Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/381

369 ODERIC DE FRIULI IN TARTARY AND THIBET. 369 pontifical ornaments. He unfastened the cross which hung on his breast, placed it on the end of a stick, and when the imperial chariot came before them, he raised it in the air, whilst the priests sung in chorus the " Veni Creator." The great Khan asked the princes who sur- rounded him, what was the meaning of these songs ; they answered that it was the Frank priests who were addressing their prayers to their God. The emperor then made the missionaries approach, and, at the sight of the cross, took off his cap and kissed it respectfully ; " a proof," says the author who relates this fact, " that the Khan loved the Christian faith."* It is certain that the Catholic mission at Pekin was at this period, as Oderic himself says, very flourishing ; and, by his ex- hortations, he succeeded in inducing several important personages of the court to embrace the gospel. After a residence of three years at Khanbalik, Oderic de Friuli, listening only to the ardour of his zeal for the propagation of the faith, resolved to go still further, and seek for souls whom he might gain over to Jesus Christ. He cpritted China, therefore, passed the Great Wall, and plunged into the wilds of Tartary. He pene- trated beyond the country of the Keraites, the ancient kingdom of priest (or Prester) John, where he found the Christians much cooled from their former fervour, and almost entirely addicted to the errors of Nestori- anism. He laboured to bring them back to the true faith of the Catholic Church ; his zeal proved effectual with many, and he also baptized a great number of infidels. Having then traversed the vast province of Khan-Sou, he got as far as the capital of Thibet. "It VOL. I. B B
 * Marchinus, in vita. B. Otlorici.