“Versatility and Inconsistency”: the animosity of Jesuit missionaries towards Ethiopian Christianity and Islam from 1633

• Autor(a) principal: Cohen, Leonardo
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: spa
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34632/lusitaniasacra.2024.15907

In 1633 commenced the exile of the Jesuits who had managed to convert the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia to Catholicism. The new emperor, Fasilädäs, reversed the religious policy of his father, Susәnyos, expelling the Catholic patriarch and other members of the society of Jesus from the African country. From the shores of the Red Sea, the Jesuits, accompanied by some of their Ethiopian coreligionists, began their journey back to Goa, passing through harrowing situations in the Arabian Peninsula. This article analyzes the way in which the missionaries of the Society of Jesus, from 1633 onward, focused on Islam and Ethiopian Christianity viewing the two faiths as sister religions and rivals of Catholicism. It highlights how, from the perspective of the Jesuits, Muslims and Ethiopian Christians formed a bond based on a common temperament, a certain versatility and pliability, which clashes with the discipline and courage of the Portuguese and Catholics. At the same time, the Jesuits accused both traditions, that of the Muslims and the Ethiopian Christians, of excessive rigor regarding fasting and ascetic practices. In short, the political alliance between Fasilädäs and the Muslim kingdoms bordering Ethiopia was conceived by the Jesuits as a result of temperamental similarity. This article suggests, therefore, that the Jesuits perceived both rival religions in terms of common characteristics and traits that linked them as partners and extended beyond doctrine and ritual practice.