CLAUDIUS (Ethiopian Galāxodēnos). - Sovereign of Ethiopia. He succeeded his father Lebna Denghel (David II) in September 1540, at the age of 18. Very little remained then of Christian Ethiopia, invaded and for the most part occupied by the Muslims led by the "Left-handed One," imām Ahmed ibn Ibrahim. C. wrote to Pope Paul III asking for help against the Muslims. A Portuguese expedition, under the command of Cristóvão da Gama, landed at Massawa in 1541 in aid of the negus. In 1543 the Ethiopians and the Portuguese defeated the "Left-handed One," who died in the battle. Another appeal to the Pope through the abbot Paul, head of the Ethiopian community of Jerusalem, received its answer in Paul III's letter to C. of 23 May 1545. These contacts gave rise to the hope of a reunion of the Ethiopian Church with the See of Rome, although C. had asked for and obtained from the patriarch of Alexandria a new (Monophysite) metropolitan, the abuna Josèf. In such difficult circumstances it was decided to entrust the Catholic mission in Ethiopia, constituted for the first time, to the Society of Jesus. Thus there arrived at C.'s court, on 17 May 1555, Fr. Gonzalo Rodriguez, who began the work, as seemed to him necessary, with great caution. Two years later Fr. Andrea de Oviedo, a Spaniard, appointed coadjutor of the titular patriarch of Ethiopia, Nunhes Barreto (who was never able to reach his see), arrived in his turn at C.'s court and carried out active work to organize the mission and establish good relations with C. Discussions took place with the ecclesiastics of the court, and the sovereign himself took part in them personally.

From this period dates the Confessio Claudii, in which C. sets forth the dogmas of the Ethiopian Church, skillfully passing over the Christological questions, which were fundamental to the polemic of that time, and dwelling instead on the accusations made against the Ethiopians of having accepted Jewish practices. C., moreover, pursued a policy of solidarity with the Ethiopian Church and maintained close contacts with the eččagē Johannēs, head of the monks most opposed to union with Rome.

C. died in 1559 in battle against the Muslims, on Good Friday, and is regarded by the Ethiopians as one of their greatest sovereigns and a martyr.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: W. E. Conselman, Chronique de Galāxodēnos (C.), roi d'Ethiopie, Paris 1895; M. de Castanhoso, Dos Jeitos de d. Christovam da Gama em Ethiopia, ed. F. M. Esteves Pereira, Lisbon 1898; F. Beguinot, La Cronaca abbreviata d'Abiunia, Rome 1901; Rerum Aethiopicarum scriptores, ed. C. Beccari, ibid. 1903-17 (especially vols. V, X and XI; cf. vol. XV s. v. Claudius); I. Ortiz de Urbina, L'Etiopia e la S. Sede nel sec. XVI, in Civ. Catt., 1934, iv, pp. 328-39; E. Cerulli, Etiopi in Palestina, I, Rome 1943, pp. 430-38.

Enrico Cerulli

@incollection{ec3_claudio_etiopico_galaxodenos, author = {Cerulli, Enrico}, title = {Claudio (Etiopico GalĀXodĒNos)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1793--1794}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/claudio-etiopico-galaxodenos} }

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Claudius (Ethiopian Galāxodēnos)

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