IOURNAL Or MODERNI I TAL IAN STI.JDIES Volume 7 Number 1 Spring 2002 Hl *Î,"YIr,,:*Ps",, lssN 1354-571X ,f Journal of Modern ltalian Studies Journal of Modern ltalian Studies Editors: John A. Davis, lJniversity of Connecticut David L Kertzer, Brown University Contents All cnquiries concerning the submission of articles should be addressed to: The Editors,JMIS, Univcrsity of Connecticut,24l Glenbrook Road, Storrs, CT 06269-2703, USA. Email: jrrris@rrt onnvnr.uconn.edu Voiume 7 Number 1 Vicws cxprcssed in contributions published inJMlS are not necessarily those of thejournal or its col tors, 2002 Find out more aboutJMlS by looking at the website: Spring http: //www.indiana.edu/-opencity -|he Journal oJ Modern Italían Stud¡es is published three tines a year (Spring, Summer, Fatt) by Taylor & Francis Ltd, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK, in âssociâtion with the Special issue: Annarita Buttafuoco ( | 95 l-99) and women's Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofrci. 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US postmters: send address changes to oJ Jmica, Jounnl Peter Jan Margry 88 Modern Italían S¡ødí¿s, Publicatrons Expediting Inc., 200 Meacham Avenue, Elmont, NY 11003, USA. Air Êeight and ruiling in the USA by Publications Expediting Inc. Maggi's Croce, Sasso's Gentile and the riddles of twenrieth-cenrury Subscription rates forVolume 7 (2002): Italian intellectual h¡story UK/EC: institutions {,129 personal Ã31 David D. Roberts il6 US,\/Canada: institutions $211 personal $48 Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Hístorícal Abstracts and Am¿rica: Review art¡cle Hßtory and Lífe. On mafiology.. Periodica.ls postage paid at Rahway. Peter Schneider t45 Typeset by Type Study, Scarborough Printed in the UK by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow 3) Routledqe Journal of Modern ltalian Studies 7( l) 2002:88-l l5 $\ rayrorarnncircroup Merchandising and sanctity:the Padre Pio cult PERSPECTIVES AND DEBATES since the mid-1990s is quite unprecedenred. Never before in the history of Christendom has the cult of a saint expanded so rapidly and so intensely The cult surrounding the Padre, beatified on 2 May 1999, is so inrense thar ir Merchandising and sanct¡ty: the invasive cult of Padre has diminished, overtaken or even entirely replaced older local devotions. As a Pio result, the Italian devotional landscape has been both expanded and levelled down by Padre Pio in recent years. Patterns and mechanisms of devotional com- petition are not unusual, but in the case of Pio, their extent, intensiry and speed Peter Jan Margry are exceptional. Everything to do with him is in superlatives. Thus not only has Royal Netherlands Academy of Arß and Sciences a unique devotion grown up around this Capuchin,but he can himself be termed 'destructor devotionis', the suppressor of cults. In this article, I examine the nature and growth of his cult, and the reduction and displacement of, or s)¡rn- biosis with, other devotions that has accompanied it. The person Abstract Enough books to fill a library have been written about Padre Pio,1 and exten- In the ûnal decades of the wventieth century the Blessed Padre Pio da Pietrelcina sive archives have been collected.z Padre Pio was born as Francesco Forgione on (1887-19ó8) became a'saint' of global stature. It is most exceptional for the cult of a 25 May 1887, in the village of Pietrelcina, abour 100 kilometres north-easr of saint to acquire such dimensions in so short a time. Further, this is the story not of Naples. As a child he was already deeply reJigious, had mystical experiences, and someone with a modern proûle of sancdry but someone who on the contrary answers tried to emulate St Francis Assisi. to the traditional model of sanctiry and whose cult is moreover characterized by an of At the age of 15 he enrered the Capuchin instrumental devotional repertoire. Despite this'classic'model, his person and cult are monastery at Morcone, taking the name Pio. He moved from one Capuchin extremely ambiguous. This article describes and analyses the processes which have communiry to another until he found his ultimate home at the monastery of brought and continue to bring this about, and the recent development of the cult in Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo, a small city in the impov- Italy. By these processes a controversial cult, often associated with anti-ecclesiastical erished southern Italian region of Apulia, near the Adriatic Sea. Although suffer- devotional ectivities and of limited scope, has become one of the most important and ing from poor health and an additional self-imposed strict ascetic regime, he irreproachable in ltaly. In part through the personal support of Pope John Paul II, in about a decade Padre Pio has grown from a friar in a controversial fundamentalist began his work for the area's needy residents. His spiritual gifts and stigmata context to an almost invulnerable national saint, who is beginning to become a part became widely known. As a result he became - and remained until his death on of the Italian identity. 23 September 1968 - the most important confessor and spiritual adviser in the The power of his cult is so strong - a devotional avalanche - that it has sidelined monastery. other cults, and to an increasingly large degree deûnes the Italian sacred landscape. The FIe was the proverbial'living legend', a person Pio cult encroaches on other devotions, and moreover is becoming its own competi- who literally lived'in the odour tor: to an increasing degree Pio's central pilgrimage site at San Giovanni Rotondo is of sanctiry', who had a multitude of devotees and critics, chiefly in Italy but also losing pilgrims to the secondary pilgrimage site at Piet¡elcina and to the hundreds of in other countries. His life was marked by his peculiar gifts, both his penerraring chapels and local shrines that have sprung up the length of Italy. manner of hearing confession and saying the Mass, and his stigmata and miracu- lous powers. From the beginning of his life in the Church, much has been Keywords written about him. But just as many details about his life are shrouded in mystery Saint (cult), sanctiry (contemporary) devotion, Padre Pio, Italy, Catholic funda- so also are the sources. Despite the deluge of material, it is difrcult to find trust- mentelism. worthy, verifiable sources on him and his cult. A good deal has been written (much of it exaggerated) about him, but most of the authenric documents are kept in sealed archives. The extensive dossier for the beatification process may be Visitors to Italy in the final years of the rvventieth century encountered imporu- considered one of the most trustworthy sources. In view of the historic al/ ctiticil, ant questions about the nature of popular devorions. How is it possible that ven- methods which are in principle used for the compilation of such dossiers