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“Baby Donato” In Abruzzo (Italy): From A Mother’S Veneration To Popular Devotion, Lia Giancristofaro

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

The article considers a cult that developed and still thrives in a small Abruzzo town in the years between the two world wars. During these decades, the mummified body of a baby became the object of worship and devotional practices. The epileptic Baby Donato died and after few months his body was given to the Sanctuary of St Donatus in Celenza sul Trigno. St Donatus is the saint who protects epileptics and in Italian Catholicism is therefore the master of disease. The name Donato means ‘given’ and the ailment (epilepsy) is given by the saint to his subjects in exchange …