Note 124 — Chapter VIII · 1556-1581. THE SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH GENERALS OF THE ORDER.

Lainez, among other exploits, attacked with great violence the authority of the bishops, and would have had them to be mere tools in the hands of the Pope. He maintained on another occasion that, “as the slave possesses less authority than his master, in like manner the Council could not undertake a reformation upon the matter, the annates being of Divine right.” Again, “as Jesus Christ has the power to dispense from all sorts of laws, the Pope, his vicar, has the same authority, since the Judge and his Lieutenant have the same tribunal,” and other similar blasphemies. See Fra Paolo Sarpi upon the Congregations, 20th October 1562, and 16th June 1563.