{
  "bookName": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
  "authorName": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
  "publisherName": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
  "publicationYear": 2026,
  "chapterNumber": 6,
  "chapterName": "The Missions Among the Mongols",
  "pageFrom": 51,
  "pageTo": 64,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 51,
      "ocrText": "CHAPTER VI\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG\nTHE MONGOLS\nAt the beginning of the thirteenth century while the Church\nwas still preaching the Crusade, St Francis of Assisi's Order\nof Friars Minor and St Dominic's Order of Preachers came\ninto existence at one and the same time. Although these two\nmovements were different in character, there is no reason, in\nour opinion, why they should be considered as in opposition\nto one another. Each was an answer to certain needs of the\ntime.\nIslam, or, as the phrase was, the Saracens, had behaved as a\ndetermined enemy of Catholicism in Africa and Spain. They\noccupied the Holy Places. By undertaking to free these from\ntheir domination, the Crusaders, as is made clear by a passage\nin the cartulary of the abbey of St Bertin, were seeking to\nincrease the body of the Church and to restore to God lands\nand cities unjustly held by the infidels. But to these motives of\na religious nature were added others of a very human kind\nwhich did not diminish as time went on.\nJerusalem was taken and lost again. This failure was salu-\ntary, we might almost be tempted to say, since it did not effect\nthe lasting results on the intellectual and economic levels. It\nwas when the spirit of the Crusades had revealed its weak-\nnesses that St Francis came upon the scene and preached a\nmissionary doctrine inspired, as was his whole life, solely by\nthe spirit of the Gospel. We cannot say it was new, for it was"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 52,
      "ocrText": "52\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nthat of the early Church. The Moslems were commonly con-\nsidered to be simply men whose throats were to be cut and\nthey, in their turn, asked for nothing better than to return\nthe compliment, so as to receive not only an eternal reward\nbut also the golden besant the Sultan ordered should be given\nto every man who brought back the head of a Christian.\nSt Francis suggested that men should go to them for no other\npurpose than to preach the Gospel and lead them to baptism\nwithout any threats or use of force.\nHe himself joined the crusaders in 1219 at Damietta and\nput his method into operation in spite of the opposition of\nCardinal Pelagio. He went towards the enemy lines and suc-\nceeded in obtaining an audience of the Sultan Melck-El-Kamel.\nThe Sultan argued that he could not change his religion with-\nout alienating his people. St Francis, having failed to achieve\nany result, came sadly away.\nSt Dominic too was prevented from realizing his desire to\nbecome a missionary but he wished that his disciples should\ntake their share in missionary work.\nIt was therefore in obedience to their illustrious founders\nthat Franciscans and Dominicans, the wandering friars of both\nOrders, wanted to continue the evangelization of the Gentiles\nin Asia.\nIn about the year 1223, the Dominicans, under the protection\nof the king of Hungary, arrived among the Comans or\nQiptchaq, who lived in the Ukrainian steppes and were for the\nmost part Shamanists. The wave of conversions caused by the\nbaptism of one of their chiefs became considerable enough\nto lead the papacy to establish a bishopric among the Comans.\nThe Dominicans then moved on to the north-east into greater\nHungary or the territory situated to the east of the upper\nreaches of the Volga. But the Mongol invasion soon wiped out\nevery vestige of the Comanian mission.\nThese Mongols had nevertheless destroyed the Moslem\nempires of the Middle East. Further, as a large number of\nNestorians lived under their rule and apparently in reasonable"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 53,
      "ocrText": "THE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\n53\nfreedom, the papacy did not consider them at the outset as\nenemies. Innocent IV sent ambassadors to them in preference\nto missionaries; their task was to explore the ground and to\nprepare for the return to unity of the schismatics and heretics\nand, if possible, to persuade the Mongols to abandon violent\nmethods.\nTwo Franciscans, Dominic of Aragon and John of Piano di\nCarpine, set out on a journey, one to the Armenians, the other\nto the Russians, while two Dominicans, Andrew of Long-\njumeau and Ascelin of Cremona, were sent, one to Syria and\nbeyond and the other to the Mongol princes. In the end, Piano\ndi Carpine alone made contact with one of these, Güyük. This\nkhan gave a courteous hearing to his exposition of Christianity,\nrefused to be baptized and took leave of the Franciscan, at the\nsame time instructing him to tell the pope that he considered\nthe papacy his (Güyük's) vassal.\nReports which came in later claimed that some Mongol\nchiefs had become converts to Christianity. This time St Louis,\nwith the pope's approval, sent Andrew of Longjumeau on a\nsecond mission. Meanwhile Güyük had died. His widow\npolitely accepted the presents sent by the king of France.\nAmong these were relics of the true Cross. She herself gave\npresents in return to the Dominican for St Louis but refused\nany precise undertaking in regard to the plan for a Franco-\nMongol alliance against the Moslems of Irak. She too urged\na counter-claim to the right of suzerainty over the West.\nNevertheless Andrew of Longjumeau returned to report\nsome good prospects for future missions. The Mongols were\nstrictly neutral in religious matters. Further there were\nChristians at court in the higher ranks of the administration\nand even in the near neighbourhood of the throne. It was even\nsaid that the mother of Mangou (the emperor and a grandson\nof Genghis Khan) and several of his wives were Christians as\nwell as Sartach, the khan in command between the Don and\nthe Volga. As Matrod writes in his Étude sur le voyage de\nGuillaume de Rubrouck: \"People began to dream of the days"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 54,
      "ocrText": "54\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nof St Helena, Constantine Chlorus and Constantine... in their\nover-excited imaginations they already saw the Cross casting\nits shadow over the tents of the nomads. It was still unsteady\nbut an apostle would be able to plant it firmly there.\"\nThe apostle chosen was a Franciscan Friar Minor, William\nof Rubruck, who came from the village of that name in\nFrench Flanders. The letters St Louis gave him did not mention\npolitical problems, they merely begged Prince Sartack to\nauthorize the bearer and his companion, Bartholomew of\nCremona, to remain in the territories under his command \"in\norder to teach the word of God\". The king of France had\nasked William to write down an account of everything of every\nsort which he might see among the Tartars. This embassy\nwhich at first was sent to Sartach alone, that is to the territory\nnorth and north-east of the Caspian and Aral seas, went as\nfar as Karakorum, the capital of the empire.\nEverywhere the two Friars Minor, alone in the tower of\nBabel of the imperial horde, succeeded in gaining a hearing\nfrom the princes Sartach, Batou and Mangou, the great khan.\nThey even won their esteem while the courtiers did all they\ncould to be of disservice to them. The words of farewell\naddressed to them by Mangou were full of meaning. This\nhardened sceptic and his scepticism was doubtless due to the\nlack of zeal he saw among the followers of the various religions\nwho lived at his court-paid homage to their generosity, their\ndisinterestedness and their uprightness. In the humble and\ncharitable conduct of the two Franciscans he caught at least a\nmomentary glimpse of the value of the true faith.\nAfter this isolated visit, genuine missions, profiting by the\nvery ancient relations between East and West, went to Asia.\nBetween the West especially Italy and the Djagataï\nkhanat, there existed means of communication which crossed\nthe Crimea, passed through Saraï, a town on the Volga, to the\nnorth of the Caspian Sea, then south of the Sea of Aral as far\nas Almeligh at the centre of the middle Tartar empire. Further,"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 55,
      "ocrText": "THE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\n55\ncertain Italian cities had established banks for their trade,\nVenice at Tana on the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Don,\nGenoa in several of the Black Sea ports. In all these places,\nthe missionaries could quite safely establish posts to serve as\nstages for their work.\nA great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, reached China\nshortly before them. He left Constantinople in 1260 with his\nbrother and when he arrived at Pekin (Kambalik) he was very\ncourteously received by the great khan Qubilaï and was com-\nmissioned by him to ask Gregory X (1271-6) to send mission-\naries to his empire. The first two parties went no further than\nArmenia. When Qubilaï sent a second request, a very experi-\nenced Franciscan, John of Monte Corvino, set out in 1289.\nHe travelled by sea, embarked in the Persian Gulf and reached\nQuilon at the southern extremity of the Malabar coast, and\nthen continued to St Thomas on the coast of Coromandel.\nFrom there he went on to the Chinese port of Zayton and\ncompleted the final stage of his journey on foot. When he\narrived at Kambalik, he handed his pontifical letters to\nQubilaï's successor. His first audiences were Nestorians belong-\ning to the kingdom of Ongüt, some hundreds of miles to the\nnorth-west of Kambalik. The king was converted and gave\nhim every facility he needed for the building of a church at\nOlon-Süne, the capital. The ruins of this church were discovered\na short time ago. During the following reign, a violent reaction\namong the Nestorians forced him to return to Kambalik, where\nhe built a church. The progress of Christianity continued at an\nastonishing rate with 4,000 baptisms in one year alone (1305).\nWhen news of these results finally reached Rome, Clement V\nmade Kambalik a metropolitan see. John of Monte Corvino\nwas placed in charge of it with jurisdiction over the whole\nMongol empire. He established a bishopric at Zayton. His\napostolate among the various Christian families worked\nwonders. There were mass returns of Nestorians and\nArmenians to Rome. The section of the Alani people who had\nbeen deported to China by the Mongols and to whom William"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 56,
      "ocrText": "56\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nof Rubruck had so longed to give spiritual help, listened so\nreligiously to John of Monte Corvino that they returned as a\nbody to Roman Catholicism. They numbered fifteen thousand\nin all. Yet the illustrious Franciscan worked almost alone.\nNot that the papacy had abandoned him, but the missionaries\nwere few in number and because of the distance, the length of\ntime and the dangers of travel, the parties that set out arrived\ndecimated. Sometimes they disappeared altogether.\nYet Odoric of Pordenone, another great missionary, reached\nhis destination. It is from him that we learn how venerated was\nJohn of Monte Corvino by the great khan and all his court.\nBut their frame of mind remained like that of Mangou. They\nlistened to the apostle with great interest but, with a few ex-\nceptions, went no further than this.\nAfter Monte Corvino's death, the see of Kambalik was\nvacant for ten years. The bands of missionaries had ceased to\narrive. John of Marignoli eventually came to take up the work\nand experienced from the khan the same kindness that had\nbeen shown to John of Monte Corvino, with every facility to\nvisit the Christian foundations in China. This state of affairs\nso favourable to Catholicism was only changed when the\nMongol dynasty was overthrown and replaced by that of the\nMing with the Chinese nationalist reaction it brought in its\ntrain. Tolerance was replaced by the re-establishment of the\nofficial Confucian worship. Further, these Chinese Christian\ncommunities had become increasingly isolated from the West\nas a result of the establishment of areas under Moslem rule\nin central Asia.\nBefore they came under the yoke of Islam, the central Asian\nlands, extending roughly from Lake Balkhach to the Don basin,\nhad been fairly successfully evangelized as early as the end of\nthe twelfth century. The first to arrive, Franciscans from\nHungary, had obtained from the Mongol princes an ordinance\nallowing them to join the hordes in small groups. They moved\nabout, dressed as Tartars, placing their portable altars on carts\nsimilar to those of their hosts. From evening till morning,"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 57,
      "ocrText": "THE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\n57\nthere were opportunities of teaching Christianity and bearing\nwitness to what they taught. This continual presence brought\nabout many conversions. The most famous of these was that of\none of the khans of the Golden Horde in 1311. But this success\nwas not to last. The elder sons of the convert were dethroned\nby the Islamic party which transferred power to a prince of\ntheir own persuasion.\nNevertheless, Christianity continued to progress in the East.\nIn 1318, Sarai, hitherto dependent on Kambalik, became an\nepiscopal see. Later it had an archbishop with jurisdiction\nover the khanate of the Golden Horde.\nIn 1333, two Dominicans, Francis of Camerino and Richard\nthe Englishman, sent the pope news of the conversion of a\nprince of Alani, the governor of Vospro (Kertch) in the Crimea.\nJohn XXII made this city an archbishopric with suffragan sees\nin the ports of the Black Sea-Caffa, Kherson, Pera, Trebizond\nand Sebastopol in Abkhasia. After the Mongol governor of\nthe Crimea had driven the Alani from Vospro, certain of these\nbishoprics disappeared, others lost their missionary character\nand the faithful under their jurisdiction were almost entirely\nmembers of the Italian colony.\nThe most stable of the Christian communities on the Black\nSea, that of Ziquia, was the work of a local Circassian by the\nname of John. He had been taken to Genoa as a slave, was\nconverted to Catholicism and returned to his native land as a\nFranciscan where he made many converts. In 1349, the pope\nappointed John of Ziquia archbishop of Matrega (Tanan), a\ncity lying opposite Kertch. After the conversion of the Kaitat\npeople, from the Caspian Mountains in Daghestan, Maïera,\nTarki and Kumuk became episcopal sees.\nTamerlane's invasion abolished the episcopal hierarchy of\nthese Circassian lands but did not totally destroy Christianity.\nIt is known that there were still Franciscans and Christians of\nLatin rite among the Kaitats at the end of the fifteenth century.\nFurther east, the Franciscan missionaries had made their\nway as far as Almaligh, the capital of the Djagataï Khanat,"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 58,
      "ocrText": "58\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nwhere they had founded a friary. John XXII erected a see\nthere with Richard of Burgundy as its bishop. The khan\nwelcomed him favourably and entrusted to him the education\nof his son, who was baptized and given the name John. The\nstory of the Golden Horde was soon repeated here. After the\ndeath of the khan, who was well disposed towards Catholicism,\nan Islamic reaction set in, the friary was sacked, three of the\nfriars, three lay brothers (one a native) and a Genoese mer-\nchant were martyred. Once this wave of hatred had subsided,\nthe friary was rebuilt. But a new Islamic outburst finally\nobliterated the Christian community at Almaligh. In any case,\nit would not have survived Tamerlane.\nWe have still to give an account of apostolic work in the\nsouthern territories: Persia, Chaldea, Armenia, India.\nBetween the Mongols of Persia and the West, long-\nestablished relations existed and were improved by the fact\nthat during the Crusades both parties had a common enemy\nin the sultan of Egypt. Although no military alliance had been\nconcluded between the Crusaders and the Mongol sovereigns,\nthe latter nevertheless gave a courteous welcome to the\nDominican missionaries sent to them. John XXII withdrew\nSultaniah, the capital of the khanat of Persia, from the Kam-\nbalik bishopric and erected it into an archdiocese in charge of\nthe Dominicans. They were unable to weaken the Islamic posi-\ntions. Their apostolate, with papal approval, was directed\nalmost exclusively to the dissident Christians and they found\nit difficult to achieve any lasting results. The difficulties arose\nfrom the frequent disagreement between the lower clergy and\nthe ordinary faithful on the one hand and the patriarchs on the\nother. The former, who were deeply attached to the idea of a\nnational Church, had no wish to return to unity, while their\nspiritual leaders were often favourably disposed to such a\nreturn. In Armenia, the missionaries were very successful at\nfirst. The archbishop of Karkilisse (St Thaddeus) submitted to\nRome. The Qrna monastery followed suit and superintended"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 59,
      "ocrText": "THE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\n59\nthe formation of the Order of the \"United Brothers of St\nGregory the Illuminator\". The new Order showed great zeal,\ntoo much perhaps and in some respects ill-judged; in any case,\na vigorous nationalist reaction became sufficiently widespread\nto counteract the movement towards unity.\nThe chief obstacle was Islam. A missionary at that time,\nthe Florentine Ricardo of Monte Croce, suffered cruelly at\nits hands and in a saintly spirit deserving of mention. A fierce\nattack forced him to leave his place of residence at Baghdad\nwhere he had received the news that, shortly after the fall of\nPtolemais, the friary at Accon had been destroyed and all the\nDominicans living there massacred. He was taken prisoner,\nbeaten, ordered to become a Saracen and on his refusal\ndivested of the habit of his Order. He was given a camel\ndriver's clothes and made to work at this trade. One of his\nletters (quoted in the Revue Biblique, 1893, II, p. 589) reveals\nthe serene way in which he accepted his lot:\nEmbarrassed by my strange garb, I began to lead my camel\nby the chain and suddenly from a neglectful friar preacher as\nI had hitherto been, I became a vigilant camel driver. Overcome\nwith joy, I burst into tears and cried: \"O Lord, I have been told\nthat Mahomet was a camel driver. Have you decided to make\nme destroy him by wearing the same costume as he did? In any\ncase, for your sake I do not refuse to fight in any sort of dress.\"\nThe first Latin missions in India were the outcome of an\noutburst of Moslem fanaticism. Missionaries on their way to\nChina had continued for some years to follow the route taken\nby John of Monte Corvino. They set out from Ormuz for the\nwest coast of India. They went by coasting vessel from port\nto port as far as Quilon on the Malabar coast and from this\npoint were taken to their destination by felucca. The Malabar\ncoast therefore was originally no more than a series of stages\non the way. But on one such occasion, a party under the\ndirection of the Franciscan Thomas of Tolentino was stopped\nat Thana near Bombay and there found itself violently attacked\nby Moslems. Four Franciscans were martyred (1320). A"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 60,
      "ocrText": "60\nTHE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\nDominican in the same party, Jourdain Cathala de Séverac,\nhad meanwhile decided not to continue on his way to China\nbut to devote himself to the evangelization of the Nestorians\nscattered throughout the towns of India. The first Latin mission\nto India was born. In the north, he found Islam firmly en-\ntrenched and his efforts remained fruitless. He was more\nfortunate with the southern Nestorians and succeeded in\ndetaching a good number of them from the form of Christianity\nwhich they were practising, distorted as it was and tainted on\noccasion by idolatry. It was for these reconciled Christians that\nthe papacy established a see at Quilon. Séverac was appointed\nits bishop. This bishopric was still in a flourishing state when\nMarignolli, the pope's legate, visited it in 1360.\nFor a better appreciation of the quality of the missionaries\nin Asia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we need\nonly look at some of the distances on the map. From Rome\nto Vospro and Matrega, the two metropolitan sees on the Black\nSea and stages of considerable importance for the missionaries,\nthe distance as the crow flies is some 1,250 miles, from Vospro\nto Almaligh, the Djabataï bishopric, 2,250 miles, and from\nAlmaligh to Kambalik 1,875 miles. To the south between\nSultaniah and Samarkand the distance is 1,125 miles and\n2,500 between Sultaniah and Quilon.\nThere could not have been more than a few hundred mis-\nsionaries at the most to evangelize these immense areas. Com-\nmunications between them were irregular except in the dioceses\nbordering on the Black and Caspian Seas, the only regions in\nwhich dioceses formed any sort of group. Everywhere else,\nthere was almost complete isolation. The problem of the\narrival of reinforcements became increasingly complicated the\nfurther east one went. The journey to China took some three\nyears. If all went well, half of those who had set out arrived\nat their destination, the others died on the way.\nYet this handful of isolated Christians and venturers for\nwhom outbreaks of Islamic fanaticism, epidemics, want, even\nfamine, were constant hazards, succeeded in founding and"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 61,
      "ocrText": "THE MISSIONS AMONG THE MONGOLS\n61\nmaintaining active Christian communities for almost a century\nand a half. For a long period they enjoyed the toleration of the\nMongols. When Islam gained ground, they fought courageously\nand, as we have seen, took advantage of any opportunity that\noccurred to rebuild a church that had been destroyed, a friary\nthat had been burned down, and accepted their trials like\nRicardo of Monte Croce, in a spirit of genuine sanctity.\nTamerlane's invasions (1336-1405) were the final blow. The\nTartar conqueror cut them off from all relations with the West,\nonce he had established his mastery over the heart of Asia.\nThe missions disappeared. The first Mongol empire had made\nthe spread of Christianity possible in central Asia, the second\nwiped it out."
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 62,
      "ocrText": ""
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 63,
      "ocrText": "PART II\nFROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE\nNEW WORLD TO GREGORY XVI"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 64,
      "ocrText": ""
    }
  ]
}