Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum: Volume II

Paul Bedjan (1838-1920) was born in Khosrova in Salamas where he was educated at a school established by French Lazarist missionaries. At the age of 18, he went to Paris to join the Lazarist order and further his studies. In 1861 he was ordained a priest in the Roman rite although he was a member of the Chaldean Church. After working among his own people in Iran for 12 years, he returned to Europe to pursue a career in editing and publishing books in Syriac and modern Assyrian. His works were beautifully printed by the famous German printer Wilhelm E. Drugulin in Leipzig. Among the many valuable volumes Bedjan edited, one of the most important is his 7 volume collection of the stories of saints and martyrs. Volume II contains texts about the Assyrian and Persian martyrs under the Sassanians, including Mar Shimun Bar Saba’I, Mar Qardagh, the history of Karka d’ Beth Slokh (Kirkuk) and its martyrs, Mar Pithyon and many others. The contents of this book are in Syriac with an introduction in French.