Converted in Rome: an ambassador from the Congo at the time of Pope Borghese

CYCLE: Open Doors. Rome through the centuries, at the centre of the world.
SPEAKER: Sabina Pavone
DATE: Thursday 17 April, 6 pm

In the early modern age, many conversion stories sent by missionaries active in non-European countries flowed into Rome. Tales sometimes brutal, sometimes edifying, but all ultimately intended to celebrate the universal vocation of the Church of Rome. From the four corners of the world came not only tales but also princes, ambassadors, scholars, impostors converted or about to convert to Catholicism. The arrival of the ambassador of the Catholic ruler of the Congo, Álvaro II, caused a particular stir: having arrived in Rome in 1608, António Manuel Nsaku ne Vunda, known as Negrita, died there after only a few days; he had in fact already arrived ill and was just in time to receive a visit from Pope Paul V. His albeit brief visit, followed by his death, caused quite a stir and a bust was also erected in his memory in the church of S. Maria Maggiore where he was buried. The episode, as well as telling the story of a Congolese convert, highlights the complex relations between the Church of Rome and the Portuguese patronage in the early 17th century, which would soon lead to the foundation of the congregation De Propaganda Fide.

Sabina Pavone is Professor of History of Christianity at the University of Naples L'Orientale. She deals with religious history and cultural history and works mainly on the missionary world in non-European contexts such as India and Ethiopia. Recent publications include: with C. Petrolini and V. Lavenia, Sacre metamorfosi. Tales of Conversion between Rome and the World in the Modern Age (Viella, 2022); Eloquent Images. Evangelisation, Conversion and Propaganda in the Global World of the Early Modern Period, edited by G. Capriotti, P.-A. Fabre, S. Pavone (Leuven UP, 2022).

Free admission subject to availability.