Il sacrificio della carne. Donne a immagine di Cristo (XIX-XX secolo)

Abstract

This paper explores some key aspects of the manifestation of stigmata, understood as a sign of Eucharistic sacrifice experienced by atoning souls, on the part of women in the course of the 1800s–1900s. It reflects on the re-evaluation of the female, stigmatized body as a sacred, potentially sacramental object in the 19th-20th-century socio-religious and theological context. It focuses especially on the case studies of nun Tomasina Pozzi (1910-1944) and lay woman Margherita (1908-?), two women who presented themselves as atoning souls, showed stigmata, attracted both devotion and criticism, and were the object of ecclesiastical investigations.