Italian Spiritualism Part 2: Folk Spiritualism

Although Scientific Spiritualism and Kardecist Spiritism were popular with the educated elite as I discussed in Part 1, the majority of Italians, particularly Southern Italians, practiced Spiritualism alongside Catholicism as a blended Italian Folk Religion. 

Spiritualism and Mediumship tended to be embraced as a spiritual practice, rather than a separate religion or philosophy. The vast majority of individuals considered themselves as Catholic and continued to keep their traditions of praying to saints and celebrating the catholic sacraments and mass, but would incorporate the belief in Mediums and Seances, accepting this as simply already being part of what they had already believed. 

Spiritualism was (and still is) particularly strong in Naples, where it blended with the Catholic devotion to the Souls in Purgatory. In Roman Catholicism, it's taught that "Purgatory is a state in which those suffer for a time who die guilty of venial sins, or without having satisfied for the punishment due to their sins."  What this means is those who were Baptized and lived as mostly good people but not quite perfect, would end up in this state of being in the afterlife, so that they can purify themselves to reach heaven. 

Traditionally this was depicted with an image known as Anima Sola, or the "Lone Soul." The Soul would be shown as being immersed in "purifying fire" but with chains broken and their eyes lifted to heaven, showing that they are given hope that through prayer and purification they will reach heaven. 

The living are encouraged to pray on behalf of those souls in Purgatory. The Catholic Church teaches "The faithful on earth can help the souls in Purgatory by their prayers, fasts, alms-deeds; by indulgences, and by having Masses said for them." In turn, the Holy Souls in Purgatory can pray for those Catholics who pray for them. These teachings blended with the Spiritualist/Spiritist concepts of an active and progressive Spirit World, where through acts of Charity both the living and the dead could spiritually progress and evolve. 

 A center for this devotion was the Fontanella Cemetery. The vast mass grave is a paupers' cemetery where many of the poor and unknown dead were interred, including thousands of individuals that died from plagues that swept through the city of Naples. Locals visit the cemetery and offer prayers for these individuals who have no family to pray for them. Devotees often adopt skulls to pray for, leaving small offerings and flowers. In many cases the spirit of the body will reveal their name to the individual through dreams or mediumship, and will thank them for their prayers with blessings and favors.

Some of the Skulls are considered particularly generous and have gained their own reputation as essentially folk saints. An example is a Skull given the name Princess Lucia, the Skull is adorned with a tiara and has a reputation for being able to grant the prayers of those searching for love, particularly women praying for a husband. Other examples include Brother Pasquale, a skull who will appear to individuals in dreams as a monk and offer them lucky lottery numbers, and also Concetta who, unlike the other skulls that are covered in dust, appears to shine with a dew considered to be evidence of her ability to work hard to grant the prayers of devotees.