Mission Established: 1625–1627

This chapter introduces the important persons that led to the establishment of the first Jesuit mission to Syria in Aleppo. There were a number of individuals such as Louis XIII of France and his ambassadors in Istanbul, who played significant roles in promoting the establishment of the Society’s mission to Syria. This support was contingent on the relationship that was created between the French monarchs and the society during the Wars of Religion and the re-establishment of the order in France as noted in Chap. 2 . It also details the resistance to the founding of the mission by several European entities for economic, political, and religious reasons. Some members of the Order of Friars Minor and others were highly vocal in their negative response to the introduction of the Jesuits to Syria and the Holy Places that led to the expulsion of the first missionaries, Jean Stella and Gaspar Maniglier, from Aleppo, delaying the firm establishment of the mission for two years. This chapter also outlines the political and procedural mistakes made by the monarchy’s representatives and by the Jesuits that caused much tension, desperation, and imprisonment of these two Jesuits. It conclusively demonstrates, as in subsequent chapters, the Society of Jesus, the Propaganda Fide, and the French monarchy were not prepared for this venture.