Pain fragments
Practising Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries
- Edited by:
- Tine Van Osselaer,
- Leonardo Rossi,
- Kristof Smeyers,
- Maria Heidegger,
Pain Fragments explores the Catholic perceptions and experiences of pain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Moving beyond traditional perceptions, it adopts a praxeological approach to analyse practices—writing, remembering, and conserving—showing how Catholics understood, managed, and gave meaning to suffering. The volume traces shifting views on pain, devotion, and “victim souls,” and analyses the relationship between religion, medicine, charity, and care. Drawing on non-canonical sources, it reveals the intersubjective role of pain in Catholic culture, offering new insights into gender, health, and authority.
- Keywords:
- Pain,
- Catholicism,
- Practices,
- Praxeological Approach,
- 19th-20th centuries,
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0
- Series: Fragmentaria. Studi di storia culturale e antropologia religiosa
- Scientific Board
- Language: English
- Subjects: History of Christianity
University of Antwerp, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0002-7623-2292
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-0026-4036
KU Leuven, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0003-0037-0661
University of Innsbruck, Austria - ORCID: 0000-0001-8671-6349
Leonardo Rossi is an MSCA fellow at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, specialising in the history of Italian Catholicism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. His research focuses on holiness and sanctity, popular devotions, religious beliefs and practices, aspiring mystics and ‘living saints’.
Kristof Smeyers is a senior research fellow at the University of Leuven (Belgium). He is a historian of religion, science, and magic in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. His focus in these fields is on bodies, vernacular knowledge, folklore, and the boundaries of religion and the supernatural.
Maria Heidegger is a senior scholar at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and a social historian. Her research focuses on the history of psychiatry and its religious, social and alpine environments, addressing the senses, gender, bodies, and pain.
Tine Van Osselaer, Leonardo Rossi, Kristof Smeyers, Maria Heidegger
Pain fragments: from cultivation to more everyday Catholic pain practices- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.7-33
Part one. Writing
Maria Heidegger
A suspected would-be saint. Framings and fragments of the pain practices of Katharina Aigentler (1750–1823)- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.37-55
Kristien Suenens
Negotiating a space in-between. Belgian women religious and pain (relief) in nineteenth-century public hospitals- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.57-74
pp.75-92
Part two. Remembering
Katharina Fürholzer
Mourning the anonymous dead. Pain and compassion in Vienna’s Cemetery of the Nameless- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.95-110
Natalia Núñez Bargueño
Bearing witness to pain. The politics of martyrdom in late modernity- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.111-134
Part three. Conserving
Leonardo Rossi
Heavenly beauty: the eternal reward for earthly suffering. Stories of prodigies and corporeal phenomena in nineteenth-century Italy- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.137-156
Tine Van Osselaer
Strings and trouser buckles. An exploration of the material culture of suffering- CC BY 4.0 |
- © Author(s)
-
pp.157-177
- Publication Year: 2026
- Pages: 184
- eISBN: 979-12-215-1072-0
- Content License: CC BY 4.0
- © 2026 Author(s)
- Publication Year: 2026
- Pages: 184
- ISBN: 979-12-215-1071-3
- Content License: CC BY 4.0
- © 2026 Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Pain fragments
Book Subtitle
Practising Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries
Editors
Tine Van Osselaer, Leonardo Rossi, Kristof Smeyers, Maria Heidegger
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
184
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1071-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1072-0
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-1073-7
Series Title
Fragmentaria. Studi di storia culturale e antropologia religiosa
Series ISSN
2975-1217
Series E-ISSN
2975-1225
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