Petition on behalf of Trinitarian procurator of Castile, Leon and Navarra, Ferdinando Di Alaba to PF, [1679]

Title

Petition on behalf of Trinitarian procurator of Castile, Leon and Navarra, Ferdinando Di Alaba to PF, [1679]

Subject

Algiers
CM petitions
Slaves (Christian)
Slave priests
Trinitarians

Description

Petition on behalf of the Trinitarian procurator of Castile, Leon and Navarra, Ferdinando Di Alaba. The Trinitarians have five hospitals in Algiers. Here, the priests do not only take care of the slaves, but they also preach the gospel, celebrate mass, administer the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist (and others), teach the basics of the faith to the children, and they ransom slaves. This mission in Algiers has been going on for more than 70 years, but recently it has been disturbed by a French priest, Gio' Bacher [Jean Le Vacher]. He claims to be vicar apostolic of Carthage and Tunis, but has never shown any document or patent from PF proving this. Le Vacher takes the privileges from the priests, forbids them to administer the sacraments for the slaves, and removed the coat of arms of the Spanish king, the protector and patron of the hospitals, the crosses, and the sign of the Trinitarians from their walls. He also took the Holy sacrament from the churches of the hospitals, as he wants to keep it in his own house, which is full of merchants, Muslims, Jews, Lutherans and other sectarians. The priests who had to get the bread ran the risk of being too late, and being insulted by the unbelievers. Le Vacher also placed sick heretics in the same rooms as Catholics, which is a practice they have never followed. He forbade the slave priests to say mass in the hospitals, and instead made them do it in his house; when they protested, he let their Turkish patrons lock them up. One of the priests from the hospital [Bartolomeo Da Serrano] protested against this, after which he was brought before the Muslim court on the false accusation of trying to create an uprising; this was viewed as a scandal by both the Christians and Moors. Ferdinando asks PF to either give the priests the title and faculties of vicar apostlic in the hospitals, so that they will no longer be subject to the jurisdiction of Le Vacher. 
Date discussed: 1679-09-11
Additional comments
There is also a different version of this document from the same ACTA: APF ACTA 475, 100r-v, 121v.This one ends slightly differently: "del d’o Gio’ le Vacher, ò pur’/ ordinar’ al med’mo che non s’entrometta in cos’alcuna circa l’am/ministratione delli d’i Hospedali, ne sopra le persone esistenti in/ essi, ma ne lasci la cura alli d’i Amministratori, ò quello che pare/rà all’EE.VV. Quas Deus etc. "

Creator

Ferdinando Di Alaba

Source

APF SOCG 475, 99r, 122v

Date

[1679]

Contributor

Adressed to PF

Relation

In this ACTA there are two versions of this file, for the other, see: APF ACTA 475, 100r-v, 121v.
For the minutes of the PF meeting where this matter was discussed, see: APF ACTA 49, 205r, 214r-218v, issue 18 (database item 681).

Format

Original

Language

Italian

Type

Petition

Identifier

799

Coverage

Origin: unknown
Destination: [Rome]

Citation

Ferdinando Di Alaba, “Petition on behalf of Trinitarian procurator of Castile, Leon and Navarra, Ferdinando Di Alaba to PF, [1679],” Early Modern Documents: Sources and Resources for Historical Research, accessed March 19, 2024, https://earlymoderndocs.omeka.net/items/show/13111.