Padre Pio wins the 2011 Cundill Prize in History at McGill

Author Sergio Luzzatto is the winner of the 2011 Cundill Prize in History at McGill University, for his book Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age (Metropolitan Books) translated by Frederika Randall. Luzzatto’s book is the first historical appraisal of the astonishing life and times of controversial 20th-century saint Padre Pio, one of the world’s most beloved holy figures. The winner was announced at a gala dinner held last night in London, England, at the historic One Whitehall Place.

In his winning tome, Luzzatto offers a pioneering investigation of Padre Pio, the remarkable man and his followers. Luzzatto skillfully provides a nuanced examination of the persistence of mysticism in contemporary society and a striking analysis of the links between Catholicism and 20th-century politics. Granted unprecedented access to the Vatican archives, Luzzatto unearthed a letter from Padre Pio himself in which the monk asks for a secret delivery of carbolic acid -- a discovery which helps explain why two successive popes regarded Padre Pio as a fraud, until pressure from Pio-worshipping pilgrims forced the Vatican to change its views. A profoundly original tale of wounds and wonder, salvation and swindle, Padre Pio explores what it really means to be a saint in our time.

"Luzzatto’s book is masterful," says jury member Ramachandra Guha. "The research is staggeringly deep and wide--embracing runs of archival arguments never before consulted and rare books and pamphlets preserved in obscure libraries. The framework is trans-disciplinary--this is the work of a historian who knows his anthropology and his political theory. The writing is enviably lucid, and never lush--for which the translator surely deserves some credit, too. "

"In fact, insofar as illness, sorrow, evil will perdure among us, human beings--and particularly the most fragile among them--will still need to look at figures such as Padre Pio to get, if not miracles, then at least consolation and hope," said Luzzatto after hearing of his win.

Sergio Luzzatto is professor of modern history at the University of Turin, Italy, and is a regular contributor to the leading Italian dailies La Stampa and Corriere della Sera.

The two finalists, Timothy Snyder for Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (Basic Books) and Maya Jasanoff for Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Alfred A. Knopf) -- UK title: Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss of America and the Remaking of the British Empire (HarperPress) -- were awarded "Recognition of Excellence" prizes of $10,000 (USD) each. The finalists were chosen from 132 eligible entries submitted, representing publishing houses from around the world.

In addition to Ramachandra Guha, this year’s Cundill Jury included Executive Director of the Queen’s-Blyth Education Programs Anthony Cary; McGill University history professor Catherine Desbarats; 2008 Cundill Prize winner and Professor of History at Yale University Stuart Schwartz; and The Globe and Mail’s national affairs columnist Jeffrey Simpson.

The Cundill Prize in History at McGill is the world’s most important non-fiction historical literature prize, with a grand prize of $75,000 (USD) and two ’recognition of excellence’ prizes of $10,000 (USD). The prize was established in 2008 by McGill alumnus F. Peter Cundill, who passed away in January 2011, and is administered by McGill University’s Dean of Arts, with the help of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC).

: www.mcgill.ca/cundillprize