During the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, when the majority of the population was illiterate and had little need for international correspondence, the local clergy in the Holy Land required facilities to send and receive letters. The clergy, representing the Catholic Church and various Eastern Orthodox churches in the Holy Land were, in effect, the representatives of religious communities around the world. They were largely dependent on these communities for funds and were in frequent contact with them. The correspondence of Christian clergy was mainly carried to its destinations by pilgrims or monks traveling home, although it is possible that some may have used the services of the Consul in Constantinople, who dispatched mail to Vienna via an overland route.