MYSTICAL ITALY. THE CONTESTED SIDE OF HOLINESS

Worshipped, contested, abandoned.

This downward spiral marked the fates of dozens of mystics and aspiring saints who lived in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century.

Neglected today by the majority of the faithful, condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities and ignored by scholars, the memory of these figures risks falling into the haze of history and, with it, also the devotional practices and popular cults developed around them.

By forgetting them, we are renouncing any understanding of a significant part of the lived religion of the recent past, as well as ignoring the heterogeneous dimension of venerations shaped ‘from below’ (vox populi) and the importance of minority and marginalised groups (such as emulators of holiness) in contemporary Catholicism.

Following this path means flattening research to the dominant narrative (vox cleri) and feeding the main historiographical mainstreams based on the top-down perspective (officially approved saints and politicised cults). Against this scenario, ‘Mystical Italy.

The contested side of holiness’ (quasi-SANTE) aims to go beyond the institutional and formal approach to the religion to focus on the popular and potentially contested dimension of holiness through the analysis of aspiring saints who, during their lifetime, attracted veneration and suspicion and catalysed public attention.

Through quasi-SANTE, we will get innovative insights into (1) the ‘ordinary people’s’ perception of holiness; (2) the features that mystics had to embody or the skills they had to display to gain the social reputation of ‘living saints’; (3) the devotions judged problematic for the clergy; (4) and how the media, science, and authorities (religious, civil and medical) fit into these dynamics, supporting or opposing them.

Quasi-SANTE will develop scientific articles, international workshops, a database on contested holiness, social and multimedia content, and an exhibition aimed at the scientific community and a wider audience.