DIMAS OF THE CROSS. - In the world Giacinto Tonelli, Carmelite missionary. Born on 13 Nov. 1577 at Monteleone (Spoleto), he professed in Rome on 25 March 1610. From 1616 in the missions of Persia, he carried out his work especially on behalf of the Armenians, scattered in great numbers in the surroundings of Isfahân; he induced the patriarch of the Armenians, Moses, to present to Urban VIII a profession of faith and submission; he did the same with the Chaldeans.

In 1622, after having visited all the villages of the Armenians, wavering in their faith, he established among them a kind of popular mission, succeeding in this way in reconciling many schismatics, converting apostates and encouraging the hesitant. He spent great sums, offered to the Persian king, to free the Armenians from the vexations of the Persians. Appointed in 1634 bishop of Bagdad, he did not accept. He died on 23 Dec. 1639, in his convent of Isfahân.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Philippus a Trinitate, Decor Carmeli, III, Lyon 1665, pp. 123-25; anon., A Chronicle of the Carm. I, Persia, II, London 1930, pp. 844-47; Ambrosius a S. Teresa, Hierarch. Carm., 2nd series, Rome 1934, pp. 44-47; id., Nomenclator Miss. C. D. Rome 1944, pp. 112-13.

Ambrogio di Santa Teresa

@incollection{ec4_dimas_della_croce, author = {Ambrogio di S. Teresa}, title = {Dimas della Croce}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1609}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/dimas-della-croce} }

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Dimas of the Cross

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