DIMAS OF THE CROSS. — Born Giacinto Tonelli, a Carmelite missionary. Born on 13 Nov. 1577 at Monteleone (Spoleto), he professed in Rome on 25 March 1610. From 1616 he worked in the missions of Persia, devoting his efforts especially to the Armenians, who were numerous in the vicinity of Isfahan; he induced the Armenian patriarch, Moses, to present to Urban VIII a profession of faith and submission; he did the same with the Chaldeans.
In 1622, after visiting all the Armenian villages, which were in danger of losing their faith, he established among them a kind of popular mission, thereby succeeding in reconciling many schismatics, converting apostates, and encouraging the wavering. He spent large sums, offered to the Persian king, to free the Armenians from the vexations of the Persians. Appointed bishop of Baghdad in 1634, he did not accept. He died on 23 Dec. 1639 in his convent at Isfahan.