SESSION

VIII.

observers of heathenish superstition imagine, viz. That if they do not wash their bodies betimes in the morning on a fast-day, their fast will be of no worth; and that if they happen to touch any of a base race, or a Naire, they must wash themselves to make their fast to be of any merit; and declares, that all such washings and superstitious touches, are commanded neither by God nor the church, and are no ways proper for Christians; and doth furthermore command the observers of all such superstitions to be punished severely by the prelate, as followers of heathenish vanities, condemned by holy mother church, earnestly desiring that all such things may be totally rooted out of the hearts of the very infidels in this diocese.

DECREE XIV.

CONSECRATED ASHES TO Be used.

Notwithstanding the Synod doth approve of the laudable custom that has obtained in this diocese, of beginning the holy fast of Lent, upon the Monday following Quinquagesima Sunday: nevertheless in conformity to the usage of the universal church, it doth ordain and command, that on the Wednesday following, they consecrate ashes in the church, which shall be sprinkled on the heads of the people by the priest that celebrates mass, using these words, Remember man that thou art dust, and that to dust thou shalt return," as he is directed by the Roman ceremonial, translated into Syriac, by the order of the most reverend Metropolitan, leading by this holy ceremony the faithful to a deeper repentance, for their sins, and a sense of their own vileness in that holy time; which ashes so far as it can be done, shall be made of the branches that were blessed the former year upon Palm Sunday, which is called Osana in this diocese, as it is likewise ordered in the said ceremonial, but at the same time the people shall be told that this is only a holy ceremony of the church, and not a sacrament.

DECREE XV.

FLESH NOT TO BE EATEN ON SATURDAYS, BUT PERMITTED ON

WEDNESDAYS.

That this bishopric may in all things be conformable to the customs of the catholic church, the Synod doth command all the members thereof upon pain of mortal sin, not to eat flesh

upon Saturdays, in memory of our Lord's burial; but eggs, milk, butter or cheese they may lawfully eat upon Saturdays, as also upon all fish days that are not fasts, and since the custom of not eating flesh on Wednesdays is not observed over the whole diocese, but only in some parts thereof, and that but by a few; the Synod doth declare, that albeit that custom is holy and laudable, and it were to be wished that it were universally observed by all Christians, it doth not think fit to oblige people thereunto upon pain of sin, so that all that list may eat flesh upon Wednesdays.

DECREE XVI.

FASTS AND FESTIVALS TO LAST FROM MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT.

The Synod doth declare, That the obligation of not eating flesh on prohibited days, lasts from midnight to midnight, beginning at the midnight of the prohibited day, and ending at the midnight of the day following, so that the obligation of not eating flesh upon Fridays and Saturdays, begins at the midnight of Friday, and ends on the midnight of Sunday, and the obligation of ceasing from labour begins at the midnight of the said day, and ends at the midnight of Monday being to understand that in beginning the fasts and festivities on the evening of the former, and continuing them to the evening of the latter day, they do conform themselves to the customs and rites of the Jews condemned by holy mother church, in which days and their observances are not reckoned from evening to evening, but from midnight to midnight.

SESSION

VIII.

DECREE XVII.

HOLY WATER TO BE BLESSED WITH HOLY SALT, AND USED
WITH CARE.

Whereas it is the custom of the universal church, to have holy water at the entrance of the churches, that so the faithful by sprinkling themselves therewith, may have their venial sins pardoned, and the holy water that has been hitherto made use of in this diocese has not been blessed by the priest, nor by any prayer of the church, the sextons only throwing a little of the clay into it, that is brought by pilgrims from the sepulchre of St. Thomas, or from some other holy place relating to him, and where such clay has been wanting, the said sextons have thrown some grains of incense into it: whereupon without any further consecration, it has been

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SESSION esteemed holy therefore the Synod doth declare, that such VIII. water is not holy, and that the faithful ought not to make use of it; and albeit that all the earth of holy places, and of the sepulchres of saints approved of by the church, ought to be kept with much veneration, yet that the earth of the holy places belonging to St. Thomas, has not the virtue of such a consecration in it: for which reason it commands all priests to bless the said water, by throwing holy salt into it, according to the custom of the universal church, as is directed by the Roman ceremonial translated into Syriac by the order of the most reverend Metropolitan, according to the form whereof the true vicars shall take care to consecrate water, and every Saturday evening, or Sunday morning to furnish the waterpots therewith; and upon Sundays the people being assem bled, the priest being in his surplice and stole, but without his planet, shall before he begins mass, sprinkle the whole congregation, repeating the Antiphona, and the Prayer contained in the said ceremonial and at masses at which the deacon and sub-deacon officiate, the deacon may repeat the Antiphona, but the prayer shall always be said by the priest. The vicars must also instruct the people at their entering into the church, to take holy water and bless themselves therewith, in the form of a cross, and to give over the saying the prayer to the impious heretic Nestorius, which they used to do when they took holy water as they entered into the church, the Synod condemning the same as heretical and blasphemous.

DECREE XVIII.

CHILDREN AND SERVANTS TO BE INSTRUCTED IN THE DOCTRINES
OF ROME.

Whereas the greatest part of the people of this bishopric are not instructed in the doctrine, and they that are, know only the Paternoster, and Ave Mary in the Syrian tongue, which they do not understand, and most of the children know not how to bless themselves, nay the clergy themselves are ignorant thereof, not being able to say the commandments; therefore the Synod doth command, that in all parish churches in the morning and evening, as the vicar shall think most convenient, one of the boys or the bellman shall ring the little bell to call the boys and girls together in the church, where being assembled, the vicar, or some other clergyman that he shall appoint, shall instruct them in the doctrine, that is to say, the sign of the cross, the Paternoster, Ave Mary, the creed, and the commandments of God, and the church, the

articles of faith, and other Christian doctrines in the Malabar SESSION tongue, that so all may understand them, and not in the VIII. Syriac, which the people do not understand, it being the custom of the church to teach the doctrine to children, and to the people in their mother tongue, and furthermore upon all Sundays and holydays, either before or after mass, the vicar shall teach the said doctrine in the congregation, that so all may be instructed therein, and shall also after having called the people together with a bell, teach it on the evenings of Sundays, and as for the churches that are in the heaths, the vicars shall give orders that the children, or at least such of them as are nighest to the church, shall upon a certain day of the week come to learn the doctrine, employing other persons to instruct the rest therein, and the schoolmasters that teach Syriac, or that teach to read and write, shall every day, before they begin school, repeat the said doctrine to their scholars in Malabar; neither shall any inferior orders, no, not the first tonsure, be given to children before they can say the whole doctrine in Malabar, in which they must be examined according to the holy Council of Trent; and in all churches there shall be a book of the doctrine in the Malabar tongue, for the instruction of children which the Synod doth intreat the father rector, of the college of Jesuits of Vaipicotta, to order to be translated by some of that college, commanding all the churches of this diocese, as also exhorting all the Christians thereof at night to cause the said doctrine to be taught in their houses to their whole families, that so their servants and slaves may be instructed therein, and the confessors in their confessions must not fail to examine their penitents in the doctrine, and to exhort them to learn it.

DECREE XIX.

DIRECTIONS FOR SAYING THE AVE MARIA.

That the faithful Christians in this diocese may in their common prayer be conformable to the whole catholic church, they must not from henceforward say the Ave Mary, as they have been taught by the perfidious Nestorians, but must say it thus, Ave Mary full of grace, the Lord be with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy womb; holy mother of God pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death, amen, Jesus.' And in this form it shall be inserted into all the prayer-books of this diocese.

SESSION
VIII.

DECREE XX.

COMMANDS ALL TO BOW AT THE NAME OF JESUS.

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Whereas the Christians of this diocese do not shew the least reverence to the most holy name of Jesus when it is mentioned, which ariseth from the false doctrine of the Nestorian heretics, who do impiously assert, that it is not worthy of reverence, being the name of a human person, teaching falsely that there are two persons in Christ, therefore since that divine name contains in it so many divine mysteries, being the name of our redemption, and the name above all names, "At which," St. Paul saith, every knee in heaven and in earth, and below the earth ought to bow," the Synod doth command, that as often either in the Gospel or prayers of the mass, or offices, or any where else that name is mentioned, all people do reverently bow their body, whether they be sitting or standing, and the clergy and other Christians, having their caps on shall take them off, and the vicars and preachers must not neglect to put their people frequently in mind thereof; and whereas the name Lyo is the same with the most sweet name of Jesus in the Malabar language, and is commonly given to children in baptism; the Synod doth strictly prohibit the giving of that name to any body for the future, commanding all that are called by it, to take another name in confirmation, or at any other time, it being a great irreverence for any one to be called by so high and divine a name.

DECREE XXI.

MATINS AND PROCESSIONS ORDERED ON CHRISTMAS EVE.

Whereas it is necessary that the feast of Christ's nativity should be celebrated with great solemnity and uniformity through the whole catholic church; the Synod doth command that on the eve of that festivity, all the clergy and people do assemble together in the church, there to say the matins, with the greatest solemnity possible; and that after they have done these prayers, which shall end about midnight, they shall make the customary procession, which being over, a solemn mass shall be said, with all possible festivity, after which the priest may say a mass at break of day, and a third at the usual time of mass; for the priest must know, that for the greater solemnity of this festival, they are permitted to say three