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 singular courage and undaunted perseverance, but whose disposition appears not to have been very well adapted for conciliatory measures, which appear at that time to have been peculiarly called for to insure the adherence of the Abyssinians to the new-established faith. In 1628, the Catholic influence was considered at its highest pitch; no less than nineteen priests of the society of the Jesuits having fixed their residence in the country. Their power, however, was of short duration; for the injudicious conduct of the patriarch, and the intemperate zeal of their great patron, Ras Sela Christos, brought on a rebellious commotion in the country, which soon destroyed all their projects. The Emperor Socinius was himself compelled to abjure the Roman Catholic doctrines: and his son, who shortly afterwards succeeded to the crown, in 1652 expelled the patriarch and his whole flock from the country; two only, who were daring enough to stay behind, having been publicly executed in 1640.

The whole period of this persevering attempt to convert the Abyssinians to the Roman Catholic faith may be considered as having occupied a space of one hundred and fourteen years, during which a continual