JUSTUS OF URBINO (CURTOPASSI). - Capuchin missionary and Ethiopianist, b. at Matraia (Lucca) on 30 Aug. 1814, d. at Hartom on 21 Sept. 1856. Having set out for East Africa (1846), he was then expelled from Ethiopia in 1855, took refuge in Egypt, and died a confessor of the faith and a martyr of obedience, in the attempt to return to his mission.

Recent archival research has restored the value of his religious and cultural work, against earlier unfavorable judgments.

He wrote a catechism and a ritual of the Ethiopian Church, and translated F. Bourgade's Les soirées de Carthage (ms. no. 165 of the Ethiopian codices of the Vatican Library). He composed (1849) an Ethiopic-Latin dictionary (Rome, Library of the Royal Italian Geographical Society), an Ethiopic grammar (1850-54), together with literary compositions, and at the same time an Ethiopic-French-Amharic dictionary (Rome, National Library, oriental ms. no. 134; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, mss. no. 216 and 217 of the collection of Ethiopian manuscripts D'Abbadie).

These works of great scientific value have been partially edited by S. Grébaut (Aethiops, 4 [1931], pp. 36-43, 50-58; Aethiopica, 2 [1934], pp. 1-9, 33-36; 3 [1935], pp. 41-44, 118-24, 175-81), and have often been widely used by Orientalists and Ethiopianists.

Finally, the attribution to Fr. G. of the twofold deist treatise Hatatā Zar'a Jā'qob ("Examination of Zar'a Jā'qob") and Hatatā Walda Heywat, in which all revealed religion is denied, proves to be unfounded. In an autograph of his dated 20 Sept. 1852, not hitherto noted, Fr. G. stated to D'Abbadie: "You have found some very curious books... I too have found a strange book in Abyssinia. It is a kind of novel or biographical history, written by a deist philosopher of the time of the Portuguese... It seems to me interesting for the history of the time and for the novelty of the genre in Abyssinia." Having meanwhile had the opportunity to buy it, half a year later, on 10 Febr. 1853, he wrote again: "I have found at last that strange book I announced to you... I have begun a copy of it (for you)." And in a note added at the end of the aforesaid copy sent to D'Abbadie (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, no. 234 of the Ethiopian manuscripts of the D'Abbadie collection), for the third time he reaffirmed: "I found this book by chance: in truth I did not know it... Two years ago (1851) I had seen another copy." Against this testimony, confirmed by other documents and by the concordant Ethiopian tradition, it is unjust to attribute to a meritorious missionary an unspeakable work of apostasy.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: A. D'Abbadie, Catalogue rationnel des manuscrits éthiopiens, Paris 1859, nos. 215 and 234; F. Tarducci, Il p. G. da U. missionario in Abissinia e le esplorazioni africane, Faenza 1899 (a highly subjective and fanciful interpretation that cast reckless doubts on the figure of Fr. G.); E. Littmann, Philosophis Abessini (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, XXXI), Paris 1904; C. Conti Rossini, Lo Hatatā Zar'a Yā'qob e il p. G. da U., in Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, Sc. mor., 5th series, 29 (1920), pp. 213-23; J. Simon, Le Hatatā Zar'a Yā'qob et le Hatatā Walda Heywat, in Orientalia, 5 (1936), pp. 93-101.

Carmelo da Sessão

@incollection{ec6_giusto_da_urbino_curtopassi, author = {Carmelo da Sessano}, title = {Giusto da Urbino (Curtopassi)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {863}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giusto-da-urbino-curtopassi} }

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Justus of Urbino (Curtopassi)

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