york00orns

I70
YORK.
the same with many a country benefice. The intrusion
of these foreign priests into Enghsh Hvings had
long been felt and protested against as a bitter grievance,
but remonstrances were unheeded by Rome.
At last the patience of England was exhausted, and
in 1351 the famous "Statute of Provisors " was
passed. The resistance with which this was met by
the papal court resulted in another statute, the Act of
" Praemunire," as it was subsequently called, whereby
the prosecution of suits or appeals in foreign courts
was made punishable by forfeiture, perpetual imprisonment,
or banishment from the realm.
Thoresby's great care was to establish proper provision
for the instruction of the people in the principles
of the Christian religion. The mandate which
he addressed to his clergy, through the archdeacons,
on the subject of the gross ignorance which he found
prevailing, is a remarkable one. He tells them
plainly that it was due to their own carelessness or
ignorance, and he urgently requires their obedience
to the injunctions he gives, which had been approved
by a general council of his diocese and province.
Every clergyman with cure of souls was to explain to
his people in the plainest manner possible, at the
very least on every Lord's day, the articles of faith,
the precepts given in both Old and New Testaments,
the works of mercy, the cardinal virtues, the sacraments
of grace, and the deadly sins. The attendance
of their parishioners, both men and women, to receive
this teaching, was to be diligently urged, as also the
careful instruction of their children, as to which
inquiry was to be made by the priest at the least