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To have a child lead an orchestra is an anomaly, yet this situation was encouraged, celebrated, or simply tolerated hundreds of times throughout the twentieth century. This article reconstructs the Western cultural phenomenon of the child conductor from its emergence in music halls in the 1910s to the consolidation of this figure within classical music and beyond in the late 1940s. Issues such as the professionalization of child maestros and their rise to international stardom are addressed. Profiles of child conductors are presented from the earliest child conductors, such as Willy Ferrero and Rio Gebhardt, to celebrity child maestros such as Pierino Gamba, Roberto Benzi and Giannella de Marco. While child virtuosos have been subject to scholarly study, child conductors have been largely overlooked. This article addresses this lacuna by surveying the general phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the double role of child prodigies as child stars and psychological subjects in Paris in the Belle Époque. I argue that the celebrity status of child prodigies during this time contributed to their transformation into objects of scientific curiosity. The notions of innate talent and natural-born genius contributed heavily to stories of child prodigies within the public sphere; these stories also circulated in psychological accounts of such children. To illustrate this, I examine the case of Pepito Arriola, the so-called Spanish Mozart, in more detail. This musical prodigy toured Europe and America during the early 20th century, and when he was 3- and one-half years old, Charles Richet presented him at the Fourth International Psychology Congress (1900) in Paris. Arriola became the first virtuoso to be submitted to psychological examination, and he was subsequently examined in Berlin by the psychologist Carl Stumpf. This closer look at Pepito Arriola's case clarifies how popular culture and scientific research interacted in the making of a prodigy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the 'divine origins' and aims of three associations promoting the apostolate of the laity in nineteenth and early twentieth-century France: the Association de prière et de pénitence; the Société des amis des pauvres; and the Foyers de charité. The founders were three mystic laywomen, Édith Royer, Thérèse Durnerin and Marthe Robin, respectively, who promoted apostolates of penance, catechesis and retreat. The article situates their associations within the history of the lay apostolate and discusses the two elements that best characterized them: the alleged 'divine mission' that inspired the founders and their aim to sanctify the laity. While encouraging the laity to achieve holiness in worldly life, they contributed to current Catholic concerns about lay sanctity and the lay apostolate advanced by Vatican II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various articles within issue on topics including use of media in the creation of religious personalities, novel kind of sacred celebrity in the nineteenth century and use of celebrities in promoting and supporting certain political causes.

This paper examines the relationship between politics and the supernatural in nineteenth‐century Spain through the figure of Sor Patrocinio: a stigmatized nun and advisor to Queen Isabel II of Spain. I introduce Sor Patrocinio as an example of a "wonder nun:" a type of ultra‐charismatic, supposedly supernaturally gifted religious woman who influenced her country's political agenda. During Sor Patrocinio's rise to fame, she lost control of her public image. In their efforts to dethrone Isabel II, Spanish republicans transformed Sor Patrocinio into a politico‐religious symbol, a living reminder of the anti‐liberal and neo‐Catholic tendencies attributed to Isabel II and her clique. On the one hand, her case exemplifies the struggle of liberalism to form modern nations in Europe. On the other, it shows how some religious women obtained power through their experience of the supernatural during the "culture wars" of the period, reflecting how such experience was shaped by political affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how and why criminal proceedings were brought against alleged cases of Catholic mysticism in several European countries during modernity. In particular, it explores how criminal charges were derived from mystical experiences and shows how these charges were examined inside the courtroom. To bring a lawsuit against supposed mystics, justice systems had to reduce their mysticism to ‘facts’ or actions involving a breach of the law, usually fraud. Such accusations were not the main reason why alleged mystics were taken to court, however. Focusing on three representative examples, in Spain, France and Germany, I argue that ‘mystic trials’ had more to do with specific conflicts between the defendant and the ecclesiastical or secular authorities than with public concern regarding pretence of the supernatural. Criminal courts in Europe approached such cases in a similar way. Just as in ecclesiastical inquiries, during the trials, judges called upon expert testimony to debunk the allegedly supernatural. Once a mystic entered the courtroom, his or her reputation was profoundly affected. Criminal lawsuits had a certain ‘demystifying power’ and were effective in stifling the fervour surrounding the alleged mystics. All in all, mystic trials offer a rich example of the ways in which modern criminal justice dealt with increasing enthusiasm for the supernatural during the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1888, the spiritist Ercole Chiaia challenged Cesare Lombroso to go to Naples and study a brilliant though still unknown medium: Eusapia Palladino. At that time Lombroso turned down the challenge. However, in 1891 he became fascinated by the medium's phenomena. Despite the abundant literature on Palladino, there is still an episode that needs to be explored: in 1888, the Spanish doctor Manuel Otero Acevedo accepted the challenge rejected by Lombroso, spent three months in Naples studying the medium and invited the Italian psychiatrist to join his investigations. This unexplored episode serves to examine the role of scientific authority, testimony, and material evidence in the legitimization of mediumistic phenomena. The use Otero Acevedo made of the evidence he obtained in Naples reveals his desire to proclaim himself an authority on psychical research before other experts, such as Lombroso, Richet, and Aksakof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, some Spanish physicians sought to legitimize hypnotherapy within medicine. At the same time, hypnotism was being popularized among the Spanish population through stage hypnosis shows. In order to extend the use of medical hypnotherapy, some physicians made efforts to demarcate the therapeutic use of hypnotic suggestion from its application for recreational purposes, as performed by stage hypnotists. However, in the eyes of some physicians, the first public session to legitimize hypnotherapy turned out to be a complete failure due to its similarities with a stage hypnosis performance. Apart from exploring this kind of hitherto little-known historical cases, we explore the role of spiritists in legitimizing medical hypnosis. At a time when Spanish citizens were still reluctant to accept hypnotherapy, the spiritists sponsored a charitable clinic where treatment using hypnosis was offered. We conclude that the clinic was effective in promoting the use of hypnotherapy, both among physicians as clinical practice, and as a medical treatment for patients from the less privileged classes of Spanish society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study is presented of the Barcelona, Spain activist and public elementary school teacher Llorenç Cabós i Badia's applying psychometry in Spanish public schools through intelligence tests of his children in his school from 1920 through the early 1920s. An overview of the French physician Théodore Simon's perspective on using intelligence tests to measure infants' intelligence is provided.

'Charisma' can be a catch-all term that obfuscates more than it reveals. What it does reveal often says more about the historical and cultural context in which 'charisma' was deployed than about its subject. In this introduction we trace the concept's contextual shifts across its intersections with gender, religion and power. We explore the different ways in which women in the religious sphere have been considered charismatic, thereby addressing Max Weber's definition of 'charisma' as well as its subsequent reinventions in the social sciences and the humanities. Particular focus goes to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when the mediatization of 'charisma' created new opportunities and risks for women in religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]