A recent excavation of the Chapel of St. Dominic, near the Christian village of Qaraqosh, Iraq, has revealed the remains of two Chaldean priests who were martyred in the early 20th century. DNA samples taken from the remains will be compared with surviving relatives of the deceased priests in order to confirm their identities.
According to Crux, the priests in question are believed to be Syrian Catholic Father Yusuf Jabo Sakarya of Mosul and Father Behnam Hanam Mikho Khozymi, a monk of the order of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem. In June of 1915, the pair traveled from Mosul to Qaraqosh to celebrate the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul. It was while entering the city that they were murdered by Turkish gendarmes.
