Michael Carroll is the first to bring psychoanalytic theory to bear on a range of Catholic cults and devotions, including the Rosary, the Angelus, the Stations of the Cross, the Blood Miracles of Naples, the Stigmata, the Forty Hours, the Brown Scapular, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Carroll assembles a great deal of historical information that until now has been widely scattered in obscure publications. He suggests why such devotions are absent from the Protestant tradition and argues for a new and more subtle appreciation of the role that Italian Catholicism played in shaping Catholicism generally.

Michael P. Carroll is a professor of sociology at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author of The Penitente Brotherhood: Patriarchy and Hispano-Catholicism in New Mexico; Irish Pilgrimage: Holy Wells and Popular Catholic Devotion; Veiled Threats: The Logic of Popular Catholicism in Italy; and Madonnas That Maim: Popular Catholicism in Italy since the Fifteenth Century, all published by Johns Hopkins.

Michael P. Carroll's profile page

"Whether or not one accepts his conclusions, Professor Carroll develops his arguments with great skill and attention to detail." Sean Connolly, Department of History, University of Ulster. "Represents a significant contribution to the social scientific study of religion." Fred Bird, Department of Religion, Concordia University.

"Whether or not one accepts his conclusions, Professor Carroll develops his arguments with great skill and attention to detail." Sean Connolly, Department of History, University of Ulster.
"Represents a significant contribution to the social scientific study of religion." Fred Bird, Department of Religion, Concordia University.