The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800-1950 Between Saints and Celebrities

• Main Author: Van Osselaer, Tine (auth)
• Other Authors: Graus, Andrea (auth), Rossi, Leonardo (auth), Smeyers, Kristof (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Brill 2020
• Series: Numen Book Series 167
• Subjects: Christian worship, rites & ceremonies; Christian mysticism
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

In the nineteenth century a new type of mystic emerged in Catholic Europe. While cases of stigmatisation had been reported since the thirteenth century, this era witnessed the development of the 'stigmatic': young women who attracted widespread interest thanks to the appearance of physical stigmata. To understand the popularity of these stigmatics we need to regard them as the 'saints' and religious 'celebrities' of their time. With their 'miraculous' bodies, they fit contemporary popular ideas (if not necessarily those of the Church) of what sanctity was. As knowledge about them spread via modern media and their fame became marketable, they developed into religious 'celebrities'. Readership: All interested in European religious history of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, those who have an interest in cultural history and/or celebrity studies.