Mathematical Analysis of Maria Valtorta's Writings

A word cloud is one of the simplest ways to quantitatively evaluate a literary production.

Professors Emilio Matricciani and Liberato De Caro analyzed the writings of Maria Valtorta using mathematical and statistical tools intended for linguistic study. This is also called stylometry, a mathematical approach that reveals unconscious linguistic fingerprints and helps identify, for example, the true identity of an author writing under a pseudonym.

A Mathematical Analysis of Maria Valtorta’s Mystical Writings

In this study, published on November 2, 2018, the authors concluded that "Maria Valtorta appears to be the only author capable of such a vast literary diversity, covering the entire mathematical range (suitably defined) of Italian literature over seven centuries." The psychological coherence of dozens of characters throughout a single work is also an extremely rare achievement in literature. They also found that the style of the dialogues transcribed by Maria Valtorta during the visions/locutions differed from her personal style (used, for example, in her Autobiography).

Abstract We have studied the very large amount of literary works written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta to assess similarities and differences in her writings, because she claims that most of them are due to mystical visions. We have used mathematical and statistical tools developed for specifically studying deep linguistic aspects of texts. The general trend indicates that the literary works explicitly attributable to Maria Valtorta differ significantly from her other literary works, which she claims are attributable to the alleged characters Jesus and Mary. Mathematically, they seem to have been written by different authors. The comparison with the Italian literature is very striking. A single author, namely Maria Valtorta, seems to be able to write texts so diverse as to cover the entire mathematical range (suitably defined) of the Italian literature spanning seven centuries.

Jesus Christ’s Speeches in Maria Valtorta’s Mystical Writings

In another study, published on January 21, 2020, the same authors perform a mathematical analysis of Jesus Christ’s speeches in Maria Valtorta’s mystical writings – taking into account context, topics, and duration – using deep-language statistical tools.

Abstract We have studied Jesus Christ’s speeches contained in The Gospel as revealed to me by Maria Valtorta to assess: (i) similarities and differences of the speeches delivered to diverse audiences, through deep-language statistics; (ii) duration of the speeches delivered in different occasions; (iii) whether the setting of the speeches is realistic. Mathematically, the speeches can be divided into two sets: (a) two apparently well-planned and coordinated series of speeches delivered at “Clear Water” and at the Horns of Hattin (Sermon of the Mountain); (b) extempore speeches delivered in many localities (parables, speeches to people or to Disciples, in Synagogues, at the Temple). By converting sequences of words into intervals, through a suitable reading/speaking speed, the speeches’ durations were found to be realistic. The setting of the speeches allows the assessment of the likelihood of the places and occasions for delivering them. Maria Valtorta wrote extraordinary speeches that she attributed to the alleged Jesus of Nazareth. In addition to their theological and doctrinal contents (whose study is far beyond the scope of this paper), the speeches are so realistic in whatever mathematical parameter, or setting, we study them, that she is either a great literary author, or—as she claims—an attentive “eyewitness” of what she reports.

Notes and references

Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.

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