singular courage and undaunted perseverance, but whose disposition appears not to have been very well adapted for conciliatory measures, which appear at that time to have been peculiarly called for to insure the adherence of the Abyssinians to the new-established faith. In 1628, the Catholic influence was considered at its highest pitch; no less than nineteen priests of the society of the Jesuits having fixed their residence in the country. Their power, however, was of short duration; for the injudicious conduct of the patriarch, and the intemperate zeal of their great patron, Ras Sela Christos, brought on a rebellious commotion in the country, which soon destroyed all their projects. The Emperor Socinius was himself compelled to abjure the Roman Catholic doctrines: and his son, who shortly afterwards succeeded to the crown, in 1652 expelled the patriarch and his whole flock from the country; two only, who were daring enough to stay behind, having been publicly executed in 1640.[1]
The whole period of this persevering attempt to convert the Abyssinians to the Roman Catholic faith may be considered as having occupied a space of one hundred and fourteen years,[2] during which a continual strug-
- ↑ An English ship visited Suakin in 1648, where three of the fathers of the Minori Reformati di S. Francesco, sent by the Propaganda, attempting to penetrate into the country, had been executed; and three more were discovered in Abyssinia in 1674, who had converted Oustas, styled the Usurper, who were all put to death.
- ↑ Of the letters written during the above period, which have been separately published, I have met with the following only:
1st. Nuove e curiose lettere del Ethiopia annualmente al Rev. P. N. Viteleschi, &c. da Dembea, 1617, dal Pietro Paez, altera scritta da Goa, 1620, per Michael della Pace, published at Firenze, 1622.
2nd. Litteræ Æthiopicæ pp. Societ. Jesu—de prop. fide apud Abissinos ab ineunte Julio 1623, ad exitum Aprilis 1624, published Gandavi, 1626. These letters appear to have been communicated by Father Almeyda, and contain very interesting details concerning the existing state of affairs.
3rd. Histoire de l'Ethiopie es années 1624-5 and 6. Traduite de l'Italien Alphonze Patriarche de l'Ethiopie, Paris, 1629, and Gaspard Paez, dated July, 1629.
4th. Histoire de l'Ethiopie en l'année 1626 jusques 1629. Traduite de l'Italien—de Gorgora, par Emanuel Almeida, Paris, 1629. All these are at. present in the collection of Lord Valentia, who obligingly lent them to me.
suite of this patriarch. The translations of his work by Le Grand and Johnson have been before referred to; the original is not known to be extant.
