SULLAQUA, GIOVANNI. — First Chaldean Patriarch of Mosul, martyr for union with Rome. Born in Mosul c. 1510 and died there in early 1555. From his adolescence he was a monk in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd; after the death of the Nestorian Patriarch Bar Māmā (1551), he—then superior of the monks—was elected patriarch at the beginning of 1552.
This election was supported by many bishops who until then had been Nestorian and who were weary of seeing the patriarchal dignity become the patrimony of a single family. To secure Western protection, he was sent to Rome. On his journey he visited the Holy Places. Arriving in Rome on 18 November 1552, he remained there six months. He was examined regarding his faith, which was approved. On 20 February 1553 Pope Julius III preconized him Patriarch of Mosul, and he was consecrated in St Peter’s Basilica on 9 April. He received the pallium on 28 April. Accompanied by Ambrogio Buttigieg, created titular Bishop of Avara, he left Rome and solemnly entered Amida (Diarbekir) on 12 November. Later, through the machinations of the Bar Māmā family, he was thrown into prison, from which he emerged after four months. He then governed his patriarchate with great zeal for fourteen months and was killed by the Turks at the instigation of the Bar Māmā family. He inaugurated the group of East Syrian Catholics known as Chaldeans (v.).