Letter to Rome

Now in the same province of my order of the holy Congregation, I too will begin the divine servitude exercising the Holy Mission in Janjevë and in the administration of Pristina and Vučiterna after first being a diligent student for twelve years of the most prominent Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, Bishop of Padua, and finally the High Congregation of the Holy Congregation in the College of Propaganda. Upon my arrival in this country, I not only realized the wretched illiteracy of these parts of mine, but also that they were all killed, when it unfortunately happened that Serbia itself returned under its Ottoman yoke, and that with the greatest barbarity; while my brother the abbot John Bogdani, a pupil of Loreto, was cut into small pieces alive, and my accused angel, who was already found dead and buried, was nevertheless taken out of the grave and given as a meal and food for dogs in the middle of the market of Pristina with uterus  in head. But beyond this I found everything that belonged to me unfortunately usurped by the barbarians, both the house and the vineyards and the property together with all possible goods, being now empty-handed I trust and have hope only in the providence of His Divine Majesty and in the best protection of the Holy Congregation by means of the most valuable, through the help of your Excellency.

Source: Original document from the Propaganda Fides archive in Rome, APF SOCG, vol. 534 fP 4r, 5r. (Translation: Yll Rugova.)