Ignatius Anthony I

Born November 3, 1801 in Mosul, in a family that belonged to the Syro-Yakovite church . After receiving school education, he studied theology in the educational institutions of the Syriac Church. On August 15, 1822, he was ordained a priest . In January 1826, he was appointed by the Synod of the Syro-Jacobite Church as an auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Mardin with the right of succession to the patriarchal chair. He was ordained by the Patriarch of Syria and Ignatius George V.

Acquainted with the Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Peter VII , he decided to go to the Catholic Church. On March 17, 1828, he officially converted to Catholicism together with the Bishop of Jerusalem Gregory Issa Mahfouz and 150 families of believers. Having signed his confession, he sent it to Pope Leo XII . For this act, he was arrested by the Ottoman authorities and held in custody for eight months, until he was released for ransom.

He was appointed Bishop of Saint Pestol in Mardin and in 1840 he was appointed Vicar of the Melkite Diocese of Diyarbakir . After the death of Patriarch Ignatius Peter VII on November 30, 1853, he was elected to the Patriarchal Department at the Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church and on December 8 of the same year. At the beginning of 1854 he traveled to Rome, where on April 7 of the same year he received from the hands of the Pope Pius IX confirmation of his election to the patriarchal chair. After Rome, traveled to European countries to collect donations for the Syrian Catholic Church. He traveled around France, Belgium and the Netherlands, where he was invited to the court by monarchs. In particular, he was the godfather of the only child of Napoleon III, Napoleon Eugen . In 1856 he returned to his homeland and began to build temples with the funds he received in Europe. He built a church, a seminary building and a patriarchal residence in Mardin, which were destroyed in 1850 during anti-Christian pogroms.

He died on June 16, 1864 in Mardin. After his death, the Holy See appointed Patriarch Georgy Shelhot , who became his successor in 1866, as patriarchal locum tenens.

• Siméon Vailhé, v. Antioche. Patriarcat syrien-catholique , Théologie de Catholique in Dictionnaire , Tomo I, Paris 1903, col. 1432
• Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Rescentioris Aevi , vol. Viii p. 109
• Jean Mamarbaschi, Les Syriens catholiques et leur patriarche Mgr Ant. Samhiri , Paris 1855
• Frazee, Charles A. (2006) Catholics and Sultans: The Church of the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923 , Cambridge University Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-521-02700-7 .
• Les Syriens catholiques et leur patriarche Mgr Ant. Samhiri

• Information on the website of Catholic information (eng.)