Teramo Castelli

Self portrait

Teramo Castelli (* 1597 in Genoa , † 3. October 1659 ) was an Italian missionary of Theatines in Georgia .

As a clergyman he called himself Christoforo (Christoforo de Castelli).

Castelli came from a noble family and studied in Palermo. He wanted to be a missionary and joined the Theatinians when he learned that they were planning a mission to Georgia in 1631, where he arrived the following year. First he was in Gori in the Kingdom of Kartlien , where Teimuraz I ruled. Georgia belongs to an independent Orthodox Church (whose clergy was corrupt and enjoyed little respect in the population), but the mission was also supposed to establish contacts, especially since King Teimuraz I had already established contacts with the Pope and in Spain to gain allies against to have the Persians and Turks quarreling over the land (he had also offered submission to the Catholic Church). From 1634 to 1639 (when they were undesirable after a change of ruler) they had a mission with college in Osurgeti in Gurien in western Georgia, then in Mingrelia near the city of Cippurias. They were also in Imeretia from 1644 to 1646 at the invitation of King Alexander III , but the local Orthodox Patriarch did not like it and got support from the Patriarch in Constantinople to end the mission. They were popular with the population, but mostly hostile to the Orthodox clergy. As missionaries, they campaigned against the widespread killing of children and the bad habit of selling servants and relatives to the Turks as slaves.

In his missionary work, he also distinguished himself as a painter and medicin. He is also said to have written works (theological meditations) in Georgian.

Extensive manuscripts by him with travelogues (he traveled almost all of Georgia) and over a thousand sketches from Georgia are in the city library of Palermo. Among the sketches are those of the life of the people, but also of rulers and important personalities (such as Giorgi Saakadze , Alexander III of Imereti and Teimuraz I).

Drawings by Castelli

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  Market square with church

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  Alexander III of Imereti

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  Castelli with Teimuraz I.

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  Teimuraz I. with his wife

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  Giorgi Saakadze

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  Gori fortress around 1642

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  Georgian war exercises

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  Georgian prince on the hunt

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  Georgi X. of Kartlien

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  Georgian maid

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  Missionary work in Samegrelo

literature

• Istoria delle missioni de chierici regolari Teatini, Rome 1704,
• M. Tamarati : Histoire du catholicisme en Géorgie, Tiflis 1902
• M. Tamarati: L'Eglise géorgienne des origines iusqu'à nos jours, Rome 1910 (with many drawings by Castelli)
• WED Allen: A History of the Georgian People, London 1932 (also with many drawings by Castelli)
• C. Picone Chiodo: Un siciliano in Georgia: Teramo Castelli, in: Arch. Stor. sicil., s. 3, XVIII (1968), pp. 267-277
• A. Eszer: Missions in the peripheral zones of world history: Crimea, Caucasus and Georgia, in: Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide Memoria Rerum 1622–1972, Rome-Freiburg-Vienna 1971, volume I.

Web links

• Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 1979 (Treccani)