VII.

ceived the holy Council of Trent, with all its decrees, relating SESSION both to the good government of the church and manners, nevertheless that what was declared therein relating to priests' bastards, not being permitted to minister in the same church, wherein the fathers have ministered before, is not to be extended to the sons of the married priests in this diocese that are now born, by reason of the great numbers there are of such at present in all churches, and of other great inconveniences that would follow thereupon; it is therefore permitted to such to minister, nay to be vicars of the churches wherein their fathers have officiated; but this is to be understood of such only as were born of marriages, that were reputed true, the provision of the forementioned holy council being to take place, as to all that shall be born hereafter.

DECREE XX.

FORBIDS SIMONY UNDER EVERY PRETENCE.

Whereas the sin of Simony is one of the greatest offences in the church, and a pernicious plague therein, which God has always punished with great rigour, it being the selling of spiritual things for money; and this bishopric, which the Synod takes notice of with great regret, having hitherto abounded with it, money having been publicly taken for the administration of the holy sacraments, and after such a manner that none of them were given, before the money was either put into the priest's hands, or into the church box, to be divided among them, no not so much as the holy sacrament of the eucharist, at which all pious ears do tremble, nor any other sacraments or dispensations for marriages, nor absolutions from excommunication, nor the consecrations of stones, nor any of the lesser orders, nor licenses, nor reverendas, to go to receive those orders in another place, nor letters dimissory for clerks, to go to other dioceses; all which was done at a rated price, or by a public agreement: all which the Synod detesting as a most execrable and horrid abomination, doth therefore in virtue of holy obedience, and upon pain of excommunication to be ipso facto incurred, command, That no money, nor nothing else, be taken for any of the foresaid things; and that no priests shall dare to take any thing for the administration of any of the sacraments, nor to give them upon any such consideration to any person whatsoever, but shall give the holy sacrament gratis to the faithful, according to the precept of our Lord Christ, who said, "Freely you have received, freely you shall give;"

SESSION neither shall they so much as receive alms that the faithful VII. would give voluntarily, though not given with any respect to the sacrament, if offered at the same time when the sacrament is administered: and the priest that shall be found to transgress herein, besides being excommunicated, shall be suspended from his office and benefice for three years, and the vicars must take care to advertise the people thereof. The Synod being moreover informed, That a great many poor people who live in the heaths, do not bring their children to be baptized, because they have not so much money as is demanded, doth order the priest to be satisfied with the profits arising from the dead, the alms they receive for their masses, in which the Synod declares there is nothing of simony; but only a congruous maintenance for the priest that celebrates, given by the person that he recommends, and with the other alms which the faithful are accustomed to give; which being just and holy, shall be divided after the same manner as they have been formerly: and the Synod doth declare further, That such as are absolved from excommunication, if it was for any great crime that they were under that censure, though there can be nothing taken for their absolution, yet for the fault that they have committed, they may, by way of punishment, be condemned in a pecuniary mulct, if authorized by the prelate, which money must be put to some pious use, or employed in the building of a church; and the offender being poor, he may be employed in person to do some work about a church, for so long as shall be thought fit, and in that case no money shall be required of him.

DECREE XXI.

RECOMMENDS MEANS FOR THE

SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY IN LIEU OF FEES.

The Synod desiring by all means possible to destroy and root out of this diocese the pernicious vice of Simony, which it understands to have been increased in part by the want the ministers of the church are in of a necessary maintenance, doth therefore most earnestly entreat the people of this bishopric to apply a certain yearly sum to be raised by the way of alms, collection, or assessment, or by the way of tithes, according to peoples' abilities; for the support of the vicar and curate of their souls, and the other ministers that are necessary to the divine service in the church, which the most reverend Metropolitan may treat about in every parish; for

they must know, that Christians are bound both by divine and human laws to maintain the priests which pray to God for them, and give spiritual food to their souls, of which they are to render an account to God and their prelates.

SESSION

VII.

DECREE XXII.

KING OF PORTUGAL TO BE PETITIONED TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD
THEIR SUPPORT.

That this Synod may by all ways possible supply the necessities of the ministers of the church, and by that means extirpate Simony; besides what it desires the people to contribute towards their maintenance, understanding their poverty to be such, that they are not able to supply them with so much as is necessary, it doth further beseech his catholic majesty, the King of Portugal, that as protector of the Christians of these parts, and the only Christian king and lord in the Indies, he would be graciously pleased to provide the vicars of this church with a sufficient maintenance, as he does in all the other churches of the Indies, allowing them at least fifteen thousand cruzado's to be divided among them all, besides what shall be gathered for them in their respective parishes; which as the Synod is informed, is the sum that was formerly desired of his majesty in the third provincial council of Goa, in order to the reducing of this church to the obedience of the Church of Rome, and the extirpating of simony. The Synod doth moreover entreat the most illustrious Metropolitan to present this their petition to his majesty, in the name of this church, representing therewith the great necessities of the ministers thereof, and that until such time as they shall have his majesty's answer, the said Lord Archbishop, Metropolitan of this church, and president of the Synod, Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes, understanding how effectual a course this will be for the rooting the pestilential sin of simony out of this diocese, and for the tying of vicars to their churches, there to govern the faithful, and administer the holy sacraments to them, would be pleased to give the said sum of fifteen thousand cruzado's yearly out of his own revenues, and to pay it quarterly at Goa, to be divided among the said vicars, the distribution whereof the Synod orders to be made in all churches according to the allotments, in the instrument passed, and signed and sealed by the said lord Archbishop, under the great seal of his chancery, every church being to receive so much, as was now read in the presence of the whole Synod.

SESSION
VII.

DECREE XXIII.

NO MORE TO BE ORDAINED DURING THE VACANCY OF THE SEE.

Whereas this diocese is not only provided with a sufficient number of clergy, but has a great many more than are necessary, and the holy Council of Trent having prohibited that any more should be ordained than what are necessary for the churches, the synod doth therefore command, that during the vacancy of this see, none shall be put into holy orders, neither shall any reverenda's, or licenses be granted for that purpose, such only as are in holy orders may go ascending therein, as the governor, who is to be left in this diocese by the most illustrious Metropolitan shall judge convenient: the Synod doth also put such as do aspire to priests holy orders in mind of not failing to learn the doctrine of the sacraments, and the form of sacramental absolution, so as to be ready to use them on all occasions, and in all cases of necessity, as also the absolution from censures, or at least the conditional one, which always goes before the sacramental absolution from sins in confession.

The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Matrimony.

The seventh sacrament is that of Matrimony, which according to the Apostle is the signification of that union which is betwixt Christ and his Church. The efficient cause of matrimony regularly, is the consent of both parties declared by words or signs de præsenti. This sacrament our Lord Jesus Christ founded on the matrimonial contract, which has always been in the world, and in all religions, from whence it is that matrimony is to be considered in two respects; either as a natural contract, or as a sacrament instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ: the bond of matrimony God hath made to be perpetual, insomuch that it cannot be dissolved by any thing but death, according to what Christ said, "Whom God hath joined let no Man put asunder;" which is also in itself very convenient. As it is a sacrament, there is grace received therein, as in other sacraments, our Lord Christ, who was the author and institutor of the divine sacraments, having by his passion merited grace for us, whereby the natural love which is betwixt the married couple is perfected, and the conjunction that is betwixt them is confirmed, and made perpetual, and the husband and wife are sanctified. There are two reasons or ends for which matri

mony was ordained and instituted; the first and principal is SESSION VII. the procreation or generation of children, for the conservation of the world, and the multiplication of the faithful, and servants of God. The second is for a remedy for uncleanness; and that such as are inclined to that vice, might have a remedy given them by God, so that living with their wives, they might not fall into that sin, from whence it is that people may not only marry once, but as often as one of the parties dies, because this end of matrimony may not only be compassed in the first, but equally in the subsequent marriages; wherefore the church detests those as heretics, who condemn second marriages, holding them to be unlawful, as some heretics did anciently, and as some of the most superstitious heathens do at this day in these parts; from whence it may also be collected, that this sacrament may not only be lawfully celebrated betwixt persons capable of having children, but also betwixt those, who according to the ordinary course of nature, cannot have any, because the second end may be answered in such marriages; but where neither the one nor the other end can be answered, as in children, for whom the church has set a certain time, and in such as are under a natural impotency that will last as long as they live, as to matrimonial acts, matrimony is not to be celebrated and though both under the law of nature and of Moses, there were dispensations whereby matrimony was made to deviate from its first original, some of the patriarchs having had several wives at once by a divine dispensation, and the law of Moses having permitted divorces, or the repudiating of wives, yet under the evangelical law, by which matrimony was perfected and restored again to its first estate and purity, it is prohibited for a man to have more than one wife at a time, and to turn away his wife and take another so long as she lives. The benefits of marriage are three principally; the first is the generation and education of children for the worship and service of the true God; the second is the fidelity which the married couple ought to keep to one another; and the third is the perpetuity of matrimony, which, in that it cannot be dissolved, signifies that inseparable conjunction and union that is betwixt Christ and his church: and notwithstanding for the cause of fornication or adultery, it is lawful for the married couple to part as to cohabitation, yet it is not lawful to marry with any other, because the bond of matrimony, being once lawfully tied, is perpetual, and cannot be dissolved by any thing but the death of one of the parties.

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