report, which represents them as having come from Babylon, and wrought miracles in those parts, and then returned home and it being "This stone is consecrated to the gods of the dead, and dedicated to the memories of Atiamo, and of Atte, and of Lumpsa, as also to her memory who erected it, Viria Emosa, their pious grandchild, being 16 years of age." "This is what the stone contains; therefore, they that consecrated it an altar, would have done well to have defaced the letters, by which means they would have removed the indignity that stares all people in the face, that consider what a thing it is to have the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ our Redeemer, consecrated and placed upon the tombstone of heathens, whereon the devils are invocated." Thus far Morales. But as this stone has had a great deal of honour done it, in coming to be consecrated an altar in such a famous place of devotion, so the persons whose names are upon it, have had no less done to them, who are all great saints in that country, and particularly Piano, who in all probability is the St. Payo, to whom the church and monastery is dedicated. For first, Salazar, in his Spanish Martyrology upon the 30th day of December, gives the following account of the said stone and persons, Don Didacus Sequinus, Bishop of Auria, who has Epitomized the life of his predecessor Serrandus, gives therein the following exposition of the inscription that is upon this altar stone, in the Galecian language, which History I have now by me in MSS. "Consecrated to the greatest God. "Atiamo, Erato, Telumpsa, Viriamo, Nepotispiano, Xuuito, Teliforo, were all martyrs, and suffered in Galicia in the village of Sarep, before the Apostle went to Jerusalem, who for that reason left this altar to his disciples to say mass on in memory of those saints, as Bishop Don Serrando has left upon record. "Lobarinus tells us, that Don Serrandus, after having given a description of the altar, subjoins the following account of it. "This is the portraiture of the altar which the Apostle St. James left, with an inscription upon it, to his disciples, who carried another of the same dimensions, and with the same inscription, along with him to sea; upon which his holy body was laid, and Arcadius, the first Bishop of Orenes, said mass upon it in the church of St. Mary the mother of God; the other which is the same with this, is in the church of St. A. D. 1599. CHAP. I. concluded, from this tradition, that they were heretics; therefore the Synod commands, that all churches called by their names shall be de Payo of Compostella, with the same names of these holy martyrs, "I hope the reader will pardon me, if I offer one or two more instances of the same nature. "In the Spanish Martyrology upon the 22d of May, it is said, Sanctus Publius Bebius venustus martyr qui pontem in honorem templi beatæ Mariæ condidit petente ordine oretanorum ut paterat aditus ad Templum, XX. C. H. S. in quo ponte suæ Pietatis, hujus modi in visceribus lapidis monumentum reliquit.'"Saint Publius Bebius, an ancient martyr, who built a bridge in honour of the temple of the blessed Mary, when the order of the Oretani entreated him to open a way to the temple, XX. C.H.S. in which bridge he hath left a monument of his piety in the very bowels of the stone, of this description— P. BEBIUS VENUSTUS P. BÆBII VENETIEP. BÆSISCERIS NEPOS "This needs no commentary, it being plain from the monument itself, that this P. Bæbius was a heathen, and that Domus Divina herein mentioned, was not a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, but to some heathen god. And at Ebora in Portugal, St. Viarius, who infallibly cures all pains in the loins, and for that reason is very much prayed to, was raised out of such another heathen Roman monument, whereon Viarum Curator was writ, as Resendius tells us. "But as in some places they have made saints of heathens, in others they have made heathens of saints: for in the castle of Liria in Portugal, there is over the inner gate a stone statue, with a long inscription under it, of which there is nothing legible from the ground but the word veneris, which is very plain; the Portuguese who showed us the place, for we were several Protestants in company, told us very gravely that the castle was built by the Romans, and that the statue we saw so much defaced, the head and arms being broken off, and the body very much malled with stones, was the statue of the Roman goddess Venus: we kept our countenances as well as we could, perceiving plainly, that neither the castle nor the statue were Roman work, and the letters of veneris were perfectly Gothick, so I and two more having industriously lost our Portuguese companion, we resolved, if possible, to find out the truth of the matter; and after some dicated to All Saints, and that, in future, no churches and festivities shall be dedicated, nor prayers made, but to saints canonized and approved of by the church." Decree 26th. Gives particular directions for the box in which were dropped offerings for the poor: it was to be kept at the overseer's house, and never opened but in the presence of all concerned in the appropriation of the money. Decree 27th. Capiars, or sweepers, to be appointed to all the churches, to keep the interior of the building, the lamps, and the oil-vessels clean. Decree 28th. Cupboards and chests to be provided, to secure the vessels and plate of the church. Decree 29th. The first use to be made of the alms of a parish is, the providing of a baptismal font. The next "shall be to set up images; and after that of the high altar is once set up, if poring, we began to discover some more letters, and with some Pertransire cave, nisi prius dixeris Ave Beware of passing through before you have said an Ave "What followed was so defaced that we could make nothing of it, neither indeed were we solicitous about it, being abundantly satisfied from what we had read, that it was a statue of the most Blessed Virgin; when we returned to our Portuguese, we asked him, as we did the people also at our inn, how he came to know certainly that it was the statue of a heathen goddess; and we found him and them all in the same story, that the name of the goddess was written under it, and that it was the constant tradition of the city and country." Geddes, pp. 368-371. A. D. 1599. CHAP. the church has any side altars, they also shall have images set up in them; and on every altar, besides an image, there shall be a cross, or some matter or other set up." In this Decree it is acknowledged, that the Nestorians do not allow of this use of pictures and "Sacred Images," to which circumstance is attributed the absence of them from all the Syrian churches in Malabar. In the same Decree a pulpit and a bell are ordered to be provided for every church. Decree 30th. Mentions five causes that defile a church, and describes the mode of its purification. Decree 31st. The sick are not to be permitted, as heretofore, to lie in the church, with their families, except in time of war. Decree 32nd. The dead are always to be buried by a priest, and in consecrated ground. Decree 33rd. Describes the precautions to be taken in burying the corpse of one who has died of the small-pox. Decree 34th. It is ordered that no town or village shall henceforth dedicate their church to a second saint, without appointing a separate festival for each. This is a precautionary measure, to avoid the emulations between the partizans of different saints, that were common in those parts. "The Synod also condemns the ignorance of those Christians who imagine that 6 Menezes might have found a specimen of this ignorance nearer home. When Pope Urban VIII. joined S. Teresa with St. James in the patronage of Spain, a great many people loudly complained of the indignity done to the Apostle, their old patron and general in all their wars, by that partnership. "Among others, Quivedo, as in honour bound, being a knight of the order of St. James, drew his pen in his patron's quarrel; and having laid down this as an undeniable position, 1 they do an injury to a church, in dedicating a new one in the same country to a different saint; from whence it is that all the churches in the same country are, as it were, called by the same name." The people are commanded to attend the neighbouring churches at their festivals, when sermons are preached, to promote charity and christian unity among their brethren. Decree 35th. The Synod strongly recommends the vicars and other priests to labour much, and to use every just and gentle method, for the conversion of infidels to the faith." Decree 36th. All natives that are poor and of That St. James must necessarily be disparaged by having one A. D. 1599. |