Edgardo Mortara

Victim of forced conversion and kidnapping

Edgardo Mortara was a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped from his family in Bologna, Italy in 1858 and forced to convert to Catholicism. He was taken to Rome, where he was raised as a Catholic and eventually became a priest. Despite his efforts to maintain his Jewish heritage, Mortara was eventually excommunicated from the Catholic Church. He went on to become a prominent figure in the Jewish community in Rome and wa...