July 9: Turkish Ottoman Empire carried out massacre against Christians

A day like today marks one of the cruelest massacres of Christians in contemporary history, in which more than 20 thousand parishioners died in Damascus (Syria), at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

Within the framework of the civil war of 1860 in Mount Lebanon, which began in the north as a rebellion of the Maronite peasants against the Druze and whose fight spread and ended in the city of Damascus, one of the massacres of Christians took place. cruelest in contemporary history, with the connivance of military authorities, Turkish soldiers, Druze and Sunni paramilitary groups.

The terrible act of violence lasted from July 9 to 11. However, the first of the three days is remembered as the bloodiest date, as thousands of Christians were murdered and many churches, convents, mission schools and entire villages were destroyed and burned.

The massacre culminated in the flight of thousands of people and the occupation of Syria by a French army.

In the book Saints of Galicia: Fifty Hagiographical Profiles, the historian José Ramón Hernández Figueiredo, doctor in Ecclesiastical History from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, and a diploma in Archival Studies from the School of Paleography, Diplomacy and Archival Studies of Vatican City, explained the reason for the terrible outcome against the Christians. In addition, he collected important data and testimonies from the faithful who suffered the attack.

“In the Peace of Paris, signed on March 30 in Crimea, the French assembly demanded certain reforms to the Ottoman Empire, particularly regarding the tolerance of Christian minorities,” said Hernández.

“As in that year, the sultan published a decree by which all the subjects of the empire had the same rights in taxes and the holding of public offices, the Mohammedans felt outraged by considering the Christians as ‘ghetos‘of inferior races excluded from the law for twelve centuries,” he explained.

In that sense, the conflict culminated in the terrible massacre “because the governor of Beirut (capital of Lebanon), Pasha Khursud, had incited the Muslims of Syria to the point that the conflagration broke out in Bait Mari, due to a dispute between a Druze and a young Maronite Christian.”

According to the historian, “the first victims occurred in the Maronite towns of central and southern Lebanon, with nearly six thousand Christians being murdered, mutilated or harassed.” Then, mid-morning on July 9, “the Druze arrived in Damascus during the eve of Ramadan, and began the slaughter of Christians.”

During the terrible act “the Christian neighborhood of Arat-el-Nassara was attacked, with its 3,800 homes and the European convents of Jesuits, Pauls, Daughters of Charity and Franciscans. The victims of the crime reached, in three days, the number of about three thousand dead,” he said.

Unfortunately, “the governor, Pasha Ahmed, did not prevent the massacre”; However, “the Algerian emir Abb-al-Kadar, a great defender of Islam, gave asylum to fifteen hundred Christians, among whom were some Europeans.”

Among the refugees were religious Jesuits, Pauls, daughters of charity and the Franciscans were also invited; However, they did not leave the convent and were tortured by a violent crowd of Bedouins and Metolans, said Hernández.

“The Franciscans were the object of ridicule and ridicule, tormented with the cutlass of the Bedouins and the bayonets of the Turks. Each murder was received with immense joy by that crowd, eager to exterminate,” he noted.

Hernández related that the criminals first “intended to make them renounce the Christian faith and worship Allah and his prophet Muhammad. When they refused, they were offered riches. When they refused again, they were handed over to martyrdom. They all died instantly,” except for two priests, who died the next day, among whom was Father Engelbert.

Blessed Father Engelbert “manifested his boundless love for the religion of his parents, ‘resolutely and tenaciously opposing stepping on the cross of the Redeemer, protesting in the Arabic language against the acts of savagery of Muhammad’s supporters witnessed by him, enduring and forgiving, as God commands to forgive, the enemies of the Church,’” he concluded.

According to the historian’s data, at the beginning of 1860 in Damascus there were 30 thousand Christians and one hundred and forty thousand Muslims.

Currently the Catholic Church recognizes a significant number of saints and blessed martyrs because of the terrible massacre perpetrated there.

Originally published July 9, 2022. It has been updated for republication.