The Politics of Conversion: Antonio Possevino SJ, Rome and the Conversion of the Family of the French Ambassador to Venice (1601-1607)
This article uses a collection of unpublished letters and documents as well as edited correspondence to trace the development of the friendship between Antonio Possevino SJ (1533-1611) and Philippe de Canaye (1551-1610), the French ambassador to Venice and a recent Catholic convert. These documents...
| Published in: | Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Institution of Catholic Studies
[2019]
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| In: |
Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBG France KBJ Italy KDB Roman Catholic Church KDD Protestant Church |
| Further subjects: | B
Clement VIII, Pope, 1536-1605
B Protestants B Canaye, Philippe, sieur de Fresne, 1551-1610 B Paul V, Pope, 1552-1621 B Possevino, Antonio, 1533 or 4-1611 |
| Summary: | This article uses a collection of unpublished letters and documents as well as edited correspondence to trace the development of the friendship between Antonio Possevino SJ (1533-1611) and Philippe de Canaye (1551-1610), the French ambassador to Venice and a recent Catholic convert. These documents show that Canaye and Possevino used the conversion of Canaye's Protestant family to forge a relationship of obligation between the French ambassador and popes Clement VIII and Paul V. These popes granted private absolutions and various other favours to the Canaye household whilst Canaye used his position and network to help to promote the Catholic cause in Venice and France. This friendship was dramatically ruptured when Paul V placed an interdict on the Republic of Venice, sparking a diplomatic crisis and a fiery debate over the nature and extent of papal authority. Possevino and the pope thought that Canaye would prove a valuable ally but in the event the ambassador sided enthusiastically with the Venetians. This has led some historians to suggest that Canaye was false in his friendship with Possevino and Rome. However, this article uses the ARSI documents along with Canaye's edited letters to argue that Canaye sided with Venice because he did not believe that papal authority could infringe on temporal sovereignty in civil matters and, crucially, that this position was consistent with Canaye's dealings with Rome from the start. By considering the nature of Canaye's relationship with Possevino and the papacy from its beginnings, this article illustrates that, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the religious and political significance of conversion to Catholicism varied radically for both converts and their convertors and that this variation could shock even worldly and experienced missionaries such as Possevino and even the pope himself. (English) |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Jesuiten, Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu
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