Pope Gregory XIII on the Contribution of Armenians to the Crusades of 1584

Indeed, among the other merits of this people before the Church and the Christian Republic, it is important to note that no nation and no people were more willing and ready to help those first and proven Christians – who once repeatedly attempted to return the Holy Land – than Armenians who courageously and faithfully supported them with soldiers, horses, weapons, food, advice and, finally, all their might in this holy war.

It must be said that since they were forced to submit to the slavish yoke of the disgusting Turks – which we remember with the heaviest sorrow – the force or anger of their masters, cruelty, injustice, and oppression haven’t been able to interfere with their adherence to the Christian faith and the obedience to the Apostolic See.

And if any mistakes have crept in among them, then those should be attributed not to their bad or perverted will or nature but to all the injustice and misfortune sent to them due to circumstances.