Zaga Christ

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Portrait of Zaga Christ by Giovanna Garzoni. Turin, 1635

Zaga Christ (c. 1610 – April 22, 1638), also referred to as Ṣägga Krəstos[citation needed], Atənatewos,[1] and Lessana Krəstos[citation needed], was a seventeenth-century Ethiopian man who, after having been imprisoned, claimed to be the son of Emperor Yaˁəqob I of Ethiopia. [citation needed] Zaga Christ travelled extensively, living in Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and later Italy. There he met the Pope and fell in love with the franciscan nun Caterina Massimi, [citation needed] who he corresponded with from the years of 1633 to 1637 with letters of love written in their own blood. [citation needed] Zaga Christ died the following year of pleurisy while in France,[1] where the letters were later discovered. [citation needed]

Accounts of his story

There are many accounts of his life story. The French Franciscan friar Eugène Roger met Zaga Christ in Nazareth (then part of Ottoman Empire) and was familiar with his whereabouts from there until his death.[2] Rèchac's accounts came from an Italian manuscript, written by Zaga Christ himself when he was living in Rome.[1] The Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia, Afonso Mendes, devoted a letter in 1638 to disputing his claims of royal birth.[3]

Early Age

Depending on the author, Zaga Christ was born between 1610 and 1614. While he claimed King

Sennar Kingdom, where he was received in the court of King Orbat. After a falling out with King Orbat over Zaga marrying his daughter, and the threat of death from Susenyos, Zaga left for Cairo. He later left Cairo and arrived in Jerusalem during Lent of 1632, where he was seen by Roger. For security reasons, he then left for Nazareth. He was received into the Catholic Church by Father Paolo da Lodi, then Custodian of the Holy Land.[1]

In Europe

From September 1632 until October 1634, he lived in

Rueil with the epitaph (translated from French) "Here lies the king of Ethiopia\ The original or the copy."[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Crawford, Osbert G.S. (1950). "The Strange Adventures of Zaga Christ". Sudan Notes and Record. 31: 287–296. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  2. ^ F. Eugene Roger, La Terre Sainte, ou, Description topographique tres-particuliere des Saints Lieux, & de la Terre de Promission, Paris: Antoine Bertier, 1664
  3. ^ Beccari, Camillo (January 1, 1913). Rerum aethiopicarum scriptores occidentales inediti a saeculo XVI ad XIX (in Portuguese). excudebat C. de Luigi. pp. 146–151.
  4. ^ a b Ingram, John Henry (1882). Claimants to Royalty. London, England: Hazell, Watson, and Viney. p. 144. Zaga Christ.
  5. ISBN 0-226-52621-6
    .
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