that the people of Diarbekir and Mardeen had not obeyed the order of the Pope nor his supremacy, they sent letters to me and to Padre Fulgenzio, who was then at Baghdad, directing him to go to Diarbekir, and to inquire why the people had not submitted to my authority.[1] Now this Padre was my enemy on account of the affair of the marriage, and this I learned further from the letters which reached me on the 14th of February, 1794, and I answered the Society accordingly. Padre Fulgenzio, however, departed and went to Selook, which is Kerkook, and created divisions among the Meshihayé there, and he did the same at Ainkâwa. Moreover he wrote letters to other villages which began in this style: I, Padre Fulgenzio, superior of the Patriarchs of the East, &c.; many of which letters fell into my hands. He then went to Mosul and sowed tares there also, and in the villages of that district, on account of which, a fierce dispute arose between him and Padre Mansoor, [prob. Vittorio] in which the whole congregation took part, because he wished to absolve Mutrau Yeshua-yau and his nephew, whose deceit rendered them undeserving of absolution. In consequence of this quarrel, Padre Fulgenzio went to Zakho, whither Mutran Hnan-Yeshua followed him, and was absolved by him, though in reality he did not know how to convey absolution, [on account of his ignorance of the Syriac.] This affair gave rise to many dissensions among the Meshihayé, all which I learned through letters which were addressed to me by Padre Mansoor and the congregation at Mosul. Many of these I got translated into Latin, and wrote others in Syriac to the Sacred Society, informing them of all that had occurred. When our lord the Pope heard of these things, he was very angry with Padre Fulgenzio and the people of Diarbekir and Mardeen, and with the consecrating and consecrated Metropolitans, and suspended the latter and the priests of Diarbekir from their ministerial functions. He moreover desired Padre Fulgenzio not to interfere with my affairs, or with the affairs of the Chaldeans, and the Sacred Society wrote him a very sharp letter full of rebuke, and
- ↑ I fancy that, in professing to place Diarbekir and Mardeen under his jurisdiction, the Pope or the Propaganda duped Mutran Hanna, since Yoosef V. was still living at the former town, and was still recognized as Patriarch of the Chaldeans by the see of Rome.
