Latin missionaries and Catholics in Constantinople 1650-1760 : between local religious culture and confessional determination

Abstract

This thesis examines the actions of the Latin missionaries in the Latin Catholic community of Constantinople between 1650 and 1760. In Constantinople as well as in other mission territories, missionaries were constantly confronted with the universal claims of the post-Tridentine Catholic Church and the practical requirements of the local pluri-religious context. The main aim of this dissertation is to analyze how the missionaries acted within the local context of Constantinople. In terms of methodology, this study combines the approaches of recent research on Early Modern Catholicism after the Council of Trent, of closely related research on extra-European local Christianities and of recent social and cultural research on the Ottoman Empire. In order to work out the processes of negotiation and appropriation between the different actors, the thesis adopts a micro-historical approach and an actor-focused perspective. First, the thesis focuses on the institutional actors, as the representatives of the local Latin Catholics, the patriarchal vicars and missionaries as well as the ambassadors of the European powers. Secondly, the tensions between Roman standards and the local requirements are analyzed with regard to the Constantinopolitan sacramental practice regarding baptism, marriage and funeral rituals. Finally, issues related to the crossing of religious boundaries are explored. The study reveals that the multi-religious structure of Constantinople and the strong position of the French ambassador limited the influence of the Roman Curia on the Latin Catholic community remarkably. Moreover, it emerges how, rather than represent Roman standards, the missionaries acted to a large extent as representatives of the local Latin Catholics.