The Church Kidnaps Edgardo Mortara
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2022
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
June 23, 1858. A knock at the door—it’s the papal police. For the Mortaras, a Jewish family living in Bologna, this is not a good sign. And soon, the officers break the agonizing news: “You have been betrayed.” The Mortaras’ six-year-old son, Edgardo, has been secretly baptized, and the Church has ordered him to be taken away. Why did the Catholic Church order a young Jewish boy to be kidnapped? And how would that decision end up re-making the map of modern Europe?
Special thanks to our guest, David Kertzer, author of The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara and The Pope at War.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | History this week, June 23rd, 1858. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 0:12.0 | Just after nightfall, there's a knock at the door. |
| 0:16.0 | Who could that be? Thanks, Mariana Mortara. |
| 0:19.0 | She's sitting at the living room table in the small apartment above her husband's |
| 0:23.0 | upholstery shop, an apartment that holds all ten members of their family. |
| 0:28.0 | Her husband and their oldest son are out walking in Bologna, but the other seven kids are here. |
| 0:33.0 | Six-year-old Advgardo, asleep in his parents' bed, six-month-old Emelda, who's still nursing. |
| 0:39.0 | The 11-year-old twins sitting at the table with their mother, learning to knit. |
| 0:44.0 | A few moments later, footsteps on the back stairs, and another knock on the door. |
| 0:50.0 | Who is it? She says nervously. A voice calls back. |
| 0:55.0 | Let us in. |
| 0:58.0 | It's the police. Mariana is panicking now. |
| 1:02.0 | She tries to put them off, but the officers insist. |
| 1:05.0 | They come into the crowded apartment and tell her to list the names of her children. |
| 1:11.0 | She won't do it. Just then, her husband, Monolo, returns. |
| 1:15.0 | He tries to calm things down. Okay, okay, he says. |
| 1:18.0 | I'll list everyone in the house, starting with himself and Mariana, right down to baby Emelda. |
| 1:24.0 | As Monolo talks, an officer is ticking names off on a list. |
| 1:29.0 | And one of those names is underlined. |
| 1:32.0 | Let me see the children, the officer says. |
... |
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