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In the 19th century, religious awakenings transformed popular culture in both the Protestant United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in Catholic Italy. Yet very little is known about Protestant laywomen’s experiences in Catholic countries. This archival-research-based chapter first frames the revival in the Waldensian Church following the Italian Unification, then the roles Italian women played in the 19th-century revivals. It then focuses on the conversion story and life of a schoolteacher and Bible Woman, Giuseppina Pusterla (1827–1913). By focusing on this case study, the chapter proposes that laywomen experienced religious self-empowerment through the act of conversion, which was ignited by a personal Bible reading in vernacular Italian. According to Giuseppina Pusterla, a converted Waldensian, appropriating the Bible for herself enabled her to break free from institutionalised Catholicism and resist subsequent persecution. The chapter also suggests that laywomen manifested emancipatory impulses, yet without directly addressing emancipation. Drawing inspiration from the Bible, Giuseppina Pusterla broke with stereotypical gender roles by teaching children and adults, evangelising both men and women and engaging in debates with male clergy.

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“He teaches me so I can teach”: Revivalism and Protestant Laywomen in 19th-Century Italy

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Laura Popa

摘要

In the 19th century, religious awakenings transformed popular culture in both the Protestant United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in Catholic Italy. Yet very little is known about Protestant laywomen’s experiences in Catholic countries. This archival-research-based chapter first frames the revival in the Waldensian Church following the Italian Unification, then the roles Italian women played in the 19th-century revivals. It then focuses on the conversion story and life of a schoolteacher and Bible Woman, Giuseppina Pusterla (1827–1913). By focusing on this case study, the chapter proposes that laywomen experienced religious self-empowerment through the act of conversion, which was ignited by a personal Bible reading in vernacular Italian. According to Giuseppina Pusterla, a converted Waldensian, appropriating the Bible for herself enabled her to break free from institutionalised Catholicism and resist subsequent persecution. The chapter also suggests that laywomen manifested emancipatory impulses, yet without directly addressing emancipation. Drawing inspiration from the Bible, Giuseppina Pusterla broke with stereotypical gender roles by teaching children and adults, evangelising both men and women and engaging in debates with male clergy.