Customer Reviews

Anatomy of a Life Possessed

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author claims to have come under a form of spiritual possession through her meeting a catholic priest who is described as have mystical experiences including the stigmata - the sudden appearance of wounds in imitation of those said to have been suffered by Jesus Christ in the bible accounts of his death. She acknowledges that the spiritual experiences she has suffered have also had psychological and mental health consequences and this at times is apparent in the claims made in the book.

Though I am not a physicist or historian I think I know enough to see that when she ventures into these disciplines her opinions are not to be treated automatically as fact, especially when her indignation is pointed towards the Church she was once a member and whom she now blames in large part for what happened to her.

In her attempt to rid herself of the malign influence in her life she has veered towards a form of atheism and resorts to some shaky science in order to explain what happened when she became "possessed" by a priest whom she refers only to as Fr. G. This priest was a devotee of Padre Pio, another famous stigmatist, who was declared a saint in recent years by the Catholic Church.

Many of the strange spiritual and quasi sexual abuses she claims were carried out by Fr. G were also levied against Padre Pio by fellow Catholics in the early decades of the 20th century. These were never formally tried in an ecclesiastical court but rather were quietly dropped as the Padre Pio phenomena spread rapidly throughout the laity of the Catholic Church with many millions of pilgrims leading to the economic regeneration of San Giovanni in Italy.


Though the main protagonist in the book is never named its seems clear he is the same priest who was suspended from his duties a few years after this book was published by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 through allegations, for example, of sexual abuse made by seminarians.

It is unfortunate that the emotional problems the author has suffered through her involvement with Fr. G is reflected in the quality of her writing and this will be the focus of Padre Pio's defenders seeking to discredit the more serious and substantial paranormal phenomena associated with him and this books Fr G.


I came to this book through unusual events associated with a visit I made to a Padre Pio church service which included veneration of a relic belonging to him. What then happened was not the kind of thing written about in any conventional works of piety or hagiographies dealing with Padre Pio but their disturbing influence are alluded to here.

If you have ever encountered strange events associated with the veneration of somebody who is considered to be the greatest of modern catholic saints and are having problems receiving spiritual support from recognised sources then this book may at least give some comfort in the knowledge that you are not alone. It is solely for this reason, not her view of history, science, or religion (especially the catholic church) that I give three stars.

The author's egeocentricism and bad writing makes this book almost unreadable. It is, however, illustrative of how narcissism can deform personality.

I was watching the People"s court or something and Maria Ferrara Pema was on there suing a blonde headed promoter. I have no idea what this novel is about, all I could gather from Maria is that she was manipulated by a priest?¿ And she seemed really out of it.

Anatomy Of A Life Possessed is the personal memoir and testimony of Maria Ferrara Pema, a woman who was possessed and tortured by a Catholic priest for 27 years. Anatomy Of A Life Possessed is a graphic, disturbing memoir that hides no secrets and spares no sharpness in its accusations. With today's focus on pastoral pedophilia, it is an unhappy and overlooked truth that most sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and exploitation by priests is perpetrated against their female parishioners -- and always has been. Anatomy Of A Life Possessed is raw, severe, and unforgettable reading.