4 - Textual Transmission, Pastoral Ministry, and the Re-Fashioning of Eliano’s Intellectual Training

Summary

This chapter follows Eliano’s successful mission in Lebanon, which included the preparation of a printing press in Rome, sending Lebanese seminarians to Italy, a general synod, and dozens of pastoral visits to Lebanese villages. Nevertheless, his superiors remained skeptical of him. In turn, Eliano needed to find new ways to prove to his superiors that he could lead. In previous missions, he relied on his missionary empathy and emphasized that he alone could aid in conversion because of his own experiences. In this mission, Eliano emphasized his textual and pastoral skills that were grounded in his knowledge of Semitic languages as well as knowledge of colloquial Arabic. He also used his knowledge of scriptural exegesis to liken himself to biblical heroes of the faith, such as the prophet Elijah or John the Baptist – his namesakes. Given that his ability to do all of this was honed during his Jewish youth, Eliano surreptitiously promoted himself to his superiors as the only Jesuit who could safeguard the Maronites. This allowed Eliano to bolster his status as Jesuit by emphasizing his Jewishness while successfully distancing himself from anxieties that he was a crypto-Jew.