La Casa dei Catecumeni di Roma tra attività assistenziale e creazione di manodopera nel XVIII secolo

The article focuses on the relief work of the House of Catechumens and Neophytes of Rome in the 18th century, in order to demonstrate its commercial character. The House aimed to prepare for the baptism Muslims, Jews, and slaves of different religious confessions, furthermore to provide subsidy and work to neophytes. Precisely, concerning labour, the objective of this article is to demonstrate – taking into consideration the living conditions and the work of two different groups of neophytes who inhabited the Pia Casa, free spinsters and slaves – how the House operated both creating manpower and selling it subsequently. The manpower was used in the House itself and then by private citizens or by the Papal States. Neophyte spinsters inside the House and slaves, before and after the passage into the House, had represented throughout the eighteenth century an important workforce for textile production and manufacturing. Labour was a form of coercion but also a way to improve the juridical and social status of the neophytes once they left the House in the Roman context.