In 1858, ruler of the papal states Pope Pius 9th sent his officers to seize a six-year-old Jewish boy named

Edgardo Mortara from his family in Bologna.

Edgar would be brought to Rome to the house of Katakumans, where he would undergo study and

instruction in the Catholic faith.

You see, years earlier, when the boy was ill, the Mortara family's Christian maid,

Anna Morisi, baptized him, in hopes that he would be restored to health, or at least that he would be relieved from his suffering,

or, if the boy should die, that the soul of this innocent child would be saved.

But, you see, once baptized, the church saw Edgaro as Christian, not Jewish,

and it was forbidden by canon law for a Christian child to be raised by Jewish parents.

So there you have it.

Young Edgardo was removed from his family against their wish and will,

and brought to Rome, where, in his Catholic formation,

he flourished, as a kind of wonder, heard his vocation,

and then grew into the priesthood himself.

This is the background to a work of short fiction, published in the March 2024 issue of commentary by one of the treasures of American letters, the great Cynthia Ozik. In the story of my family, Ozik recreates the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, as it is remembered by Edgardo's grand niece.

That is,

Edgar... Ozik recreates the kidnapping of Edgaro Mortara as it is remembered by

Edgardo's grand niece, that is, Edgaro's nephew's daughter, who, by the time we meet her

in the story, has moved to America, and reflects on the way that Edgaro's life and

priesthood haunted his nephew, that is, her father.

It's a story about a Jew who becomes a tormentor of the Jews, and it's a story about how theological disruptions, not to say theological

traumas, continue to rattle history into future generations. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your

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