Cesare (or Caesar) Lombroso and Spiritism

Paulo Degering R Jr
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[Originally published in Guia-Heu by Marinei Ferreira de Rezende — http://www.guia.heu.nom.br/Lombroso.htm]

Cesare Lombroso was an Italian university professor and criminologist, born on November 6, 1835, in Verona. He became world famous for his studies and theories in the field of characterology, or the relationship between physical and mental characteristics.

Cesare Lombroso was born on November 6, 1835 and passed away on October 19, 1909. A scientist universally known for his important work in the legal field, he devoted himself to letters from an early age. At the age of twelve, he wrote the work entitled “Grandity and Decadence of Rome”, which had great repercussion in the intellectual circles of the time.


About the work of Mazolo, a great Italian psychologist, he wrote an article, which was published in one of the Italian newspapers. Mazolo read this article and invited Lombroso to his house, as he wanted to meet the new writer. In front of the boy, who was only fourteen years old, he was surprised, given his precocious intelligence.


Lombroso converted to Spiritism after carrying out experiments on the mediumship of Eusapia Paladino, presented to him by Professor Chiaia, from Naples. In one of the sessions with this medium, he witnessed the materialization of the Spirit of his own mother. From then on, Lombroso had no doubts about the spirits' survival and communicability.

the medium Eusapia


He wrote several works, both in the fields of Medicine and Philosophy.
Among them, the remarkable monograph “Criminal Anthropology”, “L'Uomo di Genio”, “L'Uomo Delinquente” stands out, in addition to others on psychology and psychiatry. On Spiritism, we cannot fail to mention the “Research on Hypnotic and Spiritist Phenomena”, through which he reports all the experiences carried out, not only with Eusápia_Paladino, but also with other mediums of physical effects, such as Elizabeth D'Esperance and Politi .

Lombroso's march towards Spiritism was slow and arduous, but continuous and sure. At first, he ridiculed psychic manifestations. He mocked the mediums and the “turning tables”. He even insulted the Spiritists. However, once, through a letter from his friend Ercole Chiaia, he came to know the figure of a Neapolitan woman, illiterate, of humble class, robust and called Eusápia Paladino.

As a skeptic, he refused to attend sessions, having as a medium the great medium Eusápia Paladino. But his friend Chiaia insisted so much that Lombroso insisted on imposing the conditions. The other participants in the meetings, including the Medium, accepted all the conditions imposed by Lombroso. Thus, in March 1891, in the presence of Lombroso, under strict supervision, with the Medium being held by two people, phenomena took place...

  • object transport,
  • of partial materializations,
  • of typtology, (transcendental message obtained through blows),
  • of direct voices
  • and others of the same strain.

After all that he had witnessed, without a doubt, Lombroso surrendered to the Truth and confessed: “I am very ashamed and disgusted for having fought with such persistence the possibility of the so-called spiritual facts; but the facts exist and I am proud of them to be a slave”.

Lombroso passed away serenely in the arms of his talented daughter Dr. Gina on October 19, 1909, in Turin, at the age of 74.

In the midst of his research on mediumship, he first began attempts to study the phenomenon under the positivist aspect of factual evidence - as other scientists of the time did elsewhere, several of them imbued with positivist ideals - and in the end he concluded by the scientific proof of the doctrine and phenomena studied. He then became a defender of Spiritism in the Italy of his time, as did various currents of the positivist movement of the time.

His works cover several areas such as: anthropology, criminal sociology, psychology, criminology, philosophy and medicine.


His studies became known as criminal anthropology.

Lombroso's work with the medium Eusápia Paladino followed and progressed. Under the ectoplasm released by Eusapia, Lombroso, ever vigilant, obtained wonderful revelations. The aforementioned revelations overcame Lombroso's scientific distrust and did not fail to illuminate his Moral Conscience. In a certain session, Lombroso's full conviction was strengthened even more, before the materialization of his mother's Spirit. Eusapia promised Lombroso a surprise and it came about through the materialization of her own mother's Spirit. Yes, my friends, the Spirit of Lombroso's mother materialized and, approaching her son, said: "Cesare, fio mio" and then, removing, for a moment, the veil that covered his face, she gave him a kiss. And Lombroso confesses that, at the moment when the materialization of his mother's Spirit took place, Eusápia had her hands trapped by two people and that Eusápia's stature was also much taller than that of her mother's materialized Spirit. Here, my friends, is the Truth through the testimony of a Man of Science, a Sage. Will anyone be able to dispute it, we believe not…


Born on the 18th of November to a wealthy family in Verona and graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia, he graduated in 1858. A year after graduating in medicine, he obtained a degree in surgery in Genoa. He improved his knowledge in Vienna and Padua, where he perfected his knowledge, aligning himself with positivist thinking.


At the age of twenty, he demonstrates his line of interests with a study on madness. Lombroso already outlines the subjects that will make him famous: the contrast between man's genius and theories about degenerative nature. As a medical officer he wrote, in 1859, “Memory on Wounds and Amputations by Firearms”, still considered one of the most original works. Then he is attracted, in Calabria, by the anthropological and ethnic problems of the region. These observations are developed in a course, which begins in Pavia, in psychiatry in 1862, he begins to analyze the possible influences of the environment on the mind, ideas that at first achieve success and, later, distrust. He starts a course in psychiatry and the following year transforms it into a course in “clinic of mental illness and anthropology”. His frequent visits to the mental hospital, where he assists patients free of charge, allow him to deepen his study of the relationship between genius and neurosis. “The ideas of the greatest thinkers burst into flames, unfold involuntarily like the compulsive acts of maniacs,” he wrote. At the International Congress of Anthropology held in Milan, several criticisms were raised against Lombroso's position, but his pioneering work in therapy with the mentally ill was recognized: rational relaxation of treatment, introduction of manual work, conversations with outsiders, collective entertainment. , diaries written and printed by the patients themselves. It was a new method, used today by psychotherapy.

In 1864, Lombroso became known for the book “Genius and Madness”. Psychiatrist and director of the asylum in Padua from 1871 to 1876, he collected enough data for his theories. From an examination of hundreds of mentally ill and criminals, he comes to the conclusion that the criminal is formed by some basic tendency inherent in his destiny, and that the "seeds of a criminal nature" can often be identified in the child. He also believed that the social environment, allied to astral influences, prepared individuals whose nature was anti-social for criminal action. The ideas defended by Lombroso about the “born criminal” advocated that, through the analysis of certain somatic characteristics, it would be possible to foresee those individuals who would turn to crime. Many other beneficial changes adopted by criminal lawmakers around the world derived from studies pioneered by Lombroso. Lombroso's main idea was partly inspired by genetic and evolutionary studies in the late 9th century and proposes that certain criminals have physical evidence of an atavism (reappearance of traits that were displayed only in distant ancestors) of a hereditary type, reminiscent of earlier stages. of human evolution.

These anomalies, called stigmata by Lombroso, could be expressed in terms of abnormal shapes or dimensions of the skull and jaw, asymmetries in the face, etc., but also in other parts of the body. Subsequently, these associations were considered highly inconsistent or completely non-existent, and theories based on the environmental cause of crime became dominant.

In 1882, in his pamphlet “Study on Hypnotism”, he ridiculed spiritist manifestations, but, invited by prof. Morselli to study the subject better, he participated in sessions with the medium Eusápia Palladino, convincing himself of the undeniable veracity of the facts. For many years he denied psychic and spiritual phenomena as quackery and gullibility.

On July 15, 1891, a letter was published in which he declared his surrender to spiritual facts: I am very ashamed and disgusted for having fought so persistently against the possibility of so-called spiritual facts; I say facts, because I am still opposed to theory. But the facts exist, and I'm proud to be a slave to them.

When he goes to Moscow, it is in 1897, as a participant in the Psychiatric Congress, he meets Tolstoy, who knew very well his ideas about genius and madness.

He then became a defender of Spiritism in the Italy of his time, as did various currents of the positivist movement of the time.
Lombroso, always faithful to the experimental method, bequeathed to the spiritists an excellent collection of information about mediumship and the vast phenomenological field. A deeply honest man defended the veracity of Spiritism until his death, which was prominently reported around the world, on October 19, 1909.

It was the end of the mission, which in his case, started in reverse, from the position of ridicule to that of sincere defender, would strengthen the spiritist movement through its own inclusion in the midst of its researchers and defenders.

God has many ways for men. For Lombroso, the path was to retrace his own path, that is, to consolidate what he, through ignorance of reality, had attacked, by formulating mistaken concepts about Spiritism, portraying himself intimately and publicly a posteriori through the immense work he carried out.

Lombroso was one of the greatest criminal doctors of the last century.

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