New forms of enslavement surfacing on the world stage have spurred an international surge of studies in recent decades on the topic of slavery in general and Atlantic slavery in particular. Italian historiography on the Early Modern Age has actively contributed to this body of work and suggested various avenues of research fueled by different perspectives, from intellectual history to social history, from political history to gender and labor history. As is fitting considering Christian universalism, much attention has been granted to the religious dimension of the phenomenon. Various issues have been addressed, from the Catholic Church’s role and culture to the roles played by individual religious orders, from conversion practices used among slaves to the creation of the “African pantheon” featuring former slaves who became saints. Taken together, these studies have helped to add complexity to our understanding of the relationship between Catholicism and Atlantic slavery and call into question the separation between Mediterranean and Atlantic slavery, two worlds that are actually closely intertwined. A focused analysis of the relationship between slavery and sanctity, explored through the case of Jesuit Pedro Claver who was born in Catalonia in 1580, became a missionary overseas and died in Cartagena de Indias (New Kingdom of Granada) in 1654, is effective in demonstrating the spatial and temporal scope of these events. This extensive scope calls for longer-term reflections that go beyond the Early Modern Age and recognize the inextricable connections between religious and political history.
Atlantic Slavery, the Catholic Church and Sanctity in the Early Modern Age
Patrizia Delpiano
2024-01-01
Abstract
New forms of enslavement surfacing on the world stage have spurred an international surge of studies in recent decades on the topic of slavery in general and Atlantic slavery in particular. Italian historiography on the Early Modern Age has actively contributed to this body of work and suggested various avenues of research fueled by different perspectives, from intellectual history to social history, from political history to gender and labor history. As is fitting considering Christian universalism, much attention has been granted to the religious dimension of the phenomenon. Various issues have been addressed, from the Catholic Church’s role and culture to the roles played by individual religious orders, from conversion practices used among slaves to the creation of the “African pantheon” featuring former slaves who became saints. Taken together, these studies have helped to add complexity to our understanding of the relationship between Catholicism and Atlantic slavery and call into question the separation between Mediterranean and Atlantic slavery, two worlds that are actually closely intertwined. A focused analysis of the relationship between slavery and sanctity, explored through the case of Jesuit Pedro Claver who was born in Catalonia in 1580, became a missionary overseas and died in Cartagena de Indias (New Kingdom of Granada) in 1654, is effective in demonstrating the spatial and temporal scope of these events. This extensive scope calls for longer-term reflections that go beyond the Early Modern Age and recognize the inextricable connections between religious and political history.
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