‘He is among us, get it into your head, he is alive and always here’: saintly presence at the pilgrimage centre of Padre Pio and the importance of ‘being there’

Pilgrimage and Visual Genre: The Architecture of Twentieth-Century Roman Catholic Pilgrimage in Scotland

“…Spaces, buildings and imagery become tools to constrain pilgrimage activities and beliefs into doctrinally acceptable forms. Recent anthropological scholarship on pilgrimage has questioned the Turners ideas emphasizing the heterogeneity of pilgrimage practices, and exploring tensions and conflicts within them, particularly ways in which the laity exceed or defy the limits desired by the clergy (Eade and Sallnow, 1991;Mesaritou 2012 and2015;Turner, 2009). From a historical standpoint, reliant on documentary evidence generated by institutions rather than ethnography, such conflicts are often now invisible.…”

‘Valued most highly and preserved most carefully’: Using saintly figures’ houses and memorabilia collections to campaign for their canonisation

“…The short description documents the 'sedimentation' of charisma, suggesting that a 'saintly presence' could be felt at the location, linked to her saintly personality even after her death. 48 In an ideal situation, the religious history of a site could guarantee its conservation in original condition. However, this was not a realistic option for many.…”