Summary of David I. Kertzer's The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 On June 23, 1858, police visited the Mortara home and asked for Momolo. His wife, Marianna, was terrified to say that he was not there. The police asked for each of the Mortara children, from oldest to youngest, and Momolo was forced to comply.

#2 When the Marshal checked all the Mortara family members, he announced that he would take Edgardo with him. The Mortaras were terrified, and pleaded with the Marshal not to take their son.

#3 The Mortaras were told that their son had been secretly baptized, though they had no idea how or by whom. The Inquisitor, Father Feletti, said that he had acted in good conscience because everything had been done punctiliously according to the sacred Canons.

#4 The Mortara family’s vigil was interrupted by the arrival of Moscato and Padovani, who brought news that the Jews had obtained a delay in the boy’s deportation. The neighbors were shocked to hear that the Inquisitor had given in to their demands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822543478

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Insights on David I. Kertzer's The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 25

Insights from Chapter 26

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

On June 23, 1858, police visited the Mortara home and asked for Momolo. His wife, Marianna, was terrified to say that he was not there. The police asked for each of the Mortara children, from oldest to youngest, and Momolo was forced to comply.

#2

When the Marshal checked all the Mortara family members, he announced that he would take Edgardo with him. The Mortaras were terrified, and pleaded with the Marshal not to take their son.

#3

The Mortaras were told that their son had been secretly baptized, though they had no idea how or by whom. The Inquisitor, Father Feletti, said that he had acted in good conscience because everything had been done punctiliously according to the sacred Canons.

#4

The Mortara family’s vigil was interrupted by the arrival of Moscato and Padovani, who brought news that the Jews had obtained a delay in the boy’s deportation. The neighbors were shocked to hear that the Inquisitor had given in to their demands.

#5

The two men who could overrule the Inquisitor and vacate his order were the Cardinal Legate, Giuseppe Milesi, and the city’s famous but controversial archbishop, Michele Cardinal Viale-Prelà. They set out to meet with them.

#6

The Cardinal Legate’s arrival in Bologna was not welcomed by everyone in the city. The Inquisitor had given both Cardinal Milesi and the Archbishop advance notice of the planned seizure of the Jewish child, and when Angelo Padovani and Angelo Moscato reached the gate of the Cardinal Legate’s headquarters, they were told that His Eminence was not in Bologna.

#7

The men decided that something had to be done about Marianna herself. She had spent all night in Edgardo’s sofa-bed with him in her arms and still would not let go of him. They feared what would happen if she were home when the carabinieri came to tear her son away.

#8

When Momolo returned home, he realized that time was running out on him. The house had emptied. Marianna and the baby Imelda had been taken to the Vitta home, and the rest of the children were with their aunt. Other relatives and friends had found the Mortara home too painful to endure and so remained at home.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The sixteenth century was not kind to Italy’s Jews. In 1553, their Hebrew books were publicly burned by orders of the Pope and the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Three years later, they were told to move to a single, walled-in zone.

#2

The first papal order for the expulsion of the Jews from Bologna was in 1569. A thousand Jews left the city behind them. Pope Pius V offered the Jewish Cemetery of Bologna