Leonardo Rossi, “Stigmatizzati e Sant’Uffizio nell’Italia contemporanea: i casi studio di Ester Moriconi ed Elena Aiello”, Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà, 36 (2023), pp. 139–162

This article examines the response of the Holy Office to Italian stigmatics from the early nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. After outlining the broader spread of stigmatic phenomena in Italy, it focuses on two emblematic cases: Ester Moriconi and Elena Aiello. Through their different investigative trajectories, the article analyses the strategies adopted by the Roman Congregation to control alleged supernatural manifestations, illicit devotions, and forms of “false mysticism”. It argues that, especially in the early twentieth century, the Holy Office pursued a policy of increasing centralisation, while also revealing the limits of ecclesiastical authority in the post-unification Italian context.