Ignatius Shoukrallah Maloyan

Today is the memorial of Blessed Ignatius Shoukrallah Maloyan (1869-1915). He was an Armenian Catholic belonging to the Patriarchal Order of Bzommar. He spent much of his career as a parish priest in Egypt, but in 1911 was made Archbishop of Mardin. The appointment would lead to his death.

In 1915, Mehmed Reshid, governor of the Ottoman province of Diyarbekir, having become convinced that Christian communities were a significant cause of the economic problems of the Empire and that they were conspiring with its enemies during World War I, began the systematic extermination of Armenian and Assyrian Christians throughout his province, and the Armenian Genocide came to Mardin. In June, the leaders of the Armenian Catholic community of Mardin were taken to court. During the trial, Bl. Ignatius was asked if he would convert. When he refused, he was beaten, and he and a large crowd of Armenian Christians were driven by forced march into the desert and killed, one by one. Bl. Ignatius was shot after he refused again to convert. He was beatified in 2001.