The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

by David I. Kertzer

Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg. 

A National Book Award Finalist

The extraordinary story of how the vatican's imprisonment of a six-year-old Jewish boy in 1858 helped to bring about the collapse of the popes' worldly power in Italy.

nightfall, June 1858. A knock sounds at the door of the Jewish merchant Momolo Mortara. Two officers of the Inquisition bust inside and seize Mortara's six-year-old son, Edgardo. As the boy is wrenched from his father's arms, his mother collapses.  The reason for his the boy had been secretly "baptized" by a family servant.  According to papal law, the child is therefore a Catholic who can be taken from his family and delivered to a special monastery where his conversion will be completed. 
   With this terrifying scene, prize-winning historian David I. Kertzer begins the true story of how one boy's kidnapping became a pivotal event in the collapse of the Vatican as a secular power.  The book evokes the anguish of a modest merchant's family, the rhythms of daily life in a Jewish ghetto, and also explores, through the revolutionary campaigns of Mazzini and Garibaldi and such personages as Napoleon III, the emergence of Italy as a modern national state.  Moving and informative, the Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara reads as both a historical thriller and an authoritative analysis of how a single human tragedy changed the course of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Jewish, Italy, Judaism, European History

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 1997

About the author

David Israel Kertzer is an American anthropologist, historian, and academic, specializing in the political, demographic, and religious history of Italy. He is the Paul Dupee, Jr. University Professor of Social Science, Professor of Anthropology, and Professor of Italian Studies at Brown University.

Reviews

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ódio — Uma Arma Mortífera


Em 1858, Edgardo Mortara, um jovem judeu com apenas 6 anos, foi arrancado do seio familiar, por ordem do Vaticano.

Porquê?

Consta que ainda bebé, Edgardo lutara entre a vida e a morte, e que uma criada católica da família, por iniciativa própria, baptizara de emergência o infante enfermo, não fosse a sua alma arder pelos infernos!

Ora, de acordo com a Lei do Vaticano, independentemente das circunstâncias, qualquer criança baptizada católica, estaria proibida de crescer num meio avesso ao catolicismo, o que justificava o sequestro de Edgardo.

Como seria expectável, os pais de Edgardo envidaram todos os esforços no sentido de recuperarem o filho raptado, mas viram goradas todas as suas tentativas!...

A Igreja Católica, que apregoa o Amor Incondicional aos 4 ventos, ao cometer um ato de puro racismo religioso (mais um, dentre muitos), não fez mais que fomentar o anti-semitismo e consequentes ódios por ele gerados.
Um pouco (bastante?!) por todo o lado, o Catolicismo sempre apontou um dedo acusador ao Povo Judeu como assassino colectivo de Cristo e, é por demais conhecido, o papel preponderante da religião na formação de mentalidades...

O ódio, se não contrariado, alastra e multiplica-se, redundando em Arma Mortífera — o Holocausto assim o comprovou!

“O bater de asas duma borboleta na China pode desencadear um tufão em Nova Iorque”
Tudo se interliga, e os acontecimentos microscópicos tendem a magnificar-se!

Moral da História: O Ódio é um Veneno a evitar!!! ☠️⚠️☠️

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stay Away from Hate


In 1858, Edgardo Mortara, a 6 years old Jewish boy, has been legally kidnaped by Vatican’s orders.

Why?

Whilst still a baby, Edgardo Mortara has been seriously ill. So ill , that a catholic servant of the family, fearing for his soul, performed an emergency baptism.
Therefore, he could no longer be raised by a Jewish family.

I truly believe that this sort of isolated, anti-Semitic acts, could have been (among manny others) the perfect seeds for further hating towards the Jewish people. A bit (a lot?!) all over the world, Catholic Church always pointed an accusing finger to Jews as the collective murderers of Jesus, and we all know how religion can easily shape people’s mentality. Everything is connected, and according to the Law of Chaos, micro-events tend to magnify:

A butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico, can be the source of an hurricane in China

We had the Holocaust, didn’t we?

And I’m wondering if what Hitler simply did, was nothing but watering those seeds of hate already growing in people’s hearts?!

Moral of the Story: Hate can be a lethal weapon — a poison that should definitely be avoided!!!

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a finalist for the National Book Award, and deservedly so. But the catch is, you probably really have to like a good history; the story is not told in straightforward, narrative style, and it isn't a novel. Parts of it read like one, but it probably isn't a book that you'll want to check out if you're looking for a "folksy" history for the lay person. This book has a great deal to do with the risorgimento, the unification of Italy, and it does give a lot of well-researched historical treatment to Edgar Mortara's story and that of his parents, the Jewish community at the time, and the outrage that was the last straw in the eyes and minds of many calling for the removal of the Pope from temporal power & the elimination of his territory, the Papal States. If you're interested in that topic, Kertzer has a marvelous book called Prisoner of the Vatican, which I can very highly recommend; again, another history.

But let me try to synopsize here. In 1858, the family of Momolo Mortara, living in Bologna, answer the door to find two Inquisition officers at their door, saying that they were there to take away their boy Edgardo, who was just 6. It turns out that when Edgardo was younger, a Catholic servant girl working in the Mortara home thought Edgardo was going to die during an illness, and "baptized" him. The law was that having been baptized (and how a mere girl could do this and have it stick is fascinating reading with long history), Edgardo was no longer a Jew and had to be put under the protection of the Catholic Church. Well, naturally, this didn't sit well with Edgardo's family; the story tells all about their efforts for years trying to reclaim their son. At first, the office of the Inquisition would not even tell them where he was being taken; Edgardo's father, Momolo, was simply told that the boy was going to "someone who is a good family man." (33) Before you think that this was an isolated case, the author notes that "the taking of Jewish children was a common occurrence in nineteenth-century Italy." (34) These types of "clandestine" baptisms occurred often. But they were also punishable by corporal punishment (44), but the cases where this law was actually applied were pretty rare.

One of the most interesting parts of this book was the "clash of two realities," or the Jewish take on the situation v. the Catholic take. The accounts in the newspapers & in reported testimony are absolutely fascinating to read... you can't tell who's telling the truth, although it's easy to see that both sides are embellishing for their own purposes. But even more fascinating is the fact that the news of this kidnapping leaked out of the Bologna borders into Europe & even into America -- there the same polemic started all over again, based on one's side in the religious debate. The case spawned several plays -- for example, the author notes "La Famiglia Ebrea" (The Jewish Family) in 1861 -- in which a Jewish boy was baptized in secret by the family servant & raised by Jesuits. However, in this version, the boy "nourished a smoldering hatred for those who had deprived him of his parents," and eventually came to lead the fight for Italy's unification! (252-253)

Absolutely fascinating; I also found a reference to the testimony of Edgardo Mortara himself, a deposition taken at a time when Pius IX (the pope at the time) was being considered for sainthood: here -- again, you have to kind of take it for what it's worth.

I didn't decide to read this as a part of any anti-Catholic campaign; the premise looked interesting and the subject matter looked intriguing. It is a very well-researched book, and it's obvious the author has a passion for his subject. The link between the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara and the chain of events leading to unification of Italy is well established in his research.

Very well done, and if you are at all into history, you may really enjoy this. I had also read that at some point there was going to be a film made about this (with Anthony Hopkins as Pius IX), but funding fell through or some such thing.

I'm happy to have had the opportunity to read this one!

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've decided I simply can't read this anymore, as much as I would really like to finish it. I just can't. This book is going to be impossible for anyone to read unless you are truly a devout history reader, or if you have a very keen interest in this subject. For anyone else, it is going to be much too dry, much too thorough, and much too researched.

That isn't to say that I don't appreciate what Kertzer has accomplished here: I am in awe at the great length he has gone about to craft this intense look into the breaking of the papal states and the forming of a unified Italy, not to mention the ongoing religious struggles that echoed all over the world during this minute incident in the vast history of Catholicism and Judaism. This fascinated me; I just did not have the patience to continue, when I realized I was 135 pages in and still had hardly any idea what was going on. This is a problem, and therefore I think I would probably only recommend this book to people who own this book or are prepared to possess it for an extended period of time. It is certainly not going to be a quick read, and it certainly is not going to be easy.

I consider myself a lover of historical accounts, but this one was just too much. Plus, my 3-week library limit is up, and if a book is taking me this long to read, I usually want it to be more then well worth the time.

[Wojciech Szot · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Porwanie Edgarda Mortary” Davida I. Kertzera (tłum. Jan Dzierzgowski) opowiada historię żydowskiego chłopca porwanego przez oficerów inkwizycji, których zobowiązywała do tego czynu informacja, że chłopak został ochrzczony. Na żydowskie domy nie tylko w Bolonii padł wielki strach - w końcu zawsze mogła zdarzyć się służąca, czy stajenny chcący uchronić duszyczkę przed piekielnym ogniem. Ten fascynujący i rzeczywiście napisany z sensacyjnym zacięciem wątek książki ustępuje w trakcie lektury bardzo rozbudowanej historii stosunków Państwa Kościelnego i Żydów. Im dalej, tym bardziej jest podręcznikowo. Kertzer zapomniał, że jak na początku jest trzęsienie ziemi, to napięcie musi już tylko rosnąć. Tu zdecydowanie maleje. Książka dla fanów i fanek, ja wyszedłem z niej przytłoczony ilością informacji, które uleciały ze mnie w kilka godzin później. Została ze mną wyłącznie historia Mortary, dla której można ale nie trzeba sięgnąć po ten tytuł.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

An historical account of a little-known, fascinating event that shaped Italian history in the period of unification. In 1858, little Edgardo was taken from his Jewish parents in Bologna and spirited away [if you'll pardon the expression:] to the Vatican because he'd been secretly baptized by the family's Christian servant girl. Not only is it shocking that this happened within the last 150 years or so, the Monty Python refrain,"No one expects the Inquisition!" comes to mind - the reader learns that it literally still existed in the mid-19th century. I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that the fate of this six-year old became intertwined with that of the Pope and a matter of concern at the highest levels of European governments.

[Lurdes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly fascinating tome on a part of history that is largely forgotten, I love this type of book because it educates me on a topic about which I knew nothing. A classic tipping point in history, Edgardo Mortara was a 7-year-old Jewish child who was secretly baptized by his parent's illiterate Catholic servant girl, prompting the Italian Inquisition to extract him from his home in the late 1800s. While it was a centuries-old practice, popular sentiment, the strengthening of the global press and emerging revolutionary governments became enmeshed in "il caso Mortara," changing the landscape of the Vatican and Papal power forever. My only complaint is that it sometimes strayed too much from the story at hand, exploring in too much dry depth the political intricacies of the period.

[Christian Engler · Rating 5 out of 5]

In reading The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David Kertzer, readers might find it difficult to not shake their heads in utter disbelief, for it elicited that reaction in me. Nominated for the National Book Award, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara tells the compelling if not disturbing true story of Catholic zealotry gone terribly awry.

On a June evening in 1858, six-year-old Edgardo Mortara and the rest of his Jewish family were at home living their lives and minding their own business. However, that quickly changed when guards from the Office of the Inquisition were ordered to take little Edgardo out of his parents charge and remove him from his family home. Horrified at what was happening, the parents demanded to know why they had to give up their son. Informing them that he had been secretly baptized, he thus became a ward of the Papal states. Under canon law, he, in effect, was no longer Jewish but a Catholic-Christian and could no longer live in a house where Jewish ideology could be imbued and fostered in a young and malleable mind. He was escorted out of the house and sent to Rome to live in the House of Catechumens, a house for Roman converts. This incident sent Edgardo's father, Salomone, into a desperate quest to get his little boy back. The incident provoked international outrage and catapulted a simple and decent family onto the global stage of religion and politics.

The kidnapping brought physical and mental havoc onto the Mortara clan; they were unexpectedly thrust into the glow of the public eye. And all the while, they maintained that their son was Jewish, raised with thorough orthodox values and traditions and that a serious error had to have occurred. But as time went forward, they learned some things that they were not privy to, the paramount one being that their son was baptized by a Catholic servant girl named Anna Morisi who was once in their employment. When Edgardo was ill, perhaps not seriously but she deemed it to be, she took the action of extreme unction, an act that any baptized Christian can take when an unbaptized person is on the very threshold of death. They take water and pour it over the head saying, In the name of the Father, the Son, And the Holy Spirit, I baptize you... What Anna Morisi did was perform a legitimate baptism, but she was unaware of the Catholic doctrine and policy ramifications that were attached to such a desperate and final act. She had inadvertently made Edgardo not only a Catholic-Christian (without his parents knowledge), but also a ward of the Papal States. Incredibly enough, this was not an uncommon happening, apparently, because many Jewish families hired Catholic servant girls to work in their homes; the Jewish families had work to offer and the young Catholic women wanted to earn dowries for their marriages, one of many legitimate reasons for the unusual work set-up. However, it was a set-up that was none-to-pleasing to the Vatican hierarchy, for they wanted to avoid happenings like this from occurring. But the working relationships between the Jewish and Catholics only seemed to make it happen more. It was not until Edgardo's baptism that the case was carried forward into the international spotlight.

Edgardo could see his father but only on supervised visits, and although the boy was well taken care of, his Jewish roots were slowly being chipped away at, his Jewishness gently being nullified. His biological father was gradually being replaced, by of all people, Pope Pius IX, whom Edgardo was gradually seeing as the fatherly male figure that every boy/girl needs in their life. Casting away the criticism from the public at large, Pope Pius IX essentially believed that if he relinquished the boy back to his parents, he would have, in essence, abrogated the valid baptism as performed by Anna Morisi. The wider question that had to have been asked was, Would Jesus Christ himself also have been abrogated-to any degree-in the process? And herein is where the quandary laid. Obviously Pope Pius IX thought in the affirmative. The only other solution that the Mortaras could have chosen in order to get Edgardo back was to convert themselves to the Catholic faith, an almost impossible thing to ask when devout people consider their faith as unchangeable as their height or eye and hair color. It would have been a galling request.

As all this happened, Edgardo gradually became indoctrinated to the point that he didn't even want to see his family anymore. That only added fuel to the fire, because amidst all this strife, Italy as a country was looking to break away from Papal authority, the charge being led by by the Kingdom of Sardinia, a liberal and nationalist bulwark state that desired total Italian unification; they and the media used the Mortara case as an example to illustrate the supernatural "backwardness" of the Pope and the curia in the Vatican. Churned out articles and demonstrations put the Pope in a Catch-22. By refusing to give up the boy, outside countries allowed a war between Piedmont and the Papal States to happen whereby the Pope lost most of his territories and influence, thus relegating him to the stewardship of Rome alone, and then later on, when the French left, he was denied even that. Material and territorial sacrifices were huge for the Pope and it left an amazing legacy that I'm sure was somewhat responsible for the discussion of a possible Vatican II down the road.

Edgardo's life was never the same. And he never became the strong Jewish man that his parents had envisioned him becoming. The indoctrination was so thorough that he eventually became an Augustinian Catholic priest, preaching for the perpetual conversion of the Jews; he did reestablish connections with his family, but he was probably viewed as the outsider in every sense of the word. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara was a stellar work of Italian history, and it definitely earned its NBA nomination. This case was cited in a PBS documentary that I saw titled Secret Files of the Inquisition, and that in companion with this work makes for an insightful overview of a difficult time in Catholic-Jewish relations.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of my favorite history books use a single / central event as a launching pad to explore a wide range of larger issues and themes. That's what "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" does, exceptionally well, using the kidnapping of a six-year-old Jewish child by the Catholic Church in 1858 as the launching pad to delve into subjects including the persecution of Jews in the 19th century, the political role and power of the Catholic Church, and the Risorgimento and the unification of Italy. The core story is riveting, and the larger issues are covered thoroughly and compellingly. I highly recommend to anyone interested in any of the issues mentioned above, but you don't have to be focused on any of those issues to enjoy this book -- if you have a general curiosity about the world you live in, you'll be hooked once you start reading!

The subject of the book, Edgardo Mortara, was a six-year-old Jewish boy who was ripped from his parents' arms by secular authorities at the direction of the Catholic Church, because church authorities had been told that as an even younger infant, the boy had been baptized ... by the family's illiterate Catholic servant, who supposedly believed that he had been near death. Whether the servant's actions were acceptable or not, here's the thing: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ASSERTED THE AUTHORITY TO FORCIBLY TAKE CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS if anyone -- no, really, anyone at all, not just a priest -- had at any point in the past put some water on their head, recited a few words, and claimed them for (the Catholic) God.

Today, of course, the Catholic Church no longer claims the right to take innocent children from their parents (... instead concerning itself primarily with forcing women to KEEP embryos which could someday turn into actual children, whether they want children or not ...), and at many points in this book I was struck by the thought that 150 years ago isn't THAT long ago, and that much of what occurs feels like it would/should have happened further back in the regressive past. I hadn't realized, for example, that the Inquisition was still in business in the mid-1800's (and in fact is still in business today, with its name changed from the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition" to the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith," which was headed for almost a quarter of a century by Joseph Ratzinger, better known as the Pope before the current Pope).

The persecution of Jews is another area addressed in great detail, to eye-opening effect. Surely any reader of any book like this will be well aware of the history of discrimination against Jewish people, but to see the extent and explicitness of their persecution is difficult. Jews were literally confined to the ghetto; gates were locked to keep them in each night. They were forced to attend sermons aimed at converting them to Catholicism, multiple times each year. They were excluded from hospitals. They were not second-class citizens; they were hardly citizens at all. And, of course, the secular authorities and the Catholic Church could, and sometimes did, literally take the child of Jewish parents away from them.

Yet at the same time, the Pope (Pius IX) would lecture Jewish leaders about the "benefits" he gave them. One passage: "The Pope then turned to the rest of the Jewish delegation, and briefly made them, too, feel the weight of his wrath. "I suppose these are the thanks I get for all the benefits you have received from me! Take care, for I COULD HAVE DONE YOU HARM, A GREAT DEAL OF HARM. I COULD HAVE MADE YOU GO BACK INTO YOUR HOLE." At this point, the Pope began to calm down, and he added: "But don't worry, MY GOODNESS IS SO GREAT, and so strong is the pity that I have for you, that I pardon you, indeed, I must pardon you."

Again, hard to imagine this occurred only a century and a half ago. The other major area addressed in the book is the revolutionary campaign of Garibaldi, Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II and others to unify Italy, which didn't exist as a modern (single) state until 1871 -- surprisingly recent, for a land with such a long and prominent history. I learned a great deal about the Risorgimento (the name of the revolutionary / unification movement) in TKoEM, which I would probably not have chosen to read in a "straight" history of that era.

The central story of Edgardo Mortara is, in the end, "resolved" -- it is truly remarkable how much documentation of letters, court proceedings, and other materials the author has uncovered, so there are no real loose ends left hanging -- but I'll leave it to you to find out whether it is resolved favorably or unfavorably.

In summary: read this book. You won't regret it.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and authentic
The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, by David Ketzer, is the true account of a six-year-old Italian Jewish boy, who in 1958 was forcibly taken from his home by order of the Catholic Grand Inquisitor. Edgardo had (allegedly) been secretly baptized several years previously by an ignorant servant, who believed he was dying. Because the baptism rendered him a Christian by Canon law, the Catholic authorities took him so that he would not be brought up in a Jewish home. According to the servant's testimonies, she learned how to perform a rudimentary baptism from a conversation with a local grocer, but didn't discuss the actual baptism with anyone until six years later when she confided in the servant next door. All the facts related to the baptism, as well as the veracity of all parties, were subsequently called into question. The devastated family relentlessly sought support for Edgardo’s return, and Kertzer deftly makes the case that Edgardo’s story facilitated the reunification of Italy and the Papal loss of temporal power. Edgardo never returned home despite his families' exhaustive pleas and vigorous international petitions on his parent's behalf. Instead, Edgardo first went through a full conversion (re-education) process, became a quasi-son to then Pope Pius IX, was ultimately ordained, and became a Catholicism proselytizer.

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara is a shocking and increasingly melancholy story, but it is also an important, fascinating, and well-balanced examination of history. I don’t totally agree with those who think it reads like a novel. There were a few weighty sections that required either perseverance or selective skimming. However, I considered this a minor inconvenience, which was well rewarded.

Our discussion points began with the sheer disbelief that the Inquisition was still in force in the 1850's. We considered how important this micro- history was to our understanding of how Jews were perceived at the time and how the "kidnapping" served as political capital for those forces around the world seeking to re-unify Italy and remove power from the Pope. Further, the author's process was important -  his scholarship and his personal motivation for covering this person and this period. Previous works did not include translation of Italian primary sources or were written from only one perspective. There have been several fictional adaptations of the story, with significant changes to make it more politically charged or more appealing to a mass audience.We noted how increasingly reactionary Pope Pius became, putting forth his “Syllabus of Errors,” denouncing religious liberty in response to the the Enlightenment. We reflected that his extremism and abuse of power is not unlike present-day religious fanaticism. “The Italian Solution“ to Judaism was conversion at that time. Edgardo, who called his brother “Satan” when he first saw him after many years, was never successful in converting his mother, despite reports to the contrary. Reflecting on the later time span of this work, we shared a somber realization that “Pio” Edgardo died of natural causes shortly before Hitler's rise, when he would have most certainly been deemed a Jew and marked for extermination with his brothers..

Kudos to Lana Israel for suggesting this book and leading the discussion. She also recommended Kertzer’s subsequent work, Popes Against the Jews.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another of David Kertzer's well-researched, well-written accounts of the papacy and its decline, from the 19th Century, from dominion over a central Italian state to its current status in the Vatican. Notably, this book is a central story in Kertzer's three books on Pope Pius IX -- his other two books being The Pope Who Would Be King: The Exile of Pius IX and the Emergence of Modern Europe, about the papacy's retreat into Rome during the 1848 revolution, and Prisoner of the Vatican: The Popes, the Kings, and Garibaldi's Rebels in the Struggle to Rule Modern Italy, in which Pius and his successors, after final defeat in 1870, would cope with the loss of their state powers.

It seems that Pius IX and his reactionary Secretary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, did not repent after the 1848 revolution and their restoration by the great powers of Europe. The Inquisition would continue, and its Bologna office would kidnap 6-year-old Edgardo Mortara in 1858. Pius IX would take a personal interest in the case, and would enmesh the Papal States and his papacy in the resulting controversy. Kertzer describes the incident, and the long-running scandal, one that would alienate much of Europe, notably Napoleon III of France, the Pope's onetime rescuer. Although other factors, notably the Risorgimento, would wipe out the Papal States by 1870, this compelling story of one Jewish boy held by the Church over the rest of his boyhood, would be key in papal history.

It's a detailed and well-researched story, but Kertzer maintains the human drama and the conflict centered on this one small boy. Worthwhile reading, and not just for those who are curious how the papacy could go from running central Italy to its confinement in the Vatican and seeking a new role in worldly matters. It would also not be the last time the Vatican would take a troubling role in Jewish matters (see also Kertzer's The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe about later such events).

Highly recommend.

(Note: according to the Internet Movie Database, Spielberg had this as a tentative movie project, to star Mark Rylance as Pius IX, but it seems to be on hold for now).

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a representative kidnapping and forced conversion of a Jewish boy by agents of the Catholic Church set within the context of Italian unification towards which such events may have played a part. The boy, six at the time, was not recovered by his family, the history of which spans the time of the event in 1858 to the death of the victim, now a priest, in 1940. A sad tale, it serves to remind one of how persecuted Jews were within Christendom long before the Nazis systematized it and of how liberating the secularism of the Enlightenment was for them and other religious minorities.

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a story! Lord Byron was right when he said something like reality is stranger than fiction. It picked my curiosity to learn more about the Italian unification and Pope Pius IX. This is an extremely well researched and written story. Highly recommended!

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of the l858 kidnapping of a six year old Jewish boy by Italian civil authorities who then turned him over to Vatican officials to be raised as a Catholic. I had vaguely heard of the affair, but only became interested in the book after seeing an excellent Italian film based on the affair and directed by 84 year old Marco Bellocchio. Stephen Spielberg was at one point interested in making the film as well. .

What makes Kertzer’s book particularly worthwhile is the complex context in which the kidnapping took place. \There was a widespread outrage on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly from Jewish quarters including such prominent Jewish figures as the wealthy Rothchilds. The justification for the taking of the six year old was that a Christian servant girl had “baptized” Edgardo when he was an infant, thinking that if he died, this would insure a place in heaven. The parents disputed this illiterare girl’s actions and made extensive legal action to have him returned. There were disputed claims on both sides, and in the end the legal efforts of the Mortaros failed.

The Pope was Pius IX, most famous for calling the Vatican I council that ended in the doctrine that the Papacy in its pronouncements on faith and morals, is infallible. At the time Italy was in the middle of a civil war, a huge issue being who was to control the Vatican’s vast Papal States. Pius was under assault from a lot of different factions, one of them being the terrible publicity he was getting from the Edgardo Mortara case. Why didn’t he just release the boy? He felt this was just one more attack from a godless society and was a matter of principle that he was going to uphold.

In many ways, it was a war of words, of propaganda. Conservative Catholic supporters of the Pope argued that the boy didn’t want to return to his non-Christian parents, and that he had truly converted to Christianity, almost miraculously. The Jewish advocates of the parents saw the Vatican actions as yet another example of anti-Semitic prejudice and even quoted obscure Canon law to demonstrate that by its own terms, the Church was in the wrong. Of course, the other side argued it was misinterpretation.

Eventually the uproar died down, and as Kertzer points out, by the 20th century the Montaro case had become somewhat of an embarrassment to both sides, to the Catholics because in hindsight it showed a bigoted and blatant abuse of power, and to the Jews because in the end Montaro became a “changeling", a Catholic priest who disavowed his Jewish roots. To read about hoe the political and social fallout of the times was reflected in this incident was fascinating.

[Kristine Brancolini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books resonated with me for a wide range of reasons. We read it for the Jewish Book Group at our library, which is part of a Catholic university. The discussion was led by a history professor, who is faculty member in the Jewish Studies program. Knowing the type of discussion we would be having, I flagged many passages and facts as I read. It's my favorite kind of non-fiction: well-documented, with lots of endnotes and references, but written in an engaging style. Nominated for the National Book Award for The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, which was published in 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize this year for his latest book, The Pope and Mussolini. I've already bought that book and plan to read it soon.

I've been reading about the Jewish experience around the world for about seven years now, since the foundation of our book group in fall 2008, but this is the first book we've read about Italy. However, I've read fiction about Jews in Italy during World War II. My favorite book (and movie) on this subject is The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, by Giorgio Bassani. I've also visited the Museo della Memoria e dell'Accoglienza, a museum dedicated to the experiences of Holocaust refugees who came to Puglia in Southern Italy at the end of the War. I have a personal interest because my daughter lives in Bologna and I visited there this past June, including the former Jewish ghetto, which is in the center of town. I'm also fascinated by the story of Italian unification and was surprised to learn that the Catholic Church played a role in unification. Just not a role that they wanted to play. During the discussion of this book last Sunday, many commented on the richness of the historical context for this very particular story about a young Jewish boy in mid-19th century Bologna.

We know from the title that Edgardo Mortara was kidnapped and it says right on the dust jacket: "The extraordinary story of how the Vatican's imprisonment of a six-year-old Jewish boy in 1858 helped bring about the collapse of the Popes' worldly power in Italy." That's just about it in a nutshell. Kertzer tells the amazing story of this young boy, which was not at all unique. He was removed from his family and sent to Rome to be raised Catholic, because it came to light that he had been baptised as a baby by a Catholic servant working in the Mortara home. It seems hard to believe, but Bologna was part of the Papal States at that time and the Pope was the temporal leader, as well as the religious leader, of the Papal States; the Church trumped the family in deciding how to raise a child, especially when it came to his religious upbringing. Edgardo was now Catholic and could not be raised by his Jewish parents. By 1860, Bologna was no longer part of the Papal States, which had shrunk to Rome, and modern Italy had been formed.

So, the case of Edgardo Mortara was one factor, but as one might imagine, there was much more going on than worldwide outrage that a Jewish boy was removed from his family simply because he was baptised. At its center this is a story about politics. The experience of Edgardo Mortara was not unique, but the timing was important. And Kertzer tells the entire story, with all of its context and complexity, in a way that kept me reading, even when I was reading the events from another perspective for the fifth time. Of course, the Pope and his representatives saw the situation very differently from the Jewish community and the politicians who were anxious to see the end of Papal temporal rule. That's part of what makes this book so good.

[David Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is stunning, spellbinding and freaking crazy! The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, tells the story of a young Jewish boy baptized by his Catholic babysitter because she was worried, he would die from an illness. She had told a local shopkeeper about the boy’s sickness, and he suggested she baptize “lest he die a Jew” and be subject to eternal torment. Although, well intentioned the babysitter performs the baptism and the boy recovers. However, the consequences of the baptism for Edgardo, his family, Italy and the Catholic Church were profound. Sometime after the baptism, unknown to his parents, police arrive at the home and remove the boy from his home. They are told by the police chief that Edgardo has been secretly baptized, and now that the boy is Christian, he cannot remain with Jewish parents.

Despite their pleas Edgardo was removed by the police and sent to a Church institution in Rome dedicated to the conversion of the Jews. The parents, still believing that the taking of their son was a mistake they appeal to Pope Pius IX. The Pope stood firm, despite international protest. The Pope comes to regard Edgardo as his own son and visits with him regularly.

The Mortaras desperately try to get their child back, appealing to national and international figures and organizations. But the Pope Pius stood firm and unyielding. The case drew in emperors and ambassadors, and Italian patriots, eager to discredit the Papal States and to bring about the unification of Italy. After the child's father was allowed to visit him during August and September 1858, two starkly different narratives emerged: one told of a boy who wanted to return to his family and the faith of his ancestors, while the other described a child who had learned the catechism perfectly and wanted his parents to become Catholics.

International protests mounted, but the Pope would not be moved. After pontifical rule in Bologna ended in 1859, prosecutions ensued against the officials that seized the boy. With the Pope as a substitute father, Mortara trained for the priesthood in Rome until the Kingdom of Italy captured the city in 1870, ending the Papal States. Leaving the country, he was ordained in France three years later at the age of 21. Mortara spent most of his life outside Italy and died in Belgium in 1940, aged 88.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is still giving me chills, and I finished it over a week ago. First heard about it while taking a Jewish history class in college, found it at a used book sale about 3 years ago, and finally started reading it once I, now a mom with a toddler who just happens to have the same birthday as the boy in question (and a sister who who was born it Italy and baptized by a babysitter only a hundred years after this incident), returned to Italy for another long stay. Very creepy reading it here under these conditions and imagining what if. So well written (though some sections dense with canon law and intricate history of shifting European alliances in the second half of the 19th century). Especially appreciated the author's note at end explaining his personal links to the case and his thoughts on why it was not well known/publicized by either side just a few decades after it occurred. Highly recommended to anyone with interest in Jewish, Catholic, and/or European history.

[Spencer Fancutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely WOW. I was completely hooked from the beginning to the end. I can't believe this hasn't made it to the big screen. The story unfolds like a Hollywood thriller, only oh so much more believably. Kertzer's writing is flawless, and his grasp of narrative flow is astounding. If I had read history like this at school, I wouldn't have dropped it at the first opportunity. How crusty my history education was! Every twist, every tiny detail is painstakingly referenced and clean of embellishment, which is clear not only from the lack of sentimentality or flowery prose, but from the Afterword which shows the seriousness and sanctity with which he regards his subject matter, and his reasons for choosing it. The last paragraph of the Epilogue cuts you in half! Outstanding book.

[Melissa Ooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing history of Jewish oppression told through the story of a 6 year old boy kidnapped by leaders of the Catholic church in the mid 19th century.

[Szymon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mam z oceną tej książki problem. Niewątpliwie książka bardzo szczegółowo analizuje caly temat, co cenię (osobom mniej zainteresowanym historią Państwa Kościelnego czy relacjami pomiędzy różnorakimi podmiotami ówczesnej polityki może to mocno ciążyć). Mamy wszystkie mozliwe strony, relacje, tła, tła teł i kulisy kulisów, relacje prasy zza oceanu, itp. Zmieścić to w tak jednak niedużej formie to sztuka.

Jednocześnie książka sie trochę ugina pod naporem tych relacji i faktów, miejscami czyta się ją bardziej jednak jak raport niż reportaż (czyli literaturę).

Na pewno warsztatowo jest tu dużo do poprawy, i na pewno rzecz mogłaby byc nieco mniej obszerna, rezygnując z kilku elementów. Ale jest to kawał dobrej pracy rekonstruujacej niespecjalnie szeroko omówiony wątek, ani tym bardziej konkretny przypadek, jako taka jest więc małą kopalnią informacji. Dla zainteresowanych tematyką i chcących dobrej rekonstrukcji - na pewno warto. Dla chcących dobrej opowieści - wystarczy szersze omówienie /wywiad, całość zbyt przytłoczy. "Podziwiam uczonych zdolnych mieszać historiografię z literaturą i tchnąć życie w opis dawnych wydarzeń", pisze Kertzer w posłowiu. Mam nadzieję, że sam kiedyś opanuje tę sztukę lepiej, bo stronę merytoryczną ma już w małym palcu.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kertzer is masterful in his ability to weave the micro and macro of history in to a compelling narrative.

The story of Edgardo Mortara, itself an emotional and inticing melodrama, is the main focus of the book, but it's contexts and consequences weigh heavy on the equally dramatic and fascinating world of 19th century Italy. His story moves back and forth between the Jewish ghetto in Bologna, the Vatican, and the courts of Victor Emmanuel II and Napoleon III in a way that not only makes sense, but is exciting.

This book is historical research at its best. Not only is Kertzer's work groundbreaking work the first to truly tackle this subject, but it is also tremendously well-researched and pleasant to read.

A great way to end the year!

[Vadim Pulver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting subject and the writing is really good and engrossing, sometimes too detailed, but still very enjoying.
Kertzer draws a great picture of life in middle 19th century Italy and the place of Jews in society by focusing at this abduction case. It is fascinating that a fate of small Jewish boy interested the heads of the Papal State including the pope himself and how it influenced the wider world, making headlines as far as America.
His epilogue that nobody wants to remember this chapter of history, nor the church neither the Jewish community is somewhat sad.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this through Audible. I won't belabor the plot. I recommend all of Kertzer's books if you want an understanding of modern church history and Italian history.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have found its way onto my "favorites" shelf had it not been for the slowness of the last ten chapters. The first eighteen or so were so very enjoyable to read; filled with anecdotes from the history of the Jews, mostly in the Papal States, and their dealings with power. But then it gets to (spoiler? Can history have spoilers? I don't think so) the trial of the Inquisitor and it simply gets so long and drawn out - perhaps a hundred pages of the eBook I read in four long chapters - that it must fall to a four star. Still, a wonderful book, one which I cannot but recommend.

So, back in the era of the Pope's temporal power, back in the days of old when he ruled a plot of Italy called the Papal States (including Rome and Bologna, the two main cities in this drama), the Jews existed at his mercy. The slightest rumor of a Jew being baptized spells bad news for that family. At one point, the Inquisitor learned from a young woman that when she was 6 she "play-baptized" her 3 year old Jewess friend; thus, being in reality now a Christian, this Jewess is no longer allowed to remain with her family. Who cares that twenty years have gone by and she is now married and with child. Take her away and lock her up in the House of Catechumens! Luckily for this one woman, the higher clergy accepted that the baptism was not valid - not because a 6 year old's play-baptism isn't valid, because even though one does not develop agency until age 7, everybody knows that girls mature faster than boys - no, it wasn't valid because she was found to be psychotic.

Most other Jews were not quite so lucky. Edgardo Mortara is the case in point. At the age of roughly 16 months he was apparently baptized by the illiterate Catholic serving girl who worked for his family. She never revealed this until he was 6, at which time the Inquisitor ordered him removed from his family. Despite an international effort to have him returned - complete with ambassadorial plots to return-kidnap him and threats to take away the Pope's temporal powers - the Pope absolutely refuses to return the boy. The result being that, after the abduction of yet another 9-year old Jew, the French remove their troops from Rome, believing that Papal temporal power is an anachronism in the liberal 19th century, and the reunification of Italy is allowed to proceed.

The story is marred by its conclusion: the murder case against Edgardo's father Momolo shortly before the latter's death. As his attorney shows in getting him acquitted, the entire prosecution rested on antisemitism, just as he has faced his entire life, most emphatically in the abduction of his son. I've read a great many works on antisemitism over the last year or so, and none that I can recall explicitly mentioned this case; as the author mentions at the end, very few people seemed to have been aware of it, despite its relative importance in the history of Risorgimento Italy. That is a shame, for the story truly is a great one, and it is told beautifully by David Kertzer.

[Melyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a sad and interesting story: a little Jewish boy is secretly "baptised" by his nurse when he's really sick - she's praying that this will make him better -without his parents' knowledge. Then someone tells the Catholic church, and the Papal police basically kidnap the child and take him to Rome to indoctrinate him, so he doesn't even want to see his family any more. There are many meetings and letters and petitions to the Pope, but he's not interested in letting go.

If the book were more novel-like and less a history of everything Papal and church-related, I would probably be willing to finish it. But it's SO DENSE and such slow reading... I could barely get through a few pages a day. I'm grateful to one of the other reviewers for "giving away the ending" so I didn't have to go all the way through it to find out what happened to the boy.

[☯Emily Ginder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating study of an Italian incident in 1858 that helped to change the face of Europe. Edgardo was a six-year Jewish boy who was taken away from his parents by Papal forces because a claim that he had been baptized by a Catholic. The Catholic church had been doing this for centuries because of their belief that "baptism" made a person a Catholic and that person could not remain in a Jewish home. This time, however, the kidnapping made headlines around the world. There was tremendous pressure placed on the Pope to return the boy to his parents. When he refused, he played directly into the hands of the nationalist movement in Italy. This kidnapping greatly influenced the shape of Italy today.

There were chapters that bogged me down a little as background characters and history were delineated. Other than that, this fascinating story was brilliantly told. There were great consequences to this kidnapping. It led to great changes in the Catholic church, expedited the nationalist movement in Italy and lead to the "creation of national and international Jewish self-defense organizations in both Europe and the United States."

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I didn't actually finish the book. I was reading it for my book group's next meeting and I just couldn't make myself slog through it. I read about 133 pages and decided that was it. Interesting idea--how one incident (the kidnapping, by the Catholic Church, of one small Jewish boy who was allegedly baptized by a maid in 1858)affected so much history...Then there are all the elements leading up to this incident: political, religious, technological, societal...in principle, it's a great idea.

But the writing was dense and tremendously detailed. Every letter, every article, every bit of documentation was translated to English and presented. The author is justifiably proud of his research and erudition; clearly he knows the Italian language and culture well. But it was work to read this; I couldn't do more than a few pages at a time. If I had had to read this for, say, a history class, I would have skimmed most of the book and taken notes on a few key points. Since I don't have to do that, I am giving up.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really two stories. One story is about the kidnapping of a young boy and its impact on his family. This is history that reads like a novel. The other story is about the fall of papal power. This is history that does not read like a novel. The two stories overlap, and the author believes the first story helped cause the second. Of course anti-papal forces at the time used the kidnapping to add fuel to their anti-catholic fire. But that does not mean that the papacy would not have burned down without this fuel. The papacy could well have fallen without any kidnapping. The author did not show that people who mattered (people in power or non-Jews in countries whose troops could invade or protect the papal states) at the time changed their views about the pope or papal power due to the kidnapping. The author does show how people who already had an opinion had their opinions reinforced by the kidnapping.

The author did a great job describing legal investigations and proceedings at the end of the book. Almost like a detective novel.

Overall, an interesting read.

[Judy appell · Rating 1 out of 5]

i don't understand how this book got such a high rating. while the premise was a good one. the writing was so dry it was torture for me to read. i never give up on a book so i plowed through it but guys really!!!!
omg... so dry
i was so happy when i was done... i skipped over or should i say i skimmed so much of this or i would never have finished. my worst book of the last few years!

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.