But It Is Said That Some Parts Of The
Ardent Doctrines Are Still Retained.
They give the first piece
broken off from every loaf of bread to the poor; they sit down to
dinner by three to a dish, in honour of the Trinity.
With extended
arms and bowing head, they ask a blessing of every monk or priest,
or of every person wearing a religious habit. But they desire,
above all other nations, the episcopal ordination and unction, by
which the grace of the spirit is given. They give a tenth of all
their property, animals, cattle, and sheep, either when they marry,
or go on a pilgrimage, or, by the counsel of the church, are
persuaded to amend their lives. This partition of their effects
they call the great tithe, two parts of which they give to the
church where they were baptised, and the third to the bishop of the
diocese. But of all pilgrimages they prefer that to Rome, where
they pay the most fervent adoration to the apostolic see. We
observe that they show a greater respect than other nations to
churches and ecclesiastical persons, to the relics of saints,
bells, holy books, and the cross, which they devoutly revere; and
hence their churches enjoy more than common tranquillity. For
peace is not only preserved towards all animals feeding in
churchyards, but at a great distance beyond them, where certain
boundaries and ditches have been appointed by the bishops, in order
to maintain the security of the sanctuary.
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