Printing the Faith: On Four Question-and-Answer Armenian Catechisms Published in Early 18th-Century Venice

In the first decades of the 18th century, four Catholic catechisms were printed in Armenian in Venice: the first (1710) by the French Jesuit Jacques Villotte; the second (1715) by the Armenian Dominican friars Petros P‘ēhluan and Grigor Guliar; and two subsequent works (1725, 1727) by Mkhit‘ar Sebastats‘i, founder of the Mkhit‘arist Order. This paper examines the compositional structures and compilation strategies employed in these texts. Collectively, these works—reflecting the diverse backgrounds of their authors—offer a unique lens through which to investigate the distinct pedagogical and doctrinal approaches adopted by different actors to instruct Armenians in the teachings of the Catholic faith.