Pablo Christiani (or Paul Christian; né "Saúl" or "NN שאול בן" ) was a Sephardi Jews who, having converted to Christianity, used his position as a Dominican Order friar to endeavor to convert other Jews in Europe to Roman Catholicism.
Early life and conversion
Saúl (Shaul ben NN) was born in 13th-Century
Spain to a pious
Jewish family,
[Kobak, Joseph Jeschurun p. 21] and he is believed to have been a student of Rabbi Eliezer of
Tarascon.
[Lattes, Isaac "Kiryat Sefer" in Medieval Hebrew Chronicles II p. 238] Having married a Jewish woman and fathered children with her, he took his children from his wife when he left her after he converted himself and the children to Roman Catholicism.
[Kobak, Joseph Jeschurun pp. 21–22] He then joined the
Dominican Order as a friar.
Disputation of Barcelona and aftermath
Prior to the 1263 Disputation of Barcelona, he followed
Nicholas Donin's lead in attempting to ban the
Talmud, which he argued had "irrational" textual material.
[Kobak, Joseph Jeschurun, pp. 1–15
] As for his participation in the
Disputation, it was his attempt to convert
Nahmanides and other fellow Jews to Christianity. The failure to convert anybody during the Disputation did not, however, discourage Christiani. Through the agency of Raymond de Penyafort and with letters of protection from King James I of Aragon, he went on missionary journeys and attempted to compel Jews across Europe to listen to his speeches and engage with him in debates, both in synagogues, and wherever else he pleased. He even required his audiences to undertake the expenses of his missions.
Campaign against Talmud and immigration to France
In spite of the protection granted him by the king, Christiani did not meet with the success that he had expected on his missions. He, therefore, in 1264 went to Pope Clement IV and denounced the Talmud by making assertions that it contained passages that were derogatory in regards to
Jesus and Mary. He thus persuaded the pope to issue a
papal bull that commanded the bishop of
Tarragona to submit all copies of the Talmud to scrutiny by the Dominicans and
Franciscans.
The bishop of Tarragona then ordered King James to appoint a commission that consisted of Christiani and others to act as censors of the Talmud. Christiani and the rest of the commission hence redacted all passages that they deemed were hostile to Christianity.
Five years later, Christiani interceded with King Louis IX of France and obtained from him the permission to enforcement of the canonical edict that required Jews to wear badges that would single them out as Jews.
See also
-
Criticism of Judaism
-
Criticism of the Talmud
External links
-
Jewish Encyclopedia: "Christiani, Pablo" by Richard Gottheil & Isaac Broydé (1906). Now in public domain.
