Letter from Vicenzo Da Frascati to [PF Secretary, Edoardo Cibo], 1679-09-16, Tunis

Letter from Vicenzo Da Frascati to [PF Secretary, Edoardo Cibo], 1679-09-16, Tunis

Capuchins

Conversion

Mercedarians

Ransom

Slaves (Christian)

Slave priests

Tunis

Letter from Vincenzo Da Frascati to PF. Since he returned to Rome, he wants to give PF some information on the state of the mission. They tried to keep all the Catholics in the church and convert others, however the Turks could not be converted. There were a few heretics that converted themselves to Catholicism, and also a few Christians that became Turks. Francesco Gatta (one of the missionaries), started a few annual spiritual events which turned out to be very fruitful. The reputation of the Christians is damaged by the scandalous behavior of the Christians, especially by the priest's. Da Frascati has been in Tunis for three years, in which there have been five slave priests who were all involved in a controversy. The first one was a Calabrese priest, he lost the trust of his superiors and started walking around in public with golden rings, and was spreading discord. At some point he ransomed himself and left for Christendom. The second one was a Spanish Mercedarian priest, he was not that bad, however he got killed at home by a woman with a gun. In this action, another Sardinian priest got wounded whilst trying to defend the Spanish priest. He is still at the mission and is behaving well. The fourth is a priest of the enemy, who was playing cards with a Christian slave. The priest won 80 piastre after which the slave was beaten with a cane. The last priest had also played cards, with a Catholic Greek. This caused a judicial case in which the vicar and the Bey of Tunis were also involved. Eventually the slave became a slave of the Bascia, and the priest returned to Christianity.

Date discussed: 1680-04-08

Additional comments

Vincenzo Da Frascati

APF SOCG 478, 259r-v

1679-09-16

[Adressed to PF]

For the minutes of the PF meeting where this matter was discussed, see: APF ACTA 50 98r, 112v-113v (database item 683).

Original; signed

Italian

Letter

803

Origin: Tunis

Destination: [Rome]