Book review: Riccardi A. Charismatic Italy. Brescia: ed. Morcelliana, 2021. — 245 p.

10.33876/2311-0546/2022-3/378-386

Abstract

Andrea Riccardi’s book is the first attempt to give an overview of the very diverse charismatic manifestations of Italian Catholicism in the last two centuries. On the one hand, these are traditional forms of popular religiosity — sanctuaries, devotional and pilgrimage practices, veneration of sacred places and icons, etc. On the other hand, these are charismatic personalities who founded movements and associations that attracted thousands of Catholics who did not manage to fit their religious zeal within the official church. The charismatic personalities also included sophisticated intellectuals who sometimes came into conflict with the doctrinal line of the RCC and thus suffered persecution. Charismatic Italy is a complex and diverse galaxy eyed by the institutional Church with interest and concern. The author guides the reader through the hidden corners of Italian religiosity and draws attention to a topic that has not yet been covered exhaustively. Snatching one or another phenomenon out of historiographical non-existence, A. Riccardi outlined a research route, which is yet to be explored by more than one generation of historians and anthropologists.