Daniel Costa — Medicine, Religion, and History

Research Program Update — July 2026

Following the publication of my study in Epilepsy & Behavior Reports, I have completed and submitted an Online Funding Inquiry to the John Templeton Foundation for a new interdisciplinary research project examining the seventeenth-century canonical testimony concerning St. Joseph of Copertino.

The proposed project brings together clinical neurology, psychiatry, historical scholarship, statistical analysis, and field investigation in Italy to study one of the largest known collections of sworn eyewitness testimony concerning a single historical individual.

The proposal has received support from distinguished scholars in different disciplines, including Professor W. J. Torrance Kirby (McGill University) and Professor Carlos M. N. Eire (Yale University), who have agreed to contribute to the project in advisory and collaborative roles appropriate to their respective areas of expertise.

Because the project is currently under consideration for funding and will form the basis of future scholarly publications, further details concerning its methodology and principal research questions will be presented after the review process has been completed.