Was Niccolò Oddi a Jesuit?: Pamphlets, News, and His Disputed Deathbed Religious Profession

This essay explores the life and career of Niccolò Oddi (1715–67). Associated with Ludovico Maria Torrigiani, the pro-Jesuit secretary of state during the pontificate of Clement xiii, Oddi was not himself a member of the Society, but a man who would defend it in the years when the survival of the order was the principal issue that occupied the papal court, and when Europe was abuzz with polemical anti-Jesuit tracts. As papal nuncio in Switzerland, Oddi opposed the printing and circulation of anti-Jesuit publications; later, he became the archbishop of Ravenna and a cardinal. By some he is considered a Jesuit, for he seems to have joined the Society just before his death by making religious profession. Did this really happen? Or, was it part of propaganda employed by the Jesuits themselves? Or, was it a myth circulated by Society’s enemies? Oddi’s case may be considered informative for many reasons. His alleged religious profession before dying, which was discussed in the newspapers of the time, can be interpreted as an important episode in the political-religious struggle that accompanied the suppression of the Jesuits between real and fake news.