a.Proceffion in the Church, or where the Vicar shall appoint, in which the Litanies shall be said according to the customs of the Church, which fhall alfo be translated in the faid Roman Ceremonial, expunging the Names of all the Hereticks, who according to the cuftom of the Neftorians, were commemorated in this Church; and it is the defire of the Synod, that the use of the faid Litanies be brought into this Church to be read in their Neceffities, or when they defire to implore the Divine Mercy. TH Decree XXIV. He Synod being informed, that in the remote parts of this Bishoprick, as well towards the South, as towards the North, the Chriftians that dwell in the Heaths are guilty of Working and Merchandizing on Sundays and Holy-days, efpecially in the Evenings, doth command the Vicars to be very vigilant in this Matter, and to admonifh and reprehend all that they fhall find fo doing; and if after three particular Admonitions, they fhall not reform, they shall after that be thrown out of the Church, and have the Cafture denied them; neither shall any Priest go into their Houses until they have yielded Obedience. Decree Decree XXV. Whereas in this Diocess there are many Churches dedicated to Marxobro and Marphrod, who are commonly ftiled Saints, of whom there is nothing known, only it is commonly faid, That they came into thefe Parts and wrought * Nothing known.] At Compostella, the moft famous place of Devotion in all Spain, the Peo ple pray to fome that they know as little of, as the Malabars do of Marphrod. For the famous Spanish Antiqua ry Ambrofius Morales, in the 9th. Book of his Chronicle, gives us a particular Account of an Altar with fome Names upon it that he met with there, and that had great Devotion paid to it. In the famous Monastery of the Benedi&ine Nuns that joins to the Holy Church of St. James, faith Morales, and is dedicated to the Glorious Martyr Pelayo, whem in that Country they commonly call St. Payo, there is an Ara on the Altar, which they affirm to have been Confecrated by the Apostles, and that they themselves faid Mafs on it, and that it was brought thither with the bleffed Body of St. James. Now there is not, faith Morales, not only no foundation for the Truth of this Story, but there is just caufe to believe, that that Stone, which is at prefent in the fame ftate it was in when it was first made, could never be an altar. I obferved it with great attention in the company of feveral great and learned Men, who had all the fame thoughts of it that I had, the thing indeed being too clear and manifeft for any such to doubt of; for it is visible, that the Stone is the Grave-Stone of forne Heathens, with this following infcription. DMS ATIAMO ET AT TE T LUMPS AQ VIRIA EMO NEPTIS PIANO XVI ET S. E. C. The words are very plain and clear, there not being a Letter wanting; fo that notwithstanding the Blunders committed by the Graver in Spelling it, they may be with great eafe Tranflated, which I wil do as well as I can into Spanish. "This Stone is Confecrated to "the Gods of the Dead, and De"dicated to the Memories of "Atiamo, and of Atte, and of Lumpfa, as also to her Memory "who Erected it, Viria Emefa "their pious Grand-child, being "16 Years of Age. This is what the Stone contains, therefore they that Confecrated it an Altar, would have done well to have defaced the Letters, by which means they would have removed the indignity that fares all People in the face, that confider what a thing it is to have the most Holy Body and Blood of Chrift our Redeemer, confecrated and placed upon the TombStone of Heathens, whereon the Devils are invocated. Thus far Morales. But as this Stone has had a great deal of Honour done it, in coming to be Confecrated an Altar in fuch a famous place of Devotion, fo the Perfons whofe Names are upon it, have had no lefs done to them, who are all great Saints in that Country, and particularly Piano, who in all probability is the St. Payo, to whom the Church and Monaftery is dedicated. For firft, Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology upon the 30th. day of December, gives this following Account of the faid Stone and Perfons. Don Didacus Sequinus, Bishop of Auria, who has Epitomized the Life of his Predeceffor Serrandus, gives therein the following Expofition of the Infcription that is upon this Altar Stone, in the Galecian Language, which Hiftory I have now by me in MSS. Confegrada a Deos Maximo, Atiamo, Erato, Telumpfa Viriamo Forem Martyres e padezeron em Galizia, no Pago Sarenfe antes que & Apoftolo fe fole a Jerufa in Galecia in the Village of Sarep, 'Were all Martyrs, and fuffered before the Apoftle went to Jeru falem, who for that reafon lefe this Altar to his Difciples to fay 'Mafs on in memory of those Saints, as Bifhop Don Serrando 'has left upon Record. randus after having given a deLobarinus tells us, chat Don Serfcription of the Altar, fubjoins the following Account of it que deyxo efcripta o Apoftol 'Efte heò Retrayto de Ara Santiago, a feus difcipolos, e he nó mar, fobre que, paufaran 'un tanto da que trouxa con figo o fanto corpo e fobre de la deria 'miffa Arcadio i Bispo do Orenes 'en fan Maria Madre; autro tanto como efte efta en fan Payo, de 'Santiago com iftas mifmas letras 'deftos Santos Martyres. That is to fay: This is the Portraiture of the Altar which the Apofile St. James left, with an Infcription upon it, to his Difciples, who carried another of the fame Dimenfions, and with the fame Infcription, along with him to Sea; upon which his Holy Body was laid, and Arcadius the first Bishop of Orenes, faid Mafs upon it in the Church of St. Mary the Mother of B b God; God; the other which is the fame with this,is in the Church of St.Payo of Compoftella, with the fame Names of thefe Holy Martyrs. I hope the Reader will pardon me, if I offer one or two more inftances of the fame Nature. In the Spanish Martyrology upon the 22d. of May, it is faid, Sandius Publius Bebius Venuftus Martyr qui pontem in honorem templi beate Marie condidit,petente Ordine Oretanorum ut pateret aditus ad Templum, XX. CHS. in quo ponte fua Pietatis, hujufmodi in vifceri bus lapidis Monumentum reliquit. P. BABIUS VENUSTUS P. BÆBIIVENETIEP BÆSISCERIS NEPOS ORETANUS. PETENTE ORDINE ET POPULO, IN HONOREM DOMUS DIVINÆ, PONTEM FECIT EX HS XXC. CIRCENSIBUS EDITIS. D. D. This needs no Commentary, it .being plain from the Monument ic felf, that this P. BÆBIUS was a Heathen, and that Domus Di vina herein mentioned, was not a Church dedicated to the blefled Virgin, but to fome Heathen god. And at Ebora in Portugal, St. Viarius, who infallibly cures all pains in the Loins, and for that reafon is very much prayed to, was raised out of fuch another Heathen Roman Monument, whercon Viarum Curator was writ, as Refendius tells us. But as in fome places they have made Salnts of Heathens, in qhers they have made Heathens of Saints: For in the Caftle of Liria in Portugal, there is over the Inner Gate a Stone Statue, with a long infcription under it, of which there is nothing legible from the ground but the word Veneris, which is very plain, the Portugueze who fhewed us the place, for we were several Proteftants in Company, told us very gravely that theCaftle was built by the Romans, and that the Statue we faw fo much defaced, the Head and Arms being broke of, and the Body very much malled with Stones, was the Statue of the Roman Goddels Venus: we kept our Countenances as well as we could, perceiving plainly, that neither the Caftle nor the Statue were Roman work, and the Letters of Veneris were perfectly Gothick, fo I and two more having induftriously loft our Portugueze, we refolved if poffible to find out the truth of the matter, and after fome poring, we began to discover fome more Letters, and with fome pains spelt out the word Ante after Veneris; whereupon we concluded, that Veneris there must be a verb, and not a Subftantive, and that Veneris ante must be the end of a Monkifh Verfe: and we were quickly fatisfied that it was fo by what followed, which was, Pertranfire cave, nifi prius dixeris Ave Regina cœli mater, What followed was so defaced that we could make nothing of it, neither indeed were we folicitous about it, being abundantly fatisfied from what we had read, that it was a Statue of the moft Bleffed wrought Miracles, and returned afterwards to Babylon, from whence they came, others affirming that they died in Coulaon, there being nothing writ of them that is Authentick, neither does it appear that they were ever canonized by the Church; but on the contrary, fince they came from Babylon, there is just cause to fufpect that they might be Hereticks: Wherefore the Synod doth command, That all the Churches which are dedicated to them, be dedicated to all the Saints, and that the Feftivities used to be kept to their Honour, and the Nerchas that used to be given upon their days, fhall be given on All Saints day, being the first of November and for the future there be no more Churches dedicated to them, Churches and Festivities being never to be dedicated, nor Prayers made to any but to Saints canonized and ap proved of by the Church. |