101 Account of the Christians on the Malabar Coast. [Ja nxjary 



bishop of Goa, enjoining him strictly to enquire into the life 

 and doctrine of that prelate, and if he found him guilty of the 

 charges brought against him, to send him to Goa under a sure 

 and honorable guard, and to transmit to Rome authentic copies of 

 the proceedings, in order that the holy See might form an exact 

 and precise judgment. 



To prevent however any evil to the diocese of Angamale, either 

 in spiritual or temporal matters, the Pope directed the archbishop 

 to appoint, a vicar Apostolic, who should if possible be well ac- 

 quainted with Syriac, and that in future no prelate should be admit- 

 ted to that diocese who was not elected by the holy See. This im- 

 portant document, on which were grounded all the subsequent per- 

 secutions of this unfortunate and injured people, was dated from 

 Rome, the 27th January 1595. 



Don Alexis de Menezes, on his arrival in India, transmitted a 

 a proces verbal to Rome of the information required. But the 

 great age and infirmity of Mar Abraham, which confined him en- 

 tirely to his house in Angamale, prevented him from securing his 

 person. Learning however that the church had written to the Patri- 

 arch of Mosul to send a new bishop, he sent orders forbidding the 

 Portuguese at Ormus under pain of ecclesiastical censure to allow 

 any priest or bishop of Chaldea, Persia, or Armenia, to pass into 

 India. This order compelled the new archbishop, who had received 

 the letters of the Patriarch and was waiting at Ormus, for a pas- 

 sao;e, to return to Persia. The strictest search also was ordered of 

 all Syrians and Armenians who might arrive in any Port of India. 



In the mean time Menezes, in order to check the schism that 

 prevailed in Malabar, wrote to the Catanar Yacoob, the vicar Gene- 

 ral of Mar Simeon, commanding him to submit to the authority of 

 Mar Abraham. The priest refused to obey, and continued his fac- 

 tious conduct and heretical doctrines. He wrote also several letters 

 to Mar Abraham, and to his archdeacon, (the only ecclesiastical 

 dignity in his diocese) exhorting them to retract their errors, to give 

 up their Nestorian manuscripts, and to submit to the Romish church. 

 The aged bishop replied to these letters with frivolous excuses in 

 order to gain time ; and the manner of his death, which happen- 

 ed shortly after, proved that he retained his former creed unchanged. 



Menezes, was engaged in a visitation of his own diocese of Goa. 

 when he received the news of Mar Abraham's death, and was unable 

 to escape from his more urgent and immediate concerns to 

 undertake in person the enterprize that was nearest to his heart — the 

 complete reduction of the church of St. Thomas to the authority 



