Unruly Miracles

Embodied Charisma and Modern Sainthood, from Padre Pio to “Papa Buono”

Bibliographic Data

ID20071999
AuthorsSara M Bergstresser (0000-0001-7667-2426, corresponding author)
Year2013
Pages193-212
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueAnthropology of Religious Charisma (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan US (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9781137377630_9
OpenAlexW2359521123
ISBN9781137377630
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

In January 2002, I stood in a long line within St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. I was waiting my turn to see the preserved body (salma) of Pope John XXIII, otherwise known as "Papa Buono" (the "Good Pope"). As I reached the glass casket, I saw his corpse: pale, silent, and waxy,1 but still recognizable as the man represented in many devotional photographs throughout the Northern Italian Province of Bergamo, Lombardy Region. I was particularly interested in John XXIII because of his Bergamasco origins and his continuing importance throughout his home province. Bergamo was the site of my dissertation fieldwork, and while there I grew to understand that "Papa Buono" had become a symbol of the place as well as the subject of ongoing devotion. His path to sainthood was of great interest to people in the Province, and it was the topic of many reports in local newspapers

Ancient history · Art · Art history · Charisma · Cult · Media studies · Newspaper · Sociology · Symbol (formal) · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Philosophy

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