ARAM, 16 (2004) 25-46 E. LUPIERI 25 FRIAR IGNATIUS OF JESUS (CARLO LEONELLI) AND THE FIRST “SCHOLARLY” BOOK ON MANDAEANISM (1652) EDMONDO LUPIERI (University of Udine, Italy) 0. One of the most interesting cultural achievements of the 17th century Carmelite mission in Basra1 was Carlo Leonelli’s book entitled “Narration of the Origin, the Rituals, and the Errors of the Christians of St. John.” The only book in those years fully dedicated to the Mandaeans, it remained for two further centuries the best source of indirect knowledge of Mandaea- nism available in the West.2 Though perhaps not so “scholarly” in a contem- porary way of thinking and certainly flawed by factual mistakes and intellec- tual misunderstandings, nevertheless it was the most important attempt by the European Christianity of those days to understand the relatively new and still very mysterious reality of Mandaeanism. But who was this Carlo Leonelli (better knows as Fr. Ignatius of Jesus), what was he doing in Basra, and why did he write such a book? What is his book really about? And, finally, what importance does it hold for us today? 1. Carlo was born in 1596, the fifth of six siblings, in a rich and semi-noble Italian family, the Leonelli Sorbolonghi, of Fossombrone, a small town not far from Pesaro, in central Italy. His mother was a very pious person and this was not without its influence on her children. One of Carlo’s three sisters became a nun, while the first brother, following in his father’s footsteps, studied law,3 1 First hand testimony may be found in H. Gollancz, (ed.), Chronicle of Events between the Years 1623 and 1733 Relating to the Settlement of the Order of the Carmelites in Mesopotamia, (London, 1927) (Latin text and English translation of the history of the mission, written by con- temporary Carmelites); useful, but not too reliable, is the Anonymous (H. Chick), A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia and the Papal Mission of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, 2 vols., (London, 1939). In general, see my The Mandaeans: the Last Gnostics, ch. 2: “The Mandaeans and the West: A History of Interaction”, (Grand Rapids – Cambridge, 2002), pp. 61-126. 2 For the 19th century the following are noteworthy: H. Petermann, Reisen im Orient, (Leip- zig, 18652), vol. 2, ch. xvii, pp. 83-137, and the lengthy n. 46, pp. 445-465, (with a report of Petermann’s trip of 1854), and (notwithstanding some naivety) N. Siouffi, Études sur la religion des Soubbas ou Sabéens, leurs dogmes, leurs moeurs, (Paris, 1880). 3 He was also able to conduct a successful life at the papal court in Rome, despite some tran- sient economical problems, which caused his temporary excommunication. 26 FRIAR IGNATIUS OF JESUS (CARLO LEONELLI) AND THE FIRST “SCHOLARLY” His second brother, Innocenzo, had a very peculiar experience. He was a sol- dier with intense spiritual sentiments and vowed to fight only against the en- emies of his Catholic faith.4 He finally adopted the life of a beggar and a her- mit near Brescia, in Northern Italy, and changed his name to that of Tiburzio Lazzari, thus cancelling any trace of his past richness and nobility. After sev- eral years of deprivation, Innocenzo-Tiburzio fell sick, refused all cures and asked to be brought to a “hospital”, to die poor among the derelicts. And upon his death in 1625, his very body had to be protected by the bishop of Brescia from the hordes of the faithful, desirous of collecting his relics. At first Carlo seemed little affected by the post-Tridentine atmosphere of his family: he successfully studied civil and canon law, had a brilliant career be- fore him, and was deeply involved in worldly activities with his friends. How- ever, at a certain point he disappeared and when his friends heard of him again, he had already decided to become a Barefooted Carmelite. He took vows on Feb. 27, 1623, at the age of 27, and received the name of Ignatius of Jesus. In 1629 he was sent to Isfahan, where he quickly learned the neo-Persian language, and began his long activity as a missionary. In 1634 he was in Shiraz and finally, in 1641, he received the authorization to return to Italy, but later that same year was sent to Basra instead, where he remained until 1652. Once again he was authorized to go back to Italy, and he started his trip full of the hope of seeing his homeland again, but along the way was asked to stay in Lebanon, where he remained for twelve years, until 1664. Finally, old and sick, he was able to come back to Rome, after 35 years spent in the Middle East; he died in Rome, on Feb. 21, 1667, at the age of 71.5 2. Ignatius spent his life during the so-called “Siglo de oro”, the “Golden Century” of imperial Spain. From 1580, when Philip II of Spain was able to assume the crown of Portugal, the Iberian branch of the Habsburgs was at the head of the largest super-power ever seen on the planet, and was effectively the only super-power of that period.6 Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf soon 4 It was not a difficult task in those years since he decided to take part in the crusades against the “heretics” in Bohemia and Hungary. He returned to Italy in 1620. 5 On Ignatius’ life and works, G. Mastandrea, Ignazio di Gesù (1596-1667): Missionario Carmelitano in Medio Oriente, unpublished dissertation, University of Udine (Italy), academic year 1993/94, pp. 315. 6 This fact certainly allowed for the existence of a “golden century” in Spanish history, but was also one of the reasons for a never-ending global war, fought on earth and sea, from the Phil- ippines to Africa, to the Americas, and throughout Europe. The French, English, Dutch and other Protestant powers, such as the Swedes, could not accept this Catholic Spanish-Portuguese su- premacy and succeeded in the end in obtaining a reversal of the world political balance, a re- versal which became manifest in the years Ignatius was in the Middle East. A turning point was E. LUPIERI 27 became the center of conflicting international interests, as they were vital for the control of the commercial lines to and from the East. The Portuguese, from their bases in India (Diu, Goa, the Malabaric coast) and Ceylon, were a con- stant threat to the Islamic powers of the region, since they were able to play a destabilizing role between Turkey and Persia, and especially among their vari- ous vassals in Mesopotamia and Southern Persia and the Arabic tribes, whose instability, both political and religious,7 could determine the future balance of the whole region. The scene changed dramatically on April 22, 1622, when Imam Quli Khan, in the name of the Shah ‘Abbas and with the help of the Dutch and English, took the Portuguese island of Hormuz. And in 1623, Imam Quli Khan built Bandar ‘Abbas, the Harbour of ‘Abbas, on the mainland, in the very place of the Portuguese harbour of Gombrun. The backlash for the Portuguese was heavy and they were obliged to look to Basra, where the local Pasha was afraid of Persian expansionism and ready to welcome Christian help. Two Catholic missions were opened in Basra: a Carmelite one, on April 30, 1623, and an Augustinian one,8 shortly thereafter. In 1624 five men-of-war of the Portuguese fleet saved the independence of Basra’s pashaliq, by repelling a Persian attack. But even among the Catholics, things were not going as smoothly as they should have been. The very fact that there were two missions in the town of Basra was the result of a jurisdictional conflict present in the whole Catholic world. In the first years after the great geographical discoveries of the Spanish and the Portuguese,9 the two Catholic powers10 sought to reach a legal agreement to avoid an internecine war. After all, both considered themselves to be the official heirs of the Roman legal tradition. Thus they reached a rather simple legal solution, which was based solidly on theological ground. The whole world, including the Earth, belongs to God, who exerts His power through 1640, when the Duke of Bragança proclaimed himself king of Portugal, with the name of John IV (only fully recognized, also by the Pope and by Spain, in 1668), but the slow crumbling of Span- ish international power was a long phenomenon, which seemed to come to a standstill only in 1700, when Charles II died childless, leaving Spain in the hands of a French dynasty, the Bour- bons, after having lost all the European dominions outside of Spain itself (the Netherlands, Bel- gium, part of Northern France, Alsace, Milan, Southern Italy, Sicily…). The new king of Spain was another Philip, the grandson of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France (who died in 1715), and France had also begun its involvement in the worldly affairs of the Catholic Church, as would continue to be evident until the end of the 19th century. 7 They were all islamicized, but unequally divided between Sunna and Shiia. 8 For the history of this Augustinian mission among the Mandaeans, see C. Alonso, O.S.A., Los Mandeos y las Misiones Católicas en la primera mitad del s. XVII (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 179, Rome, 1967). 9 In 1492 the Spaniards reached America and in 1498 the Portuguese reached India, after hav- ing circumnavigated Africa. 10 Needless to say, the Reformation had not yet taken place.