Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. The year
Speaker 1: was eighteen fifty one, and in Bologna, a little boy
Speaker 1: was sick. That's what his nurse said. Anyway. He was
Speaker 1: a little Jewish boy, and she was a Catholic nurse
Speaker 1: working for the family in violation of the law. But
Speaker 1: she genuinely cared about the children. She cared about this
Speaker 1: littlest boy at Garo, she swore she did, and it
Speaker 1: broke her heart that he was sick. The nurse was
Speaker 1: a young woman herself. The little boy's illness had gotten
Speaker 1: so bad that she believed he would die. She confided
Speaker 1: in a friend, who said it was the merciful thing
Speaker 1: to baptize the little boy before he died. The parents
Speaker 1: would never have to know. Yes, the Catholic Church technically
Speaker 1: forbade baptizing Jews, but it also believed in the sacrament
Speaker 1: that could save the innocent baby's soul when it went
Speaker 1: back to heaven. The nurse believed in that too. She
Speaker 1: looked at the little child, so sickly in her arms,
Speaker 1: so small, and she did a fateful thing. She filled
Speaker 1: a glass with water, reached inside, wet her fingers, and
Speaker 1: sprinkled the water across the boy's head. She didn't know
Speaker 1: then that her action, performed in the privacy of an
Speaker 1: empty room, would set off a chain reaction that would
Speaker 1: lead to a scandal of international proportions. It would lead
Speaker 1: to a state kidnapping, the heartbreak of a family, the
Speaker 1: murder charge of a father, countless New York Times headlines,
Speaker 1: and Napoleon the Third himself turning against the papal states
Speaker 1: in favor of the unification of Italy. Because this little boy,
Speaker 1: Edgardo Mortara, did not die during infancy, he lived on
Speaker 1: happy with his Jewish family, who loved him until the
Speaker 1: age of six. That was when the carabinieri burst into
Speaker 1: his family's home, claiming that the child had been baptized
Speaker 1: and therefore was a Catholic, that the boy was the
Speaker 1: rightful charge of the Catholic Church, and that he should
Speaker 1: be protected not just by anyone in the church, but
Speaker 1: by the Pope himself. The Mortara case is the story
Speaker 1: of Jews under the Catholic papacy, of a long forgotten
Speaker 1: event in Italy before and after unification of the Pope's
Speaker 1: fidelity to the letter versus the spirit of Catholic doctrine.
Speaker 1: Of an international scandal that supercharged liberal Europeans understanding of
Speaker 1: religious freedom. And it's the story of one little Jewish
Speaker 1: boy kidnapped by the papacy and a family that put
Speaker 1: everything on the line to get him back. I'm Dana Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. In order to understand what
Speaker 1: happened to edgaro Mortara, you need a quick crash course
Speaker 1: in the history of the Jews under papal rule. In
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one, when Edgara was born, Italy was not
Speaker 1: a unified nation. Bologna was part of the Papal States,
Speaker 1: which meant that Vatican law was the law of the land.
Speaker 1: Edgarda was born during the papacy of Pope Pious the
Speaker 1: Ninth when the total population of the Papal States was
Speaker 1: around three million, including fifteen thousand Jews, which made Jews
Speaker 1: a tiny minority at zero point five percent of the population.
Speaker 1: As you might imagine, the role of Jews under papal
Speaker 1: rule had been contested for centuries. By the time Edgardo
Speaker 1: came along in Bologna, the nine hundred person Jewish population
Speaker 1: had been expelled in the sixteenth century. By the time
Speaker 1: Edgaro's family lived there, there were only about two hundred
Speaker 1: Jews in all of Bologna. In Rome, the Papacy had
Speaker 1: confined Jews to the Roman Ghetto since fifteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: Shortly after Pope Pious the Ninth was elected in eighteen
Speaker 1: forty six, he actually tore down the ghetto's gates, but
Speaker 1: he restored them shortly after, and they would remain up
Speaker 1: until Italian unification in eighteen seventy. If it sounds like
Speaker 1: Pope Pious was pretty uncertain where he stood when it
Speaker 1: came to Jews, well he was. Although Catholic doctrine held
Speaker 1: that baptism could save a person's soul, Catholics were barred
Speaker 1: from baptizing Jews. Then again, things got a little dicey
Speaker 1: with the law if the Jewish person would a child,
Speaker 1: much less a baby, and if that innocent was about
Speaker 1: to die, And then dicey again if a Catholic did
Speaker 1: baptize a Jew, that was a holy and irrevocable sacrament.
Speaker 1: So the Jewish person illegally baptized was holy Catholic, and
Speaker 1: it was illegal for a Catholic child to be raised
Speaker 1: by a Jewish household. You might be able to see
Speaker 1: where this is going for poor Edgaro and his family,
Speaker 1: but there's one more thing you need to know before
Speaker 1: we can return to Edgaro's story. At the time when
Speaker 1: Edgara was born, Catholics were legally prohibited from working for
Speaker 1: Jewish families, but many young Catholic girls in need of
Speaker 1: money took jobs as maids anyway, and many claiming that
Speaker 1: their young charges were on the brink of death, which
Speaker 1: may have been true in at least some of the
Speaker 1: cases wound up baptizing the family children. Anywhere from months
Speaker 1: to years later, the Carabinieri would show up at a
Speaker 1: family's door with news that their child was a Catholic
Speaker 1: and they would take the child away. It got so
Speaker 1: bad that before a Catholic maid left the job, Jewish
Speaker 1: families took to getting her sign an affidavit attesting that
Speaker 1: she had never baptized their child, Which brings us to
Speaker 1: Anna Maurici. She was fourteen years old by some accounts,
Speaker 1: eighteen by others when she took a job caring for
Speaker 1: the Mortara household. The heads of the household, Momelo and
Speaker 1: Marianna Mortara, were devoted parents to their nine children, including
Speaker 1: twin girls, one boy who died in infancy, and of
Speaker 1: course their middle little child, at Garo, and they were
Speaker 1: also unusually devoted to Anna Maurici. The girl had been
Speaker 1: with the family for three years when she fell pregnant.
Speaker 1: It was eighteen fifty five and Edgaro was about four
Speaker 1: years old. Papal law was no kinder to unwed Catholic
Speaker 1: mothers than it was to Jews. In Anna Maurici's situation,
Speaker 1: she would be required to give the baby up to
Speaker 1: a foundling house. Many families in the Mortars situation would
Speaker 1: have cast Anna Maurici out. She had shamed herself and
Speaker 1: the family. Getting rid of her would have been the accepted,
Speaker 1: even the expected thing to do. But Momolo and Marianna
Speaker 1: were unusually compassionate. They paid for her to stay with
Speaker 1: a midwife during her last trimester, covered the cost of
Speaker 1: the supervised delivery of her child, and then they brought
Speaker 1: her back to their home. They had no idea what
Speaker 1: she had already done to their family, what was in
Speaker 1: the works behind the scenes. They didn't see the irony
Speaker 1: that history now sees. Anna Maurice forced to give up
Speaker 1: her baby by the unforgiving laws of the papal state
Speaker 1: had already set in motion the loss of someone else's
Speaker 1: baby to those same laws. The knock on the door
Speaker 1: came on June twenty third, eighteen fifty eight. The light
Speaker 1: was dispersing, the air was warm, the smells of dinner
Speaker 1: were wafting through the homes on the Martara's street. Edgara
Speaker 1: was sleeping soundly. His two older brothers, one younger brother,
Speaker 1: and infant's sister were sleeping too. His older two twin
Speaker 1: sisters were chatting idly with their mother, Marianna, sewing at
Speaker 1: the table. Edgardo's oldest brother was out on a walk
Speaker 1: with their father. Momolo, and Marianna opened the door. The
Speaker 1: carabinieri were standing outside. They were firm in their orders
Speaker 1: that they were to come in. Perhaps in the edges
Speaker 1: of their gaze there was some sense of shame of
Speaker 1: what they were about to do, but they were firm
Speaker 1: when they asked to see her children. Marianna panicked. Momolo
Speaker 1: came home, and the policeman addressed him directly. They were
Speaker 1: here to take Edgaro. He had been baptized and therefore
Speaker 1: did not belong to his Jewish parents any more. He
Speaker 1: was in the legal custody of the state. Marianna screamed.
Speaker 1: She ran to six year old Edgaro, threw herself on
Speaker 1: top of him. She held him to her chest, fingers
Speaker 1: digging into her skin. If you want him, she said,
Speaker 1: you'll have to kill me first. The scene was disastrous,
Speaker 1: according to historian David Kurtzer, a Mortara neighbor reported, I
Speaker 1: saw a distraught mother bathed in tears and a father
Speaker 1: who was tearing out his hair, while the children were
Speaker 1: down on their knees begging the policeman for mercy. It
Speaker 1: was a scene so moving I can't begin to describe it. Indeed,
Speaker 1: I even heard the police marshal by the name of
Speaker 1: Lucidi say that he would rather have been ordered to
Speaker 1: arrest a hundred criminals than to take the boy away
Speaker 1: one more day. The family begged the inquisitor, father Pieto
Speaker 1: Gaetano Filetti, just twenty four more hours with our precious boy, please.
Speaker 1: Father Filetti granted the twenty four hours, but no more.
Speaker 1: He was just following orders after all. In the meantime, Momolo,
Speaker 1: their Jewish neighbors, and Marianna's family set off to find
Speaker 1: a way to keep at Garo. They went to the cardinal,
Speaker 1: the archbishop, the inquisitor, trying to get an audience with
Speaker 1: anyone in government who might intercede. But twenty four hours
Speaker 1: was too few. They were trapped. They were Jews in
Speaker 1: a place where there was no safe place to be
Speaker 1: a Jew. Jews had lived in Italy for thousands of years,
Speaker 1: back to the Roman period, before Christians lived there. It
Speaker 1: didn't matter to the Mortara case now. When the twenty
Speaker 1: four hour grace period was up, Marianna's sister took Edgardo's
Speaker 1: brother and sisters to her house. Marianna would not let
Speaker 1: go of her son, kissing him and clutching him, and
Speaker 1: everyone feared what would happen if the police had to
Speaker 1: forcibly rip her son away from him. Would she attack them?
Speaker 1: Would she have a heart attack and die right there?
Speaker 1: She hadn't fed her infant daughter in too long, as
Speaker 1: it stood, what would happen to her? So the men
Speaker 1: of the family forcibly separated Marianna from the boy and
Speaker 1: carried her outside into a waiting carriage. Even through the
Speaker 1: covered carriage, her wails were so loud and terrible that
Speaker 1: neighbors came running to see what was happening. Momola stayed home,
Speaker 1: packed a few clothes for his son, and then held
Speaker 1: at Gardo on his lap until his little boy was
Speaker 1: taken away. The two policemen cried when they took the
Speaker 1: boy away, but they didn't stop. They were just following orders.
Speaker 1: Momolo followed the police outside as they carried his son
Speaker 1: to the carriage, watching his boy so small in the
Speaker 1: arms of these strangers. He couldn't stay on his feet.
Speaker 1: He swayed for a moment, and then he fainted. There
Speaker 1: was one light at the end of the tunnel. He
Speaker 1: was told the boy's new surrogate father was not going
Speaker 1: to be just anyone. He would be the pope himself.
Speaker 1: After that, Marianna fell apart, but Momolo fought. The first
Speaker 1: thing to do was to find out if the Carabinieria's
Speaker 1: justification for kidnapping Edgardo was even true in the first place.
Speaker 1: Who would have baptized the boy and how had that
Speaker 1: news come out? The only reasonable culprit would have been
Speaker 1: the family's old servant, Anna Maurici, with mo Lmolo's blessing.
Speaker 1: Marianna's brother and brother in law found her when she
Speaker 1: saw them she collapsed in tears. Yes, she said, when
Speaker 1: Edgardo was very sick as a child, she had done
Speaker 1: the fateful thing. She had baptized him, but she had
Speaker 1: regretted it soon after he recovered and told no one.
Speaker 1: When later another Mortara's son did get so sick that
Speaker 1: he died in infancy, she had refused to do the
Speaker 1: same thing again. She had learned her lesson, she told
Speaker 1: her friend, so when asked if she had baptized that
Speaker 1: boy before he died, all the Mortara representatives could hear
Speaker 1: was that last part she had told her friend. But
Speaker 1: there was reason for hope in her story. It wasn't
Speaker 1: clear that she knew how to properly perform a baptism.
Speaker 1: She had been so young at the time fourteen by
Speaker 1: her own account, that her judgment was faulty. They asked
Speaker 1: if she would be willing to record her testimony with
Speaker 1: a notary. She agreed. She seemed genuinely distressed to have
Speaker 1: caused the separation of another mother from her child, But
Speaker 1: by the time the group came back with a notary,
Speaker 1: Anna Maurici had disappeared. Momolo did not give up. Anna
Speaker 1: Maurici had done what turned out to be a terrible thing.
Speaker 1: But she was only a young girl who couldn't read,
Speaker 1: who was just following what seemed like good advice. She
Speaker 1: hadn't meant to hurt the Mortaro family. Surely some justice
Speaker 1: would be served. Momolo learned that Edgaro had been taken
Speaker 1: all the way to Rome. He wrote to the inquisitor,
Speaker 1: the secretary of State, to the Pope himself. He traveled
Speaker 1: all the way to Rome, where he was allowed visitation
Speaker 1: with Edgaro, but at the end of his visits he
Speaker 1: was not allowed to take his son back home. The
Speaker 1: sympathies of the world were not with the pope. While
Speaker 1: a handful of Catholic publications supported the removal of a
Speaker 1: baptized child from a Jewish home, this was the mid
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, not the sixteenth century anymore. The ideals of
Speaker 1: civil liberties and religious freedom were spreading all over the globe.
Speaker 1: Already in eighteen forty eight, ten years before Edgaro's kidnapping,
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Piedmont Sardinia, had given its minority Jewish
Speaker 1: and Protestant populations their religious freedoms. Massimo Dzeglio, prime Minister
Speaker 1: of Piedmont, had written a pamphlet called Quote on the
Speaker 1: civil Emancipation of the Israelites. So the European and American
Speaker 1: presses both covered the Mortara kidnapping as a scandal. The
Speaker 1: New York Times ran twenty articles about it in December
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight alone, nearly one per day. Outraged, popular
Speaker 1: demonstrations broke out on both sides of the Atlantic advocated
Speaker 1: for the Pope to give Edgaro back to his family.
Speaker 1: Even in Catholic France, the Ambassador to the Holy See
Speaker 1: met with the Vatican Secretary of State and the Pope
Speaker 1: himself on Edgaro's behalf celebrated. French playwright Victor Sejour wrote
Speaker 1: a play based on the kidnapping called The Fortune Teller. Licique,
Speaker 1: France's most read newspaper, described the play as documenting Quote,
Speaker 1: the hideous attack committed by the Holy See toward the
Speaker 1: Mortara boy. The play drew one hundred thousand people to
Speaker 1: the theater on opening night December twenty second, eighteen fifty nine.
Speaker 1: Emperor Napoleon the Third and Empress Eugenie were prominently present
Speaker 1: in the audience. Rumors swirled that Napoleon's private secretary had
Speaker 1: actually worked with the playwright on the play. None of
Speaker 1: it mattered. At the end of the day, Edgaro and
Speaker 1: the Mortaras were under papal authority, and the Hope wanted
Speaker 1: the boy. Indeed, Pope Pious the Ninth spent substantial time
Speaker 1: with Edgaro. With no son of his own, the Pope
Speaker 1: viewed Edgaro as a kind of son. In eighteen sixty seven,
Speaker 1: the Pope sent a shockingly self pitying note to Edgaro,
Speaker 1: which said, quote, you are very dear to me, my
Speaker 1: little son, for I acquired you for Jesus Christ at
Speaker 1: a high price. Your case set a worldwide storm against me.
Speaker 1: The rulers of the world, as well as the journalists,
Speaker 1: who are the truly powerful people of our times, declared
Speaker 1: war on me. Monarchs themselves entered the battle against me,
Speaker 1: and all this because of you. People lamented the harm
Speaker 1: done to your parents, because you were regenerated by the
Speaker 1: grace of Holy Baptism. And in the meantime, no one
Speaker 1: showed any concern for me, father of all the faithful,
Speaker 1: and in a true tragedy for the mortal Para family,
Speaker 1: Edgaro came to regard the Pope as a father. He
Speaker 1: was only six years old when he was taken from
Speaker 1: his Jewish family and re educated to believe that his
Speaker 1: was a story of Catholic salvation and redemption for a
Speaker 1: life that might otherwise have been lived in a kind
Speaker 1: of spiritual darkness without the light of Catholic teachings. At thirteen,
Speaker 1: the age of Barmitzvah, had he been allowed to remain
Speaker 1: under the care of his parents, Edgardo re christened himself
Speaker 1: with the name Pio, in honor of Pious the Ninth. Finally,
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy, when Edgardo was nineteen years old, his parents'
Speaker 1: most ardent wish came true. Italian unification succeeded Rome was
Speaker 1: captured for the new Kingdom of Italy. Their son, Edgaro
Speaker 1: was no longer under the legal authority of the Pope.
Speaker 1: He could come home now. Momolo had not seen his
Speaker 1: son in twelve years, but he had never given up
Speaker 1: on his love for him. Momolo made his way to
Speaker 1: Rome to bring his son home. At last, his mother
Speaker 1: would once again hold her son in her arms. But
Speaker 1: Edgaro was Pio now. He only feared his father's return
Speaker 1: to Rome. Pio refused to return for the rest of
Speaker 1: Edgaro's life, he devoted himself to Catholicism, the religion of
Speaker 1: his captors. At twenty one, too young for ordination, he
Speaker 1: received a special dispensation to become a priest. The Pope
Speaker 1: sent him a letter of congratulations. Edgardo read nine languages,
Speaker 1: including Hebrew, and traveled all over Europe preaching the Catholic faith.
Speaker 1: It would be another one hundred years before the term
Speaker 1: Stockholm syndrome was coined to describe the bond between a
Speaker 1: king captive and their captor. As for the Mortara's, yet
Speaker 1: more tragedy befell them in eighteen seventy one, their new servant,
Speaker 1: Rosa Tugnazi, tragically died after a fall that was almost
Speaker 1: certainly a suicide. Nonetheless, suspicion fell on the man, who
Speaker 1: was called the Jew Mortara throughout his trial. Even the
Speaker 1: prosecutors called the fifty five year old Momolo by that
Speaker 1: anti Semitic epithet, rather than the customary term the defendant Mortara.
Speaker 1: The trial was almost certainly motivated by anti Jewish hostility.
Speaker 1: Momolo was ultimately found not guilty, but he had spent
Speaker 1: seven months in prison in ill health, and one month
Speaker 1: after his release. He died seven years later. In eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy eight, Marianna, widowed, now found out that Edgaro was
Speaker 1: scheduled to preach in France. She went to where he
Speaker 1: would be for the first time in twenty years. Mother
Speaker 1: and son embraced from then until her death twelve years later.
Speaker 1: Edgaro remained close with his mother, but neither ever warmed
Speaker 1: to the other's desire that they change religions. Edgardo's that
Speaker 1: his mother converted to Catholicism, Mariana's that her son return
Speaker 1: to Judaism. Edgaro lived a long life, preaching the whole time.
Speaker 1: On March eleventh, nineteen forty, he died at the age
Speaker 1: of eighty eight in Belgium. His story has been forgotten
Speaker 1: compared to the more famous nineteenth century European case of
Speaker 1: anti Semitism, the Dreyfus affair, but he prefigured it. Some
Speaker 1: historians actually believe that the Edgardo Mortara kidnapping played a
Speaker 1: major role in turning Napoleon the Third towards the side
Speaker 1: of Italian unification. Indeed, nap Jolian was secretly party to
Speaker 1: the agreement in support of unifying much of the papal
Speaker 1: states under the authority of Sardinia. Only one month after
Speaker 1: Atgaro's kidnapping. Two months after Edgaro died in Belgium, the
Speaker 1: Nazis invaded the country. If he had lived, he might
Speaker 1: have been among those stolen once again, this time by
Speaker 1: different policemen working for a different state, for the crime
Speaker 1: of being born under a hostile regime into a Jewish home.
Speaker 1: That's the story of Edgaro Mortara, the Jewish child kidnapped
Speaker 1: by the papal state, but stick around after a brief
Speaker 1: sponsor break to hear about Edgaro's legacy in the Mortara
Speaker 1: family today. As for the Mortara family, the story of
Speaker 1: Edgaro still had a long life. One of Agaro's twin sisters,
Speaker 1: on her deathbed seventy years after the abduction, cried out
Speaker 1: not to take her children. The great granddaughter of that sister,
Speaker 1: a scholar named Elena Mortara, is now a scholar who
Speaker 1: published a twenty fifteen book with Dartmouth University Press about
Speaker 1: the affair. She spoke out on her family's behalf against
Speaker 1: the benification of Pope Pious. The ninth quote, a man
Speaker 1: who has so unjustly violated family rights, an enemy of
Speaker 1: freedom of religion, the last pope to keep the Jews
Speaker 1: of Rome by law in the ghetto. Pope Pious the
Speaker 1: Ninth was betified in the year two thousand. The Mortara
Speaker 1: family of the twenty first century opposed it. What would
Speaker 1: Edgardo himself have thought? We can't know. What we do
Speaker 1: know is that he remained a devout Catholic priest until
Speaker 1: the end of his life. Countless times Edgara more Tara
Speaker 1: must have wetted his hands as his nursemate did decades before,
Speaker 1: and sprinkled holy water over a young infant's head. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
Speaker 1: il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,