will Conquer them The Emperor of Persia is reported by the same Author to have made the same Prediction who being told by the Portugueze Ambassador when he asked him how many of the Governours of the Indies Heads his Master had chopped off that he had not taken off one replied If that is true it is not possible the Portuguezes should hold the Indies long About this time the Portuguezes were driven out of the Island of Ito by the Natives They were stirred up to do it by a Speech made by one Gemulio a considerable Native wherein he told the Portuguezes in a full Assembly of them That if they Preached to others that there was a God in Heaven who observed all that was done on Earth and would certainly Reward all Good and Punish all Evil-Deeds without believing it themselves or without practising what they believed they were certainly guilty of the Abomination which such a God must detest above all others He likewise told them They were Strangers come from the very Skirts of the World and will you saith he who are the Off-spring of the Shades which the Sun leaves when it goes down presume to Tyrannize over us who entertained you so kindly and have been so long a Sanctuary to you If these be the Customs of your Country you must know they are what we Abominate return return therefore to your native darkness or your ancient Habitations where the want of Light will hide your Actions and do you not come hither to commit them in the very apple of the Eye of the Sun as it riseth out of his brightest Cradle You preach Christ Crucified to us and at the same time Crucifie those you have perswaded to believe in him You will make others to be Christians without appearing to be such your selves You must know we are not ignorant of what you have done to the King of Xael and how you rewarded his great kindness and Civility to you with Violences and Outrages and his Subjects good turns with dishonouring their Wives We know likewise how you have used the Queen of Aram whom after she had lost both her Kingdom and Husband to secure you you have dishonourably thrown off as one who could be of no further use to you Be gone therefore immediately out of this Island and hereafter don 't you presume to set your Foot or so much as cast your Eye upon it The Historian who relates this tho' a Portugueze makes this reflection upon it Thus we lose Places by our Insolencies which we gained by our Valour When Mar Abraham returned to Goa over Land by the way of Ormus and found Mar Joseph Shipped off for Portugal thereupon he flattered himself with the hopes of meeting with nothing to molest him in the Possession of his Bishoprick but he quickly found himself deceived for having presented the Pope's Briefs and other Papers he brought along with him to the Arch-Bishop the Portuguezes not having the same reason to permit him to return to the Serra as they had when they permitted Mar Joseph which as I have observed was done on purpose to give rise to a Schism he was told that before they would put him in Possession of his Bishoprick they must first have both the Briefs and his Informations strictly examined that so they might be satisfied he had not imposed upon his Holiness Wherefore tho' resolved whatever came on 't never to let Mar Abraham go out of their hands yet that they might not seem to refuse to pay a due respect to the Pope's Briefs the Arch-Bishop and others after having examined all his Papers found several flaws in them which were declared to be sufficient to justifie their detaining of him This is no more than what the Canonists can do and do daily in the clearest cases it being impossible to have any Matrimonial or other cause drawn up or worded so accurately that the Canonists and especially if the Pope desire it will not find several Nullities in Upon the publication of the nullity of the Pope's Briefs as having been obtained by misinformation poor Mar Abraham instead of being sent back in Triumph to his Bishoprick as he expected was after all the Pains he had been at confined to the Dominican Convent at Goa there to remain till such time as the Pope's Answer came to the Arch-Bishop's Information of his Case Mar Abraham being sensible that to be confined till that came was the same thing as to be condemned to be a Prisoner for Life resolved let what would be the Issue to try to make his escape which after several unsuccessful Attempts he did at last upon an Holy Thursday at Night while the Friars were all imployed in the Chapel and having gotten over to the Continent he posted away to Malabar where he was received with great Joy and Festivity by all the Christians who having two of their Arch-Bishops Prisoners among the Portuguezes despaired of ever seeing another Babylonish Bishop among them The Viceroy and Arch-Bishop were much troubled at Mar Abraham's having made his escape thus and writ straightways to the Bishop of Cochim and all the Governours upon the Coast of Malabar to have him apprehended if he was above Ground but Mar Abraham knowing how it would be took care to keep himself as far as he could out of their reach never adventuring to visit any of the Churches that were in the Neighbourhood of Cochim or of any other Portugueze Garrison But tho' after this Mar Abraham is said in all his Letters to the Portuguezes to have still professed himself a Romanist and not only so but to have re-ordained all that had been ordained by him formerly yet it is certain that in all things else he acted quite otherwise in his Diocess where he continued not only to preach his old Doctrines but in his Prayers still named the Bishop of Babylon as his Patriarch Gregory XIII being informed of this by the Arch-Bishop of Goa and other Prelates of the Indies issued forth a Brief bearing date the 28th of November 1578. directing it to Mar Abraham and commanding him
desired may be handled publickly and in the Congregation those Meetings only excepted which are kept by the People in order to their proposing of Matters to be consulted about according to ancient Custom and the Order of the said Metropolitan ACTION II. ON the second Day after the singing of the Antiphony Psalm Prayers and Hymn as they are in the Roman Pontifical the most Reverend Metropolitan being seated in his Chair said Venerable and Beloved Brethren the Priests and you my dearest Sons in Christ the Procurators and Representatives of the People We having done little more Yesterday than celebrate the Divine Offices and Preach to the People it is fit we should begin to Day to Treat of Matters appertaining to the Synod In the first place of those that belong to the Integrity and Truth of our Holy Catholick Faith and the Profession of the same which before we go about I do again admonish you in our Lord Jesus Christ that all such things as you shall judge to stand in need of Reformation in this Bishoprick or any part thereof may be signified to us or to the Congregation that so with the Divine favour and assistance all things by your Diligence and Charity may be brought into so good Estate as is desired for the praise of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Decree II. THat this Synod may in all things Govern it self according to the Directions of the Holy Canons and tread in the Footsteps of the Holy General Councils and particularly of the Holy Council of Trent upon the knowledge it has of the Necessities of this Church and of the diversity of Opinions that have been hitherto therein concerning Matters of our Holy Catholick Faith and of the Errors contrary thereunto which have been sowed in this Diocess by Hereticks and Schismaticks it doth command all Persons Ecclesiasticks and Seculars called hither either in their own Name or in the Name of others Ecclesiasticks or Laicks of this Bishoprick to make Profession and Oath of the following Faith in the hands of the most Illustrious Metropolitan President of this Synod And for the more effectual execution of this Decree and to provoke others by his own Example the most Illustrious Metropolitan having robed himself in his Pontificals but without his Mitre kneeling down before the Altar and having laid his hands upon a Cross that was upon a Book of the Gospels did in his own Name as the present Prelate and Metropolitan of the Diocess and in the Name of all the Christians belonging to the same and every Person thereof Secular and Ecclesiastick make Profession and Oath of the Faith following which was immediately declared to all that were present The Profession and Oath of the Faith IN the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost one only true God in the Year of our Lord 1599 in the Seventh Year of the Pontificate of our most Holy Lord Clement VIII Bishop of Rome in the Town of Diamper in the Kingdom of Malabar in the East-Indies in the Church of All Saints on the 21st of June in a Diocesan Synod of the Bishoprick of Serra Assembled by the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Arch-Bishop Metropolitan of Goa and the Oriental Parts and the See being vacant of the said Bishoprick I N. do of my own free Will without any manner of force and constraint for the Salvation of my Soul believing it in my heart protest that with a firm Faith I do believe and confess all and every one of the Articles contained in the Symbol of Faith which is used in Holy Mother Roman Church I believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come I do firmly receive and embrace all Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and all the Observances and Constitutions of the said Church I admit the Holy Scriptures in that sence wherein it has ever been and is still held by Mother Church to whom it belongeth to judge of the true Sence and Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures neither will I either receive or interpret it but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I do confess likewise that there are Seven true and proper Sacraments of the New Testament instituted by Christ our Lord which are all necessary to the health of Mankind tho' not to every particular Person they are Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Order Penance Matrimony and Extream Unction which do all conferr Grace on those that receive them worthily and of these seven Sacraments that Baptism Confirmation and Orders are to be received but once neither can they be repeated without great Sacrilege I admit and receive all the Customs Rites and Ceremonies received and approved of in the Roman Church in the solemn Administration of the said seven Sacraments and do also receive and embrace all in general and every thing in particular that has been defined and declared concerning Original Sin and Justification in the Holy Council of Trent I do likewise confess that in the Mass there is offer'd to God a true and proper Sacrifice of Pardon both for the Quick and the Dead and that in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the whole substance of the Bread is by Consecration turned into the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation Moreover I do confess that under each Species Christ is entire and the true Sacrament is received I do constantly hold and confess that there is a * Purgatory John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in his 18th Article against Luther does acknowledge the Doctrine
of Purgatory to be an Article of Faith of no long standing in the Church Multa inquit sunt de quibus in primitivâ Ecclesiâ nulla quaestio factura fuerat quae tamen posteriorum diligentiâ subortis dubitationibus jam evaserunt perspicua Nemo certè jam dubitat Orthodoxus an Purgatorium sit de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel quà m rarissima fiebat mentio sed Graecis ad hunc usque diem non est creditum Purgatorium esse Legat qui velit Graecorum veterum Commentarios nullum quantum opinor aut quà m rarissimum de Purgatorio sermonem inveniet Quamdiu enim nulla fuerat de Purgatorio cura Nemo quaesivit Indulgentias nam ex illo pendet omnis Indulgentiarum existimatio quum itaque Pugatorium tam serò cognitum ac receptum Ecclesiae fuerit universae quis jam de Indulgentiis mirari potest quòd in principio nascentis Ecclesiae nullus fuerat earum usus coeperunt igitur Indulgentiae post quam ad Purgatorii cruciatus aliquando trepidatum est Purgatory and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful I do likewise affirm that †The Souls of the Iust This was the common Opinion of the Ancient Fathers namely Irenaeus at the end of his 5th Book Justin Quaest 76th Tertullian in his 4th Book against Marcion Origen in his 7th Homily upon Leviticus and a great many other places Lactantius in the 21st Chap. of his 7th Book Victorinus in his Commentary upon the words I saw under the Altar Ambrosius in his 2d Book of Cain and Abel Chrysostom in his 39th Homily upon those words If in this life only in the 1st to the Corinth The Author of the Imperfect Work in his 34th Homily upon St. Matthew Austin in his Enarration upon the 36th Psalm Theodoret in his Commentaries upon the 11th to the Heb. Oecumenius in his Commentaries upon the same place Theophylact in his Commentaries upon the 23d of St. Luke Aretho on those words How long O Lord c. Euthymius upon the 23d of St. Luke and Bernard in his Sermon upon All-Saints day And to Pope John the 22d being charged with having believed this Doctrine Bellarmin returns the following Answer Joannem hunc 22dum reverâ sensisse Animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectionem caeterum hoc sensisse quando adhuc sentire licebat sine periculo Haeresis nulla enim adhuc praecesserat Ecclesiae definitio Which Confession makes the Doctrines of praying to Saints and of Purgatory and of Indulgences to be very new Articles of Faith the Souls of the Just and Faithful which at their departure out of this Life have entirely satisfied for the Punishment due to the Sins that they have committed as also those in Purgatory which have made an end of satisfying for their sins according to the Divine Pleasure and Ordination as also those who after Baptism have committed no Sin do at the moment of their death go immediately into Heaven where they behold God as he is And I do condemn and anathematize the Heresy of those who think that the Souls of the Just are in a Terrestrial Paradise till the day of Judgment and that the Damned are not Tormented any otherwise than by the certainty they have of the Torments they are to enter into after the day of Judgment And I do confess and affirm that the Saints now reigning with Christ in Heaven are to be Reverenced and Invoked and that they offer Prayers to God for us whose Relicks are likewise to be reverenced on Earth And moreover that the * Images Gyraldus a Learned Papist in the 18th Page of the History of the Gods speaking of Images in the Church of Rome saith At de istiusmodi magis mutire possumus quam palam loqui idcircò satius ea fuerit Hippocrati Angeronae consignare illud certè non praetermittam Nos dico Christianos ut aliquando Romanos fuisse sine Imaginibus in primitivâ quae vocatur Ecclesiâ Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of all the other Saints are to be kept used and reverenced with due Honour and Veneration I do also believe that our Lady the most Holy Virgin Mary is the proper and true Mother of God and ought to be called so by the Faithful for having brought forth according to the Flesh without any pain or passion the true Son of God and that she always continued a Virgin in and after her Deliverance having never been defiled by any actual Sin I do confess that the power of granting Indulgences was left to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ the use whereof I do affirm to be healthful and profitable to all Christian People I do acknowledge the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Head Mother and Mistress of all other Churches in the World and do hold all that are not subject and obedient to her to be Heretical Schismatical and disobedient to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Commands and to the Order that he left in the Church and to be Aliens from Eternal Salvation I do promise and swear true Obedience to the Pope the Roman Bishop the Successor of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth the Head of the whole Church on earth and Doctor and Master of the same and the Father Prelate and Pastor of all Christians and do confess that all who deny Obedience to the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ are Transgressors of the Divine Commands and cannot attain to Eternal Life I do without any scruple receive approve and confess all other Matters defined and declared in the Sacred Canons and General Councils and chiefly in the Holy Council of Trent and do in the same manner condemn reject and anathematize every thing that is contrary to the same together with all Heresies condemned rejected and anathematized by the said Church Namely the Diabolical and perverse Heresie of Nestorius together with its perverse Author Nestorius and its false Teachers * Theodorus They should not have been so hard upon Theodorus for Pope Honorius's sake who by Name was condemned together with him by the 5th General Council and I am mistaken if Pighius and some other Popish Writers have not for that very reason laboured hard to vindicate Theodorus's Memory Theodorus and †Diodorus Du Pin in his 4th Century of Christianity p. 189. saith As to what concerns his Doctrine of the Incarnation we could better judge of it if we had his Books but there is no great probability that one who was praised esteemed and cherished by Meletius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Epiphanius and even by St. Athanasius and his Successors Peter and Timothy of Alexandria who was also considered in a General Council as one of the
only dwell in Christ as in a Temple The Arch-Deacon returned no answer to this but passing to another point said to the Arch-Bishop Your Grace would fain perswade us likewise that none can be saved out of the Obedience of the Roman Church which is what St. John no where saith that ever I could see besides we have in our Archives a Letter of St. Caius Bishop of Rome wherein he confesseth that he had nothing to do with the Church of Babylon no more than the Church of Babylon had to do with his Church We have also another Letter which is called in our Books the Letter of the Lord's-day because it is said upon that day to have fallen down from Heaven wherein the same Truth is affirmed Here the Arch-Bishop run into a long discourse of the Primacy of St. Peter and of the Pope's being his Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth after which they came at last to this Agreement That as to matters of Faith a Synod should be called to determine them and that in the mean while the Arch-Bishop might if he pleased give the Blessing and Preach in any of their Churches but should not be received in them as their Prelate but as a Bishop that was a Stranger neither should he pretend to Confirm or do any other Episcopal Act within that Diocess This Agreement was Signed by the Arch-Bishop and the Arch-Deacon and all the Caçanares who were present with a Declaration that the Synod should be Celebrated before Whitsuntide and that the Arch-Deacon should no longer stir up the People against him nor go attended with such Troops of Armed Men as he had done formerly This Agreement being Signed the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Canhur whither the Arch-Deacon went by Land not daring to trust himself by Water where he would have been in the Power of the Portuguezes At Canhur he was received very friendly by the Christians who had been told by the Arch-Deacon that he did not pretend to come among them as their Prelate but only as a Stranger but tho' he kept to his Agreement so far as not to offer to do any thing but give the Blessing and Preach yet in his Sermon which was a very long one he talked so much of the Roman Church and its Supremacy and of the obligation all Churches were under to submit to it that the whole Congregation were much offended with him the Arch-Deacon was likewise discontented with it and being Sick or at least pretending he was returned to Cheguree to be cured and the Arch-Bishop having other work on his hands was willing enough to dismiss him who in pursuance of the Instruction he brought with him from Goa was obliged to hasten to Coulaon a Fortress belonging to the Portuguezes to see in what condition it was and to take some course to have the Fort the King of Travancor was building in its Neighbourhood and would much incommode it demolished On the first of March he set Sail for a Castle that is within two Leagues of Cochim where the Governour and Bishop of the City met him to whom having communicated his Designs he Sailed directly for Porcoa where the King of the Country had been some days expecting him he went to a Church that was there in the Evening where he was kindly received by the Christians the King who professed a great Friendship for the Portuguezes having Commanded them upon pain of his displeasure to comply with the Arch-Bishop in all things After having Preached he went to Lodge at the House of the Caçanar whither the King came at Night to visit him the Arch-Bishop entertained him very friendly and thanked him for the kindness he had shewed to the Christians of St. Thomas and their Churches and for having cleared his Coast of Pyrates the King after some Complements desired to be admitted to the Honour of being a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal as the King of Cochim had been The Arch-Bishop told him that was an Honour the King of Portugal never did to any King before he had merited it by some signal Service however he promised to do all that lay in his Power to help him to it Next Morning the Arch-Bishap went to Church where he said Mass and afterwards confirmed the whole Congregation notwithstanding his late solemn Promise to the contrary as indeed none but Fools will ever expect that Papists will observe any such Promises longer than the first opportunity they have to break them From Porcoa he sailed directly to Coulaon where under pretence of visiting a Church that stood near the Fort the King of Travancor was building he took a view of the Fort and finding it was near finished and would in a few days have a Garrison put in it he immediately dispatched away a Messenger to the Captain General of the Fleet and Troops that were before Cunahle to come forthwith with his whole Armada to demolish the said Fort which if he came quickly he might do with great ease for that he would find none in it but Workmen Now you must know that the Arch-Bishop when he was last at the Bar of Cunahle notwithstanding that the King of Travancor and the Portuguezes were at that time in Peace had left a private Order with the General that so soon as he was Master of Cunahle he should set Sail immediately with the whole Armada and demolish this Fort which by reason of Cunahle's not being yet taken had not been executed But while the Arch-Bishop was expecting the Captain-General he received the bad news of a great slaughter of Portuguezes in an Attack they had made upon Cunahle and that the Captain-General was retired to Cochim to have his wounded Men cured from whence he intended to come and wait upon him for further Orders The Arch-Bishop was extreamly troubled at this News as well upon the account of the great numbers of Persons of Quality that had been killed in the Action as because he feared it would very much hearten the Kings of Malabar who had till then still looked upon the Portuguezes as Invincible Wherefore to prevent the ill effects that the true News of this Defeat might have upon the Minds of the Princes of Malabar he dispatched Letters immediately to all of them to acquaint them with the great Victory the Portuguezes had obtained before Cunahle and tho' he acknowledged that it was purchased with the Blood of several brave Men among whom were some of his own Kindred who were very dear to him yet he did not doubt but that they would infallibly carry the Place at the next Attack they made These tricks of the Arch-Bishop coming so thick one upon the neck of another for here we have no fewer than three of them in less than a Fortnight puts me in mind of what Manuel de Faria saith of him in the 3d. Tome of his Asia Portuguesa which I shall give the Reader in his own words Este illustre Prelado estuviera yo por
there was not one Person among them who would have any Communication with him Whereupon the Arch-Bishop according to his Custom sent immediately to the Regedor of the Country which also belonged to the King of Cochim to come aboard for that he had something to say to him What made the Arch-Bishop making such great use of Kings and Regedores who were all Infidels in the Conversion of these Christians to the Roman Church the more unpardonable was that but a little before he had made the Arch-Deacon's interesting of Infidel Princes in the Affairs of Christianity with which they were not to be suffered to meddle the chief Article for which he deserved to be deposed The Regedor being come aboard the Arch-Bishop spoke to him to go ashoar and do as much for him at Narame as the chief Regedor had done at Molandurte and Diamper The Regedor promised him he would but when he came ashoar to cause the Church to be opened there was no body left in the Town for the Christians hearing of his coming and what his business was had all hid themselves that so they might not be constrained to break the Oath they had made so lately The Arch-Bishop when the Regedor brought him word how it was was in a great Passion with him and would not be perswaded but that he had underhand fomented this division But however these Christians came to be incensed against the Arch-Bishop it is certain they were to that degree that they denied him fresh Provisions for his Money so that he was forc'd to live upon the Rice and Bisket that was aboard for some days While the Arch-Bishop was in this Diet the Arch-Deacon's Letter came to his hand the substance whereof was That he was overcome at last by the irresistable force of Truth and was resolved to submit himself to the Roman Church intreating his Grace to pardon all the by past Errors of an ignorant Son The Arch-Bishop tho' he was extream glad at the news would not discover that he was but told the Caçanar that brought it very gravely That he had been so often deceived by the Arch-Deacon that he did not know how to trust him and that he never would any more before he had subscribed the Ten following Articles I. That he abjured all the Errors of Nestorius and of all his Followers Diodorus and Theodorus who by the way were both in their Graves before Nestorius was ever heard of acknowledging them to be cursed Hereticks that are burning in Hell for their Errors II. That he should confess there was but one Christian Law III. That he should subscribe the Confession of Faith which he sent to him from Goa when he made him Governour of the Bishoprick IV. That he should deliver all the Books of the Diocess to be amended or burnt according as they deserved V. That he should swear Obedience to the Pope as St. Peter 's Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth and the Supream Head of all Christians and of all Bishops Arch-Bishops Primates and Patriarchs in the World so that none can be saved out of his obedience VI. That he should curse the Patriarch of Babylon as a Nestorian Heretick and Schismatick and swear never to obey him any more in any matter nor to have any further Commerce or Communication with him by Letters or otherwise VII That he should swear never to receive any Bishop or Prelate in the Serra but what should be sent thither by the Pope and to obey whomsoever he sent VIII That he should swear to acknowledge and obey him for his true Prelate as being made so by the Pope IX That he should pass Olas or Provisions for the Assembling of a Diocesan Synod to treat of all such matters as the Arch-Bishop should think fit and swear to be present at it himself X. That he should accompany the Arch-Bishop peaceably wheresoever he went without any thing of Guards and should go along with him in his Galley to all the Churches he had a mind to visit These Articles being made and signed by the Arch-Bishop he delivered them to the Caçanar together with a Letter wherein he bid the Arch-Deacon if he was not fully resolved to subscribe them allowing him but twenty days to do it in not to appear before him and being willing to secure himself of the fidelity of the Bearer he obliged him before he dismiss'd him to swear obedience to the Roman Church making him swear also to return and never to have any thing more to do with the Arch-Deacon in case he refused to sign the Articles Having dismissed this Messenger the Arch-Bishop returned to Cochim where his main business was to get the Governour of the place to joyn with him to press the King of Cochim to assist him cordially in his design of uniting the Church of St. Thomas to that of Rome and while he was satisfying the Governour of what Importance such an Union would be to the Portugueze Interest in the Indies which was what he himself had all along as much in his Eye as the Governour could have for his Heart The King having heard of his being in Town came very opportunely to pay him a visit in which before they parted the King renewed his promise to him of commanding all his Christian Subjects to obey him in all things with which promise the Arch-Bishop returned well satisfied to Cranganor in order to settle the Affair of the Synod The day after his arrival there he had Letters brought him by a Patamar or Currier from the King of Samorim advising him of the King of Cochim's having begun a War upon the Caimal or Prince of Corugeira his Allie to which if a stop were not put suddenly it would necessarily oblige him to withdraw his Army from before Cunahle which was what the King of Cochim aimed at So soon as the Arch-Bishop had read these Letters he dispatched a Currier away immediately after the King of Cochim who was already on his March desiring him not to make a War upon the Caimal till after Cunahle was taken since it could not be done without diverting the Samorim from the Siege of Cunahle who was then before it expecting the return of the Portugueze Armada which would be with him in the beginning of the Spring he writ also to the Governour of Cochim and the Commissioners of the Treasury to come to him whom after some discourse about the business he ordered to go after the King of Cochim and to stop him in his March Before the Arch-Bishop left Cranganor he received a Letter from the Arch-Deacon wherein he wrote to him That tho' he was ready to subscribe all the Articles he had sent him yet that it was not possible for him to wait upon His Grace in so short a time as he had fixed The Arch-Bishop understanding that the King of Mangate in whose Country the Arch-Deacon was at that time was very much against his submitting to him sent a Servant of his own
reign with Christ in the Heavens are to be venerated and invok'd by the Faithful desiring of God a Remedy for our wants through their Intercession and of them that they would intercede for us which they do daily by offering up our Prayers and Petitions to God That the Bodies and Reliques of Saints ought to be had in veneration in being carefully kept kissed and adored by the Faithful and placed under the Holy Altars and other consecrated places upon the account of their having been lively Members of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit and because they are to be raised again at the day of Judgment and and clothed with Eternal Glory in Heaven and God vouchsafes many Blessings upon Earth by them CHAP. XI FUrthermore That the Images of our Lord Christ and of our Lady the Glorious Virgin Mary and of the Holy Angels that are painted after our manner and of other Saints which the Church believes to be in Heaven ought to be kept and used in all decent places not only in the houses of the Faithful but chiefly in Churches and Altars and to be reverenced and adored with due veneration and with the same that is due to the Persons they represent not that we believe that there is any thing of Divinity or * Virtue If there is nothing of Virtue in one Image more than another why do People go so many hundred miles to pray to some particular Images of the Virgin Mary when there is scarce a Church or Chappel in their way wherein there is not an Image of her Virtue in them for which they ought to be honoured or that we put our Hope and Confidence in them as the * Heathens The Learned Heathens made the very same declaration concerning their worshipping of Images Heathens did in their Idols but because the Honour which we pay to them referrs to what they represent so that in prostrating our selves before their Images we adore Christ and reverence the Saints whose Images they are In like manner we adore the sign of the Cross with the Worship of †Latria The saying that this Latria or Supream worship is only Relative cannot excuse it from being Idolatrous without excusing the grossest Worship among the Heathen it being impossible in Nature to give any other Worship than what is relative to an Image when worshipped as such Martinus Peresius Aila Bishop of Guidez in Spain in the third part of his Book of Traditions p. 223. passeth a severe but just censure upon the Worship here established Cujus doctrinae nullum quod ego viderim afferunt validum fundamentum quod possit fideles ad id quod docent obligari Nam neque Scripturam neque Tracitionem Ecclesiae neque communem sensum sanctorum neque Concilii Generalis determinationem aliquam nec etiam rationem quâ hoc efficaciter suaderi possit adducunt Et p. 226. Certe haud dissimile imò fortè majâ—s scandalum infirmis paratur qui has distinctiones prorsus ignorant nec possunt nisi errando intelligere ut ego ipse in multis simplicibus experimento deprehendi cum ab eis sciscitarer quid de hac re sentirent in eo quod dicitur eâdem adoratione adorandum esse Imaginem quâ rem cujus est Nam cum videant simulachrum operosè sculptum affabrè expolitum in eminenti loco templi positum ipsumque à multitudine veneratum super haec audiant quòd eodem honore debeat honorari quo res cujus est colitur certè in multis simplicibus periculosissimus erroris affectus facilè potest adgenerari quo putent aliquid Numinis latere in imagine sic quoque rei repraesentatae tum nomen tum gloriam ad imaginem facilè possunt transferre quod maximè periculosum esse judico Latria which is due only to God because it is a sign representing the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross and which he himself hath told us will be the sign of the Son of Man in the Day of Judgment and with the same Worship of Latria we adore the Images of our Lord Jesus Christ because they represent him CHAP. XII FUrthermore the Church professeth that every Person as soon as he is born hath a Guardian Angel given him whose business it is to excite People to what is good and to deliver them from many evils which they would otherwise have fallen into which Angel protects and accompanies People through their whole lives doing all it can to keep them from Sin and all other Evils that so it may bring them to Eternal Life and is always suggesting good things to their Free Will from which we receive many Blessings as well Spiritual as Temporal notwithstanding we neither see them nor understand how they do it and these we call our Guardian Angels CHAP. XIII FUrthermore That the Catholick Church is one and the same all over the World having for its Pastor the chief Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of the Blessed Prince of the Apostles St. Peter to whom and by him to his Successors our Lord Jesus Christ delivered the full power of ruling and governing his whole Church from whence it is that the Roman Church is the Head of the whole Church and the Father Master and Doctor of all Christians and the Prelate of all in common and of all Priests Bishops Archbishops Primates and Patriarchs of whatsoever Church they are as also the Pastor of all Emperors Kings Princes and Lords In a word of all that are Christians and of all the Faithful People Hence it is that all that are not under the Obedience of the said Roman Bishop the Vicar of Christ upon Earth are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell as Hereticks and Schismaticks for their Disobedience to the Commands of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order that he left in his Church CHAP. XIV FUrthermore that One and the same God is the Author of the New and Old Testament of the Prophets and the Gospels the Saints of both those Testaments being inspired in the Writing of them with the same Holy Spirit and so the Catholick Church receives all the Canonical Books of both Testaments which contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true and was dictated by the Holy Spirit To wit of the Old Testament the five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy as also Joshua the two Books of Judges Ruth the four Books of Kings the two Books of Chronicles the first Book of Esdras the second which is called Nehemias Tobit Judith Esther Job the Psalms of David being 150 the Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the Book of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus the four greater Prophets viz. Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel the twelve lesser viz. Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi and the first and second of Maccabees and of the New Testament St. Matthew
of Beasts or of some other Men which besides that it is a great Ignorance is also an Error contrary to the Catholick Faith which teacheth That our Souls after Death are carried to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory or Limbus according to every ones Merits and that there is no such fabulous and false Transmigration The second is That all things come necessarily to pass or through * I am very apt to believe that they are here falsely accused of attributing all things to Fate for no other reason but because they believed Predestination which if it was so Arch-Bishop Menezes who was himself an Austin Fryar shewed but little respect to the Memory of his pretended Father in making Predestination and Fate to be equally destructive of humane Liberty Fate or Fortune which they call the Nativity of Men who they say are compelled to be what they are and that there is no help for it which is a manifest Error and condemned by Holy Mother Church for as much as it destroys that Liberty of Will with which God created us leaving us in the power of our own Will to do Good or Evil to obey his Holy Inspirations and Internal Motions by which he excites to Good or to resist Evil so that as it depends on his Divine mercy and goodness to move us to Good so it depends on our Free-Will whether by his assistance we will obey those Inspirations and will profit our selves of his Internal Motions or of our own free Will refuse to do it or in a word do Well or Ill so that if we perish for doing any thing that is Ill it is the fault of our own Free-Will as the Catholick Faith teaches us and not from the fate of our Nativity as the ignorant Heathens will have it The third is †This is an Error that Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and others of the Philosophical Fathers seem to have been in That every one may be saved in his own Law all which are Good and lead Men to Heaven Now this is a manifest Heresy there being no other Law upon earth in which Salvation is to be found besides that of our Saviour Christ for that he only teacheth the Truth so that all that live in any other Sect are out of a state of Salvation and shall be condemned to Hell there being no other Name given to Men by which we can be saved but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who was Crucified for us All which Errors the Synod commandeth the Vicars and Preachers often to preach against in the hearing of the ignorant People and all Confessors to examine their Penitents concerning them and to teach them the Catholick Truth Decree V. THis Synod being informed that there is a dangerous Heresy and very injurious to our Lord Jesus Christ sown and preached through this Diocess which is That it is a * Grievous Sin How does this consist with their having so many Crosses in their Churches and Houses as they tell us they had or with their administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist or with their Preaching that it was Christ and not the Son of God that suffered upon the Cross grievous sin so much as to think or speak of our Saviour's Holy Passion and as there are a great many of this Opinion so the doing of it has formerly been prohibited by impious Censures all which is a manifest Error and extreamly prejudicial to the Souls of all faithful Christians and the fruit and profit of Souls arising from such Considerations and Discourses which is very great as well for that love and affection which they beget in us for our Saviour who suffer'd for our Salvation as for the Example of those Vertues which were so Illustrious in his Holy Passion and the hatred of Sin for which he suffer'd so much and the fear of the Divine Justice which he so rigorously satisfied and the confidence of our Salvation by such a plenteous Redemption and the use of the Sacraments to which he applyed the virtue of his Holy Passion and other infinite benefits which are derived from thence to our Souls which Error included another no less prejudicial and which is also common among the Nestorians the condemning of Holy Images for that if it were an Impiety to think of the Passion of our Lord Christ it must follow that all those things are unlawful that move or contribute thereunto as the Sign of the Holy Cross and all Images of the Holy Passion all which is a gross and manifest Heresy Wherefore the Synod doth recommend it to all Preachers Confessors and Rectors of Churches frequently to perswade their People to the consideration of those Divine Mysteries and to that end they shall advise them to the Devotion of the Rosary of our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary wherein are contained all the principal Mysteries of the Life of our Lord Christ with profitable Meditations upon them Decree VI. AMong the many Errors sown in this Diocess and left in the Books thereof by the perfidious Nestorian Hereticks there being several against our Lady the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God the only Remedy of Christians the Mother of Mercy and the Advocate of Sinners the Queen of Angels The Synod doth therefore declare That it is the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith that the Holy Virgin was never at any time stained with the guilt of any actual sin and that it is Pious to believe that she was also Conceived without Original Sin it seeming to be most agreeable to the Dignity of the Mother of God that it should be so tho' it is true that Holy Mother Church †Has not as yet determined It is much she has not since the Invention of the Holy Reliques in the Mountains of Granada among which there was a Book in Arabick of S. Cecilius who was consecrated Bishop of Eliberis by St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome with this Title De Dono Gloriae Dono Tormenti in which there is the following Definition of the Immaculate Conception made by all the Apostles being met together to Solemnize the Exequies of the Blessed Virgin Illa Virgo Maria Illa Sancta Illa electa à primo Originarioque peccato praeservata fuit ab omni culpâ libera atque haec veritas Apostolorum Concilium est quam qui negaverit maledictus excommunicatus erit salutem non consequetur sed in aeternum damnabitur All which Reliques and this Book among the rest were after a severe and impartial Examination approved of and received as genuine by a late Provincial Synod in Spain has not as yet determined any thing about that matter Furthermore the Catholick Faith teacheth that she was always before in and after Child-birth a most pure Virgin and that she brought forth the Son of God made Man without any Pain or Passion having none of those things which are common to other Women after Child-birth
all that are subject to her are immediately under Christ without owing any reverence to the Roman Bishop they say likewise That the Roman Church is fallen from the Faith having perverted the Canons of the Apostles by the force of Heretical Emperors Arms and that the Romans are Hereticks for not celebrating in leavened Bread which has been the inviolable Custom of the Church derived from our Saviour and his Holy Apostles that all the Bishops that followed Nestorius ought to be much esteemed and when named to be stiled Saints and to have their Reliques reverenced That Matrimony is not a Sacrament that it may be dissolved for the bad conditions of the Parties That Vsury is Lawful and there is no Sin in it Also the Book of Timothy the Patriarch where in three Chapters The most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is blasphemed it being impiously asserted in them That the true Body of our Lord Christ is not there but only the Figure thereof Also the Letter which they pretend came down from Heaven called the Letter of the Lord's day wherein the Roman Church is accused of having fallen from the Faith and having violated the Domingo or Lord's-day Letter Also the Book called Maclamatas wherein the distinction of two Persons in Christ and the accedental Union of the Incarnation are pretended to be proved at large and are confirmed with several false and Blasphemous Similitudes Also the Book intituled Vguarda or the Rose wherein it is said That there are two Persons in Christ that the Union of the Incarnation was Accidental that our Lady brought forth with Pain and the Sons of Joseph which he had by his other Wife being in company went for a Midwife to her with other Blasphemies Also the Book intituled Camiz wherein it is said That the Divine Word and the Son of the Virgin are not the same and that our Lady brought forth with Pain Also the Book intituled Menra wherein it is said That our Lord Christ is only the Image of the Word that the Substance of God dwelt in Christ as in a Temple that Christ is next to the Divinity that Christ was made the Companion of God Also the Book of Orders wherein it is said That the Form and not the Matter is necessary to Orders and the Forms therein are likewise Erroneous that there are only two Orders Diaconate and Priesthood that Altars of Wood and not of Stone are to be Consecrated there are also Prayers in it for those that are converted from any other Sect to Nestorianism in form of an Absolution from the Excommunication they had incurred for not having followed Nestorius and of a reconciliation to the Church Also the Book of Homilies wherein it is said That the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of Christ and is distinguished from him as an Image is from a true Man and that the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there nor no where else but in Heaven That the whole Trinity was Incarnate that Christ is only the Temple of the Divinity and God only by Representation that the Soul of Christ descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden that whosoever affirms the contrary errs and that we therefore err in our Creed There are therein likewise some Letters of some Heretical Synods in which it is said That the Patriarch of Babylon is not subject to the Roman Bishop with an Oath to be taken to the said Patriarch as the Head of the Church wherein People Swear to obey him and him only and not the Bishop of Rome Also a Book intituled An Exposition of the Gospels wherein it is every where pretended to be proved That there are two Persons in Christ and that Christ as a pure Creature was obliged to adore God and stood in need of Prayer that he was the Temple of the most Holy Trinity that Christ's Soul when he died descended not into Hell but was carried to the Paradise of Eden which was the place he promised to the Thief on the Cross That our Lady the Virgin deserved to be reproved for having vainly imagined that she was Mother to one that was to be a great King looking upon Christ as no other than a pure Man and presuming that he was to have a Temporal Empire as well as the resâ— of the Jews That the Evangelists did not Record all Christ's Actions in Truth as they were they not having been present at several of them which was the reason why they differed from one another so much That the Wise Men that came from the East received no favour from God for the Journey they took neither did they believe in Christ that Christ was the adopted Son of God it being as impossible that he should be Gods Natural Son as it is that Just Men should be so that he received new Grace in Baptism which he had not before that he is only the Image of the Word and the pure Temple of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Eucharist is only the Image of the Body of Christ which is only in Heaven at the right hand of the Father and not here on Earth That Christ as pure Man did not know when the day of Judgment was to be That when St. Thomas put his Hand into Christ's Side and said My Lord and my God! he did not speak to Christ for that he that was raised was not God but it was only an Exclamation made to God upon his beholding such a Miracle That the Authority that Christ gave to St. Peter over the Church was the same that he gave to other Priests so that his Successors have no more Power or Jurisdiction than other Bishops That our Lady the Virgin is not the Mother of God That the first Epistle of St. John and that of St. James are not the Writings of thole Holy Apostles but of some other Persons of the same Name and therefore are not Canonical Also the Book of Hormisda Raban who is stiled a Saint wherein it is said That Nestorius was a Saint and Martyr and suffered for the Truth and that St. Cyril who persecuted him was the Priest and Minister of the Devil and is now in Hell That Images are filthy and abominable Idols and ought not to be adored and that St. Cyril as a Heretick invented and introduced them There are also many false Miracles Recorded in this Book which are said to have been wrought by Hormisda in confirmation of the Nestorian Doctrine with an Account of what he suffered from the Catholicks for being obstinate in his Heresy Also the Book of Lots into which they put that they call the Ring of Solomon with a great many more Superstitions for the choice of good Days to Marry upon and for several other uses wherein are contained many Blasphemies and Heathenish Observances as also all other Books of Lots and for chusing of Days the Synod prohibits under the same Censure Also the Book written after the manner of â€
the Names of the Country insomuch that there are but very few called by any of the Names of the Law of Grace wherefore the Synod doth command the Priests to do all they can to have the Names of the Law of Grace given in Baptism but chiefly those of the Holy Apostles and of the Saints that are most celebrated in the Church not intending hereby to take them from any Devotion that several among them may have for some of the Saints of the Old Testament whose Names have been hitherto very common in the Diocess such as Abraham Jacob Zacharias and others nevetheless from henceforward they shall not presume to take the Name of Hijo which has been very common among them neither shall the Priests ever give it to any it being the most sweet * Name of Iesus The Portuguezes had the least reason of any Christians that I know of to be offended with such a Name Emanuel being by much the most common Name in Portugal Name of JESVS to which that Respect and †Reverence Francisco Roz and the other Jesuits ought to have had their Order excepted here for if the Synod's Reason why none ought to be called by that Blessed Name holds good it will reach their Order no less than particular Persons Reverence is due that none ought to take it upon them for that in the naming thereof all Knees both in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth ought to bow themselves and every Tongue ought to confess that it is from that Divine Name that we desire all the good things that we enjoy on Earth commanding all that are called by that Name to change it for another when they come to be Confirmed and as for the common Names of the Countrey they may still retain them if they are such as have been used only among Christians but not among the Heathens for as to those Names which the Heathens have ‖ In common The Popes among whom we have had so many Alexanders and Julius's have had little regard to this Rule in common with Christians the Synod will not have them to be given in Baptism charging the Vicars and Priests that Baptize to take care thereof Decree XVII THe Synod being informed That there are some Christians so far unmindful of their Duties in this Matter as to give other Names to their Children than the * Christian Names This is what several Popes have done who upon their Creation have left their Baptismal Names which were Christian and have taken those that were rank Heathen Christian Names they received in Baptism and sometimes such as are not used among Christians it doth therefore strictly command that no Christian shall presume to give their Children or to call them by any other Names than those that were given them when they were Christened or when there shall happen to be any just cause for the changing of their Baptismal Names it shall be done only at their Confirmation and whosoever shall transgress herein shall be severely punished by the Prelate and the Priests must not be wanting frequently to admonish their People thereof Decree XVIII THe Synod being informed That when many Children are brought together to be Baptized there are great heats which shall be first Christened and that after having lay'd Wagers they give Money to the Curates for the preference all which are intolerable disorders and such scandalous abominations as the Church ought not by any means to give way to and which might be easily prevented if People could but be perswaded to bring their Children to be Christened upon the eighth day it being their deferring of their Baptism so long that is the cause of so many coming together wherefore for the removing of these disorders in the Church the Synod doth command that the Children be baptized as they come without any distinction of first or last and that the Priests do accustom themselves either to baptize the poorest first or all indifferently and the Vicar or Priest that shall be found to have taken Money or any Fee before or after Baptism tho' it should be voluntarily offer'd and of never so small value or only what is to be Eat shall be condemned of Simony and punished according to the Canons Decree XIX IN all Parochial Churches there shall with all possible expedition be Fonts provided for Baptism which may be built with the Fabrick Money or with the Alms Money of the Church or by a Collection among the Parishioners it must be erected in a decent place in a corner of the Church and shall have a hole in the bottom through which the Water may be conveyed away that so it may not be thrown out where it may be trod upon or treated with any irreverence it shall also be close covered at top and locked up and until such time as a Font shall be provided they shall have a Vessel of some Metal or other which shall be put to no other use and shall be always kept in some decent place in the Church or Sacristy neither shall they hereafter make use of any common Vessel as has been the Custom hitherto and the Water they have baptized with shall be thrown in some place of the Church where it will not be trod upon and all the Water that shall be made use of in Baptism whether it be in a Font or a Vessel shall be blessed with the Holy Chrism according to the Roman Ceremonial which they are to make use of Decree XX. THis Synod conforming it self to the Decrees of the Holy Council of Trent and the Universal usages of the Church doth command every Parish-Church to provide a Book wherein the Vicar shall register the Names of all that are baptized together with the Names of the Parents and of the place where they live and of the Godfathers and Godmothers naming the place also where they were Christened the day of the Month and the Year in this Form On such a day of the month in the Year N I N. Vicar of the Church of N. baptized there or in such a place N. the Son of N. and of N. naming the Father and Mother Natives of such a place and the Godfathers and Godmothers were N. and N. the Vicar signing his Name to it at the bottom and when any Priest that is not the Vicar shall Christen a Child which shall never be done without the Vicars leave he shall Register it thus I N. Curate with leave from the Vicar of such a Church naming both the Vicar and the Church did Baptize N. and so on as above signing his Name at the bottom which Book shall be always kept in the Church and the Vicars shall be obliged to give an account thereof and at every Visitation to shew it to the Prelate out of which the Curates are to give Certificates of the Age of such as are to be Married or to receive Holy Orders that so their Age may be certainly known and that such
Sacrifice having been instituted for the health and remedy of the Living and of the Dead Wherefore the Synod doth exhort all the Faithful of this Bishoprick to accustom themselves to procure * Masses Private Masses are not only a flat contradiction to the Primitive Practice but to the very Office wherein they are celebrated all that Office being made in the name of a Congregation not only as present but as communicating A demonstration that the Offices of the Roman Church are older than her Errors it is plain likewise from the very Canon of the Mass that when that Office was composed Transubstantiation was not so much as dreamt of in the Roman Church but as to the thing in hand Cardinal Bona in the 3 Chap. of his 1 Book of Liturgies saith Ab initio Sacrificium principaliter institutum fuit ut publicè ac solemniter fi ret Clero populo astante ac communicante ipse tenor Misse veteris Ecclesiae praxis evincunt omnes enim Orationes atque ipsa Canonis verba in plurali numero tanquam plurium nomine proferuntur hinc sacerdos populum invitat ad Orationem dicens Oremus post Communionem ait quod ore sumpsimus c. Suntque ferè omnes ejusdem tenoris Orationes quae peractâ Communione recitantur And in the 18th Chap. of the same Book he saith Solenne hoc fuit in utrâque Ecclesia Graeca Latinâ ut unum idem Sacrificium a pluribus interdum Sacerdotibus celebraretur Episcopo enim sive Presbytero celebrante reliqui quotquot aderant Episcopi seu Presbyteri simul celebrabant ejusdemque Sacrificii participes erant c. And a little after he adds Cur autem desierit ille mos causa mihi videtur fuisse primo quidem quod fundatis ordinibus mendicantibus longè latéque propagatis multiplicata sunt ones a Missarum atque adeo necesse fuit singulos Sacerdotes ut iis satisfacerent singulis diebus privatim celebrare deinde quia charitas multorum refrixit cessarit etiam frequens accessus ad hoc Sacramentum adeo ut hodie nec ipsi quidem ministri in plerisque Ecclesiis Communicent licet Sacrificio cooperantur To which the Cardinal might have added the Introduction of the Doctrine of Purgatory and the consequent Doctrine of Masses being the most effectual means of delivering the Souls out of the Torments thereof So John the IV. of Portugal ordered ten thousand Masses to be said for his Soul as soon as he was dead Masses to be said for the Souls of their deceased Friends and to leave something by Will that they may have Masses said for their own Souls which will be much more profitable for them than the Feasts that they used to make for their Kindred and others invited to their Funerals which Custom shall be left off and instead thereof they shall give a Dole to the Poor which is also very profitable to the Souls of the departed And that the Decree relating to such Masses may have its due effect the Synod doth command That all that shall be found to have died worth 2000 Fanoins and have left nothing for a certain number of Masses to be said for their Souls shall have so much taken out of their Estates before they shall be divided among the Heirs as shall procure the saying of five Masses for their Souls which shall be deposited by the Executors in the hands of the Church-wardens by them to be distributed among five Priests that they may be the sooner said and where there are more than five Priests the Alms shall be given to the five Eldest there not being sufficient to divide among them all and where there is only the Vicar of the Church the whole shall be given to him which Custom of procuring Masses to be said for the Souls of the Faithful departed this Life as it is used in the Universal Church so it is what this Synod is extreamly desirous to introduce into this Bishoprick wherein it has been totally disused recommending this Matter earnestly to the Preachers and Confessors to persuade all Christians to it in their Sermons and Confessions and to the Vicars to do the same in their Admonitions ACTION VI. Of the Holy Sacrament of Penance and Extream Unction THe Fourth Sacrament is that of Penance in which the Acts of the Penitent are as it were the Matter and are distinguished into these three parts Contrition of Heart Confession of the Mouth and Satisfaction for Sins according to the direction of the Confessor It belongs to the Contrition of the heart that the Penitent be sorry at his Soul for the Sins that he has committed and detesting them is firmly resolved not to commit them any more which Contrition tho' it sometimes happen to be perfect through Charity so as to reconcile one to God even before he has actually received the Sacrament of Confession yet it can never be perfect nor a means of reconciliation with God if not attended with a readiness and purpose of mind to confess those very sins which it is conversant about such sins being no less subject than others to the Keys and the ingagements to Confession It belongs to the Confession of the mouth that the Penitent Confess himself entirely to his own Priest as to all the sins that he remembers using all due diligence according to the length of the time since he last Confessed himself and this Confession is not to be only of sins in general nor only of the Species of them but of every sin in particular and as far as the Penitent is able to remember of their number declaring withal all the aggravating Circumstances and all such as change the Species in a word all mortal sins how secret soever tho' only in thoughts and wicked desires as also all faults committed against the two last Commandments Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife Thou shalt not covet any thing that is anothers such sins being at some times more dangerous for the Soul than others that are open all which we are commanded to do by the Divine Law our Saviour when he ascended into Heaven leaving the Priests for his Vicars upon Earth and constituting them Judges before whom all mortal sins committed by Christians were to be brought that by the power of the Keys which he committed to them to forgive or retain sins they may pronounce Sentence which cannot be just and Righteous neither can the punishments they impose be equal or proportionated to the Nature of the Faults without their having a full knowledge of the same as of the matter that they pass Sentence upon which knowledge cannot be had but by the Penitents confessing all and every Mortal Sin whereon Judgment is to pass not only in general but in specie and number making mention of every such Sin in particular with all its necessary circumstances that so a just sentence o◠absolution or retention may be pronounced upon
for the Churches that are in the Heaths the Vicars shall give orders that the Children or at least such of them as are nighest to the Church shall upon a certain day of the Week come to learn the Doctrine employing others persons to instruct the rest therein and the Schoolmasters that teach Syrian or that teach to read and write shall every day before they begin School repeat the said Doctrine to their Scholars in Malabar neither shall any inferior Orders no not the first Tonsure be given to Children before they can say the whole Doctrine in Malabar in which they must be examined according to the Holy Council of Trent and in all Church s there shall be a Book of the * Doctrine The Christians of Malabar would certainly lose the second Commandment by receiving this Roman Doctrine in which that Commandment never appears no not as part of the first nay in the Tridentine Catechism tho' writ in Latin and for the use of Parish-Priests there is only the three first words of it mentioned and I do not believe there is one Priest of a thousand in Spain or Portugal who if they should have the whole Second Commandment repeated to them would not say what I have heard more than one and those very grave Priests too say of it That it might be John Calvin's but they were sure it was none of God's Commandments Doctrine in the Malabar Tongue for the instruction of Children which the Synod doth entreat the Father Rector of the College of Jesuits of Vaipicotta to order to be translated by some of that College commanding all the Churches of this Diocess as also exhorting all the Christians thereof at Night to cause the said Doctrine to be taught in their Houses to their whole Families that so their Servants and Slaves may be instructed therein and the Confessors in their Confessions must not fail to examine their Penitents in the Doctrine and to exhort them to learn it Decree XIX THat the Faithful Christians in this Diocess may in their Common Prayer be conformable to the whole Catholick Church they must not from henceforward say the Ave Mary as they have been taught by the Perfidious Nestorians but must say it thus Ave Mary full of Grace the Lord be with thee blessed art thou among Women blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy Womb Holy Mother of God pray for us Sinners now and at the hour of our Death Amen Jesus And in this form it shall be inserted into all the Prayer Books of this Diocess Decree XX. VVHereas the Christians of this Diocess do not shew the least Reverence to the most Holy Name of Jesus when it is mentioned which ariseth from the false Doctrine of the Nestorian Hereticks who do impiously assert That it is not worthy of Reverence being the Name of a Humane Person teaching falsly that there are two Persons in Christ therefore since that Divine Name contains in it so many Divine Mysteries being the Name of our Redemption and the Name above all Names At which St. Paul saith every knee in Heaven and in Earth and below the Earth ought to bow the Synod doth command that as often either in the Gospel or Prayers of the Mass or Offices or any where else that that Name is mentioned all People do reverently bow their Body whether they be sitting or standing and the Clergy and other Christians having their Caps on shall take them off and the Vicars and Preachers must not neglect to put their People frequently in mind thereof and whereas the Name Lyo is the same with the most sweet Name of Jesus in the Malabar Language and is commonly given to Children in Baptism the Synod doth strictly prohibit the giving of that Name to any body for the future commanding all that are called by it to take another Name in Confirmation or at any other time it being a great irreverence for any one to be called by so high and Divine a Name Decree XXI WHereas it is necessary that the Feast of Christ's Nativity should be celebrated with great solemnity and uniformity through the whole Catholick Church the Synod doth command that on the Eve of that Festivity all the Clergy and People do assemble together in the Church there to say the Matins with the greatest Solemnity possible and that after they have done these Prayers which shall end about Midnight they shall make the customary Procession which being over a Solemn Mass shall be said with all possible Festivity after which the Priest may say a Mass at break of day and a third at the usual time of Mass for the Priest must know that for the greater Solemnity of this Festival they are permitted to say three Masses upon it that is one at Midnight one at break of day and a third at the ordinary time or being private Masses all three together after break of day but being publick shall be all said in the fore-mentioned Order neither shall they after the first two take the Lavatory but after having received the Blood shall go on with the Mass without taking the Lavatory that so they may be Fasting to celebrate the third and they shall be very careful to have the Cups well scoured and their Fingers washed clean with Water which shall be preserved in a particular Vessel in order to its being afterwards either thrown into a Pond or poured under the Altar or into the Baptismal Water that is in the Font and if any Priest through carelessness should in either of the two first Masses take the Lavatory after that it shall not be lawful for him to say any more because the Mass is not to be celebrated but Fasting which the taking of the Lavatory breaks Decree XXII THe Synod doth command That the Priests in the solemn administration of the Sacraments of Baptism Matrimony and Extream Vnction or when they administer the Holy Eucharist without the Mass for the greater decency and reverence for what they are about do wear a Surplice with a Stole about their Necks And whereas hitherto there has been no such thing as a Surplice in this Bishoprick the most Reverend Metropolitan having been pleased to provide such Vestments as are necessary in this Bishoprick no Vicar shall go from hence without taking a Surplice along with him which he is to wear in the administration of the Holy Sacraments wherein the Synod commands them likewise to use the Rites and Ceremonies prescribed in the Roman Ceremonial which the said Lord Metropolitan has commanded to be translated into Syrian and to be kept in all Churches which contains the Forms of Baptizing of Anointing the Sick of Marrying of Sacramental Absolution with the customary Prayers therein of administring the Holy Sacrament of the Altar of the Exorcisms of the Church for People possessed with the Devil the Blessings of Holy Water of Ashes of Chains and Branches as also the Form of Burying the Dead Old and Young and of reconciling Churches and