Anna del Monte

1732–ca. 1779

Anna del Monte was born in Rome, to a prominent family. In May 1749, del Monte was kidnapped, taken from her home, and imprisoned in the Casa dei Catecumeni (House of Catechumens; founded in 1542 by Ignatius of Loyola for conversionary purposes), in order to convert her to Catholicism. All we know about her and her kidnapping is derived from her diary, in which she recounts the thirteen days of her captivity, during which men and women of the Catholic Church tried to convert her. The diary was published by her brother in 1793.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

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Memoir

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Text
Without warning, on the 20th of April, 1749, at the end of the Passover Festival, Sunday, at about 17 hours [noon], I was kidnapped and taken away by force thanks to a false denunciation made against…