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Padre Pio

Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age
by Sergio Luzzatto
Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age. Metropolitan: Holt. Nov. 2010. c.384p. tr. from Italian by Frederika Randall. photogs. ISBN 9780805089059. $35. REL
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The humble mystic and stigmatic Padre Pio (1887–1968), born Francesco Forgione, lived 50 years as a Capuchin-Franciscan friar in southern Italy. Supernatural phenomena occurred early and throughout his life, prompting Vatican investigations of him and devotional extremes among some followers. Devotees and publications are many. With this book's original publication in Italy in 2007, agnostic author Luzzatto (modern history, Univ. of Turin, Italy; The Body of Il Duce: Mussolini's Corpse and the Fortunes of Italy) caused a stir, challenging Pio's bearing Christ's wounds and referring to the shady backgrounds of some devoted to Pio's cult during his lifetime. Pio was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Many of the questions raised by Luzzatto here have already been thoroughly investigated by Vatican authorities in a kind of devil's advocacy.
VERDICT With a breezy style, Luzzato is at his best contextualizing Pio within the major historic events of the time. Despite suggestive probing, he shows objectivity and respect for the modest friar. Recommended for general and religious readers in counterbalance to the many overly pious hagiographies that have been published.
Reviewed by Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY , Nov 01, 2010
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