C 
HONT SOIT ●EVI MA●Y PENSE   seal R BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE CONFEDERATE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND  
THE deep sense Which we have of the sad condition, the Kingdom is at present reduced unto, by the unadvised proceed of some Prelates Secular & Regular, & of some superiors of Regular orders in this Kingdom, together with our just fears, that unless a timely course be taken to stop the violence of those unwarrantable ways, the whole body of the Confederates may run irrecoverable hazard; These with the conscience of doing an act most Religious, by safeguarding innocence (though no common danger were suspected) moved us, to reflect on the duty we own to the public, & on the strait tie which the oath of Association binds us unto, for its preservation, for discharge of our duty in both, & stopping the current of evils which we sadly behold flowing out of this source (though the laws both divine & natural edge us to use all extremity in bussines of so great concernment, whereon the safety & lives of the whole nation depends) yet being unwilling to fix on any course which might seem harsh (even to the offenders themselves) we thought good, first to admonish & desire all & every the said Prelates of what degree soever, Arch Bushopps, Bushopps, Abbots, vicar's Generals, Deans, & Chapters, Provincials, Priors, Guardians & all other superiors, conjuring them by the sacred bond of the oath of Association, & strictly charging them, on their due allegiance to his Majesty, his Crown, his Kingdom, and unto us as Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics, that they shall in no wise molest any of their respective subjects, Priests or Religious, for persevering in their loyalty or (in pursuance thereof) for approving the late Cessation made by us with the Lord Baron of Insiquin, and that they shall not command, solicit, desire, or induce, by word, writing, or deed, publicly or privately, any of their said subjects to oppose the said Cessation, or any other our just Commands, in pursuance of it, for the public safety, or to infuse into the people any disobedience to our authority, upon any pretence whatsoever, even of the declaration made or Censures now issued, or hereafter to be issued by the Lord Nuncio, and his four Bushopps on the same ground, From all which [as both groundless and unlawful) we have (according to the rule of sacred Canons,) legally appealed to his Holiness, and by that our address, not only suspended the past sentences and Censures, but alsoe his Grace's whole jurisdiction, and the said four Bushopps (if any they had) from proceeding any further therein, until his Holiness pleasure be known.  
AND furthermore, we require (by virtue of the said Oath, and upon their allegiance) all inferiors of both Clergies, Dignitaries Curates, Preachers, Confessors, & all others, of what condition soever they be, that they shall not, on any pretence [even of the said Gensurs) withdraw any Confederate from approving the said Cessation, or obeying our orders and Decrees, made and to be made, in pursuance thereof, but rather endeavour, in their public sermons, private Conferences, and upon each occasion offered, to confirm them in their allegiance to his Majesty, and our just decrees and orders.  
BESIDES, We thought it most necessary and just, to receive (as we do by these, and from this instant) into the special, and immediate protection of the Crown and of his Majesty (the administration of whose rights, even in this particular, is in our hands towards the Confederate Catholics) all Churchmen both Secular and Regular, of what degree soever, who hitherto have declared themselves faithful and obedient to the Government of the Kingdom, and who have therefore, and for opposeing sinister and Dangerous practices against us, and such as are in authority, been heretofore, are for the present, or shall hereafter be persecuted by their superiors, vexed, hindered, suspended, deprived or any way molested; Protesting and publishing to the world, that we will use all the extent of our power to suppress & defend their innocence herein, against the Lord Nuncio and such their Superiors, until his Holiness and General Superiors of Instituts (being sufficiently informed) provide further, for the affairs of the Church, and duediscipline of Regular orders in Ireland.  
LASTLY, we Declare unto the said Prelates and Superiors, and likewise unto all inferiors of either Clergy, that if henceforth any Churchmen be found seduceing the people as aforesaid, or countenancing, either seducers, or the seduced, we must, and Will presently upon notice given, proceed against such, as enemies of the common good, and injurious to the Government, the suddainess and greatness of the present fatal dangers necessitating us thereunto.  
HENCE it is, that none is to conceive, we intent hereby (since both are per viam facti, and for our natural and necessary defence, in assumeing into our protection the unjustly oppressed ecclesiastics) to usurp an illegal power, jurisdiction, or unwarrantable prerogative, or to entrench upon the immunities of the Church, being so far from either, as we are certain, our decree in all, and every the aforesaid particulars, doth not swerve from the square of sacred Canons, from the consent of great Divines and Canonists, from the practice of most Catholic Nations (and amongst the rest of England before the schism without controlment of the Clergy) nay we are undoubtedly possessed, the law of nature (which is aboveall Cannons) doth approve and Command it so strictly, as we cannot otherwise answer the trust reposed in us, when by our negligence herein, the lives and fortunes of the Confederate Catholics would be exposed to most inevitable and evident danger. Given at Kilkenny Castle, the third day of june 1648. and in the Four and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord CHARLES By the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.  
Mountgarrett. Athunry, Donboyne. Lucas Dillon, Rob. Linch, Richard Barnewall, Richard Euerard, Richard belings. Patrick Gough, john Walsh, Gerrald Fennell, Patrick Brian, Robert Devereax, George Commin.  
GOD SAVE THE KING.   

Printed at Kilkenny in the Year of our Lord 1648.