Whilst the Apostolic Delegate in Constantinople, Monsignor Dolci, bore the major burden of direct negotiations on behalf of the Holy See with the Ottoman government in this fraught situation, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem himself,
42C.22. Folio 237, Letter No. 167 of 4 March 1916 from Monsignor Dolci to Cardinal Gotti. 43
C.22. Folio 237.
44C.22. Folios 239-240, Protocollo 614/916 of 30 May 1916 from Cardinal Gotti to Monsignor Dolci,
and letter of the same date from Cardinal Gotti to the Cardinal Secretary of State notifying him of this development.
Monsignor Camassei, must share much of the credit for the successes achieved in relation to the Latin Catholic interests in Palestine following the outbreak of war in 1914. He appears to have justified Pope Pius X’s selection of him as a “saint for Jerusalem”. In the face of the seizures of properties and the expulsion of religious by the Ottoman authorities in Palestine in the latter part of 1914, Monsignor Camassei used his great personal charm and high public reputation to seek the redress of these attacks on the Holy See’s two key interests in Palestine, the protection of the Christian Holy Places and the nurturing of the indigenous Catholic community in the Holy Land. Both Ottoman and German in Palestine treated Camassei with both sympathy and deference at this time, paying courtesy calls upon him and attending
Midnight Mass in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on 25 December 1914.45
The evidence is that the Latin Patriarch had been able to secure a more favourable treatment for the Catholic Missions and activities under his jurisdiction than had occurred in Syria, “contrary to the intentions of Constantinople”.46 In February 1915 Camassei reported to Cardinal Gotti in Rome that “all is tranquil, and we live in good harmony with the local civil and military authorities who treat us with much consideration”.47
On two fronts, however, Monsignor Camassei now laboured under extreme difficulties. The first was financial and the second was closely connected to the financial, and that was the sheer difficulty of communicating with the Holy See during a time of war. This was made even more difficult once Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire later in August of 1915, the problems with lines of communication impeding the flow from Rome to Jerusalem of funds which were the life blood of the Latin Patriarchate’s Missions and through which it cared for its indigenous Palestinian Catholic community, the local Catholic population, “poor in ordinary circumstances, now begins to be reduced to misery”.48 Yet despite this poverty Monsignor Camassei was constantly being asked for money by Ottoman
45
C.24. Folios 379-407, Relazione intorno all’espulsione dei religiosi dalla Palestina e sullo stato del Patriarcato di Gerusalemme e delle sue Missioni, Canon A. Smets, 22 February 1915, transmitted to Cardinal Gotti by Monsignor Camessei on 22 February 1915, see C.24. Folio 410.
46C.24. Folio 402.
47C.24. Folio 374, Letter of 22 February 1915 from Monsignor Camassei to Cardinal Gotti. 48
officials, and his means of meeting these demands were rapidly dwindling as the funds from Rome, and from new admissions to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, dried up due to the war. This left Monsignor Camassei “anxious in heart” as to how he could continue to provide for his clergy, seminarians and the religious for whom he was responsible.49
In addition to these hardships brought about by the war Palestine suffered a severe plague of “grasshoppers” [locusts] from March to October of 1915, described as being of “Biblical proportions”, which swiftly destroyed all vegetation in its path, causing immense distress and suffering to the local population.50 The awe in which Monsignor Camassei was held appears to have greatly increased when he conducted a solemn exorcism in the atrium of his Patriarchal Palace in Jerusalem and the plague of grasshoppers dispersed within fifteen minutes.51 Despite this apparent miracle Monsignor Camassei almost disappeared from the view of the Holy See as communications with him became steadily more difficult. The problems of communicating with him resulted, in January 1916, in a decision by the Holy See, communicated from Monsignor Dolci in Constantinople/Istanbul to Monsignor Camassei in Jerusalem, that it must “prorogue all the powers which she has accorded you for the remainder of the term of the war”.52 No explanation was provided and the inference may be drawn that the Holy See feared Camassei would be placed under undue pressure by the Ottomans to the detriment of the Holy See’s key interests in Palestine. Whilst Monsignor Camassei would continue to hold office in Jerusalem his authority was completely circumscribed by this withdrawal of his powers, and he ceased to be a significant figure in the events which followed through to November of 1917. The decisions regarding Palestine were being made elsewhere and without any input from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
49
C.24. Folio 407.
50Le Moniteur Diocesain, Juillet 1952, 138; National Geographic magazine, November 1915 edition; 51
Le Moniteur Diocesain, Juillet 1952, 138.
52A.6. Latin Patriarchate Archives FC 1.6-1.3. Patriarche Correspondence 1907-1919, Letter of 1
January 1916 from Monsignor Dolci to Monsignor Camassei in Correspondence avec le Delegation Apostolique de Constantinople.