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by prayer to be favourable to us, following the laudable custom of the holy fathers, and ancient councils, we do admonish, and in the name of God earnestly request, all the faithful Christians of this Bishopric, from this time forward until the end of the synod, to exercise themselves with a pure and clean heart, in fasting, alms, prayer, and other works of piety, instantly beseeching God to enlighten the understandings of all that shall meet together, and so to inflame our wills with Divine love, that we may determine nothing but what is right, and may observe and comply with whatsoever shall be decreed; taking for our intercessor, our lady the most holy Virgin Mary, of whose praise and honour we are to treat particularly; as also the glorious Apostle St. Thomas, the master, patron, and protector of this Church; and all the other saints in heaven, that so this synod may begin, and proceed in peace and universal concord, and may end to the praise, honour, and glory of God our Lord for ever. And that this our publication of a diocesan synod may come to the knowledge of all that are concerned, we will and command it to be read, in all the churches of this Bishopric, to the people on the Sunday next after the intimation thereof to the curates; and after that, to be fixed to the gates of the church.

"Dated from Chanotta, 14th of May, under our seal, and the great seal of our chancery, and written by Andre Cerqueira, secretary to the most illustrious Archbishop and Primate in the year 1599.

Frey Aleixo Arcebispo, Primas." 2. While this summons was going the round of the churches, the Archbishop was actively preparing for the important business before him.

A. D.

1599.

His arival and preliminary pro

at Diamper

ceedings.

CHAP.

I.

Authen

history of

the Synod.

On the 9th of June, eleven days before the time appointed for the synod to meet, he arrived at Diamper, attended by six jesuits and his confessor, who were all ecclesiastics, with several cattanars. He there called together eight of the most popular cattanars; and having laid before them the decrees which he had prepared, invited them to declare what they thought of their contents. They went over them, and the Archbishop made a few immaterial alterations at their suggestion. On all the principal topics he retained his own sentiments, and tried, says Gouvea, to convince them from Holy Scripture that they were right. When they came to the decrees that related to the people's customs and manners, he called in four of the senior procurators, to whom he explained the alterations that he proposed to introduce, and desired their opinion upon them. After some discussion, the decrees were all agreed to, and were, therefore, given out as emanating from this select committee.

3. Of these Acts and decrees, M. La Croze ticity of this has given a fair and lucid abridgment. Numerous attempts, however, have been made to invalidate his testimony, by persons interested in defending the dogmas and pretensions of Rome. His most elaborate antagonist is M. Asseman, in whose ponderous volumes the reader will find the subject amply discussed.3

But the authenticity of the acts of the synod of Diamper does not rest on Protestant authority, having been published by one who, of all men, was best qualified and most interested to give a

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3 J. S. Asseman. Bibliotheca Orientalis. Dissertatio de Syris Nestorianis, Ch. 23. Responsio ad libellum Crozii, Gallicè inscriptum, Histoire du Christianisme des Indes." Roman Edit. 1728. Tom. iii. pars 2. pp. 392-406.

faithful account of what transpired on that occasion. This was Antonio Gouvea, already referred to, who wrote the history of the Archbishop's visitation in Malabar, under circumstances most favourable for the execution of his task. He was an Austin friar, and reader of divinity at Goa, where he possessed the confidence of Menezes, under whose direction he composed his history, by command of the provincial of his order in Portugal. The Archbishop was himself an Austin friar; so that his historian, besides a regard for his own reputation, and his obligation to obey the command of his superior; would very naturally be actuated by a zeal for the credit of his order, to give a favourable account of the synod: and the prelate himself, for the same reason, would at least take care that nothing should be introduced tending to convey an injurious impression. The original decrees, as drawn up by the Archbishop, with the assistance of the jesuits, were published by M. Gouvea, at the end of his History of the Journeys of Menezes in Malabar.

The "Acts and Decrees of the Synod," published in English by Dr. Geddes, are translated literally from the original Portuguese, with which language he was well acquainted. He resided ten years in Lisbon, and had every facility at his command for the work he had undertaken. His capabilities for the task, and his fidelity in the execution, will not be ques

He was chaplain to the English factory in that city from the year 1678 to 1688; and during his residence there he carefully investigated the character of the Roman Church. The fruits of his labours he gave to the world in his Histories of the Churches of Malabar and Ethiopia; and in numerous smaller works, which contain much important information upon various topics relating to the papacy, and many judicious remarks upon its policy and maxims.

A. D.

1599.

CHAP.

I.

tioned by any who shall take the pains to compare his performance with the original text. "To prevent all surmises of its being a piece either forged by some protestant, or of no authority in the Church of Rome, though set forth by a member of her communion ; " he has translated and published "the whole title page, which tells where, when, and by whom it was printed; together with "all the licences that it came out with." Like the original, therefore, it is given to the world with the imprimatur of the Romish officials. "And," he goes on to

say, "if any should suspect the translation, if

they please, they may satisfy themselves of its fidelity, by having recourse to the original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; to which, as the safest, as well as the noblest repository of books in the world, I design to give it."5

These precautions will not be deemed superfluous or unimportant, by those who know how little the papists have scrupled to contradict their own statements, and to disavow their very acts and deeds, when cited against them. They have attempted to depreciate La Croze's account of the synod, probably because, instead

5 See the conclusion of his preface. It does not appear that he, or his executors, ever fulfilled the intention here expressed; for, in the mention of his other donations to the Bodleian, not the slightest allusion is made to the said History in the original; neither is it to be found among any of their catalogues. This information is obtained from the librarian of the Bodleian, who has obligingly searched for the work. But an original copy of the decrees in question may be seen in the BRITISH MUSEUM, bound up with Gouvea's History, under the title of Journada Do Arcebispo do Goa, Dom F. A. de Menezes. Fol. Coimb. 1606: Dr. Geddes' translation will be found faithful, and perfectly to agree with a Latin translation of the decrees given in Raulin's Historia Ecclesiæ Malabaricæ. 6 Asseman, tom. iii. part 2. pp. 392, &c. Raulin's de Apostolatu St. Thomæ. Dissertatio IV.

7

of the entire decrees, he gave only an abstract of them; yet this will be found to contain as fair a representation of the synod's proceedings as that given in the text of Gouvea's Journada; and a similar account will be given in the present chapter, under the persuasion that it will be much more acceptable to the general reader, and even give him a more intelligible view of the synod, than a literal version of the decrees.8

4. The acts and decrees of the synod of Diamper are of no inconsiderable value, as an historic record of the faith and practice both of the Roman and Syrian Churches, at the close of the sixteenth century. No romanist can dispute an exposition of his religious tenets which was drawn up with so much care by an Archbishop of his church, and that, too, for the express purpose of establishing his religion in India: an exposition which was also published to the world with the sanction of the highest papal authorities in Europe. And with respect to the Syrians, these decrees contain the best, indeed, it may be said, the only account extant of the doctrines and customs of their church at the time of their publication. The vicissitudes through which that injured people have since passed; the unsparing hand with which the Archbishop

7 See also the French translation of his Journada, entitled, Histoire Orientale, &c. lib. i. chapit. 22-24.

8 In order, however, to guard against misrepresentation from adversaries, and also for the satisfaction of persons who may desire to see the whole, they will be given verbatim in the Appendix, together with the Romish Imprimatur. The only addition that will be observed to the translations of Geddes and Raulin, is the heading to each decree, which is in the original, and is here restored for the reader's convenience. The original decrees have long been extremely scarce.' B. Paulinus. (Viaggio alle Indie Orientali) Voyages, &c. to the East Indies. English Translator's note, p. 196. a.d. 1800.

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