Father Thomas of Sardinia

Visit the tomb of the Capuchin Father Thomas and mourn.
An apostolic missionary to Damascus, preaching and displaying his solicitude.
Slaughtered by the Jews, only parts of his remains were found.
Dated February 5th, here lie the remains of his bones.
1840

The above text is a translation of four Arabic verses, an epitaph written on the tombstone of a grave containing the alleged remains of Father Thomas of Sardinia, a Capuchin missionary. The relic is located in the Latin Church of Bāb Šarqī (the Eastern Gate). Damascus was still a fiefdom of Muẖammad ʿAlī—Egypt's formidable governor—in February 1840 when Father Thomas and his servant mysteriously disappeared. In a matter of weeks, rumors spread throughout the city as the Christians of Damascus suspected its Jews of abducting and murdering the victims for the purpose of using their blood to bake their matzo. The matter was brought to the attention of Governor Šarīf Pāšā, Muẖammad ʿAlī's lieutenant, who arrested the city's leading rabbis and subjected them to interrogation. Some ended up confessing to the crime under torture. Rabbi Abu al-ʿĀfīā sought salvation through "converting" to Islam, changing in the process his name to Muẖammad Afandī.

Lest we blame this outrage on the barbarity of the benighted Orientals, the "investigation" was conducted by none other than Ulysse de Ratti-Menton, consul of civilized France. 

Last—and least—we have the case of Faṭīr Ṣahyūn (Matzo of Zion), a silly book written and published in 1983 by Muṣṭafā Ṭlās, Syria's former minister of defense, who doubtless believed beyond the shadow of a doubt the evidence extracted from the hapless Jews. Sadly, there exists no shortage of "pundits" who still subscribe to this nonsense.