Merchandising and sanctity: the invasive cult of Padre Pio

REFERENCES

• A large proportion of this 'library' is to be found in San Giovanni Rotondo. All publications concerning Padre Pio and his cult are collected in the SaIa di lettura Padre Pio, on the Viale Cappuccini 99,71023 San Giovanni Rotondo. The library was founded in 1990, close by the shrine and the hospital, and specializes in three subjects: the spirituality and life of Padre Pio; the spirituality and history of the Franciscan movement, of which Padre Pio was a member, and the spirituality and history of the Church; and the history of San Giovanni Rotondo, Apulia and Italy, and other countries in so far as they are relevant to Padre Pio. In 2000 it comprised about 35,000 books, 5,000 brochures, 2,500 manuscripts and 60 periodical tides; on this library, see Antonio Villani, 'La SaIa di lettura Padre Pio', Voce di Padre Pio 31 (October 2000): 42-3. See further the now dated bibliography, A. da Ripabottoni, Molti hanno scritto di lui, Bibliografia su Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, 2 vols (San Giovanni Rotondo: Ed. Padre Pio, 1986), and the hundreds of titles on Pio that can be found through the Isrituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico: http; //opac.sbn.it.
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• These are primarily letters: M. de Pobladura and A. da Ripabottoni (eds) Padre Pio da Pietrelcina. Epistolario, 4 vols (San Giovanni Rotondo: Ed. Padre Pio, 1975-84); Gerardo di Flumeri (ed.) Padre Pio da Pietrelcina. Lavori scolastici (San Giovanni Rotondo: Ed Padre Pio, 1993); Felice D'Onofrio and Pietro Zarrella (eds) Pio da Pietrelcina, Dolcissimo Iddio, 41 lettere inedite alla diletta figlia spirituale Giuseppina Morgen (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 1994).
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• Alessandro da Ripabottoni, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina. Un cireneo per tutti (Foggia, 1974); later a condensed edition was produced under the same tide, which was also translated into English as: Padre Pio of Pietrelcina:Everybody's Cyrenean' (2nd edn 1996), and die Official' biography by Fernando da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, crocifisso senza croce (Rome, 1975; San Giovanni Rotondo: Ed. Padre Pio, 1998, 6th edn); for the information given in this article about the person of Pio, the reader is referred to these volumes. See further the short contribution by Alessandro da Ripabottoni,'Forgione, Francesco', in Bibliotheca Sanctorum prima appendice (Rome: CittÀ Nuova, 1987), p. 498. The journal is published by the Capuchins: Studi su Padre Pio. Rassegna quadrimestrale di ricerche su Padre Pio 1 (2000) (January-April) (publisher: Edizione Voce di Padre Pio).
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• For instance, G. De Rosa et al., Storia dell'Italia religiosa, dl. 3: L'etÀ contemporanea (Bari: Laterza, 1995), p. 367, with several short mentions of Pio.
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• Regarding this, see: Ennemond Boniface, Padre Pio de Pietrelcina. Vie -- oeuvres --passion. Essai historique (n.p.: La Table Ronde, 1966), pp. 121-263; Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 265-85; and further, Francobaldo Chiocci, I nemici di Padre Pio (Rome: Ed.'Reporter', 1968).
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• Agostino Gemelli, 'Le affermazioni della scienza intorno alle stimmate di S. Francesco', Studi Francescani 10 (1924): 364-404. On Gemelli: see G. Cosmacini, Gemelli. Il Machiavelli di Dio (Milan: Rizzoli, 1986).
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• For one such bilocation involving Padre Pio see 'A sister receives direction', The Voice of Padre Pio 30 (2) (2000): 8-9.
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• After Pio was stigmatizzato, he became gemellizzato; for this epithet see Rina Cammileri, La storia di Padre Pio (Casale Monferrata: Piemme, 1993), pp. 77-91.
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• Matilde Passa, Lacrime e sangue. Viaggio nella religiositÀ populare (Milan: Baldini & Castoldi,2000),p. 126.
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• De Rosa et al., Storia dell'Italia religiosa, vol. 3: L'etd contemporanea, p. 363 (concerning John XXIII).
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• For this Pope, see, Enciclopedia dei papi, vol. 3 (Rome: Istituto Enciclopedia Italia, 2000), pp. 681-97; A. Vircondelet Jean-Paul II (Paris: Julliard, 1994); T. Szulc, Pope John Paul II. The Biography (New York: Scribner, 1995); M. Politi and M. Bernstein, Sua SantitÀ (Milan: Rizzoli, 1996); Daniele Menozzi, I papi del '900 (Florence: Casterman, 2000), pp. 94-123.
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• An English translation of the decree can be found at: www-ncfpp.org/vatdec-htm. For the beatification and its effects on the media and society: M. I. Macioti,'L'ultimo dei bead: padre Pio da Pietrelcina', La Critica Sociologica 129 (June 1999): 139-50.
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• Pierangelo Sapegno, 'Trufiati i frati di Padre Pio. Miliardi in fumo, finanziere condannato', La Stampa, 17 February 2001, p. 14.
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• Luigi Cancrini,'Perizia psichiatrica di Padre Pio', MicroMega,Almanacco di filosofia 3 (1999): 194-200.
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• For a brief discussion of San Giovanni Rotondo and its cults, in its development strongly 'captive' to anthropological concepts, see McKevitt, 'San Giovanni Rotondo and the shrine of Padre Pio', pp. 77-97; among many others see further the sites: wwwpadrepio.it. wwwpadre-pio.com. wwwvocedipadrepio-com/. wwwoperapadrepio.it., www.abol.it/padrepio/ and padrepio-freeservers-com.
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• In the 1980s his cult was not yet so general or disseminated through all social classes; see Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 122-7,287-339; in the 1990s the cult became more or less general. For a listing of Italian VIPs among Pio's devotissimi, see for instance: Laura delli Colli, 'Al Padre Pio fan club', Panorama, 23 November 2000, p. 19.
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• See for instance: Luigi Peroni, Padre Pio, U San Francesco dei nostri tempi (n.p.: Borla, 1998).
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• This writer did not have an opportunity to conduct large-scale quantitative research on this point. But on the basis of a large number of interviews and conversations with Italians and a survey of media reports, the number of persistent opponents or critics of Padre Pio can be estimated at less than 5 per cent of the total population. Also, as a rule writers are no longer negative towards him: Antonio Motta, Scrittori per Padre Pio (Novaria: Interlinea, 1999).
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• For the significance of the hospital, see: McKevitt, ' "To suffer and never to die" ' pp. 62-6, and further, Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 311-35. Regarding conversions and the hospital, see also for a pleasant impression of the cult practice in 1968: H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Southern Italy (London: Methuen, 1969).
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• Informant, age 48, from Mollia (VC), 26 December 2000. Bilocation is the quality or capacity of being physically (or at least visibly) present in two different places at the same time. In certain respects, one could qualify one of the two situations as an apparition. See regarding this Celia Green, Esperienze di bilocazione (Rome: Ed. Mediterranea, 1970).
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• Regarding impurity and hygienic discipline through collective self-compulsion, see: Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger (London: Routledge, 1966); Norbert Elias, über den Prozess der Zivilisation, Soziogenetische und psychogenetische Untersuchungen (Basel: Haus zum Falken, 1939), the paragraph on personal hygiene;William Ward, Getting It Right in Italy. A Manual for the 1990s (London: Bloomsbury, 1990), the chapter 'L'uomo: body and mind' (on hygiene).
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• On his model of suffering see: McKevitt, ' "To suffer and never to die" ', p. 59.
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• On his practice in confession, see Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 201-31.
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• Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 253-62. The percentages were obtained on the basis of answers to open questions in the surveys: a percentage shift occurred with multiple choice questions.
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• Regarding pilgrims' participation in rituals, see Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 228-46.
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• For these qualities see, among others: Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 185-98; Jim Gallagher, Padre Pio, apparizioni, guarigioni e miracoli nelle testimonianze di chi Io ha conosciuto (Milan: San Paolo, 1999), pp. 32-124.
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• Regarding Pio's profumo, see: Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 186-91; Umberto Cordier, Guida ai luoghi miracolosi d'ltalia (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 2000),p. 339; Elena Bergalano, Padre Pio. II profumo dell'amore (Milan: Paoline, 1999).
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• See the letter sent in by a French Pio devotee: 'Padre Pio, superstar', The Tablet, 23 January 1999.
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• Jeroen Smith, 'De gestigmatiseerde priester uit San Giovanni Rotondo', Katholiek Nieuwsblad, 23 April 1999, p. 24.
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• In addition to the usual votive gifts, a separate genre appears to have arisen of making portraits of Padre Pio or otherwise depicting him, by drawing, painting, making mosaics, in needlework or carving. A great deal of this amateur art or craft work hangs in the shrine or in the SaIa di lettura Padre Pio, and is further stored in the archive. See also Antonio Ciccone, Padre Pio vista da Antonio Ciccone: dipinti, disegni, schizzi e una litografia dal 1958 al 1999 (Florence, 1999). For practical reasons, it is almost impossible to discourage tossing money offerings and letters of intention. Graffiti have been systematically removed at least since the 1960s; see Morton, A Traveller in Southern Italy. In this connection, it is startling that the study by G. B. Bronzini (ed.) Ex voto e santuari in Puglia I: Il Gargano (Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1993), entirely neglects the Pio/Mary shrine at San Giovanni Rotondo and its votive gifts.
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• See Francesco de Palma, 'La santitÀ postconciliare: considerazioni statistiche, tipologiche e sociologiche per una stork delle canonizzazioni', in Francesco Scorza Barcellona (ed.) Santi del Novecento,storia,agiografia,canonizzazione (Turin: Rosenberg & Sellier, 1998), pp. 49-82.
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• For the ecclesiastical politics of this Pope, see Menozzi, I papi del '900, pp 94-123.
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• They were united in the International Association for the Defense of the Person and Works of Padre Pio; see Boniface, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, p. 199.
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• Anna-Maria Turi, Pourqoui la Vierge apparait aujourd'hui (Paris: Félin, 1988), pp. 55-6.
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• For this see Peter Jan Margry, 'La terra di nessuno dei devoti. Strategie e difiusione di devozioni informali a caracttere transnazionale nell'Italia e nell'Olanda contemporanee', forthcoming in La Critica Sociologica.
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• For instance, the apparitions at Garabandal, rejected in 1967 by the Bishop of Santander; these were subsequently promoted particularly by Pio supporters because Pio had acknowledged these appearances as authentic; see: Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz, Encountering Mary. Visions of Mary from La Salette to Medjugorje (New York: Avon, 1992), pp. 228-9; N. Perry and L. Echeverria, Under the Heel of Mary (New York: Roudedge, 1988), pp. 264-5; William A. Christian, Jr, Visionaries. The Spanish Republic and the Reign of Christ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 25, 284,398.
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• For Catholic fundamentalism in general, see: W. Beinert (ed.) Katholische Fundamentalismus. Häretische Gruppen in der Kirche? (Regensburg: Pustet, 1991); Enzo Pace and Piero Stefani, Il fondamentalismo religioso contemporaneo (Brescia: Queriniana, 2000), pp. 133-51 ; for fundamentalism in relation to this article, see Margry, 'La terra di nessuno'. See further also F. Ferrarotti et al. (eds) Studi sulla produzione sociale del sacro, volume primo: Forme del sacra in un'epoca di crisi (Naples: Liguori, 1978).
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• Regarding Fatima, see: Zimdars-Swartz, Encountering Mary, passim; G. Hierzenberger and O. Nedomansky, Erscheinungen und Botschaften der Gottesmutter Maria. Vollständige Dokumentation durch zwei Jahrtausende (Augsburg: Pattloch, 1993), pp. 250-66; in this connection, on Fatima and other appearances, see Paolo Apolito, II cielo in terra. Costruzioni simboliche di un'apparizione mariana (Bologna: II Mulino, 1992), pp. 153-68.
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• For this, see: Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 424-6; La Madonna e Padre Pio. Pubblicazione speciale dell' Apostolato della Madonna di Fatima in Italia in occasione delta beatificazione di Padre Pio (Rome: Centra di Fatima, 1999).
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• Regarding Kowalska, see: Bibliotheca Sanctorum prima appendice (Rome: CittÀ Nuova, 1987), pp. 719-20; Bibliotheca Sanctorum seconda appendice (Rome: CittÀ Nuova, 2000), p. 883.
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• Perry and Echeverria, Under the Heel of Mary, p. 264.
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• For the background to this, see Edward D. O'Connor. 'The roots of Pope John Paul II's devotion to Mary', Mariy' Studies 39 (1988): 78-114.
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• See the publication of sources, II messaggio di Fatima (Vatican City: Ed. Vaticana, 2000). In connection with his devotion to Fatima, the beatification by John Paul II of two (of the three) visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta, on 13 May 2000, is also relevant.
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• For commentary, see 'II segreto svelato', II Messagero, 14 May 2000, pp. 2-3,5.
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• Zimdars-Swartz, Encountering Mary, pp. 98-101.
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• Pablo Martin Sanguiao, 'Figlio, non dimenticare le lamme di tua madre'. II segno dette lacrime di Maria e del Sangue dell' Agnello nell'interpretazione del parocco di S. Agostino al tempo dei Fatti (Udine: Segno, 1998), pp. 15-16.
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• See, for instance, M. van Uden et al. (eds) Bij geloof. Over bedevaarten en andere uitingen van religiositeit (Heerlen: UTP, 1991).
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• See for this region: Puglia, anno 987 (Rome: ISTAT, 1991); Puglia: turismo, storia, arte, folklore (Bari: M. Adda, 1980); Ant. Beltramelli, II Gargano (Bergamo, 1907); S. Acquaviva and G. Eisermann, La montagne del sole (Turin: ERI, 1982).
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• G. de Rosa, Chiesa e religione popolare nel Mezzogiomo (Bari: Laterza, 1978),passim; G. Cioffari et al., Agiografia in Puglia. I santi tra critica storica e devozione popolare (Bari: P. Malagrino, 1991).
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• See for these sanctuaries Giustino Farnedi, Guida ai santuari d'Italia 2000 (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 2000), pp. 357-61.
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• Regarding this church, the architect and 'booming' San Giovanni Rotondo, see Stefano Mencherini, 'Miracolo economico', Lo Specchio, 17 February 2001, pp. 24-30.
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• For a description of the church, see The Voice of Padre Pio 30 (11) (2000): 21.
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• Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, p. 71.
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• Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 70-5: for this he took die number of individuals and groups who had signed die register as his point of departure (about 500,000),doubled that for those who had not signed, and increased that by a figure of 50 per cent of the number of pilgrims who had come in groups (about 125,000). In 1985 die number of communions was around 140,000; see Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa,p. 61.
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• For instance, in Santi e santuari. Atlante deipersonaggi e dei luoghi della fede,vol. 1 (Milan: Compagnia Generale Ed., 1979), p. 249, where diey were then already writing of 'certamente alcuni milioni l'anno'.
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• The calculation was as follows: on weekdays die police counted an average of forty buses in die carpark, each with about fifty passengers, die average group size (and bus capacity: see Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, p. 73); 60-80 buses on Saturdays, and 300-350 on Sundays and feast days. In total that comes to a minimum of 1,456,000 and a maximum of 1,638,000 pilgrims. On 16 September 2000, a special carpark just outside the town centre for 150 buses, financed with Jubilee funds, was put into use.
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• See also the article on the role of the media from the Capuchins' perspective: Luciano Rotti. 'The beatification and the media', The Voice of Padre Pio 30 (5) (2000): 7-9.
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• For instance, 'L'ultimo miracolo. Padre pio piange lacrime di sangue', Gente Mese, mensile di politico, attualit e cultura 9 (9) (August 1994); 'Padre Pio e k Madonna', Gente Mese, mensile di politico, attualitÀ e cultura 11 (4) (April 1996).' Padre Pio e k Madonna'. Recently: 'Padre Pio in casa di Ranieri [di Monaco]', Gente, 21 December 2000, pp. 52-3, or, on the occasion of the death of the former queen, Mark Jose di Savoia, on her rektions with Pio: Gente, 15 February 2001, pp. 36,38.
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• For this see L'AttivitÀ della Santa Sede nel 1999 (Vatican City: Ed. Vaticana, 2000), pp. 240-3; L'Osservatore Romano supplemento ('Giovanni Paolo II proclama beato Padre Pio da Pietrelcina'), 1 May 1999; Marc Leijendekker, 'Massale opkomst bij zaligverkkring padre Pio in Rome', NRC-Handelsblad, 3 May 1999; Jeroen Smith, 'Rome één dag Pater Piostad', Katholiek Nieumblad, 7 May 1999, pp. 4-6.
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• Umberto Rosso,'Rutelli, omaggio a padre Pio', La Repubblica, 21 December 2000, p. 22. This was not his first strategic manoeuvre of that nature; in 1995, thirteen years after being married in the municipal registry office, he went to church to have the marriage celebrated there too.
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• Cf. on the film and the conversion of the star, Emilia Costantini,'Con Padre Pio ho trovato k fede", Carriere della Sera, 15 April 2000, p. 38.
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• A similar biographical film, directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Sergio Castellito, was broadcast on 17 and 19 April 2000, on Mediaset's Canale 5, drawing 12.5 million viewers (46 per cent of all viewers in Italy); see International Herald Tribune,'ltaiy Daily" supplement 21 April 2000. Interrupting a film about 'such a great saint' for advertising was found wrong and insulting; see press release ADNKronos, 18 April 2000. The film was repeated on 23 and 24 April 2001.
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• 'Verkiezing katholiek van de eeuw", Katholiek Nieuwsblad, 31 December 1999. Ahead of Pio were Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Pope John XXIII.
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• Santi e santuari, vol. 1, pp. 240-51; even in a book that is devoted just to Marian shrines, the Marian tradition at San Giovanni Rotondo is given no space, while the text deals with Pio: Domenico Marcucci, Santuari Mariani d'italia. Storia,fede, arte (Rome: Paoline, 1983), p. 82.
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• Farnedi, Guida ai santuari d'Italia 2000, pp. 359-60; Cordier, Guida ai luoghi mitacolosi d'Italia, pp. 338-9.
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• Girolamo Grillo, Our Lady Weeps. Report on Civitavecchia. Luciano Lincetto in Conversation with Bishop Girolamo Grillo (Toronto: Ave Maria Press, 1998), pp. vi, 22-4.
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• See also the observations by journalist Martin Page, 'Padre Pio, superstar', The Tablet, 19/26 December 1998, pp. 1688-9.
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• Older prints are removed or often end up more or less behind a Pio print; see for instance: Page,'Padre Pio, superstar', p. 1688.
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• Cf. also the following books about Pio: Felice Spaccucci, L'Ecce Homo del Gargano (Naples, 1971); Giuseppe Pagnossin, II Calvario di Padre Pio (Padua, 1978).
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• Piero Mantero (ed.) Foto 'soprannaturali'. Il primo catalogo d'immagini sut segni dei tempi (Udine: Segno, 1989,1995), pp. 57-60.
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• Patrons of churches must be formally canonized; regarding this affair, see further: 'Padre Pio: A Roma nascerÀ prima parrochia con sue nome', ANSA press release, 21 September 2000.
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• Da Riese Pio X, Padre Pio, pp. 77-80.
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• 'Esposte reliqui di Padre Pio', La Repubblica, 23 October 2000; press release DEA, 22 October 2000. In the reliquary, temporarily transferred from San Giovanni Rotondo, were displayed two teeth, two cotton wads with blood, several scabs from the stigmata, several hairs and a piece of cloth with blood from the wound on his ribcage.
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• Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 362-5. It is not clear if there is a connection with the fact that the cult object here is also male.
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• Scarvaglieri, Pellegrinaggio ed esperienza religiosa, pp. 126-7,362-5: in 1985 46 per cent of the Italian visitors came from the south of the country, 19 per cent from the middle and 35 per cent from the north.
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