The neofiti ( en,
Neophyte
A neophyte is a recent Initiation, initiate or Religious conversion, convert to a subject or belief.
Neophyte may also refer to:
Science
* Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area
As a proper noun Arts and entertainme ...
s) were a group of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
''
anusim
Anusim ( he, אֲנוּסִים, ; singular male, anús, he, אָנוּס ; singular female, anusáh, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in ''halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically ...
'', also known as
crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...
, living in
Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
.
History
The ''neofiti'' were descendants of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
who were
forced to convert to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
in 1493. They continued to secretly practice certain elements of Judaism, as did many of their descendants.
In the 1490s the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
ruthlessly hunted the ''neofiti'' and many were tortured and executed, especially in Sicily.
Today, some descendants of ''neofiti'' in
Calabria
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and
Apulia
it, Pugliese
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have converted back to Judaism and revived their former Jewish congregations.
See also
*
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The move ...
*
Allahdad
The Allahdad ( fa, الله داد, ) was an 1839 pogrom perpetrated by Muslims against the Mashhadi Jewish community in the city of Mashhad, Qajar Iran. It was characterized by the mass-killing and forced conversion of the Jews in the area to ...
*
Chala
The Chala or "Coast" is one of the eight natural regions in Peru. It is formed by all the western lands that arise from sea level up to the height of 500 meters. The coastal desert of Peru is largely devoid of vegetation but a unique fog and mist- ...
*
Converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian po ...
*
Marrano
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...
*
Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. The extant copy consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Torah, with only a few damaged verses.
More than a mere Aramaic tran ...
*
History of the Jews in Apulia
The history of the Jews in Apulia (called in Italian ''Puglia'') can be traced back over two thousand years. Apulia (from the Greek ''Ἀπουλία'', in it, Puglia, ) in Hebrew:פוליה) is a region in the "heel of the boot" of the penins ...
*
History of the Jews in Calabria
The history of the Jews in Calabria reaches back over two millennia. Calabria ( he, קלבריה) is at the very south of the Italian peninsula, to which it is connected by the Monte Pollino massif, while on the east, south and west it is surrou ...
*
History of the Jews in Sicily
The history of the Jews in Sicily potentially begins as far back as two millennia, with a substantial Jewish presence on the southern Italian island before their expulsion in the fifteenth century.
Ancient history
There is a legend that Jews we ...
References
{{reflist
External links
terminiimerese.wordpress.comescholarship.org
Jewish Italian history
Italian people of Jewish descent
Crypto-Jews