Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/171

159 MISSIONARY EMBASSIES TO THE EAST. 159 zeal was, at the same time, occupied with the conver- sion of the infidels, and the civilisation of the bar- barians. Pope Innocent the Fourth wrote to the Prior of the Dominicans at Paris to announce the resolution of the Council, and to charge him to choose amongst the monks of his order several brothers who might be trusted with the mission to Tartary. The prior having read the apos- tolic letters in a full chapter, the monks vied with one another in entreating to be chosen. Some demanded even with tears to be sent on this destination, whilst others grieved at the thought of the terrible fatigues and certain death to which their beloved brethren were devoting themselves. Some wept with joy, for having obtained permission to depart, and others with sorrow that they were not allowed to devote themselves to death for the salvation of their neighbours.* These details transmitted by the historian of the order, sufficiently show what was the zeal and devotion of the children of St. Dominic, how they burned with the desire of saving souls, and with what fervour they were animated for the extension of the Catholic faith. The four Dominican monks who were chosen, Anselm of Lombardy, Simon of St. Quentin, Alberic, and Alexander, went to throw themselves at the feet of the Holy Father, and received from him letters addressed to the Tartar chiefs, and the order to proceed to Persia to the camp of the Tartar general Baidjou ; and according to a chronicler of the time, Innocent IV. enjoined them that, " for the remission of their sins, they should
 * Fontann, " Monumcnta Dominicann, Ann. 1245," p. 52.