Mortara case significant person Edgardo Mortara
Father Mortara
Edgardo found shelter in a convent of the Canons Regular in Austria, where he lived under an assumed name. In 1872 he moved to a monastery at Poitiers in France, where Pope Pius regularly corresponded with the bishop about the young man. After a year, Pio Edgardo Mortara was ordained as a priest – with special dispensation as at 21 he was technically too young. He received a personal letter from the Pope to mark the occasion and a lifetime trust fund of 7,000 lire to support him.Father Mortara spent most of the rest of his life outside Italy, travelling throughout Europe and preaching. It was said that he could give sermons in six languages, including Basque, and read three more, including Hebrew. "As a preacher he was in great demand," Kertzer writes,