Thriving in modernity: Crisis and mimesis in the life-experiences of Padre Pio and Ernesto De Martino

ABSTRACTThis article examines the life experience of and the enduring devotion for Padre Pio (1887–1968) – a Capuchin friar and the most popular saint of twenty-first century Catholicism – through the work and conceptual toolkit of anthropologist Ernesto De Martino (1908–1965), one of the most talented intellectuals of twentieth century Italy. Southern Italian neighbours, De Martino conducted ethnographic research on magic and popular religiosity there just as the popularity of Padre Pio exploded out of southern Italy across the globe. The main argument of this article is that De Martino's insights on mimesis and repetition shed light on the life-experience of Pio and the enduring success of his cult, owing to a combination of social, cultural, and psychological factors that thrive from within modernity. In addition, the article shows how the work of De Martino is relevant to scholars across disciplines – historians, anthropologists, sociologists – who are investigating the relationship of society, religion and the sacred.KEYWORDS: CrisisimitationErnesto De Martinomodernity and traditionPadre Pio AcknowledgementsI would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers of History and Anthropology, for their challenging criticism and constructive remarks, Kristina Stoeckl, Marco Martino, Bjørn Thomassen and Joseph Viscomi, for their generous and helpful comments and illuminating advices on this piece, and Mike Bluett, who edited and proofread the manuscript with creativity and scrupulous care.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 According to a 2001 poll, 53% of Italians said that they would turn their faith first to Padre Pio in dire circumstances; see Messori Citation2001.2 The expression is from Max Weber.3 See now De Martino Citation2015; the work of anthropologist George Saunders is one of the few attempts to bring De Martino into the English-speaking world; Saunders Citation1993; see also Zinn Citation2015; Geisshuesler Citation2021.4 The notion of ‘reading experience’ indicates the formative ‘encounter’ with ‘a certain work that struck a chord with personal experiences’, generating an intellectual and existential drive (Szakolczai Citation1998, 212).5 The apostolic visitor (Monsignor Carlo Maccari) left San Giovanni unimpressed by Pio and horrified by the cult that surrounded him, which he described as ‘idolatry and perhaps even heresy … superstition and magic'. He nonetheless acknowledged his extraordinary magnetic attraction; Luzzatto Citation2010, 276.6 Tarantismo continued to be practiced until the 1960s, when it slowly declined. It is now popular as a doorway to personal happiness and health; see Del Giudice Citation2005.7 Three of the Gospels narrate that a man called Symon, from the town of Cyrene (a Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica, today's Eastern Libya), was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus on his way to crucifixion. The Cyrenean is therefore the symbol of the embrace of divine grace and human effort. ‘Cyrenean’ is the word used in the title of the biography of Pio written by Da Ripabottoni (Citation1974); a condensed edition of which was later produced under the same title, also translated into English in 1987 as Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: Everybody's Cyrenean.8 On the role of media in bridging Pio's thaumaturgical healing with the official processes of the Catholic Church see Bartocci and Littlewood Citation2004.9 See, in a comparative vein, McDannell Citation1995, 41; Coleman and Elsner Citation1995, 6; see also Mesaritou Citation2012; 107.10 See again Mancini Citation2004, 350–353; on the opposition between ‘relative’ and ‘absolute’ health see Sabbatucci Citation1982; see also Mancini Citation1992.11 De Martino's study on the tarantula ritual in Apulia is titled La terra del rimorso. ‘Rimorso’ can be both ‘regret’ and ‘re-bite’ (a ‘morso’ is a bite).