1.

CHAP. ginning to follow his example. They alluded to a claim that, as was alleged, he laid to the eldest son's portion of the family estate, on a parent's decease, the exaction of which, they said, had ruined many families. It no where appears that the rajah of Cochin was guilty of so tyrannical an act and the complaint of the cattanar was, doubtless, a mere pretext to cover his real object in raising the disturbance, his sole intention being to interrupt his brethren, who were taking the oath in presence of the Archbishop. In this, however, he was defeated by the prelate's promptitude, who immediately desired him to come back into the church, promising to attend to his remonstrance. Almost all the other ecclesiastics remained attached to the Archbishop, who saw the necessity of inducing this man also, and those who joined him, to take the same oath as their brethren. In this he succeeded; and thus ended this ill-concerted and worse executed opposition, which, instead of proving an impediment to Menezes, turned out rather to the furtherance of his cause. The deacons and other clerks, and all the deputies of the churches, followed next, taking the oath without hesitation.

The Synod then passed,

Decree 2nd, Which commanded all Syrian ecclesiastics, not then present, to make the same confession of faith, and to take the same oath as the rest. It also ordained, that none should hereafter be admitted to holy orders, or to any cure of souls, who refused to comply with this injunction.

Thus ended the business of this Session, which, considering the solemn pledge given by all to yield obedience to whatever should be required of them, has been truly called, the life

and soul of what followed." The Archbishop
had, on the whole, reason to be satisfied with
the Malabar Christians' conduct; for thus far
they had done whatever he desired and in
order to give them a proof of his thanks and
affection, he placed them at once under the
protection of the Portuguese. Hereby he seemed
also to be complying with the request of those
who were discontented: not that they really
wanted this, for they, no doubt, by this time
suspected, and the suspicion was too soon con-
firmed, that the Portuguese protection was not
unlike that of a wolf guarding the fold against
the shepherd's crook. With such consummate
address did Menezes avail himself of every op-
portunity inadvertently afforded him, to draw
closer the net which this simple people had
allowed him to throw around them. He called
to him Don Antonio, the governor of Cochin,
and, in presence of the civil officers in his com-
pany, and the whole assembly, commended the
Christians to his care, seeing that they had just
submitted to the Roman church, and abjured
their errors.
He entreated him, therefore, as
the representative of the king of Portugal, the
defender of all catholics in India, to take them
under his special protection in all matters ex-
cept those that in justice belonged to their law-
ful sovereigns. Gouvea says, that he added
the concluding words to satisfy the heathen
princes, who were very suspicious of the Synod,
and also of the union which had already been
effected between their Christian subjects and
the Portuguese. Almost all of them had spies
watching the proceedings, especially the rajah
of Cochin, whose prime minister was on the

A. D. 1599.

CHAP.

I.

Menezes re

spot, and felt greatly alarmed at the Archbishop's progress. The rajah suspected from the first, that the primary object of Menezes was to make the Syrians subject to the king of Portugal; and he called the "chrism," which the prelate put upon their foreheads, the Portuguese mark.

The governor of Cochin acted his part entirely to the satisfaction of the Archbishop, and to the admiration of the assembly. He fell on his knees, together with the officers and nobles in his train, and said, "with tears in his eyes, That since he had witnessed the subjection of the Christians of St. Thomas to the sovereign Pontiff, he, in the name of the king of Portugal, took them under his protection, their persons and churches, their towns and villages, in every thing relating to the Christian religion." To establish the people's confidence in this promise, an act was immediately passed to confirm it, in the name of the governor and town of Cochin. This act the prelate delivered to the Christians, to be kept in the archives of Angamale.

The concluding scene just described proved of great service to the Archbishop. It increased the good will of the people towards him, and very naturally caused them to look up to him with greater respect. The governor of Cochin had hitherto ranked in their estimation with the sovereigns of the country: it, therefore, astonished them exceedingly to see the venerable old man upon his knees before the Archbishop; and this apparent acknowledgment of his superiority, induced them to regard the prelate as the head of the Portuguese in India.

The business of this session, with the subsesuspicions quent proceedings, lasted till 3 o'clock, P. M.

moves the

A. D.

1599.

of the

ster.

when Menezes retired; but he had not reposed long, before the prime minister of the Cochin rajah waited upon him, under pretence of pay- Cochin raing him a visit. His real intention however jah and his was, to ascertain to what extent the Christians prime miniof the country had promised obedience to the Pope. Menezes conjectured this, and at once, anticipating his inquiries, desired him to assure the rajah that he had nothing to fear, for that what had been done between the Christians and himself, related only to articles of faith and the Christian religion; and that the more faithful the people were to their religion, the greater would be their fidelity to their king. With this the officer professed to be satisfied, acknowledging to the Archbishop, that he had already been informed to the same effect. He then offered to remain longer at Diamper if his presence could be of any service to him. Menezes thanked him for his civility, but declined his offer, assuring him that he now felt as safe in those parts as the rajah of Cochin himself.

postponed.

At this period of the Synod, Menezes was Session 3rd induced to depart from the order in which he had intended to proceed. It was arranged, that in the third Session they should adjust the articles of faith in conformity with the Roman creed, and pronounce a formal condemnation of the faith hitherto maintained by the church of Malabar and as they are published in this order in the authentic history of the Synod,' they will be given as the proceedings of the third Session, though they actually followed the sixth,

8 It will soon be seen with what insincerity the Archbishop made this profession, and that the suspicions of the rajah were too well founded.

' Geddes, p. 120. See Appendix to this volume.

CHAP.

I.

Doctrines and instructions on

Confirma

tion.

This diversion from the appointed course was made at the suggestion of the Syrian cattanars and deputies, who, apprized of the matters that were to be brought before them, and hearing that the decrees for that day contained many things that were dishonourable to their church, were not pleased at the thoughts of such an exposure in the presence of all the Portuguese. They, therefore, entreated Menezes to put off the said decrees for two days, when, they understood, the Portuguese were to be absent, for the purpose of celebrating the festival of John the Baptist, in a church dedicated to that saint at the village of Little Paru, about two miles from Diamper. The prelate, judging that it would prejudice his cause to deny them so reasonable a request, complied with their wishes, and immediately proceeded to read the decrees of

SESSION IV.

Though there was little to be done at this Session but to read and approve the decrees Baptism and relating to the sacraments; yet the business was protracted in the morning, from seven till eleven o'clock; and in the afternoon, from two till six. At other times they got through their business with so much dispatch, as to be able to hold two Synods on the same day. The length of the meeting did not depend so much on the number of decrees to be read, as on the opposition that was raised to them by the cattanars and deputies, who were incessantly proposing objections which it required all the address of the Archbishop quietly to remove. Indeed, it is very doubtful whether, with all his polemical skill, he would have succeeded, had he not been