Page:Nicolae Iorga - My American lectures.djvu/61

 one. Had it not been for the misfortunes of this ill-starred prelate and the repressive measures of the Turks against the Catholic propagandists, the work of the Fathers, supported by the French ambassador even before the advent of the Richelieu ministry, a pact could have been concluded between certain of the Patriarchs and the Church of Rome. The Roumanian princes in the first half of this century were on many occasions asked to assist in the propaganda, and the letters of the French ambassador already mentioned, de Cesy, who was himself a fervent believer, were too pressing to remain completely neglected. No practical results were gained however and, without leaders, Catholicism in the Principalities degenerated. The few Franciscans in the Wallachian town of Targoviște, and their brethren at Bacău in Moldavia, were in themselves inadequate to maintain a movement begun under such favourable auspices.

The very Papacy itself seemed to have lost its old zeal. Not until 1650 were more serious efforts made to regain lost ground. An intelligent missionary, Marco Bandini, was then sent to Moldavia, in the reign of the rich and influential prince Basile Lupu, and his long report is luckily preserved to us. He was also entrusted with a mission to the Wallachian Court of a traditionalist prince, the good and aged Matei Bassarab.

In the second half of the century, the wars of certain Christian States against the Turks inspired the idea of a new crusade: first the conflict between the German Empire and the Sultan, with the participation of the nobles sent by Eouis XIV, then the struggle of the Porte against Poland in the days of the Christian knight John Sobieski, and, thirdly, the revenge of the Christians for the Turkish siege of Vienna and the reconquest of the Hungarian provinces.