THOMAS (BISHOP OF CAMBYSOPOLIS)
Pastoral letters, 1845-1848.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 184

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CITATION:  Thomas (Bishop of Cambysopolis) Pastoral letters, MSS 184, Archives and Manuscripts Dept.,  Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.

Cambysopolis is a titular see of Asia Minor.  Originally known as Alexandria Scabiosa, it is now called Alexandretta.  Only the Roman Catholic Church has retained the use of the name Cambysopolis.

Thomas, the author of these pastoral letters, was the bishop of this see, but he is also identified as the vicar Apostolic of the Central District of England.  One of the functions of a vicar Apostolic is to administer dioceses which are vacant or whose bishops are impeded from exercising their ordinary jurisdiction, and this function was presumably the one that Thomas was fulfilling in the writing of his pastoral letters.  Such letters are written by bishops to all the members of their respective dioceses.  Every bishop generally publishes one at the beginning of Advent and another at the beginning of Lent.  The letter is then made public by being read at the parochial mass on Sunday.

The collection consists of two pastoral letters, one dated 8 May 1845 and the other, the Feast of the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady 1848.  The two letters exhort the members of the Central District of England to donate generously to the Church so as to help support the charitable services the Church has undertaken.  Both letters are indicated as having been given in Birmingham, England.