after having seen few, if any, conversions from the muslim populace of the city resulting from their quiet pastoral work at the holy sites of christianity, tavelic and his colleagues decided to take the option given to them in the rule of life of their founder, francis of assisi, and to preach openly the christian faith to the muslim populace. they went to the regular gathering before the qadi of jerusalem and began to preach. following their arrest for this, they refused the option to convert to islam and were imprisoned. after again refusing to convert several days later, the group were all sentenced to death. these missionaries were executed near the jaffa gate on november 14, 1391, and their remains completely burned.