Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/216

204 204 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. positive manner ; but we shall have occasion bye and bye to discuss this question ; and it is at least certain that the Mangou's mother, a person greatly respected among the Tartars, was of that faith, and also the emperor's secretary, who possessed great influence at court, and who had obtained an exemption from any kind of tax for those who undertook to lead a religious life. It may be supposed, therefore, that these people would not have been unlikely to receive the faith, if it had been preached to them ; but they had few bishops among them, and in some localities none were ever seen. The Nestorian bishops also were incapable of converting these people to true Christianity, and they bestowed no pains on the formation of a native clergy, even sometimes conferring the sacerdotal character on boys under ao*e. These details were well known in the West ; and St. Louis, who ardently desired the advancement of the Christian faith, thought it would be very desirable to raise to the episcopal dignity the monks of the order of St. Dominic and St. Francis, who were destined to preach the gospel in Tartary. He wrote on the sub- ject to the pope, and on the 20th of February, 1253, the sovereign pontiff sent to the Bishop of Tusculum, his legate at the French court, to do what he should think desirable for the good of the country, with which he was better acquainted than most others.* Amongst the Tartars who had embraced Christianity, much was said of a tVmce Sartak, the son of Batou, and who held his court somewhere between the Tanais and
 * Odor Raynald, ad aim. 1253. No. 49. p. 635.