THOMAS
685
THOMAS
undertook to visit the ancient Christians of St.
Thomas, spread throuKh the hilly parts of Malabar.
There was great danger that after the death of Arch-
bishop Abraham at Angamale, and the succession of
the Archdeacon George to the government of the
Church on the demise of the prelate, she would lapse
again under the sway of Nestorian prelates; nor were
there wanting persons of ecclesiastical rank possessed
of means who proposed to proceed to Babylon and
bring thence another archbishop. To the Archbishop
of Goa not only by metropoMtan right, but also in vir-
tue of .4i)Ostoiic letters appertained the right to as-
sume the administration of that Church sede vacante;
and he took upon himself the task of retaining the
vacillating archdeacon in due submission to the Holy
See and avoiding .schism."
He therefore issued instructions to the rector of the Vaipicotta College, enclosing a letter of appointment naming the archdeacon administrator of the diocese provided he in the presence of the rector made a solemn profession of faith. The arclideaccn ex- pressed his satisfaction on receiving the intimation and promised to make the profession demanded on a feast day. But later on he would neither make the profession, nor would he accept the nomination of administrator as coming from the archbishop of the diocese. Afterwards he caused it to be reported that he had so acted on the advice of others. The Arch- bishop of Goa, .after taking counsel with the Fathers, decided on starting on the visitation of the Archdio- cese of Angamale to induce that Church to receive a prelate from the Sovereign Pontiff. On this coming to be known all sorts of difficulties were raised to in- duce him to abandon his project, even from ecclesias- tics, with such pertinacitj- that the archbishop wrote to Pimenta: "Heaven and earth have conspired against my design." But he manfully faced the work before him, and went through it with singular firmness of character and prudence, and supported by Divine aid he began, continued, and completed the arduous task he had undertaken with complete success.
During the visitation (full details of which are given by Gouvea in the "Jornada", the one source whence all other writers have obtained their information, some even going so far as entirely to distort the facts to satisfy their prejudice) the archbishop underwent all sorts of hardships, visiting the principal parishes, addressing the people, holding services, and every- where conferring the sacraments, of which these peo- ple were deprived. He caused the Nestorian books in the possession of the churches and in the hands of the people to be expurgated of their errors, and they were then restored to their owners. .\11 the books then existing among the .Syrians were in MS. form; printed books among them did not exist at this period. Passages that denied the supreme authority of the ApostoUc See of Rome were simil.arly deleted. He also caused capable priests tobesought out, and these he placed in ch.arge of parishes. Eventually he estab- lished eighty parishes. Thus he prepared his ground for the reform of this Church which he intended to carrj' out. The sj-nod was opened with great solem- nity and pomp on 20 June, 1.599, at the village of T'di- ampanir, whence it is known as the Synod of Diain- per. The Acts were published in Portuguese as .an appendix to the "Jornada"; they were also translated into Latin. The opening .Vet of the synod was the profession of faith. The archbishop w,a,s the first fo m.ake his profession, then followed the .archde.acon who made his in Mal.ayalam, a translation of the former prep.arefl for the purpose. Subsequently the clergy in turn ni.ade theirs in the hands of the arch- bishop as the archdeacon also had done. The I>atin text may be found with the I.alin text of the synod, and separate in "Juris Pontificii de Propaganda Fide", Pars. I, vol. VI, part II, p. 243. Besides the archbishop and certain Jesuit Fathers who assisted
him there were some 153 Syrian priests and about 600
laymen deputed by the congregation to represent
them; all these signed the decrees that were passed
by the synod and proclaimed the orthodox faith em-
bodied in the act of profession taken by the entire
clergy. The archbishop addressed the synod on the
falsity of the errors of Nestorius up till then held by
that Church, the assembly denounced them, anathe-
matized the Nestorian Patriarch, and promised obedi-
ence and submission to the Roman Pontiff.
Among the calumnies spread against Menezes and the synod the most prominent is that all the Syriac books of the community were burnt and destroyed by order of the synod. What was done in this matter under the decree passed in the fifth session is thus described in the "Jornada" (tr. Glen, book I, eh. xxiii, p. 340). After the above condemnation of er- rors it w.as decided that certain books which had been named and were current in the Serra and full of errors should be burnt ; that others were to be censured only until they were corrected and expurgated. The list of books to be burnt is given in the 14th decree of the third session. The books consist: (1) of those ex pro- fesso teaching Nestorian errors; (2) containing false legends; (3) books of sorceries and superstitious prac- tices. None of these were capable of correction. In all other books that had any statements containing doctrinal errors, the latter were erased. The "Jor- nada" (p. 36.5) gives the system adopted during the visitation of the churches for the correction of books: after Mass was said all books written in Syriac, whether the property of the Church or of private in- dividuals, were handed over to Father Francisco Roz, who with three Cathaymrs (Sj-rian priests) specially selected for the purpose would retire to the vestrj' and there correct the books in conformity with the direc- tions given by the synod; those that were condemned and forbidden were handed over to the archbishop, who would order them to be burnt publicly. Under his orders no book eajiableof being purged from heret- ical error would be tlestroyed, but those ex professo teaching heresy would be destroyed. After the con- clusion of the synod Archbishop Menezes continued his visitation of the churches down to Quilon and then returned to Goa. He did not forget to send from thence a letter of warm thanks to Father Pimenta for the continuous and important aid given him by the Fathers of the Society all through the work he had to perform in Malabar.
XIV. In making provision for the future govern- ment of the Syrian Church in Malabar Clement VIII had to adopt such iiiea.'iMres as would secure its per- manency in the f.aith and exclude the danger of a re- lapse. He decided that it would be the safest course to appoint a Latin preLate in sympathy with the peo- ple and fullj- acquainted with their liturgical language. The selection fell on Father Roz, no doubt after hear- ing the opinion of Archbishop Menezes. Father Roz was consecrated by the .\rchbishop at Goa under the title of Bishop of .\ngamale in 1601. Four years later Paul V transferred him (160.5) to the new See of Cranganore, which he created an archbishopric in or- der that the faithful brought to unity should not feel that the honour of their see had suffered any diminu- tion of honour. The new prelate made a visitation tour through the diocese, correcting the liturgical books at ever>' church where this had not b(H>n done, and enforcing ever\-where the rules sanctioned by the S\-nod of Diamper! In 1606 he convened and held a diocesan synod; no further details of his administra- tion are h.anded <lown to us. After twenty-three years of strenuous ei)iscopate he died a1 Panir, his or- dinary residence, IS Feb., 1624, and was buried in the church. Besides the L.itiii Canon of the Mass he had also translateil the Latin ritual into Syriac for the ad- ministr.ation of the Holy S.acramcnts by the <lergy. Years later, on the occasion of the first pastoral visit of
