Death seems still to be a taboo in contemporary society, and in Psychology as well. Crucial debates around the end of life are emerging in a variety of clinical, cultural, and philosophical realms in relation to the meaning of consciousness and near-death experiences. After the advent of quantum physics, the very notion of ‘evidence-based science’ has profoundly changed and new markers on the entanglements of matter and meaning are now available. The present contribution aims at questioning Psychology in its core empirical split between body & mind and at getting familiar with different thanatological perspectives, such as Eternalism. My arguments will be interrelated through the discussion of a case-study about Santa Scorese, a young Catholic woman assassinated in Italy in 1991 by a stalker and in the process of beatification since 1998. Santa Scorese has been described as a unique example of martyr for women’s dignity of the present era and I am going to argue how she was passionately in love with God and with beauty while repressing her body at the same time, as it is narrated in her post-mortem published diary and in an interview I recorded with her sister (currently highly committed in the complex Catholic process of beatification). What does it really mean to position Psychology as the study of ‘well-being’? Which are the ethical implications of neglecting dying as part of our daily life? Which are the philosophical consequences for a discipline incapable of theoretical speculation on disembodiment, dying, different degrees of consciousness? These are some of the questions I am elaborating on speechless Psychology and urgent ethical dilemmas.

1. TIME OF THE END: Historical
differences in psychological
survival of spiritual martyrs
Rosa Traversa
University of New York in Tirana (Albania)
18th ISTP Conference
Copenaghen, 19-23 August 2019

2. Introduction
• Psychology between materialistic reductionism and Cartesian/spiritual
dualism (Testoni, 2015; Tanaka, 2018; Freud, 1936/2001)
• Consciousness of being mortal (Kastrup, 2018; Barad, 2007)

3. 1. OntoOnto-etico-epistemology: what is at stake?
• The questionable Generalization (Valsiner, 2015; Barad, 2007)
• Reality of the Evidence (Tressoldi, 2013; 2019)
• Re-naturalizing affectivity and life (Wetherell, 2015; Pollock, 2015)

4. The hallucinatory experiences of Psychology and
Religion
Leaving life, living in death (Testoni, 2018)
Attachment and disembodiment (Cassibba et al., 2008; Tanaka, 2015; 2018; Nedergaard, 2016)

5. Thanatology and the emergence of Destiny: Eternity,
assumed and manifest
• Technological transformation of life and death (Kitzinger, 2014;
2000)
• Thanatology as a social and intellectual necessity (Fonseca &
Testoni, 2012)
• Eternity as the Otherness always already experienced (Severino,
2011; Testoni, 2015)

6. THE STUDY: SANTA SCORESE’S MARTYRDOM
• Case-study: Santa Scorese, defined as martyr for
women’s dignity (Accattoli, 2000), was a young
Catholic woman assassinated in Italy in 1991 by a
stalker and in the process of beatification since 1998
• History and stories in the Catholic tradition
✴ On the meaning of ‘martyrdom’: “Christians are aware that
they have to forgive also their enemies, that they have to
pray for their conversion, but this doesn’t prevent them to
follow the Truth and Justice according to the State laws”
(Don Stabile,
https://www.beatopadrepinopuglisi.it/significato-di-un-
martirio/, translation is mine)
✴ On the interpretation of the Old Testament: “It is important
to notice that the narration about well-known historical figures
[in the Old Testament], it is usually not expected a temporally
accurate recollection of the events nor to address their
eventual specificity and uniqueness, rather their constant,
typical and universal aspects”
(http://www.unitapastoralezevio.it/images/2017/Zevio
_Bibbia_Appunti.pdf, translation is mine)

7. Santa SS. THE STUDY: METHODOLOGY
• Research interests: Which is the temporal ending of a spiritual martyr like
Santa Scorese? Which is the body and which is the spirit in her in-between
life and death? How is the psychological survival narrated in Santa’s diary
and in her sister’s interview? What are the historical-political implications of
such narrations?
• Corpus of data: Santa Scorese’s post-mortem original diary (“Dio è Amore”)
+ published version (Le zolle fiorite, Micunco, 2003); Rosamaria Scorese’s
semi-structured interview; killer’s letter copies
• Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006): “a method for identifying,
analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (p. 79)
• Hermeneutics of faith and suspicion (Josselson, 2004): Inquirying the
‘obvious’ and the ‘counter-intuitive’

8. • Santa Scorese: new
martyrdom as (too) human
passion for God
New Catholic martyrs in the ‘900 and the
ordinary divine
“Santa was very disturbed from the obscene things G. [Santa’s killer]
told her during their very first encounter. And this is not to say that
Santa was any kind of sanctimonious person. If you met her, you
would have noticed how she looked somewhat ordinary, even secular
… You know, all the time it comes to my mind that it’s so weird to see
her in those churchy images now … she was an example of “ordinary
holiness” … wasn’t that kind of typical pious woman … she was just
like any other girl” (Rosamaria Scorese’s interview,
translation is mine)
“Don’t you think she lived like a saint like … she was a regular 20-
years-old girl and lived accordingly. She fell in love with someone, not
until … mmm … and it was reciprocal. Always with great elegance,
sensitivity, charme … It happened twice with a couple of people she
experienced something special with. […] One out of two decided to
become priest [laughing] Santa felt something just concrete with
them. She was a flesh-and-blood girl, not a heavenly creature, and
she lived like any other girl of her time.” (Rosamaria Scorese’s
interview, translation is mine)

9. • Santa Scorese: new
martyrdom as (too) human
passion for God
Only Beauty of the Soul?
“I’ve chosen you Lord/ I’ve chosen you because I love you/ because you love me. You are the
fire burning in me/ the sun heating me. You are the shining and pure water where my soul
wants to look in the mirror and that my soul feels thirsty of. If I didn’t have you/ Lord of my life/
of my breath and pulsating heart/ I wouldn’t exist. I exist because you imaged me since ever
and you were pleased of me. My God/ my everything/ I wanna praise you/ joyful/ every
moment/ because you make great things out of me and …. You created me as a prodigy.”
(Santa’s original post-mortem diary, p. 45, translation is mine)
“[The Lord] chooses me every day as a groom chooses his bride (and he expects the bride to
do the same). Going on, even though our encounter with God at times is only possible as a
wish, a burning desire of someone fleeing away from us, as a profound nostalgia for a love
we only glimpsed without possessing it, as pain for having preferred something else in the
past. Desire, nostalgia, pain: falling in love is also about these. It’s the story of someone
experiencing God by looking for God, the story of a God enabling those in love with him and
in search for him to find him [finally]. It’s the story of all of us, written by God, in fleshy hearts.”
(Santa’s published post-mortem diary, “Le zolle fiorite”, Micunco [eds.], 2003,
p. 89, translation is mine)
“Even more then I have felt the prominence of the Tabernacle … I’ve learned to stay before
the Lord even when my body is resisting, would prefer to move, to walk away.” (Santa’s
published post-mortem diary, “Le zolle fiorite”, Micunco [eds.], 2003, p. 90,
translation is mine)
“ I really felt bad when, during the funeral, the priest kinda blamed Santa sayin’ things like
“Well, of course, all girls now wear miniskirts …” … First of all, my sister didn’t use to wear
those but even if she did … it’s not that … She didn’t like them because she didn’t find herself
pretty enough. She was quite skinny around the waist but she had definitely more fat legs.
[…] Then, sure, she had a great sense of beauty, everybody knew that. […] she was not a big
fan of high-end brands, she managed beauty differently [..] but she loved and was very
confident when buying things …” (Rosamaria’s Scorese interview, translation is
mine)

10. • Santa Scorese: new
martyrdom as (too) human
passion for God
Rejection or striving for agency?
“R.S.: After the first assault, Santa came back home and didn’t want anyone to even touch her, definitely. My sister
was kinda strong girl, quite obstinate […] The day after, we went to the Carabinieri station and - quite powerless - they
told us: “Well, small like she is … if he really wanted to use violence against her, he would have already done it. After
all, we cannot escort her.” […]
Int.: […] Did Santa ever feel like guilty for what was happening to her while being a pious woman? Did she ever wonder
something like ‘What’s wrong with me’ …?
R.S.: No, never. Absolutely. She was only asking constantly ‘Why this to me?’” (Rosamaria Scorese’s interview,
translation is mine)
“Only thinking to spend my whole life with those activities (missions, catechesis, etc …) doesn’t make me happy and
doesn’t stimulate me at all. I am too independent (and this is wrong) and I wanna keep my space, my time. (Santa’s
published post-mortem diary, “Le zolle fiorite”, Micunco [eds.], 2003, p. 81, translation is mine)
“I am sure that when I will totally subordinate myself to His will as Maria did, with no reply, I’ll be able to make any kind
of choice, for a sacred life or for marriage.” (Santa’s published post-mortem diary, “Le zolle fiorite”,
Micunco [eds.], 2003, p. 124, translation is mine)
“Well, I am open, my God, to do whatever You want me to do, whatever the cost. God, now that I just spoke to you, I
feel better. You want us to be happy following your will and then let it be me. I love you God, my Creator and my Lord,
wish you be my only master!!!!”(Santa’s original post-mortem diary, p. 39, translation is mine)
“Make me open to realize what’s the best for me, what You deem it is the best, not what it’s necessary to maintain my
‘I’. […] My God, how great you are and how much you love me!!! If only I could love you more, how much I’d make you
glad and how much I’d be glad! Yes, I love you my Lord and don’t allow, in case your project of love is this one, that I
lose myself in the world, but rather that I can be for You.”(Santa’s original post-mortem diary, p. 40,
translation is mine)
“I do need to detach myself from anything material, human, in order to feel myself nothing and all into You, my Lord.
This is not a schmaltzy prayer, rather it is the declaration of a demand for freedom that I feel inside.”(Santa’s
original post-mortem diary, p. 20, translation is mine)

11. • Persecution as the Human love against God’s love
As a good Christian faithful, in case you don’t
love those who hate you, at least you’d better
love those who love you (Santa’s killer in one of
his letters, 05/01/1991, translation is mine)
“Dear Santa, whatever they are your bonds to any other man and
woman [in this world], just stop treating me this bad, otherwise I won’t
look at you as a Christian anymore but rather as a an invader enemy.
The proof of your Christian maturity relies on your capability to
communicate - if not with those that hate you - at least with those that
love you.” (Santa’s killer, 05/01/1991, translation is mine)
“G.[Santa’s killer] always kept saying to Santa things around sex … he
wanted to make love with her […] He was always trying to oppose him
against anything related to the Church she was involved in […] His point
turned always around the idea like ‘Leave behind everything you do
‘cause I love you, I want you, you must be mine’ […] So, everything was
about she had to stay with him” (Rosamaria Scorese’s interview,
translation is mine)

12. • Persecution as the Human love against God’s love
“From human love, I run away” (Santa Scorese’s original post-mortem
diary)
“When any affective bond becomes possession I run away from it. I wasn’t born to be possessed by
human bonds: they imprison me! There should be some boundaries in feelings, boundaries to be found
just where it starts everyone else’s freedom. […] I’m not heartless and I do care about my beloved too,
but I don’t dare to possess them and I don’t want them to do the same to me neither. I’ve always felt this
need of freedom in all kind of relationships, since I was a child, and I believe this is not wrong, ‘cause if I
didn’t I would have never been able to tell my total ‘Yes!’ to God [to give him all myself].” (Santa
Scorese’s original post-mortem diary, p. 35, translation is mine)
“To be - to have - to enjoy. These are the three tentacles inside every one of us and, therefore, inside me
as well. Carmencita [Santa’s spiritual guidance] warns me that I especially need to fight against
enjoyment, that is against confidence, people I can trust. After all, to be very honest, I am fighting against
being and having, not against enjoying.” (Santa Scorese’s original post-mortem diary, p. 41,
translation is mine)
“For sure, I didn’t exactly realize that I could or I should offer sufferings, physical pains and even my death
to Lord. […] Now I understand that it is also wrong to fear to run the risk to offer your own life, in the most
active sense of the word (youth, experiences, pleasures, etc …) but maybe we should fear to lose our life
in the concrete sense of it, that is dying. […] This is what I wish: that my feelings, all my human, natural,
tendencies can be subordinated to God’s will.” (Santa Scorese’s original post-mortem diary, p.
42, translation is mine)
“What [Santa] wanted to reach was always a model of woman that she could look as in the mirror. For
sure her love was Christ-centered but what she was looking for was a relevant model of woman. With the
Focolarini movement [and many others] she was trying to replicate such a highly brilliant model like Maria.
[…] As it is visible in her diary, her ultimate longing was to love as a woman, with a womanly-love. To love
God with a feminine faith, as a Woman, with capital W. […] She was experiencing pain and despair, like
in every love relationship … in fact, the diary is literally a love correspondence, written by a lover.”
(Rosamaria Scorese’s interview, translation is mine)

13. • Persecution as the Human love against God’s love
The Second Person of the Trinity - the God Son - is the dick (Santa’s stalker letter, no date, translation is mine)
“The story of the Virgin Mary is as follows: Mary is the virgin who “conceive” the “God-Son” through the action of the “holy spirit”, in simpler words: Maria is the Female, who conceives, that
is who turns the son on, that is the dick, through the action of pleasure preceding and accompanying the conception, that is the orgasm and certainly not through uterine way but through the
“oral” tradition. She is properly called Mother of God because it is the female who keeps the dick up and who “conceives” it to the pleasure, that is the true holy spirit. […] Christ’s flesh is
God’s flesh, so the only true way for surviving is to be fed by his flesh, for women, because men only need to recognize it in themselves. The humility of the flesh doesn’t remove the
greatness of divinity. To all those disbelieving the dick is the God-Son, Jesus Christ, wish you Anathema. To all those disbelieving the good and creative intelligence is the Father, wish you
Anathema. To all those disbelieving the love coming from the human heart is the Holy Spirit, wish you Anathema for the Eternity.” (Santa’s killer letter, no date, translation is mine)
“ The conflict between me and Santa was roughly the following: I told her that Christ was the sex, and she didn’t believe me because the Catholic Church relies on a different vision of Christ.
I am the only man over the Earth, and throughout the History, who identifies Christ only and exclusively into the male genitals. Christ consists of two natures, divine and human. In the
human nature, he is the sex.” (Santa’s killer, no date, translation is mine)
“ Both you [Santa’s parents] and Santa must have understood the entire situation and accepted my will but I couldn’t tell you that I was even ready to kill her, you should have realized that
due to the intensity of my involvement with that girl. By the way, now it’s over. She died well, the beautiful Santa. As a true Christian. (Santa’s killer, 19/07/1991, translation is mine)
“I didn’t get insane, I was already crazy for her, it happened due to a number of religious and biological reciprocal misunderstandings. That is: I believe Christ is the embodied God, but since
God is a Trinity, Christ is the embodiment of Trinity, so that the sex [male genitals] is shaped in its specific way accordingly, the Creation is three-dimensional, etc … Such a theology wasn’t
appreciated by Santa, and neither was I. […] I ended up deciding to kill her and then me. I chose Santa as my victim because - declaring herself as Christian - she offended me and
offended my love for her.” (Santa’s killer, 11/09/1991, translation is mine)

14. • Persecution as the Human love against God’s love
Death as a genetic pause for a religious person
“You can have sex while keepin’ virginity, slummin’ a little bit. Unwanted pregnancies are avoidable in many ways, sterilization is a great option. It is positive showin’ off in
TV naked and attractive females all day long, and masturbation. The possibility to conceive as a virgin will be a reality through ectogenesis (birth by artificial placenta), if
we don’t start we’ll never get there. […] The final goal of gene technology is beauty. In Christ’s reign (the male sex) that is also a state, as every nature is a state; virgins
will remain virgins if they wish so, but even for them there is the requirement to do oral sex to everyone asking for it and for free.” (Santa’s killer, no date,
translation is mine)
“You [Santa’s family] asked us a compensation: we are poor people, we cannot give you any money. I can give you back Santa, alive, through a gene technology
procedure I have elaborated just for Santa. It will born exactly the same person.” (Santa’s killer, 25/04/1996, translation is mine)
“The childbirth must be carried out by the deceased’s sister, by the way you’ll need to verify that the embryo’s DNA is the deceased’s one, otherwise you’d better get an
abortion already at in vitro stage, that is before the embryo is implanted in the uterus, and then you can repeat the entire procedure without making the same mistakes.”
(Santa’s killer, 15/06/1996, translation is mine)
“All critiques [against such gene technology procedure] claiming that a different individual will born are basically false, since human beings consist of two parts: a material
one: the body. And an immaterial one: the programs the body executes. The body can be cloned. Its programs will be certainly different, but all life pleasure-oriented and
therefore in line with the deceased’s life-plans.” (Santa’s killer, 06/06/1997, translation is mine)

15. CONCLUDING REMARKS: Psychology of Dying and the (Impossible?) Death of
Psychology
• “You need a reason to live and to die” (“Santa Che voleva solo vivere”, A. Traversa, 2013, p. 42)
• Psychological understanding of pain and pleasure
• Death as a longing affecting life
• The embodiment of life and death at the intersection of pious and profane sense-making processes
• Introspection and the (im)possibility to love God

16. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact me:
rossella82traversa@gmail.com
…… THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!!!