to be made speedily by the most Illustrious Metropolitan in the Churches of this Bishoprick all Men and Women that are above seven years old do come to be Christen'd or Confirmed those only excepted who were confirmed by the said Lord in his former Visitation or at some other or on some other occasion by some other Bishop this Sacrament as well as that of Baptism being never to be repeated in so much that all that receive it a second time wittingly are guilty of a great piece of Sacrilege besides that they receive no Sacrament thereby But in case any are doubtful whether they have ever been confirmed or not or should not remember that they were ever they shall declare so much to the said Lord or to the Bishop that is to confirm them that they may order the matter according to the merit of their doubts But if any which God forbid should sacrilegiously and obstinately despise the said Sacrament it being proved upon them they shall be declared Excommunicate until such time as they have done condign Penance and shall be punished at the pleasure of the Prelate Decree II. THe Synod to its great sorrow having been informed that some ignorant Persons in Sacred Matters and the Doctrine of the Holy Sacraments of the Church being instigated by the Devil to persist in their cursed Schism did in several places resist the most Illustrious Metropolitan in his former Visitation of these Churches so far as not only to refuse to receive the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation from him but did also oppose him publickly in the Churches and that many did absent themselves some whereof excused themselves by pretending that it was an unnecessary thing and that they had never seen nor heard of it before and others that they should be affronted by the Holy Ceremony of the Prelates touching their Cheek scurrilously upbraiding those that had received it with base provoking words telling them that they had suffer'd themselves to be affronted and buffeted with other such Sacrilegious Expressions full of Infidelity and Heresy arising from the Schism wherein they have been brought up Whole Towns conspiring together so far in this Mutiny that the despising or receiving this Holy Sacrament became the Test of their obedience or disobedience to the said Metropolitan doth therefore notwithstanding it knows they have all in common and every one in particular repented of this and being sensible of the greatness of the error they committed therein have beg'd pardon for it and upon their having confess'd their Ignorance have been graciously received by the said Lord Metropolitan and having submitted themselves to the obedience of the Holy Roman Church are ready to do all that shall be enjoyned them to prevent the life however that none for the time coming may commit the like faults or Sacrileges command That if any which God forbid shall dare to do or say any such thing against this Sacrament or the Holy Ceremonies and Rites wherewith it is administred to the Faithful that they be declared Excommunicate and be separated from the Church and the Communion of the Faithful until such time as they have undergone condign Penance at the pleasure of the Prelate and shall demonstrate their due subjection to the obedience of the Holy Church and have taken the Oath of the Faith contained in this Synod and declared that all that reject and despise the Rites and Ceremonies approved of and received in the Church in the solemn administration of this and the other Sacraments are Hereticks and Apostates from our Holy Catholick Faith as was determin'd in the Holy Council of Trent and ought to be proceeded against and punished as such according to the Sacred Canons Decree III. THe Synod doth declare That in the Sacrament of Confirmation or Chrism there must be a Godfather and Godmother as well as in Baptism to present such as are to be Confirmed according to the ancient Custom of Holy Mother Church but there shall be but only one Godfather and Godmother who must themselves have been Confirmed it being very indecent that any Person should present one to have that done to him which they have not had done to themselves and that the Man shall be above 14 and the Woman above 12 Years Old or one of them at least shall be of that Age and in this Case the Godfathers and Godmothers do contract the same Spiritual Affinities and the same Impediments that the others do in Baptism the said Spiritual Affinity being equally contracted in both these Sacraments ACTION V. Of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist THe third Sacrament in the Order of the Spiritual Life is the Holy Eucharist tho' in Veneration Sanctity and Dignity it is the first and most excellent for containing in it the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God true God and true Man our Saviour and Redeemer which was instituted by him the day before he suffer'd for us as the most sweet Remate or Conclusion of all his Works and a Memorial of his Passion the fulfilling of all the ancient Figures the greatest of all the Miracles that ever he wrought and for the singular Consolation of the Faithful in his absence The Matter of this Sacrament is Bread of Wheat and Wine of the Grape only so that all that Consecrate in Bread made of Rice or of any thing else but the Flower of Wheat or of Wine that was not pressed out of the ripe Grape of the Vine do not make the Sacrament there must also be Water mixed with the Wine before it is Consecrated but in a much smaller quantity than the Wine that so it may easily * Turn For Water to turn it self into Wine is as great a Miracle as for the Priest to turn Wine into Blood turn it self into Wine before the Consecration which mixture is therefore made because from the Testimony of Holy Fathers Holy Mother Church believes that our Lord Christ himself did so whose having mixed Water with the Wine that he Consecrated makes it a great Sin to omit to do it It is also agreeable to the representation of the Mystery of what passed on the Cross and of our Lord Christ out of whose precious Side flowed Water and Blood as also to signifie the Effect of this Sacrament which is the Vnion of the Faithful with Christ the Water signifying the Faithful and the Wine our Lord Christ and the conversion of the Water into the Wine the Union of our Souls with Christ by means of this Divine Sacrament according to what our Lord said He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him The Form of this Sacrament is the words of our Saviour by which the Sacrament is made for tho' the Priest pronounceth many and divers words in the Mass and
least scruple of Mortal Sin and having an opportunity of a Confessor shall say Mass tho' under an Obligation to do it without having first confessed themselves But besides that such when under any scruple are obliged to confess for the greater purity of their Souls tho' under no scruple the Synod commands all Priests to confess at least once a Week Decree IX THe Synod doth furthermore command all Deacons and Sub-Deacons that Minister solemnly in the solemn Masses on Sundays and Saints-days to receive the most Holy Sacrament at those times and on the Festivity of our Lord Christ our Lady and the Holy Apostles all the Chamazes or Clergy that are in the Church of which the Vicars ought to take special care and the Prelate in his Visitations is to make diligent Inquiry how these things are observed The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass THe great Love of God to Mankind does not only appear in the Institution of the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and in the putting of his Divine Body and Blood under the Sacramental Species to be the heavenly Food of our Souls by which the Spiritual Life is maintained and preserved but in his having likewise so instituted it that the Catholick Church Militant might have a perpetual and visible Sacrifice for the purging away of our sins and for turning the Wrath of our Heavenly Father who is many times offended with our wickedness into Mercy and the rigour of his just punishment into Clemency So in the Mass there is offered unto God a true and proper Sacrifice for the pardon both of the Living and of the Dead by the offering of the which Sacrifice the Lord is so far appealed as to give Grace and the Gift of Repentance to Sinners and by means thereof does forgive Men their Sins and Offences tho' never so enormous the Host that is offered by the Ministry of the Priest on the Altar of the Church being one and the same that was offered for us on the Cross with no other difference besides that of the reason of their being offered And so it is not only offered for the Sins Punishments Satisfactions and other Necessities of the Faithful that are Living but also for the Dead departed in Christ and that are in the Torments of Purgatory being not as yet fully purged by reason of their not having made a compleat satisfaction for the punishments due to their sins it being but just and reasonable that all should be benefited by a Sacrifice which was instituted for the Remedy and Health of all Mankind which Oblation is of that purity that no indignity or wickedness in the Offerers is able to defile it so that as to the substance value and acceptation it is the same when offered by a wicked and unclean sinner as when by a pure and holy Priest because it does not derive its Dignity from the Offerer but from the Majesty and excellency of what is offered neither does the Eternal Father accept thereof for the Merits and Vertue of the Priest that offers it but for the value of the Sacrifice it self and the infinite Merits of Christ who is offered therein so that our Saviour being about to offer himself to God the Father on the Altar of the Cross could not possibly have given us a greater expression of his immense Love for us than by leaving us this visible Sacrifice in his Church in which the Blood which was presently to be once offered upon the Altar of the Cross was to be renewed every day upon the Altar of the Church and the Memory thereof to our great profit was to be adored every where in the Church until the end of the World which Divine Sacrifice is offered to God only notwithstanding it is sometimes celebrated in Memory and Honour of the Martyrs and other Saints in Bliss it not being offered to them but to God only who has been pleased to Crown them with Immortal Honour rendring him thereby our bounden thanks for the notable Victory of the Martyrs and the publick Mercies and Blessings he has vouchsafed to other Saints and for the Victories which by these means they obtained over the World the Flesh and the Devil beseeching the said Saints to be pleased to intercede for us in Heaven whose Memories we celebrate on Earth and tho' the Divine Eucharist does still continue to be a Sacrament yet it is never a Sacrifice but as it is offered in the Mass Decree I. FOrasmuch as it is of great moment that all things belonging to the Sacrifice of the Mass should be preserv'd pure and undefiled and whereas this Church has been for * 1200 Years It would puzzle them to prove that they had ever been at any time under her obedience however this shows what a Cheat that submission of the Patriarch of Babylon in his own name and in the name of all the Churches that were subject to him to the Pope at the Council of Trent was which Father Paul tells us made a mighty noise in the World the Court of Rome boasting thereupon that the Pope had got more new Subjects by that submission than he had lost by the Reformation 1200 years from under the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church the Mistress of all the other Churches and from whence all good Government and true Doctrines do come all the Bishops that came hither from Babylon having been Schismaticks and Nestorian Hereticks who have added to and taken from the Mass at their pleasure without any order from whence it has come to pass that several things are foisted into the Syrian Mass which is said in this Diocess without any consideration and such things too as may give occasion to many Impious and Heretical Errors For which if due Order were observed all the Missals of this Bishoprick ought to be burned as also for their having been of Nestorian use and compiled by Nestorian Hereticks but being there are no other at present they are tolerated until such time as our Lord the Pope shall take some Order therein and there shall be Missals sent by him printed in the Chaldee Tongue which is what this Synod humbly and earnestly desires may be done And in the mean time it doth command that the Missals now in use be purged and reformed as to all the following Matters and that till such time as they are so purged which the most Illustrious Metropolitan with the assistance of some Persons well versed in the Chaldee Tongue will see done the next Visitation no Priest shall presume to make use of them any more Whereas from the above declared Doctrine of this Sacrament it is evident that the Priest does not Consecrate with his own words but with those of our Lord Christ the Author and Institutor of the said Divine Sacrament it is not therefore lawful to add any Clause how good soever in it self to the Form of Consecration or to what our Lord Christ said therein in which we do not
nor no need of any created assistance to help her to bring forth or afterwards there being nothing in her but what was pure the Eternal Word made Flesh springing out of her Womb the Claustrum of her pure Virginity being shut when the time determined in the Consistory of the Holy Trinity was come to the great Spiritual Joy and satisfaction of the said Blessed Virgin for which reason she ought truly to be stiled the Mother of God and not only the Mother of Christ and that when she departed this Life she was immediately carried up into Heaven where by a particular privilege due to her Merits she enjoys God both in Body and Soul without waiting for the general Resurrection there being no reason why that Body out of which there was most Holy Flesh formed for the Son of God made Man should as other Bodies be dissolved into Dust and Ashes but that it should be immediately exalted and glorified and placed high above all the Quires of Angels as Holy Mother Church sings and confesseth concerning the whole of which matter the Impious Nestorian Hereticks have spoke and writ even in the Breviaries used in this Bishoprick a great many Blasphemies and Heresies Decree VII THe Synod is with great sorrow sensible of that Heresy and perverse Error sown by the Schismaticks in this Diocess to the great prejudice of Souls which is That there was one Law of St. Thomas and another of St. Peter which made * Two different By all this which the Synod calls Two Laws the Christians of St. Thomas meant only That the Churches planted by the Apostles in divers Regions had nothing of Superiority or Jurisdiction over one another which is a most certain and ancient truth two different and distinct Churches and both immediately from Christ and that the one had nothing to do with the other neither did the Prelate of the one owe any obedience to the Prelate of the other and that they who had followed the Law of St. Peter had endeavoured to destroy the Law of St. Thomas for which they had been punished by him all which is a manifest Error Schism and Heresy there being but one Law to all Christians which is that which was given and declared by Jesus Christ the Son of God and preached by the Holy Apostles all over the World as one Faith one Baptism there being but one Lord of all and one Catholick and Apostolick Church of which our Lord Christ God and Man who Founded it is the only Spouse and one only Universal Pastor to whom all other Prelates owe obedience the Pope and Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles to whom our Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed that Supream Authority and by him to his Successors which Catholick Doctrine is necessary to Eternal Life Wherefore the Synod doth command all Parish Priests and Preachers to Treat often of this matter by reason of the great need there is of having this Bishoprick well instructed therein Decree VIII FOr that till the very time of the most Illustrious Metropolitan entring into this Diocess there was a certain Heresy twice repeated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and twice more in the Divine Office in calling the Patriarch of Babylon the Universal Pastor and Head of the Catholick Church in all places and as often as they happen to name him a Title that is due only to the most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome Successor of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth the Synod doth therefore command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of this Bishoprick Secular or Ecclesiastical shall from henceforward presume by Word or Writing either in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in the Divine Office or in any other occasion to bestow that Title on the said Patriarch of Babylon or on any other Prelate besides our Lord the Bishop of Rome and whosoever shall dare to contravene this Order shall be declared Excommunicate and held for a Schismatick and Heretick and shall be punished as such according to the Holy Canons And whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon to whom this Church was subject are Nestorians the Heads of that cursed Sect and Schismaticks out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Aliens from our Holy Catholick Faith and are for that reason Excommunicate and accursed and it not being lawful to joyn with such in the Church in publick as stand Excommunicate Wherefore this Bishoprick upon its having now yielded a perfect Obedience to the most Holy Father the Pope Christ's Vicar upon Earth to which it was obliged by Divine Authority and upon pain of Damnation shall not from henceforward have any manner of dependance upon the said Patriarch of Babylon and the present Synod does under the said precept of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit all Priests and Curates from henceforward to name the said Patriarch of Babylon in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other Divine Office in the Prayers of the Church even without the false Title of Universal Pastor but instead thereof shall name our Lord the Pope who is our true Pastor as also of the whole Church and after him the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being and whosoever shall maliciously and knowingly act the contrary shall be declared Excommunicate and otherwise punish'd at the pleasure of his Prelate according to his contumacy Decree IX WHereas all the Breviaries used in this Church are Nestorian and by the commands of Prelates of the same Sect on a certain day the impious and false Heretick Nestorius is Commemorated in this Bishoprick and a Day is kept to his Honour and at other times Theodorus Diodorus Abbaratho Abraham Narsai Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael who are also Nestorian Hereticks were likewise Commemorated Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus being commemorated on the Friday after the Nativity and on the seventh Friday after that Abraham and Narsai and all the above-named and all of them on every Thursday in the Year in the said Nestorian Office and every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office and notwithstanding in some places they have not of late named Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus but do still continue to name Abraham Narsai Abba Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael in the Blessing that the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass wherein they desire Hormisda to deliver them from evil being his Disciples as also on all Fridays in the Year they commemorate as Saints the said Hormisda Joseph Michael Johanan Barchauma Barianda Rabba Hedsa Machai Hixoiau Caurixo Avahixo Lixo Xaulixo Barmun Lixo Metidor Cohada Israel Ezekiah Lixo David Lixo Barai Israel Julianus Haudixo c. who were all Nestorian Hereticks and as is evident from the said Masses and from their Lives Commemorations
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
latae sententiae to receive any Orders from him with which he sent another Instrument commanding all Priests and Christian People not to suffer him to come into any of their Churches as also not to be present at any of his Masses or Sermons The Arch-Bishop had Preached two days following and had confirmed a great many before these Instruments had reached Diamper but after they came once to be published they put a full stop to what went on so currently before The oldest Caçanar of the Church requiring the Arch-Bishop upon the receipt of them to leave the place and not to offer to set his Foot in their Church any more nor to Confirm any Body which among them who anointed Children on the Head when they were Baptized was an unnecessary Ceremony Notwithstanding this the Arch-Bishop continued still a Preaching and when the day appointed for the Ordination was come Ordained 37 on it having first obliged them to subscribe the Faith of Pius IV. and to swear obedience to the Pope After this Solemnity was over the Arch-Bishop determined to pass the Holy Week and Easter at Carturte a considerable Town of Christians in the Dominions of the Queen of Pimenta He took several Churches in his way thither at some of which he met with a kind Reception at others the Christians would not so much as see him Being arrived at Carturte after a dangerous Voyage on the Friday before Palm-Sunday he went to Church betimes next Morning where having said Mass and Preached he Commanded the Congregation not to fail to be at Church next day for that he had something of Importance to communicate to them and having the same Night invited several of the most considerable Christians of the place aboard his Galley by some means or other for you must understand he was not sparing of his Money in this occasion no more than he was of his Promises he gained two of the most substantial among them intirely to his Party who did him afterwards very great Service Their Names were Itimato Mapula and Itimane Mapula The Arch-Bishop not knowing but that the Portuguezes Musick might charm the common People and reconcile them to the Latin Service to which they seemed to have a great aversion sent for a full Quire from Cochim and on Palm-Sunday had high Mass performed with the same Ceremony and Majesty that he could have had it done at Goa but the Caçanares and People were so far from being satisfied with the Musick and pompous Ceremony of that Service that if they liked it ill before they liked it a great deal worse after that as in truth none but they that place all Religion in external Performances can do otherwise there being no Passion which that Service will not excite in its Spectators which is all the People are sooner than Devotion The Queen of Pimenta being importun'd to it by several Christians and her own Jealousies sent an Order to the Arch-Bishop to leave her Kingdom in three days upon pain of Death and not to trouble her Subjects with his Novelties under which she had reason to apprehend some ill design against her State was couched But the Arch-Bishop knew his own strength too well to be frighted away with Paper Threats and so sent the Queen back word positively that he would not stir out of her Territories before he had finished the work that had brought him thither telling her withal That he was serving her rather than otherwise in what he was doing and that her Ancestors had granted Privileges to the Arch-Bishop of the Serra but being Infidels had never offered to concern themselves in the matters of their Religion That if she should Murther him she must know that she Muthered the second Man in the Indies and that his would be the dearest Blood that ever she spilt in her Life since the Portuguezes the Greatness of whose Power she and her Kingdom could not be but sensible of having so often felt it would infallibly Revenge his Death to the utmost What made the Arch-Bishop the stouter in this occasion was his knowing that he had secured most of her Regedores namely him of Carturte and the Country about it to his Party whom he had engaged by very rich Presents to favour and protect him in the execution of his designs The Arch-Bishop having thus intimidated the Queen and bribed her Officers began to make bolder steps than he had offered to make before and so seeing a Caçanar at Church one day whom he had excommunicated but a little before for having presumed to excommunicate him he sent to him to get him out of the Church which was no place for an excommunicate Rebel as he was The Caçanar laughed at the Order and told him very briskly That he would not go out of the Church for that he was none of his Prelate neither did he value Roman Excommunications no more than he did the dirt under his feet the Roman Church having nothing to do with the Church of the Serra the Arch-Bishop not being able to bear such a publick Affront and knowing his Party in the Church to be the stronger commanded the Service and Musick to cease and turning towards the place where the Caçanar stood commanded him to come up to him which the Caçanar refusing to do with great scorn he was dragg'd up to him by some Caçanares and others that he had gained to his Party and being kept down upon his Knees before him was commanded to beg his Lordship's Pardon he told them resolutely H◠would die before he would do it or any thing whereby he should acknowledge him his Prelate Th◠Arch-Bishop perceiving that he was not to be terrified into a compliance ordered him to b◠turned out of the Church the Caçanar to◠him He would not be turned out of a Church where he had more to do than he had upon this the whole Church was all in an uproar some striving to keep him in the Church and others to thrust him out but the Arch-Bishop's Party being the stronger after a great disturbance turned out he was The Night following several Caçanares and others abjured the Patriarch of Babylon and were reconciled to the Church of Rome at the Arch-Bishop's Lodgings which were over the Church After which the Arch-Bishop was resolved either to make the Arch-Deacon bend or to break with him totally and so having all his Converts together without whose advise he told them he would never do any thing he declared to them that he could no longer bear with the Arch-Deacon's Rebellion and was therefore determined to depose him and put another in his place naming one Thomas Curia a near Kinsman of the Arch-Deacon's to be his Successor They all owned that His Grace had great reason to be angry with the Arch-Deacon but yet seeing he was but a young Man and had had the ill luck to be in the hands of bad Counsellors they intreated His Grace before he declared his place void to allow
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
In a word any Person that can Baptize using the Form of the Church and intending to do what she does may administer this Sacrament For seeing none can be saved without being Baptized therefore as our Lord ordained Water than which nothing is more ready at hand to be the matter of this Sacrament so he would exclude no Man from being the Minister thereof the effects and virtue of this Sacrament is the pardon and remission of all sins Original and Actual and of all punishments due to them for which reason there is no Penance to be enjoyned those that are Baptized for any sin they committed before Baptism all that die after Baptism before they have committed any sin going directly to Heaven where they enjoy the Divine Vision for ever Decree I. WHereas in the Examination of the Forms of the administration of the Sacraments of the Church in this Diocess made by the most Reverend Metropolitan in his last Visitation he found that in divers Churches there were different Forms used and written in the Baptisteries some Curates using the Form following * The Ancient Form of Baptizing was by Prayer N. is Baptized and perfected in the name of the Father Amen in the name of the Son Amen in the name of the Holy Ghost Amen Others using the Greek Form saying Baptizetur servus Christi in nomine Patris Amen in nomine Filii Amen in nomine Spiritûs Sancti Amen The Synod in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred doth command that no Person shall presume hereafter to use either these or any other Forms but that which is used in the Holy Roman Church I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that all other Forms be blotted out of their Baptisteries and Books and this be put in their place Decree II. THis Synod being informed That at divers times they have used different Forms of Baptism in this Diocess which were introduced by Schismatical and Ignorant Prelates some of which were not Legitimate neither was the Sacrament administred by them as was declared by the most Illustrious Metropolitan and others after a strict Examination and others were very doubtful doth therefore in the name of the Holy Ghost desire and command all the faithful Christians of this Diocess to declare to the said Metropolitan at the Visitation he intends to make of the Churches of this Diocess or to Persons deputed by him the time when they were Baptized that so according to the Form that was then used a saving remedy may be provided in conformity to what shall be ordained therein and that all submit themselves to whatsoever he shall be pleased to order Decree III. FOrasmuch as the Synod is informed that there are many Persons in this Diocess and especially among those that live in the Heaths and are far from any Church who tho' they are not Baptized yet being of a Christian race do profess themselves Christians and when they come where there is a Church do go to it and receive the Holy Sacraments with others and out of meer shame of letting it be known that they are not Christened do die without Baptism and others because they will not pay the Fees which are Simoniacally demanded of them It doth therefore command all Vicars of Churches to make diligent inquiry through their whole Parishes and the Heaths to see if there are any that are not Christened besides the search that the most Illustrious Metropolitan does intend at his next Visitation as he did at his former and that the said Vicars on the high Festivals upon which those that live in the Heaths do usually come to Church shall admonish them all in general that in case there are any among them that have never been baptized or that have some reason to doubt whether they have or not that they go to them and acquaint them therewith in private that so they may be secretly Christened and without paying any Fee letting them know that they are not Christians nor capable of inheriting Eternal Life nor of receiving the Holy Sacraments without being baptized and all Preachers shall frequently give the same admonition and all Confessors must be careful to ask all rude Christians that live in the Heaths whether they have been baptized and in case it appear doubtful they shall then baptize them privately The Synod grants the same License to all Priests within or without this Diocess to baptize all such secretly in what place soever they shall think fit Decree IV. THE Synod being informed that there are some small Villages in this Diocess which by reason of the great distance they are at from any Church and through the negligence of their Prelates and Priests tho' they call themselves Christians of St. Thomas because descended of such yet are not Baptized having nothing of Christians but the bare name doth command a diligent enquiry to be made into this matter recommending the same to the most Reverend Metropolitan and commanding all Vicars of Churches to search all places bordering upon their Parishes and to oblige all such to be Baptized The Synod doth likewise command Chappels to be built in or near to all such Villages and to be provided with such Curates as may instruct them in all matters of Faith that so there may be none in all these parts that call themselves Christians of St. Thomas but what are Baptized and of some Parish where they may receive the Sacraments Decree V. BY reason of the great negligence that is so visible in the Christians of this Bishoprick in bringing their Children to be baptized within eight days after they are born according to the Custom of the Church but chiefly among those that live at a considerable distance from any Church whose Children are many times some Months or Years old before they are Christen'd the Synod doth strictly command That all Children be baptized on the 8th day after they are born according to the custom of the Universal Church without there should be some danger of their dying before in which case they ought to be Christened immediately or that it should so happen that if they are not baptized sooner they cannot be in a long time in which case also they ought to be presently Christened and for those that live in Heaths and far from any Church if they should not be able to bring their Children to be baptized on the eighth day they must not fail to bring them betwixt the fifteenth and the twentieth and all that are found to be negligent herein let them be punish'd severely and whosoever shall neglect to bring their own Children or others that they have the charge of tho' their Slaves to Baptism for above a Month let them be thrown out of the Church neither shall it be lawful for any Priest to go to their Houses or to give them the Casturi or a Visit no not in order to
makes many Prayers and Petitions to God yet when he comes to Consecrate he useth only the words of Christ none others belonging to the substance of Consecration so the Priest speaking in the Person of Christ makes this Divine Sacrament because by virtue of those words he turneth the substance of Bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood there remaining nothing of Bread and Wine after that but only the Accidents or Species of them and that after such a manner that the whole of Christ's Body and Soul and Divinity are contained under every Particle of both tho' never so small when separated so that in every crumb of the Host tho' never so small there is Christ intire and in every drop of the Species of Wine that is separated there is Christ entire so that in each of the Species whole Christ God and Man is received as also the true Sacrament for which reason Holy Mother Church does not use to Communicate the Faithful but †Vnder one Species What makes the Sacrilege of denying the Cup to the People in the Sacrament to be something the greater is that most of the Roman Doctors do hold that there is more Grace convey'd to People by communicating under both the Species of Bread and Wine than under that of Bread only Vasquez Cap. 2. Quaest 80. Art 12. Disp 215. Nay Pope Clement the VIth in his Bull to the King of England in the Year 1341 acknowledgeth as much wherein he tells that King that he granted him the privilege of communicating under both kinds that he might receive the more Grace by receiving the Sacrament so under one Species because in that they receive Christ entire To this Divine Sacrament the Worship Veneration and ‖ Adoration The Primitive Christians must have been People of a strange confidence in triumphing as they did over the stupidity of the Heathen Worship for being directed to Objects that were subject to all the Accidents and Casualties that any other Bodies are subject to had they themselves at the same time Worshiped the Host which is subject to more Accidents than the Stone Wood or Brass of the Heathen Images for they that do Worship it cannot deny but that the Host may be Stole Burnt eat by Mice or other Vermine and if kepâ— too long will of it self Mould and Corrupt They must certainly have the privilege of believing what they have a mind to that can believe That if the Primitive Christians had had any such Doctrine as this of Transubstantiation among them considering how many especially in times of Persecution apostatized from the Faith that it was possible for them to have concealed it from Celsus Lucian Porphyry and above all from Julian the Apostate or that those Heathens if they had but had the least inkling thereof would not have made the World to have rung with the noise of it wherefore their having never mentioned any such thing considering the Wit and Spite of the Men is a demonstration that there could be no such Doctrine among Christians in their days neither can Schelstrat's Doctrina Arcani considering the great numbers quality and temper of Renegado's do any service in this case Adoration of Latria is due or the same that is due to God who is contained therein and is really present there The Effect that this Sacrament worketh on the Souls of those that receive it worthily is the Vnion of the Man with Christ and by it through Grace the Man is incorporated into Christ and joyned to his Members Moreover by this Sacrament Grace is increased in all such as receive it worthily so that whatever effects Carnal eating and drinking works upon a Man as to his Corporal Life the same are wrought upon Man by this Divine Sacrament as to a Spiritual Life Decree I. THere being nothing so necessary for the Faithful as the acknowledgement of and thankfulness for so profound a Blessing and so excellent a Mercy as that which our Lord Christ did for us in leaving himself under the Sacramental Species to be the true Food of our Souls and for the consolation support and remedy of the Spiritual Life of Believers we ought therefore wholly to occupy our selves in the Veneration of that Divine Mystery In order whereunto Holy Mother Church besides the continual Thanks and Veneration which she always gives and shews hath ordained a particular Day in the Year for the celebration of the Memory of so great a Blessing which not being * Observed in this This Feast is of later standing by at least 100 Years than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation It was Instituted in the Year 1240 by Pope Vrban as is commonly said upon a Vision a Nun had of the Church's being Imperfect for want of it but the Spaniards will have a Miracle that was wrought in Spain at thâ—â— time which is both too long and too ridiculous to relate to have given occasion to the Pope's instituting it The Indulgences granted to it by Pope Vrban Martin and Eugenius are 500 days Pardon to all that shall be present at its first Vespers 500 to all that shall be present at the Mass of the day 500 to all that shall be at its second Vespers and 500 to every day of its Octaves as also 500 to every hour of them and wheresoever it finds any place interdicted it takes off the Interdict for eight days observed in this Diocess the Synod desiring that in all things this Church may conform her self to the Customs of the Holy Mother the Universal Church of Rome doth command the Festivity of the most Holy Sacrament to be Celebrated in all the Churches of this Diocess on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday according to the Stile of these Parts and the said Day to be kept by all sorts of People and that thereon either before or after Mass they make a Procession through the Town or in some convenient place with all possible Solemnity in the same manner as they do upon Easter-day Decree II. THe Synod doth declare That every faithful Christian so soon as he attains to the Years of perfect Discretion that is to say Men at the Age of fourteen more or less according as their Confessors shall think fit and Women having a Capacity to know what they do at the Age of twelve are obliged to receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist once a Year in Lent or at Easter from the hands of their own Vicar or Curate of their Church and that whosoever does not receive it being capable betwixt the beginning of Lent and the second Sunday after Easter shall be declared Excommunicate on the third Sunday and be held as such untill they have confessed themselves and Communicated Nevertheless the Synod gives Licence to such Vicars as know their Parishes to be of that Nature that it is not possible for the People to comply with this Obligation in so short a time
married a Widow nor be Boys that are not come to perfect Age all which is ordered for just Reasons and Considerations and out of respect to the high Mystery wherein they are exercised Decree I. WHereas it has been hitherto the Custom of this Diocess to ordain Boys even Priests and that without examining their Lives and Manners having for Money and not for any extraordinary sufficiency all the Orders Inferiour as well as Holy conferred upon them in one day contrary to the Holy Canons and the Laws of the Church Therefore the Synod doth command That from henceforward none be ordained but what have first been examined as to their Sufficiency Lives and Manners which shall be done by the Prelate or by some appointed by him fearing God and who are observers of the Holy Canons and the Forms of the Holy Council of Trent And whereas in the said Council it is commanded That none be ordained Sub-Deacon under Two and Twenty nor Deacon under Three and Twenty nor Priest till they are Five and Twenty this Synod doth command the same to be inviolably observed declaring that no Prelate can dispense therewith without being particularly impowered and authorized thereunto by the Apostolical See And forasmuch as there are great numbers in this Diocess that have been ordained before they were at that Age the Synod suspends all such whether Priests Deacons or Sub-Deacons from the exercise of their several Functions until such time as they have perfectly attained to it they shall nevertheless hold their Places and reap the benefits thereof in the same manner as if they were in the exercise of their Functions And as to their Sufficiency the Synod doth declare That as the Council of Trent requires that all that are ordained do understand Latin so in this Diocess it is required that all that are ordained if they do not understand Latin should understand Syrian Neither shall any Syrian that does not understand it so well as to be able to read and sing it so as to understand what they say in the Offices be admitted into Orders or at least not into those that are Holy Decree II. ALL that are in Orders in this Diocess having been Simonaically ordained in having pay'd a certain price upon a formal Bargain for their Orders have thereby incurr'd the grievous punishments of the Law Nevertheless in consideration of their Ignorance and the false Doctrine wherein they have been educated by theiâ— former Prelates the Most Reverend Metropolitan both by his ordinary Authority this See being vacant and the Apostolical Authority committed to him over this Church doth Absolve all that have been so ordained from all Penalties and Censures which by the Law they have incurr'd by having been Simonaically ordained commanding them to have no further scruples about that matter and dispensing with them all as to the exercise of their Orders so that they may lawfully officiate as in right they may and ought to do Decree III. THe Synod being informed that there are several Priests who tho' infected with the Leprosie and miserably deformed thereby do presume to Celebrate to the great loathing of the People and to handle the Holy Vessels and Vestments to the endangering of the health of others doth command That none that are notoriously Leprous do presume to Celebrate â—ll such being irregular according to the Law of Corporal defects on the account of the disgust they give to People when they see them Celebrate in such a condition and receive the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar at their â—ands Decree IV. WHereas it is the custom to receive the Casture or Blessing from the hands of the oldest Clergy-man that officiates in the Quire and for all that are present to return it to him which according to the usage of this Diocess contains in it a Symbol of Charity Communion and Brotherly Love the Synod being informed that there are those who not being in Charity with their Neighbours do not speak to them nor take them by the hand and do neither give nor take the Casture from them thereby discovering that they live in malice with their Neighbours denying them the ordinary Ecclesiastical Salutation used in the Church of this Diocess doth command that all that shall refuse to give or receive the same be punished by the Prelate as Persons living in hatred or out of charity with their Neighbours and that until such time as they shall give the said Casture they shall not be suffered to come to the Altar according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ Neither shall they be permitted to officiate or Minister in the Church neither shall the Blessing be given them until they have effectually reconciled themselves to their Brother Decree V. WHereas it is the Precept of the Universal Church that all that are in Holy Orders do recite the whole Divine Office and the usage of this Diocess is to recite it only when they go to Church and there tho' it happen to be near ended before they come having heard a little to go away immediately reckoning they have complied with their Obligation tho' they do not say over what they were not present at there being very few that recite the Divine Office in their Houses some imagining that they are not bound to do it any where but in the Church and others excusing themselves for want of Books there being but very few and those that are are in Manuscript in this Bishoprick therefore the Synod doth declare That all that are in Holy Orders are obliged upon pain of Mortal Sin to recite the whole Divine Office as it is recited in the Church and that all such as shall come late shall be obliged to recite what they have missed and if they do not recite it in the Church they shall do it at home in their Houses having the conveniency of a Book which being what a great many do want the Synod obligeth all such to recite the said Divine Office by Beads that so there may be none but what perform this duty either by Book or Beads And tho' the Divine Office consists of seven distinct Canonical hours yet in this Church in conformity to the Breviary thereof they shall only recite one part at two times in the Morning and the other part in the Evening without making any other difference in the Divine Office besides that of repeating one part thereof in the Morning and the other in the Evening and whereas they who have no Books are to recite with Beads such beginning in the Morning as the Divine Office is begun in the Church shall say Thirty-three Pater Nosters and as many Ave Maries with the Gloria Patri c. in the Morning and when they are ended they shall moreover say twelve Pater Nosters and twelve Ave Maries for the Souls of the Faithful departed and one Pater Noster and one Ave Mary for the Pope and the same for the Bishop instead of the Prayers that are said
privately in their Houses or elsewhere as they shall judge most convenient by any Priest they please there being two Witnesses present according to the form of the Holy Council of Trent And the Synod doth command that henceforward such Dispensations be not granted any otherwise than in form of the Briefs of the Holy Apostolick See in these parts to that effect declaring all that shall be granted otherwise to be null and of no force and the Marriages that are celebrated by virtue of them to be void and the Parties not to be Married Decree IX THe Synod recognizing for the time to come the ancient prohibition observed in the Universal Church of not Marrying from the first day of Advent until the Epiphany and from Ashwednesday until the Sunday of the Octaves of Easter inclusive doth command the same to be inviolably observed in this Diocess adding to those days the time from Quinquagesima Sunday forward when by ancient custom Lent is begun in this Church but that at all other times tho' of Fasting marriage may be celebrated as People shall think fit Decree X. VVHereas in this Diocess there has hitherto been no respect had in the celebration of Matrimony to the Age of the Parties that the Law appoints therefore the Synod doth command that no Man shall be Married hereafter until he has attained the Age of fourteen Years at least nor no Woman before she is full twelve declaring that herein the Prelates have no power to dispense but can only if any that are under that Age should pretend to marry judge in their Consciences whether they are ripe for Matrimony and judging them to be so may grant them a License and dispense with their marrying nevertheless for several just respects and the greater security of Peoples Consciences and to remove as far as is possible for the Synod to do it the imitations of the marriages that are so much in use among the Heathens who marry people very young there being also great numbers in this Diocess who have been married at nine or ten Years old or under the Synod will not have the said Dispensation or Anticipation of time to exceed four months as to men and six as to Women nor to be granted by any but the Bishop and if any man hereafter shall presume to marry without such a Dispensation before he has attained the Age of fourteen or any Woman while she is under twelve all such marriages shall be void but may be resolved into Contracts de futuro and the Priests that shall marry any such shall be suspended from their Office and Benefice for six months and the Parties shall be kept asunder until they are of a due Age. Decree XI THe Synod being informed that great numbers of married people in this Diocess do without any sentence of the Church to which all Matrimonial causes do belong forsake their Wives and to the great offence of God absent themselves from them for a long time together doth command that there be no such separations made without the order of the Church and if any shall presume to make them that they be constrained to come together again upon pain of Excommunication or whatsoever other Penalty the Bishop shall think fit to inflict and in case they refuse to comply they shall be declared Excommunicate until such time as they return to one another and in case they have any just Cause to separate they shall carry it before the Prelate to be Judged according to Law and what is Just and shall be obliged by Censures to stand to his last determination The Synod doth furthermore declare That the non-payment of the Portion that may have been promised is no just Cause to leave their Wives which they might have been careful to have secured before they were Married to them and that whosoever shall forsake their Wives on that account shall be punished and constrained by Excommunication to live with them Decree XII THe Synod being informed that the Black Slaves that are Christians and even such of them as live in the Mountains with Christians do Marry without a Priest by only tying a Thred about the Brides Neck according to the usage of the Heathens doth declare That all such Marriages are void and null and that all that live so do live in Uncleanness commanding all that have been so Married to be brought to the Church there to be Married by the Vicar according to the Form of the Holy Trent Council and as is above ordered The Vicars must take pains to inform themselves of the Marriages of all such Slaves in order to make them observe the said Decree inviolably and the Masters who have consented that their Slaves or Servants should be thus Married and have celebrated such Marriages themselves and shall not send them to Church to be Married tho' they desire it shall be severely punished at the pleasure of the Prelate and shall be told of the great wrong they do to their own Consciences therein and of the Scandal they give to Christianity Decree XIII THe Synod being informed that some of the Christians of the Mountains have been Married to several Women in the face of the Church their first Wife being still alive to the great affront and injury of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony doth command all Vicars and Curates at their first institution into their Churches immediately to make strict enquiry into this Matter and to force all such to live with their first Wives and in case they refuse to declare them Excommunicate until such time as they comply and do turn away all their other Wives removing them from the place where they live which shall be done to all who during the life of their first Wife have presumed to take others until they shall be brought to live only with the first and besides they shall be punished with other punishments at the pleasure of the Prelate or of the Holy Office of * There are two Crimes which both the Inquisition and Civil Courts take cognizance of that is Polygamy and Sodomy The Civil Courts punish both with Death the Inquisition only with Penances This makes that all that are guilty of either of those Crimes when they apprehend themselves in any danger of being accused of them before the Civil Judges do take Sanctuary in the Inquisition where having confessed their Fault and submitted themselves to Penance they are in no further danger and so by that shift save their lives Now this Politick piece of Clemency for it is no other quite drowns the noise of all the barbarous Cruelties of the Court of Inquisition and alone gains it the reputation of being a much more merciful Tribunal than the Civil Inquisition to which this doth belong Decree XIV WHereas it is a thing unworthy of a Christian to observe the Superstitious Ceremonies of the Heathens from whence it is imagined good Success may be derived the Synod being informed that there are some ill Christians
for their Son whereupon the Bishop passeth an Olla or Certificate and so the Adoption is perfected the Synod doth command That from henceforward the Prelate do not accept of an Adoption from any that have Children of their own or in case they have none yet it shall be declared in the Olla That if they shall afterwards happen to have any that the said Olla shall be void to all intents and purposes by which means the great Injustices that are now so common in this Diocess will be prevented Decree XXIII THe Synod being desirous to have all the Christians of this Diocess to live together in Villages by reason of the great inconveniencies they are under that live in the Heaths as well by reason of the great communication they must have with Infidels as for wanting opportunities of going to Church and Sacraments whereby they are kept in ignorance of Christianity doth in order thereunto very earnestly recommend it to all Christians that live in Heaths to do all they are able either to come and live in some Village or to build new Villages with Churches that so they may live more civilly and be separated from the communication of Infidels and be the better instructed in the Customs of our Holy Catholick Faith recommending it earnestly to the Vicars to persuade their Sheep thereunto for the Spiritual profit they will receive thereby which the Prelate shall also endeavour with all his power Decree XXIV THe Synod having taken into consideration the manifold Injustices Oppressions and Grievances wherewith Infidel Kings and Governours do often treat the Christians of this Bishoprick and that out of enmity to our Holy Catholick Faith and observing the necessity they are in of Defence and Protection doth with great instance desire That his Majesty the King of Portugal would be graciously pleased to take all the Christians of this Bishoprick under his Favour and * Protection By this we see the King of Cochim was not jealous without reason that the Arch-Bishop had a State design in the great pains and charge he was at in the reduction of his Christian Subjects and tho' nothing was talked of but the Pope and the Roman Obedience that the King of Spain and the augmentation of his strength in the Indies by the accession of so many new Subjects was the main Spring in the Enterprize I will not say tho' it is probable enough that the Arch-Bishop by magnifying this Service at the Court of Spain got first to be Governour of the Indies and afterwards to be Governour of all the Dominions of Portugal and President of the Council of State at Madrid but this we are sure of that that Service to the Crown of Spain was much boasted of here in Europe by others For the Jesuit Ilayus in his Book De Rebus Japonicis speaking of this very thing â—â—ith Cuae res quanto Regie Majestati emolumento sit latura nôrunt qui non ignorant quanti sit momenti gentem in tota India lectissimam à temporibus B. Thomae Christiano cultui deditum támque numerosum potentem ut armatos ad Triginta Millia in promptu habeat cum Lusitanis unire ad Ecclesiae Romanae obedientiam revocare in Fidem ditionemque Regis Catholici accipere But as it is visible that the increasing of the Portugueze strength in the Indies by the accession of so many new Subjects was what both the Arch-Bishop and Spanish Government aimed at chiefly in the troublesome and chargeable reduction of this Church So it is certain that from this very Year 1599 the Portugueze Historians do begin to reckon the declination of their strength in those parts who give the following Account of the three Ages of their Indian Government that it was in its Infancy till the Year 1561 and from that time till the Year 1600 in its Manhood or full strength and ever since has been in its Old declining Age and is now in truth become so decrepid as to be only the Ghost of a great Name Neither is this to be wondred at considering how common a thing it is for God to blast the most promising Securities when obtained by such violent and unlawful Methods Protection he being the only Christian King or Lord in all these Oriental Parts and the Christians of this Diocess shall on their parts be ready at all times to sacrifice their Lives to their Holy Catholick Faith the preservation of Christianity and the defence of Christians which they shall be always prepared to do with their Lives and Fortunes beseeching the most Reverend Metropolitan President of this Synod to present this their Petition to his Majesty and to let him know how ready all the Christians of this Bishoprick are to serve him Decree XXV WHereas in this Synod Matters pertaining to our Holy Catholick Faith the Holy Sacraments of the Church the Reformation of Affairs thereof and the Customs of Christian People have been handled the Synod doth command all Vicars of Churches not to fail to have all its Decrees Transcribed from the Original Malabar and to have a Copy thereof in all their Churches Signed by the Reverend the Arch-Deacon of this Diocess and the Rector of the College of Vaipicotta and upon every Sunday and Holy-day when there is no Sermon nor no Lecture upon the Catechism set forth by the most Reverend Metropolitan that a portion of this Synod be read to the People but on the Seasons when the said Catechism is ordered to be read it shall be read on Sundays and the Synod upon Holy-days that so all that is decreed therein may come to the knowledge of the People and may be remembred and observed by them the Original of the said Synod being Signed by the most Reverend Metropolitan and all the other Members thereof shall be put in the Archives of the Jesuites College of Vaipicotta in this Diocess from whence so many Copies as shall be thought necessary shall be transmitted to the Churches there shall also be another Original Signed by the most Reverend Metropolitan the Arch-Deacon and other Members kept in the Archives of the Church of Angamale called the Arch-Bishop's See that all Copies may at all times be Corrected according to either of those Originals and the Synod doth furthermore recommend it to all Vicars Priests and Curates and to all and every Christian of this Diocess and commands them all in the Lord to conform themselves to the Decrees of this Diocesan Synod and so far as is in their power to observe and cause them to be observed inviolably and to govern themselves by them in all things which the Synod is confident they will do with the help of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who liveth and reigneth for ever Amen After the Decrees were read the Bishoprick was divided into Seventy-five Parishes whose Bounds were greater or lesser as was judged to be most convenient for the administration of the Holy Sacraments and the Spiritual Food
and Praises bestowed upon them the Heads of the said Sect. Therefore the Synod in Virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred doth prohibit all Priests and Curates and all other Persons as well Secular as Ecclesiasticks in this Diocess at any time either in common or in particular to commemorate any of the foresaid Hereticks or to keep a day to them or to celebrate their Festivities with any Solemnity or to make any mention of them in the Divine Offices or in the Mass or any where else or to direct any Prayers to them either in common or particular or to make any Vows Promises Offerings or any Nercha's to them or to have their Images either in the Churches or in their Houses and in no wise to give them that Worship and Veneration which is due to Saints and that they raze their Names out of their Books Calendars and Offices and that their Masses be cut out of their Breviaries and Missals and burnt and their Commemorations extinguished that so their Memory may perish among the faithful all of them having been cursed and excommunicate Hereticks and condemned by Holy Mother Church and are * At this time burning This rash Judgment brings to my mind what the Conde de Ereicera in his History printed about fourteen years ago at Lisbon said of King Charles having spent some time in Devotion upon the Scaffold that seeing he died a Heretick that Devotion was of no other benefit to him but as it prolonged his life a few minutes But tho' our Princes for I have reason to believe they heard of it did not think fit to resent this Sauciness as well as Impiety so far as to have the Author questioned for it yet it would seem that God would not suffer it to go long unpunished who a few years after suffered that great Minister to go out of the World after such a manner that they must have a great deal of Charity indeed that can think well of the future state of his Soul for the unhappy Man Murthered himself which is a thing that very seldom happens in Portugal at this time burning in the torments of Hell for their Crimes and Heresies and for their having been the †Followers of such The Church of Rome is not without Hereticks in her Martyrologies and Calendars for not to speak of Eusebius Caesariensis St. George Lucifer Calaritanus Barsanuphius and others the Learned Valesius in his Tract of the Roman Martyrology gives the following Account of Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea Jam vero illa quae in dicto Martyrologio Adonis sc Roswedi leguntur secundo die Novembris Laodiceae Theodoti Episcopi qui arte Medicus fuit descripta sunt ex Ruffini lib 7. cap. ult Sed Compilator iste non animadvertit Theodotum hunc Laodiâ—eae Episcopum cujus eo loco laudationem intexuit Eusebius Arianarum partium praecipuum fautorem fuisse quippe qui ab initio Arianum dogma tutatus est post Nicaenum Concilium conspiratione cum Arianis factâ Eustathium de Antiochenâ sede dejecerit ut scribit Theodoretus lib. 1. hist cap. 24. Hic est Theodotus cui Eusebius libros suos de Praeparatione Evangelicâ nuncupavit cujus meminit Suidas in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem quoque Error irrepsit in Martyrologium Romanum quod Patrum memoriâ jussu Sixti quinti editum Baronii notationibus illustratum est nec satis mirari possum quonam modo id Baronii diligentiam fugerit Furthermore The Church of Rome has several Saints in her present Calendars and Martyrologies that were never in being or were never of humane race and here not to mention St. Almanakius or St. Almanak upon the 1st of January nor St. Zinoris on the 24th of the same Month on the 24th of July in the present Reformed Roman Martyrology it is said Amiterni in vestinis Passio Sanctâ—rum Militum Octoginta trium among whom as Baronius learnedly observes Florentinus and Foelix were two of the most Eminent Now in the ancient Martyrology published by Maria Florentinus it is said upon the same day It Amiterninâ civitate Miliario 83º ab urbe Romanâ via Salutaria natalis Sancti Victorini and in another ancient one called Martinianâ—â— it is writ In Amiterninâ civitate Mil. 83 ab urbe Romana via Salutaria Sancti Victurini and in the Queen of Sweden's Martyrology is writ In Amiterna civitate Mil. 83 ab urbe Roma Sancti Victurini and in the Corbey Martyrology thus In Amiternina civitate Miliario Octogesimo tertio ab urbe Româ— via Salutaria natalis Sancti Victorini Martyris So that here we have Eighty-three Italian Miles Canonized and made Eighty-three Martyrs and Souldiers with their Captain and Lieutenants Names Again On the 16th of Feb. in the present Reformed Roman Martyrology it is said In Aegypto Sancti Juliani Martyris cum aliis quinque Millibus Now if this is the Julianus that was Pamphilius's Companion as doubtless it is they must then have encreased his Company mightily for they were but five that suffered with him in Aegypt who it is probable were Souldiers and so the contracted word Mill. came to be taken for Mille This makes me suspect that there may be some such mistake in St. Vrsula's Army of Eleven thousand Virgins For some of her Saints who were Heathens see the Remarks upon 25 Decree Act. 8. followers of such a cursed Sect the Synod doth furthermore command that instead of them on the Friday next after the Nativity St. Athanasius St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Basil St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Alexandria shall be Commemorated and on the seventh Friday following St. Austin St. Ambrose St. Gregory and St. Ephrem who was mentioned by them among the Hereticks and on Wednesdays All-Saints and Confessors together and in the Commemorations of the Divine Offices and Mass they shall Commemorate all the forenamed Saints in the place of the above-mentioned Hereticks neither shall any one that shall presume to do the contrary be absolved from the Censures he has incurred until he hath undergone a condign Penance or such a one as his Prelate shall think fit to impose upon him and shall thereupon be obliged to curse all the said Hereticks and their damnable Sect and to make Oath of the Faith publickly and to submit to all other punishments that his Rebellion shall deserve and if he is an Ecclesiastick he shall moreover be suspended from his Orders and Benefices and punished according to the Holy Canons Decree X. WHereas the Church of Angamale called the Archbishop's was built by Mar-Abraham and dedicated to Hormisda the Abbot commonly called St. Hormusio who was a Nestorian Heretick and a great Ring-leader of that Sect and for that reason was abhorred by all Catholicks who are called Romans as is reported in his Life writ in the Surian Tongue and which was ordained to be burnt by the most Illustrious