BOOK VI

SECTION X

MISSION OF PEDRO PAEZ.

 

The reign of Melec Segued was long and prosperous, though not altogether without its calamities : inasmuch as the Galla took possession of some of the fairest among the southern provinces of the empire. These Galla were Pagans, who gradually penetrated northward from the very centre of Africa, and first effected a settlement in Abyssinia about the year 1587. Many of them subsequently embraced Mahometanism.

On the death of Melec Segued, he was succeeded by his nephew Za Denghel. Many fruitless attempts were made, as well by the Roman Court, as by the Portuguese Church in Goa, to send missionaries, after the extinction of the first mission, into Ethiopia : but they constantly proved ineffectual. They were further encouraged in their attempts by the pretended submission of the Coptic Patriarch, although it afterwards proved that the Roman Pontiff had been grossly deceived. In one of these missions, Abraham dc Georgiis, a Maronite Jesuit, suffered martyrdom.

At length Pedro Paez, an able and excellent man, of the same Society, arrived at Masuah, where he suffered a long imprisonment; and at length, being set at liberty, avoided the mistake into which his predecessors had fallen, that of presenting themselves too soon at court. Retiring to Fremona, he applied himself indefatigably to acquire the Geez, or written, and learned language of Abyssinia : and in this employment, he passed four years. At length he attained to so extraordinary a degree of proficiency in it, that none even of the natives of Abyssinia were able to compete with him; and the fame of his learning reached the ears of Za Denghel. Paez, at his command, repaired to court : a controversy followed, in which two boys, educated by the missionary, are said to have silenced the Abyssinian Priests; mass was said, according to the Roman Rite, by Paez; and a sermon preached, one of the first, and the most elegant that had ever been heard in Abyssinia.

Za Denghel, abjuring his Monophysite heresy, embraced the Roman Catholic Faith; many of his courtiers followed his example : but the great mass of his subjects persevered in the religion of their forefathers. Discontents broke out : Za Denghel corresponded with the Pope, and with Philip III, King of Spain and Portugal, requesting assistance. Za Selasse, one of the most powerful Abyssinian chieftains, made the change of religion a pretext for taking up arms; and entering into communication with Peter, then Abuna, persuaded him to excommunicate Za Denghel, and to absolve his subjects from their oath of allegiance. Such a proceeding was a perfect novelty in Ethiopia : and the Metropolitan, a man of dissolute life, doubted of its effect. But no sooner was it pronounced, than Za Selasse raised the standard of rebellion at the head of a large body of troops. Za Denghel flew to arms : the two armies met in the plain of Bartela; and after a desperate conflict, the King was defeated and slain.

Two competitors appeared for the Throne—both of the royal family, as being each descended from David III,—Jacob and Socinios. Jacob had already, in a successful rebellion during the time of Za Denghel, mounted the Throne for a short time, but was afterwards sent by that Prince into exile and imprisonment. He was, after a short reign, defeated and slain by Socinios, who, on being proclaimed Emperor, took the name of Seltam Segued.

Paez, though he had taken part with Jacob, was soon received into favor, and again preached at court. Socinios professed himself favorable to the new doctrine : and the missionary proceeded to strengthen his influence by building a convent for himself and his disciples, and a palace for the King, both with stone and mortar, and with several stories : things till then unknown in Abyssinia.

The King was much engaged, during the early part of his reign, in several wars, particularly with the Galla : and, under the earnest and yet well-timed preaching of Paez, the Roman Catholic Faith took deep root. Ras Sela Christos, the King's brother, embraced the new Creed : and the Abuna Simon was much displeased at the turn which affairs seemed taking. Disputations were held before Socinios, which terminated to the disadvantage of the Abuna : and, in consequence, the Emperor made his first public profession of the Catholic Faith, on the Two Natures of Christ. Letters were shortly afterwards received from Pope Paul V, and Philip of Spain, and in return, it was determined to send an embassy into Italy to notify the submission of Socinios to the See of Rome. Antonio Fernandez, a Jesuit, was charged with the office : his adventures are sufficiently interesting, though not connected with our immediate subject : he was, however, unsuccessful in his attempt to reach Goa, being stopped and sent back by one of the Mahometan Princes to the south of Abyssinia.

Simon, in the meantime, published a sentence of excommunication against all such as should affirm that there were Two Natures in our Lord Jesus Christ. The people took alarm : conspiracies were formed : and at length, Julius, Governor of Tigre, took up arms in defence of the old religion, although Socinios was his father-in-law. The Abuna joined the party of the rebel; and pronounced, in the presence of the army, a solemn anathema against the King, Sela Christos, and all the followers of the Roman Faith. Julius, infatuated by the promises of this man, who foretold that the moment he should show himself the King's troops would join his standard, mounted a strong horse, and rode into the royal army, where he was killed : his troops threw down their arms and fled; the Abuna, vociferating curses agamst the conqueror, was killed, and great spoils were found in the camp.

This attempt only served to embitter the Emperor against his Monophysite subjects : and to testify his dislike of the corrupt practices which had been introduced among them, he issued a proclamation forbidding the superstitious and Jewish observance of the Saturday, which had been hitherto the practice. Two more rebellions followed : and, when these were crushed, Socinios openly embraced the Roman Catholic Faith. He sent for Pedro Paez, and acquainted him with his resolution : at the same time, to show his sincerity, he put away all his wives but the first.

The good Father, overjoyed to find his years of patient application successful, returned to his convent; where, shortly afterwards, he was seized with a violent fever, brought on by over exertion in travelling, and departed this life, May 3, 1623. He was universally beloved; his sprightliness endeared him to the young, his kindness to all : of his zeal and piety there can be no doubt, and his talents are conspicuous throughout his whole career.

It is time now to say something on the succession of the Jacobite Patriarchs.

Gabriel, whom we have already mentioned, was succeeded by John, the fourteenth of that name. The negociations with Rome still continued : for we find a letter sent from Gregory XIII, inviting him to enter the Communion of S. Peter, and the answer which the Patriarch returned to Sixtus V, the successor of Gregory XIII. To him succeeded Gabriel VIII; the same of whose pretended submission to Rome, and of the manner in which Baronius was deceived by it, we have already seen how contemptuously Cyril speaks. Mark, the fifth of that name, of Beijadt, was his successor. The negociations with Rome were still carried on, and it said that the Patriarch was on the point of submitting to the Roman Church, when he was deposed under the following circumstances.

The Bishop of Damietta had publicly preached in favor of polygamy : and for this, and other crimes, he was excommunicated by Mark. The angry Prelate applied to a Copt, named Abdel-messiah, who
was in great credit at the Pasha's Court, and procured the Governor's order for the appearance of the Patriarch to answer to his accusations. Mark received two hundred bastinadoes, and was deposed, and John Melawani substituted in his place. Of this Patriarch, the only character we have is, that he was "green wood, yielding move smoke than fire." His successor was John el Touki, who appears, on his election, to have taken the name of Matthew (AD 1625). He also corresponded with the Court of Rome : but to as little effect as his predecessors.

We now return to the affairs of Abyssinia. On the death of Paez, the King published a violent manifesto as well against the heretical tenets, as against the corrupted morals of the Ethiopic Church : laying to the charge of its late Patriarchs crimes of the most fearful magnitude. The news of the King's recantation having reached Europe, Alphonso Mendez was consecrated Patriarch of Ethiopia, at Lisbon : and, with his coadjutors, the Patriarch, titular Bishop of Nicaea, (who died on the voyage,) and the titular Bishop elect of Hierapolis, sailed for Goa. Accompanied by a fresh baud of missionaries, Mendez landed at a port in the state of Daucali, (which was then Christian) and thence proceeded to Frcmona. They were encouraged by the appearance of a star of extraordinary brightness, which, standing over their future way, remained visible for about six minutes. After encountering various difficulties, they were admitted to an audience by Socinios, in February, 1626.

Neither Mendez nor his companions appear to have possessed the
learning, piety, or tact, of Pedro Paez : for the ceremony of the King's public reconciliation with Rome was done in a manner the most likely to give needless offence. The Patriarch preached in Portuguese, which was a language perfectly unintelligible to his auditors : the King, on his knees, followed by Facilidas, the Prince Royal, and the other members of his Court, took the oath of allegiance to Urban VIII; and Ras Sela Christos, in particular, distinguished himself by his furious zeal in repeating the formula, and thereby drew on himself great suspicion and dislike. An oath of allegiance was added to Socinios; and to Facilidas, so long as he should remain in the Roman Faith.

A proclamation was issued, commanding the reception, on pain of death, of the Roman Catholic Faith; and Mendez carried his proceedings unjustifiably, and in a most uncatholic manner to the furthest extreme. Churches were reconsecrated instead of reconciled; the Clergy reordained; converts rebaptized instead of confirmed; and the Roman Calendar replaced the Ethiopic. Circumcision and polygamy were at once abolished; it may be questionable how far it was necessary, (considering the light in which it was viewed, as a custom, not a principle,) as it certainly was not expedient to forbid, at once, the former.

But Mendez carried his innovations into a point which was more likely to affect the pecuniary interests of the Abyssinians, and which was therefore more distasteful to them. Churchlands are unknown in Ethiopia; and the King, or his nobles, grant to, and resume from, convents and churches, what landed property as, and when they please. A nobleman, having withdrawn some land from a Monk, was summoned by the Patriarch into the Ecclesiastical Court : a tribunal hitherto unknown. On his refusal to appear, he was excommunicated, and such was the terror of the sentence, that the nobleman, though a brave man, fainted on hearing it. It was removed at the request of the King; but its infliction gave great offence. It is evident that conduct, at once firm and mild, might have wrought wonders among a people where the Church had so actual an existence.

On one point Socinios stood firm : the retention of the Ethiopic Liturgies, after having received such alterations as Mendez thought fit to make.

Another invasion of the Galla, and fresh severities in the persecution, provoked Teela Georgis, son-in-law to Socinios, and governor of Tigre, to take up arms in defence of the old heresy. He commenced his rebellion by burning all the Crucifixes throughout his province, and slaying his chaplain, Abba Jacob, with his own hand. By the exertions and valor of a zealous Catholic, Keba Christos, his army was defeated, and himself, together with his sister Adera, his principal instigator to revolt, taken prisoner.

Teela Georgis was condemned to be burnt alive; but having abjured heresy, his sentence was commuted to hanging:—and when he found that death was inevitable, he returned to his ancient error. His sister suffered, a fortnight later, by the same punishment, in spite of the intercession of the Queen and Court ladies.

It would be equally tedious and unprofitable to relate tbe various outbreaks and rebellions which attended the violent proceedings of Socinios, and over all of which be triumphed. He once issued a proclamation, giving some little liberty to the professors of the ancient faith; but was thereupon so severely rebuked by the Patriarch, for meddling with what did not belong to him, that he was forced almost entirely to recall it. At length after one of the greatest victories which had ever been gained in Abyssinia, Facilidas, in the name of the army, addressed his father, and lamented that they, over whom his arms had now triumphed, were neither Jews, Pagans, nor Mahometans, but fellow Christians, and fellow subjects; that such a success was not a victory; that it was turning the sword against themselves, and making themselves a proverb to Pagans and Mahometans.

Socinios appeared deeply affected, and, a day or two afterwards, issued a proclamation, tolerating both the ancient and the new faith. Mendez professed his acquiescence, if the manifesto were only intended to apply to those who had not entered into the Communion of Rome already; for those who had, he said, it would be an unpardonable sin to allow them to apostatize.

Socinios, now past seventy years of age, wearied out with war, and hopeless of establishing the Roman Catholic Faith, resigned the government into the hands of his son. He would have been a great prince, had all the missionaries been like Pedro Paez.

But the Portuguese evidently from the beginning considered that the True Faith was to be propagated by arms; and, taking the sword, they were to perish with the sword. Socinios survived his abdication but a short time, and departed this life on the seventh of September, 1632.