Vicariat of Mongolia, who had been appointed by the Pope in 1844. This Vicariat appears to have been appointed to care for the Christians who had been driven into Mongolia from Peking by the persecutions of the Emperor Kia-king.
At the present time the Roman Catholic Church has a chain of stations along the border line extending from Manchuria to Tibet, but not any on the plains. According to Dr. Williamson, the Greek Church also has established Missions in several important localities.
The history of Protestant Missions in Mongolia is one of great interest, but, unfortunately, so meagre that it is told without much difficulty.
The first effort was made by the London Missionary Society. In 1817 two learned Buriats reached St. Petersburg to assist in the translation of parts of the New Testament into their own language.[1] Through representations from the Russian Bible Society, probably inspired by the remarkable request of the Buriat tribe, the London Missionary Society appointed Mr. Edward Stallybrass, in 1817, and Mr. Cornelius Rahmn, who joined him at St. Petersburg somewhat later, to proceed to Irkutsk, which place they reached on March 26, 1818. They at once proceeded with the study of the Mongolian language, while Mr. Schmidt, with the help of the two Buriats, was at St. Petersburg translating the Gospels of Matthew and John into Buriat Mongolian. Mr. Rahmn shortly retired through the failure of his wife's health, and Mr. Swan, with Mr. Robert Yuile, joined Mr. and Mrs. Stallybrass at Selenginsk—whither they had moved—on February 17, 1820. Through much trial and difficulty the work was carried forward, the first Mrs. Stallybrass dying in 1833 and the second in 1839; Mrs. Yuile dying in 1827, and Mr. Yuile retiring in 1838. After having translated and published the Old Testament, and having made considerable progress with the New Testament, which they subsequently finished
- ↑ For fuller details concerning this romantic story, see pp. 411, 412.
