Mar 7, 2016
On June 23, 1858, the Catholic Church removed 6-year-old Edgardo Mortara from his family in Bologna. The reason they gave was surprising: The Mortaras were Jewish, and Edgardo had been secretly baptized. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of little Edgardo and learn how his family's plight shaped the course of Italian history.
We'll also hear Ben Franklin's musings on cultural bigotry and puzzle over an unexpected soccer riot.
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Sources for our feature on Edgardo Mortara:
David I. Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, 1997.
Bruce A. Boyer and Steven Lubet, "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara: Contemporary Lessons in the Child Welfare Wars," Villanova Law Review 45 (2000), 245.
Steven Lubet, "Judicial Kidnapping, Then and Now: The Case of Edgardo Mortara," Northwestern University Law Review 93:3 (Spring 1999), 961.
Donald L. Kinzer, "Review: The American Reaction to the Mortara Case, 1858-1859," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44:4 (March 1958), 740-741.
Alexander Stille, "How a Jewish Boy's Baptism Changed the Shape of Italy: The Notorious Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara," Forward, Aug. 1, 1997.
"Pope John Paul Faces Politics of Sainthood," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2000.
Ellen Knickmeyer, "Pope Moves Two Toward Sainthood," Spartanburg [S.C.] Herald-Journal, Sept. 4, 2000.
Garry Wills, "The Vatican Monarchy," New York Review of Books, Feb. 19, 1998.
Garry Wills, "Popes Making Popes Saints," New York Review of Books, July 9, 2013.
Justin Kroll, "Steven Spielberg Boards Religious Drama ‘Edgardo Mortara’," Variety, April 17, 2014.
Ben Franklin's "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North-America" was published in 1784 by Franklin's Passy Press in France.
This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who sent these corroborating links (warning: these spoil the puzzle).
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Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.
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