Joseph III (Chaldean Patriarch)

Mar Joseph III. († January 23, 1757 in Diyarbakir ) was a patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church ( Patriarchate of Diyarbakir ).

He was initially " pupil of the school of the great Rome ", that of the Roman College of the Propaganda Congregation. Under the name Timothy he was Metropolitan of Diyarbakir in 1696 and shortly after the death of Mar Joseph II († 1712) ordered at his request to the Patriarch. The Roman confirmation and the Pallium he received 1714. Joseph III. defended the union with Rome in Diyarbakir and Mardin and expanded them, supported by Latin missionaries, in the plain of Mosul, where he personally won in 1723 about 3,000 converts. At the instigation of his religious opponents he was imprisoned several times by the Ottoman authorities. 1731 release from prison, he traveled to Rome and stayed for some years in Europe. Before his departure he ordained Basil Hesro Bishop of Mardin († 1738) and Shem'on Kemo for Seert ( Siirt ). 1741, he returned to Diyarbakir and practiced there his office until his sudden death in 1757 from.