Solomon Molcho

Background

Solomon Molcho was born in Portugal under the name of Diogo Pires about 1500. His parents had been forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism, and he was brought up nominally as a Christian.

Career

He held the post of royal secretary at the court of justice in his native country. When David Reubeni (c. 1490 - 1535), a fantastic adventurer, arrived in Portugal from a mission on behalf of supposedly independent Jewish tribes in Asia, Molko was fired with an enthusiasm that led him to convert to Judaism. Although Reubeni rejected Molko as a companion, Molko circumcised himself, left Portugal, and immersed himself in the study of the mystical Jewish lore, the Cabala, in Italy and Turkey.

In 1529 he published under the title Sefer Ha some sermons he had given as a wanderer in Palestine, in which he announced that the Messianic kingdom would begin in 1540. Returning to Europe, he aroused enthusiasm among the Jews by his eloquent preaching, and he sat among the beggars and maimed at the gates of Rome in order to fulfill the Rabbinic legends regarding the Messiah. Opposed by prominent Jews in Italy who feared that he might mislead their coreligionists, Molko succeeded in gaining access to Pope Clement VII, to whom, it is said, he correctly predicted that Rome would be inundated by a severe flood. The Pope gave him his protection, and the mystical discourses and cabalistic works Molko composed at this time contain many flashes of brilliance and poetic insight. In 1530 he fell in again with Reubeni and went with him to Ratisbon (Regensburg), to influence Emperor Charles V. Molko was arrested and turned over to the Inquisition, and was burned at the stake in Mantua (or perhaps Bologna) in 1532.

Achievements

• A "New Christian" who converted to Judaism, Molcho declared himself the Messiah, was convicted of apostasy by the Inquisition and was ordered burned at the stake.