7 - Eliano’s Reconciliation with His Jewishness in His Later Years

Summary

In poor health, Eliano was no longer able to conduct missions. However, he continued to write to Egypt concerning others’ efforts to convert the Copts. Eliano’s letters reflect an obsession with securing his legacy given that he was arrested and fled Egypt twice. This chapter also explores Eliano’s 1588 autobiography. Instead of a complete autobiography, Eliano wrote a thirty-seven-page conversion narrative and exploration of his interactions with the Jews. Because Eliano could no longer leave Italy, he used his knowledge of biblical exegesis to recast his conversion as akin to that of the apostle Paul – arguably the most famous Jewish convert to Christianity – in order to demonstrate to his superiors that his conversion was sincere and that it was his purity in spirit, not his birth, that mattered. The final document that this chapter explores is the last extant letter in Eliano’s hand, a deathbed defense of Paolo Mariani written after Eliano had received his Last Rites. This letter expresses Eliano’s continual efforts to convert the Copts as well as his need to present himself as a Catholic, as he knew that death was imminent. This chapter ends with Eliano’s death on 3 March 1589.