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SESSION ment due to his rebellion; and if the vicar shall for some just reason think fit to wait any longer, for some that have been negligent, and who being busy have desired to be dispensed with till Whitsuntide, it shall be in their power to bear with them, according to what is determined in the second Decree of the fifth Session, of the sacrament of the eucharist, having first admonished those that live in the heaths, or are at sea, or engaged in business in such places where there are no churches to confess in, that when they return home, they are bound to do it within a month.

And that the whole of this may be executed, with the more ease, and be performed as is reasonable, the vicars of the churches shall be obliged a month or more before Lent, if it be necessary, to go to all the houses of their parishes belonging to Christians, however remote in the heaths, either in person, or by some other clergyman, whom in conscience they can trust with such a business, and taking the names of all the Christians even to the very slaves in every family that are nine years old and upward, and of those too that are abroad, observing whether they do return home after the time of the obligation, and having made a roll of parchment of all that are of age to confess themselves, they shall afterwards make a mark at their names as they come to confession, that so they may know certainly who have, and who have not complied, that the disobedient may be excommunicated, which we declare to be the precise obligation of their office, the pastor being bound to know his sheep, that he may give them food, and so far as he is able, supply all their necessities, temporal as well as spiritual, and to have their number, that he may know when any are lost; and for the perfecting of such a roll the vicars may take the advantage of the Monoibo, at which time all Christians do flock to the churches, at which time likewise they may hear of many that live in the heaths. And as to those that have confessed themselves to some other approved confessors, they shall bring a note signed by them of their having been confessed, which they shall deliver to their vicar, who shall thereupon mark them in his roll; but though it is lawful for them to confess themselves to confessors that are strangers, yet they cannot receive the most holy sacrament, nor the communion upon obligation in Lent any where, but in their own parish churches, and the prelates in their visitations shall call for those rolls, in order to inform themselves how this Decree is observed.

DECREE II.

ALL PERSONS TO CONFESS WHO ARE OLD ENOUGH TO COMMIT
MORTAL SIN.

Whereas the precept of confession obligeth all that have the use of reason, and conscience of mortal sin, which happens sooner to some than others, the Synod therefore taking the most safe and probable way, according to the knowledge it hath of the people of Malabar, doth ordain, that at eight years old and upward, all people shall confess themselves, and that without prohibiting such as are younger and capable to do it sooner; on the contrary, the vicars, if they shall understand that there are any under eight, of so much judgment and discretion, as to be capable of committing a mortal sin, they shall immediately constrain them to come to confession, as being obliged to it, which must be left to the discretion of the parish priests.

DECREE III.

MASTERS TO CAUSE ALL IN THEIR FAMILIES TO CONFESS.

The Synod doth admonish all masters of families, and all that have the charge of others, to be careful to make all the persons in their families to confess themselves at the time of obligation, and particularly their servants and slaves, both men and women, who if they do never come to confession, their masters and none else must be certainly in the fault, in having neglected to put them in mind of it, and to order them to do it, it being their duty, and that upon penalty of mortal sin, to call upon them to do it, of which they must give a strict account to God, the apostle St. Paul affirming, that "he who does not take care of his servants, has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel;" which words are chiefly to be understood of the spiritual necessities of those of his family, and of matters appertaining to their salvation; about which matters the vicars ought to be very careful, and must observe whether the slaves, whose names as well as others, they must have down in their rolls, do come to confession, declaring such of them as have not complied with their obligation at the time appointed, excommunicate, having first admonished their masters to command them to come, and acquainted them with the declaration that will be made if they do not and the vicars

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SESSION that shall be found negligent herein, shall be punished at the discretion of the prelate.

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DECREE IV.

CONFESSION TO BE MADE IN SICKNESS OR ANY PROBABLE
DANGER OF DEATH.

All faithful Christians are not only obliged to confess them. selves once a year, under penalty of mortal sin, but also as often as they are in any probable danger of death, or are very sick, they are under the same obligation; wherefore the sick persons or those that attend them, so soon as ever they shall apprehend any danger, wherever they live, though in the heaths, shall send to call a confessor, and shall advise the vicar of the church thereof, who shall either go himself, or send another to hear their confessions. The vicars are also to understand, that it is their indispensable duty to inquire after the sick, and either to go to confess them themselves, or to send another to do it, whensoever they shall be sent for, that so none may die without the holy sacrament of confession, they being guilty of the condemnation of such of their sheep as go to hell for not having confessed their sins before they died, if it was through their fault or negligence it was not done. And the vicar, through whose fault or negligence any of the parish shall die without confession, shall be suspended from his office and benefice for a whole year without any dispensation, and another shall be appointed to supply his cure, and the persons that attend the sick, that shall neglect to send for the parish priest, shall be severely punished at the discretion of the prelate; and such as die in hamlets or in heaths without confession, if they did not send to call a confessor, if their death was not so sudden as to prevent them, shall not be buried in holy ground, neither shall the clergy go to their houses, or say the office of the dead for them, nor so much as the Chata.

DECREE V.

WOMEN TO CONFESS BEFORE CHILD-BIRTH.

Not only such as are dangerously sick, but all that are any ways in danger of death, are obliged to confess themselves; wherefore since all women in child-birth are in danger thereof, they shall before they are in labour, confess themselves, but

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especially before the birth of their first child, at which time the SESSION danger is known to be the greatest; and shall likewise, if capable, receive the most holy sacrament; and if any such, not being surprised by their labour, shall die without confession, or being in visible danger, did not desire it, their negligence being proved, and especially if they lived in towns, they shall be proceeded against in the same manner, as those are who through their own fault die without confession as is above decreed.

DECREE VI.

HOW PERSONS WITH THE SMALL

POX ARE TO BE CONFESSED.

The Synod being informed that the greatest part of those that die of the small-pox, though they lived in towns and desired confession, do die without it, that distemper being so very dangerous and infectious, that the priests are afraid of coming near those that have it; doth command all vicars to be careful, that none such do die without confession, and either to go themselves in person, or to send one to confess them; a due regard being still to be had to their own health, either by confessing them at some distance, or so that the wind shall blow the steams from them, and by having taken preservatives against the distemper; that so none may die without confession, which is what the Synod doth very earnestly recommend to them in the Lord.

DECREE VII.

EXHORTS TO FREQUENT CONFESSION.

The Synod doth earnestly recommend to all the faithful Christian inhabitants of this bishopric, not to satisfy themselves with having confessed their sins once a year at Easter, when they are bound to it upon the penalty of mortal sin; but that they do frequently make use of this sacrament, in proportion to the sins they fall into daily, and not to fail to confess themselves on the festivities of the nativity of the Holy Ghost, and the assumption of our Lady, and at the wake of their parish, and the vicars must not fail to admonish their people thereof on the Sunday before those festivities.

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DECREE VIII.

NONE TO HEAR CONFESSIONS BUT PRIESTS LICENSED FOR THE
PURPOSE, UNLESS IN APPEARANCE OF DANGER.

The Synod doth declare, That notwithstanding the power of pardoning sins is annexed to the sacerdotal order, nevertheless that all priests cannot hear Confessions, but only such as are licensed by the prelate; for the act of absolution being an act of jurisdiction, and judicature, cannot be without subjects, which the prelate only can give when he appoints confessors with such limitations as he thinks necessary; so that a priest having no licence, or transgressing the bounds that were set to him by his prelate, if he shall presume to hear confessions and absolve, his confessions and absolutions are void and of no force; neither are the sins of the penitents pardoned, who are therefore bound to confess themselves again to a confessor that has power to absolve, as if they had not confessed before; but when any one is in probable danger of death, and cannot have a priest that is licensed, any priest, though he is not licensed, may confess and absolve him in that case.

DECREE IX.

HOW ABSOLUTION UPON CONFESSION IS TO BE ADMINISTERED,
AND BY WHOM.

Whereas it belongs to the good government of the church and the faithful, that crimes of a heinous nature should be judged not by every priest, but by prelates or bishops, because for that reason Christians will be the more fearful to commit them; besides that, it has always been the custom of the church, to reserve to the prelates, and even to the pope as the universal head of the church, some crimes from which they and none else can absolve, or not do it without their leave therefore the Synod doth declare, That notwithstanding this doctrine has not hitherto been understood or practised in this bishopric, by reason of the great ignorance of the church and sacred canons that has reigned therein: nevertheless, that the ordinary confessors have no power to absolve in cases reserved to the prelate, and least of all in those that are reserved to the pope, namely, those contained in the Bulla Cone Domini; which all confessors ought to be acquainted with; neither can they absolve in the crime of

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