Four Lectures on the Massacres of the Christians in Syria/Lecture III
LECTURE III.
DELIVERED IN THE DOMINICAN CHURCH, LIMERICK.
The Rev. Mr. Palgrave said, that as the discourse he would have to offer that evening was within the church, it need not be so strictly of a secular character as that which he delivered in a public building in their city the evening before last. He might, therefore, observe in the outset, that the persecutions and sufferings of the Christians in Syria seemed to him in many respects analogous to the sufferings of our Divine Lord in His last Passion. While they spoke of these wonderful things, which had convulsed the East, for they were wonderful in their horrors, it was well they should consider what the effects of them would be likely to be. For God's providence would not have permitted such things to take place without an end and a purpose therein. He would not make any other preface, for the few, but eloquent words, with which the chairman opened the meeting, explained the object which had assembled them that evening.
I will say, then, he continued, and I would not say it in any other place but in a Catholic church, that the Passion of our Blessed Lord and Redeemer, which was accomplished on Mount Calvary for our redemption, was the image and example of what will happen in the Catholic Church to the end of ages; that, as our Lord suffered, that we should suffer also, and even the very circumstances which distinguished that Passion—every event we read of as having happened to our Blessed Redeemer on that day, will be repeated and defined to the end of time to the members of His Church—seeing that the members should be no better treated than the Head. When I repeat before a Catholic congregation in Ireland, thank God, it is not to your present experience, but to the experience of the past I appeal.
With respect to the events that happened in Syria, I was in the midst of them, from the beginning to the end, and these events have, in a most extraordinary manner, reproduced, and set before you, the very circumstances, as far as such a parallel may be drawn, which would strike you with horror and indignation, while you read them in connection with the Passion of our Blessed Lord. Not, God forbid, that I should attempt to draw a parallel between the sufferings of the Creator and the Creature. However, there was an example given then, and it has been followed out at the present day. You may recall three circumstances in the Passion of our Lord, which are to be found in the sufferings of the Christians in Syria. The first was, that immediately before the Jews and infidels seized on our Lord, there took place the greatest triumph and prosperity which our Lord, as man, met with in His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Immediately before the horrible outbreak in Syria, which filled up the months of June and July last, the prosperity of the Catholics of the East was something without a parallel, Never had the Christians enjoyed such freedom or such prosperity from the days of Mahomed. It was about the end of April, or the beginning of May, that I entered the town of Damascus, after a prosperous mission, and having had the consolation of seeing many Mahomedans and infidels received into the bosom of the Catholic Church. Under these circumstances, and full of joy at such results, I entered the town of Damascus. If you searched the whole of the earth, it would be impossible to find a more delightful city, and whatever could be said of it must fall short of describing adequately its beauty and its magnificence. It is situated in the midst of gardens and fruit trees, itself adorned with superb public buildings; everything which art and luxury could effect is displayed in its costly grandeur, and it contained one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants at the very least. In fact, there did not exist any city or town which could bear comparison with the beauty of Damascus. Now, in that town, the very richest and most beautiful part of it was the quarter occupied by the Christians, no less than twenty thousand of whom were within its walls at the time I speak of, and there was not to be found in the whole of the city edifices to vie with their Churches. The great Catholic Church in Damascus, in which I have often preached, was one of the largest and finest Catholic temples in all the East, and the convents and private houses of the Christians were equally remarkable for their elegance. A stranger, who entered Damascus in the beginning of June, would at once have said it was a Christian rather than a Mahomedan town.
It was on the 30th of April that I was invited to preach the first sermon at the opening of the Church, by the Bishop of the Syrian Catholics, of course you understand by that those who employed the Syrian language. That Church was built in a part of Damascus, where, from the time of Mahomed himself, no Christian had been permitted to allow the sound of prayer to pass from his lips, for the quarter was inhabited by the most untameable Turcoman and Kurdish hordes, and never had a Christian church existed in that quarter. It was only twenty days before the flames consumed the villages of the Christians around, when I myself preached the first sermon in that part of Damascus, and the Catholic Bishop solemnised his first Mass at it. At the present, if you searched for that church, you would not find even its burned walls on the ground where it stood, such was the fury of the fanatical wretches who attacked and demolished it; and if you asked where was the Catholic bishop, who said that Mass—that was now upwards of two months ago, and nothing has since been heard of him, so that you may easily imagine what has been his fate. If you asked where was the congregation—I know not, if one out of ten of them is left alive at this moment, though I could give an account of one family who were well known for their piety, for their exactitude in religious duties and for everything that was good and benevolent. This family numbered no less than three sons and several daughters, and all of them, according to eastern habits, instead of separating on their marriages, into different families, as in Europe, all lived together, as their houses in that country were sufficiently large to be divided into the habitations of several families. The men of that family were the very heads of the Catholics of Damascus. One of them escaped, more like a dead than a living man, while those who remained were besieged in their house night and day, suffering the horrors of famine, and hearing the ferocious cries for their blood, of the butchers who surrounded them, yet hoping, perhaps, that the massacre might be stopped. On the third day the barbarous soldiery of the Turkish government found their way into the house; the family were all there, including the father and mother, and with them three of the most influential Catholic clergymen of the city. When these savages entered they began to perpetrate their villany by something worse than death, and by torturing and butchering the priests who had taken refuge in the house; they then savagely murdered the sons of the old man, and dragged them one by one before his eyes, and it was not until he had seen his children, either butchered or dishonoured, worse than death, that they had the mercy to put an end to his own life.
Shortly before this outbreak, I was present in a large district containing at least six thousand peasantry, and all of them Christians. While I was there, the former Bishop having died, the people had chosen a new Bishop, and prepared to receive him with all pomp and splendour, and I, with other missionaries, had the honour of receiving him. The whole mass of the Christian population in their gayest dresses, bearing crosses high in the air, and carrying banners on which they had inscribed the names of Jesus and Mary, went forth to meet their new Bishop. Had you asked me shortly after this where that Bishop was—He was in the Greek church of Damascus, when the barbarians broke into it. That church contained four Bishops, and amongst them this very Bishop whom I have mentioned, besides a number of clergy. Of these, only one prelate escaped, who was obliged to strip off his episcopal vestments and make his way out of the city in the disguise of a beggar, stripped half naked, and in that state he was obliged to wander about for two days and two nights, amid burning houses, and not having where to lay his head. It is certain that the day the Lord and Redeemer was triumphantly received in Jerusalem was followed by the agony of Calvary, and something of the same kind occurred in the case which I have just stated. I could tell you that of my own knowledge, being at the moment of the outbreak in the large town of Zathlee, the largest entirely Christian town in the whole of Syria. After having witnessed the plunder and massacre in that town, and the burning of all the villages through the country, I was only able to make my way from it disguised in the dress of a Bedouin Arab, and after having got a short distance from the town, I had to pass the fire of those very Turks and Druses, and nothing saved me under God's providence, but that they believed that I was not a Christian priest but a Bedouin Arab, and some of them were heard to say after they returned, that they fired upon a person whom they mistook for a Christian priest, but who was one of their friends. However, no less than five of my companions of the order of St. Ignatius, who were with me in Zathlee, obtained the crown of martyrdom a few days after that event.
One of the principal features in the Passion of our Blessed Lord, was the abominable treachery, and refusing of all justice in the manner in which He was condemned to death. Do you discover that there was nearly a parallel of the Passion of our Blessed Lord in the history of these atrocities in Syria?
It was but four days after the most solemn assurance of tranquillity and safety had been given them, that the country, south of Mount Lebanon, was bathed in blood or scathed with fire, so that in the whole district there remained not a convent, nor a church, nor a Christian house standing. At that time there prevailed in the city of Beyrout, where I had taken refuge, a most wild excitement, and a most fanatic movement of the Mahomedans in the town, aided by numerous Druses not yet satiated with Christian blood, and among whom there existed such a maddening fury for the lives of the Christians, that they were not sure of their existence for half an hour together. They could not know when they rose in the morning, whether they would be alive to lie down in the evening. It was during that time we saw arrive in the port one morning two large vessels of war; we had some hopes that they were European ships, but we found they were Turkish ships, bringing troops under the pretence of restoring peace and tranquillity to the country. No sooner had these troops disembarked, than our convent was thronged with women and children, and all who were unable to defend themselves. At first it was proclaimed, in order to excite the fanatical passions of the people, that a Christian had murdered a Turk in the midst of the city. And, in fact, the corpse of a Mahomedan was exhibited in the streets. Immediately, every one of the Mahomedans armed themselves. There was no evidence whatever to show how this man met his death, or whether any Christian whatever had anything to do with it. But the voices of the infidels declared that the Christians had murdered him, and the cry was raised that they would have the blood of the Christians, and would not leave one of the hated race in the city. While these events were going on, a young man in the position of a writer, or clerk, in a public office, happened to be passing by the place where the body of the Turk lay, and they seized on him and declared that he was the murderer. They led him into a house which was near the scene of the murder, and there assembled all the Mahomedans, the consuls, and all those who were keeping the peace of the town. The dead man was brought in and laid in the midst, and the prisoner, with his hands tied behind his back, confronted with two children, one of them eight years old, and the other nine, and their statement was taken, upon which was to depend the life or death of that man. Upon being questioned they declared they did not know who was the man that killed the other, but that his hair was a light colour, and that he was blind of one eye. Now, the Christian who was arrested did not correspond with this description at all, save having a slight defect in one eye. Yet they took him out of the meeting and ordered him to be shot, and as the children were coming out, the Turkish sentry took out of each of their hands a piece of gold, which they had received as the price of their false testimony. During the trial, when the Consul of France remonstrated on the imperfectness of the evidence, and against the condemnation that was about to be pronounced, some of the Turkish authorities rushed upon him, and threatened him with instant death if he attempted to stand in the way of their predetermined purpose. There remained yet one act to be done that they might complete their iniquity. The governor of Beyrout has no right to order a sentence of death to be carried out without the authority of the governor of the province. But the governors secretly drew up a paper in which it was stated, that in cases of great emergency it was permissible to carry the sentence of death into effect. The Christian then said, "All I can say is, that I am happy to die for the quiet and security of my fellow-Christians of the town, and I hope my blood will content you." After this they bound him still more securely, and conveyed him to the public gaol; some spat upon him, and the soldiers ill-treated him in every way that could occur to them. He begged that he might have the consolation of a priest to prepare him for death, but that was denied him, it being the object of the Mahomedans to destroy the soul as well as the body; but in this they did not succeed, for the man who willingly offers himself as martyr for the faith, receives absolution from God Himself.
I was seated on the roof of the convent looking at the spot where the execution was to take place: it was eight o'clock in the evening when the large prison doors were thrown open. The authorities descended by the light of torches into the public place of execution. Two lines of soldiery were then formed, who insulted and struck the Christian, as he passed between them along the market-place. Arrived there, they made him kneel down, and the chief magistrate read a paper which declared that this Christian having been found guilty of a most horrible murder, must satisfy justice by his death. Once more the Christian begged that a priest might be allowed, to pray with him, and some Christians rushed into the convent, begging that some one of them would go to him. The first of the fathers whom they met went with them, but when he arrived the soldiery repelled him, and would not allow him to get to the prisoner. After this, the first of the soldiers approached, and, drawing his sabre, he struck the man with it as though he would have cut off his head at a blow, and gashed him deeply on the shoulder; the next soldier followed in the same way, so did the third, fourth, and fifth, and so on, and then when he fell exhausted, and hacked to death, no description could give an idea of the savage yells which succeeded. Next day the Mahomedans proclaimed that they well knew the Christian to be innocent, and that they now demanded the blood of ten Christians more. However, they left the body hewed in pieces in the market-place, and on the second day after, the Christians obtained it by stealth, and gave it Christian burial. Now, many are the circumstances which assimilated the death of this man with that of our Blessed Lord. He fell a willing victim against all law and justice, to a most excruciating torture and death, in order to save his fellow-Christians. I will give you another instance. There was in Mount Lebanon a large and lovely convent, known as the Convent of our Lord. This was inhabited by Catholic monks, and supplied priests to those who had occasion for their services. About three or four days after the occurrence I have related, they received a letter from the chief of the Druses, stating that there was great danger of an outbreak, but, as far as he was able to defend them, there was no fear of anything happening to them, but as some danger might arise, he would advise them, if they had anything precious, such as gold or silver vessels, relics, and the like, to put them together and hide them in a safe place. They read the letter and sent back the messenger with presents and thanks, and they thought to themselves, this man has been always our friend and protector, and we may confide in him—the advice he gives seems to be judicious. They resolved to send and procure two labourers to help them to dig under the pavement of the church, in a place which no one should know but themselves. At a little distance from the convent they saw four men standing. They wished them good morning, and asked if they were employed by anybody; finding they were not, they engaged them to open the hiding-place near the great altar, which they did to a depth of about six or seven feet, and then reset the pavement in its place. They were not aware that these four men had been sent by the chief of the Druses to watch their movements, and give him all the information he required. Next day, while they were assembled in the refectory, a cry was raised that a select band of the Druses was about to attack them. They rose to escape, and had not the Druses gone direct to the church to open the treasure-place, not one of them would have escaped with life.
However, the greater number did not succeed in effecting their escape, eight of them stained the pavement of the church with their life's blood. You are already acquainted with the general outlines of these horrible massacres, and I will spare you the pain of listening to further details.
Herod and Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, all united together against our Blessed Lord to torture Him, and nail Him to the cross, and the same happened to the Christians in the massacre of Syria; it thrills me with horror to think of the analogy as I witnessed those later barbarities. There were no villages in all Syria so prosperous as the Christian villages, no church so beautiful as theirs.
Now, after the outbreak they present such a spectacle as a ship affords when stranded on a rocky coast, disappearing in the yeast of the waves. Thus, when they left the town of Zahlee, the plain around it was thronged with Druses and Mahomedans, Kurds, Bedouins, and every other kind of pillagers. These Mahomedans were believers in the unity of God, but denied the Trinity, and the Divinity of our Blessed Lord. The Druses are real professed atheists, who deny the existence of a Creator, or of a prophet, and declare openly that there is no God in heaven, and no divine law upon earth. Now, these and the Mahomedans were always at war, and yet he saw them side by side, united together in the massacre of the Christians. They were always at deadly war with each other; they would not even eat together, or sit together, and yet on this occasion they were seen side by side, when they entered for the sack and plunder, and destruction of the town of Zahlee, and the massacre of its Christian population. Other tribes, whom we had not even heard of at all, united against us, and numbers of the bodies of Christians, weltering in their gore, were found two days after, under the blackened and blood-stained walls of our convent, by the Christians who went to seek for them, in order to give them Christian burial. They found the bodies of no less than seven of our (the Jesuit) order, murdered under these walls, and it was only by wearing the disguise of Druses that they were enabled to carry them away, the extermination of all the Christians indiscriminately having been determined upon. An universal rising against the Catholic religion in China, in India, in the East of Europe, seemed to have broken out simultaneously. But let us recognize it, and treasure it up as proof of the veracity and holiness of our blessed religion, for a stronger proof of it could not be given than that frightful persecution which the Christians in Syria so heroically endured.
You in Ireland rejoice that to a certain degree you are more flourishing, more free in the exercise of your holy faith than you were some years ago. On every side new churches and new schools are rising among you, and the Divine mysteries of our holy religion are allowed to be celebrated, unimpeded by any hindrance or interruption. Let us, then, thank God for it, and remember that God grants prosperity in order that we may be prepared for adversity. He grants days of rest in order that we may be prepared for days of labour. Let us then be always ready, and remember that such a day may come when we least expect it. If we try to serve our God and Saviour, and to keep our fellow-Christians firm in their faith, and holy in life, as I am happy to say the greater number of our fellow-Christians in Syria are, whom it has been the will of God to have visited with this great temporal calamity, but which He knows best how to turn to advantage for their eternal account, according to the submissive and martyr-like manner in which they have borne the afflicting visitation, and recognized the Divine Hand from which it came. Let us remember that the Almighty Lord and Master of all would cling on the last day to those who have clung to Him on earth. Those to whom the temptation was offered of abandoning their faith, were exposed to the alternative of instant death, because if a Christian was once enrolled among the followers of Mahomet, he could not return to the Christian faith except by submitting to suffer martyrdom immediately. Whatever Catholic faith and Catholic sympathy can do in sustainment of these poor Christians, will be readily sent through safe and proper channels, for their benefit, through the venerated Bishop of their diocese, and will be conveyed to them through sure channels, and tend to saving them, not only from temporal death, but from eternal death to their souls. He who saves a soul from death receives from God the remission of his own sins, however numerous they may be. And now God's blessing be with you all, and remember me in your prayers.