Un gioco per insegnare la dottrina cristiana dal Nord America all’Armenia. Alle origini del catechismo illustrato di Mechitar (1737)

This article investigates the origins of an illustrated Armenian catechism printed in Venice in 1737. It was designed to accompany a sort of goose game in which the different squares contained emblems corresponding to the mysteries of the Christian faith. Although the text and the game were published at the behest of Abbot Mekhitar (founder of a Catholic monastic order of great importance for the history of Armenian culture) and are usually attributed to him, we will show that they can be traced back to one of the most renowned Jesuit missionaries active in Persia and the Ottoman Empire, Father Jacques Villotte, who in turn was probably inspired by a game developed earlier by another Jesuit in the Quebec missions. In reconstructing the history of this work, we will also highlight the central role played by various actors in the field of missionary printing in Armenian: the Society of Jesus, the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, the Mekhitarist Order and the Venetian printing house of Antonio Bortoli.