Flagellant

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A confraternity of penitents in Italy mortifying the flesh with disciplines in a seven-hour procession; capirote are worn by penitents so that attention is not drawn towards themselves, but to God, as they repent. Guardia Sanframondi (31500390952).jpg
A confraternity of penitents in Italy mortifying the flesh with disciplines in a seven-hour procession; capirote are worn by penitents so that attention is not drawn towards themselves, but to God, as they repent.

Flagellants are practitioners of a form of mortification of the flesh by whipping their skin with various instruments of penance. [1] Many Christian confraternities of penitents have flagellants, who beat themselves, both in the privacy of their dwellings and in public processions, to repent of sins and share in the Passion of Jesus. [1]

Contents

In the 14th century, a movement within Western Christianity known as Flagellantism became popular and adherents "began beating their flesh in a public penitential ritual in response to war, famine, plague and fear engendered by millenarianism." [1] Though this movement withered away, the practices of public repentance and promoting peace were adopted by the flagellants in Christian, especially Roman Catholic, confraternities of penitents that exist to the present-day. [1]

History

1904 illustration of a medieval Spanish flagellant. Spanish flagellant (Christian mystic) * HHWXI26.svg
1904 illustration of a medieval Spanish flagellant.

Flagellation (from Latin flagellare, to whip) was quite a common practice amongst the more fervently religious throughout antiquity.

Christianity has formed a permanent tradition surrounding the doctrine of mortification of the flesh, ranging from self-denial, wearing hairshirts and chains, fasting and self-flagellation using the discipline. [2] Those who practice self-flagellation claim that St. Paul's statement in the Bible ‘I chastise my body’ refers to self-inflicted bodily scourging (1 Corinthians 9:27). [3] There are prominent Christians who have practiced self-flagellation. Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, self-flagellated among other ascetic practices during his early years as an Augustinian friar (although he later condemned such practices). [4] Likewise, the Congregationalist writer Sarah Osborn also practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God". [5] It became "quite common" for members of the Tractarian movement within the Anglican Communion to practice self-flagellation using discipline. [6]

Historically speaking, in the 11th century, Peter Damian, a Benedictine monk in the Roman Catholic tradition, taught that spirituality should manifest itself in physical discipline; he admonished those who sought to follow Christ to practice self-flagellation for the duration of the time it takes one to recite forty Psalms, increasing the number of flagellations on holy days of the liturgical calendar. [7] For Damian, only those who shared in the sufferings of Christ could be saved. [7] [8] Throughout Christian history, the mortification of the flesh, wherein one denies physical pleasures, has been commonly followed by members of the clergy, especially in Christian monasteries and convents; the 11th-century Dominicus Loricatus repeated the entire Psalter twenty times in one week, accompanying each psalm with a hundred lash-strokes to his back. The distinction of the Flagellants was to take this self-mortification into the cities and other public spaces as a demonstration of piety. [1]

Flagellantism

Flagellantism was a 14th-century movement, consisting of penitents in the Catholic Church. It began as a Christian pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals. This was a common practice during the Black Death, or the Great Plague.

Flagellants in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1263 (Chronicon Pictum, 1358) Kepes kronika - 126.oldal - Flagellansok.jpg
Flagellants in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1263 (Chronicon Pictum, 1358)

Spread in the 14th century

Woodcut of flagellants (Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493) Nuremberg chronicles - Flagellants (CCXVr).jpg
Woodcut of flagellants (Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493)
The flagellants by Pieter van Laer LAER Pieter van The Flagellants.jpg
The flagellants by Pieter van Laer

The first recorded incident was in Central Italy in Perugia, in 1259, the year after severe crop damage and famine throughout Europe. From Perugia the phenomenon seemed to spread across Northern Italy and into Austria. Other incidents are recorded in 1296, 1333-34 (the Doves), notably at the time of the Black Death (1349), and 1399. The practice peaked during the Black Death. Spontaneously Flagellant groups arose across Northern and Central Europe in 1349, including in England. [9]

Initially the Catholic Church tolerated the Flagellants and individual monks, friars and priests joined in the early movements. By the 14th century, the Church was less tolerant and the rapid spread of the movement was alarming. Clement VI officially condemned them in a bull of October 20, 1349 and instructed Church leaders to suppress the Flagellants. [10] This position was reinforced in 1372 by Gregory XI who associated the Flagellants with other heretical groups, notably the Beghards, [11] and instructed inquisitors to eradicate them. [12] They were accused of heresies including doubting the need for the sacraments, denying ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction and claiming to work miracles. [13] In 1392, a sect of Flagellants and Beghards, consisting of peasants, were found throughout Swabia and Wurzburg. [14] The papal inquisitor imposed the penance of preaching and joining a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. [14]

The Inquisition was active against any revival of the movement in the 15th century, but action against the flagellants was often taken by the local princes. In 1414, 80–90 followers of Konrad Schmid were burned in Thuringia, in Germany, even though they had recanted. [15] Three hundred were burnt in one day in 1416, also in Thuringia. [15] Other trials where the accused were condemned as Flagellants were recorded as late as the 1480s. [16] The practice of flagellation within the bounds of the Catholic Church continued as an accepted form of penance.

Rulers like Catherine de' Medici and France's King Henry III supported Flagellants but Henry IV banned them. Flagellant orders like Hermanos Penitentes (Spanish 'Penitential Brothers') also appeared in colonial Spanish America, even against the specific orders of Church authorities.

In Italy

The first recorded cases of mass popular flagellation occurred in Perugia, in 1259. The prime cause of the Perugia episode is unclear, but it followed an outbreak of an epidemic and chroniclers report how mania spread throughout almost all the people of the city. Thousands of citizens gathered in great processions, singing and with crosses and banners, they marched throughout the city whipping themselves. It is reported that surprising acts of charity and repentance accompanied the marchers. However, one chronicler noted that anyone who did not join in the flagellation was accused of being in league with the devil. They also killed Jews and priests who opposed them. Marvin Harris [17] links them to the Messianic preaching of Gioacchino da Fiore.

Similar processions occurred across Northern Italy, with groups of up to 10,000 strong processing in Modena, Bologna, Reggio and Parma. Although certain city authorities refused the Flagellant processions entry.

A similar movement arose again in 1399, again in Northern Italy in the form of the White Penitents or Bianchi movement. This rising is said to have been started by a peasant who saw a vision. The movement became known as the laudesi from their constant hymn singing. At its peak, a group of over 15,000 adherents gathered in Modena and marched to Rome, but the movement rapidly faded when one of its leaders was burned at the stake by order of Boniface IX.

In Germany

The German and Low Countries movement, the Brothers of the Cross, is particularly well documented - they wore white robes and marched across Germany in 33.5 day campaigns (each day referred to a year of Jesus's earthly life) of penance, only stopping in any one place for no more than a day. They established their camps in fields near towns and held their rituals twice a day. The ritual began with the reading of a letter, claimed to have been delivered by an angel and justifying the Flagellants' activities. Next, the followers would fall to their knees and scourge themselves, gesturing with their free hands to indicate their sin and striking themselves rhythmically to songs, known as Geisslerlieder , until blood flowed. Sometimes the blood was soaked up in rags and treated as a holy relic. Originally members were required to receive permission to join from their spouses and to prove that they could pay for their food. However, some towns began to notice that sometimes Flagellants brought plague to towns where it had not yet surfaced. Therefore, later they were denied entry. They responded with increased physical penance.[ citation needed ]

Modern flagellants

Christianity

A flagellant in Italy mortifying the flesh with a discipline (2010). Guardia Sanframondi - flagellanti 17.jpg
A flagellant in Italy mortifying the flesh with a discipline (2010).

Roman Catholicism

Modern processions of hooded Flagellants are still a feature of various Mediterranean Christian countries, mainly in Italy, Spain and some of its former colonies such as the Philippines, usually every year during Lent and intensify during Holy Week. For example, in the comune of Guardia Sanframondi in Campania, such parades are organized once every seven years. In Italy, members of the Flagellant movement were called disciplinati, while laudesi never practiced flagellation, but met together in their own chapel to sing laudi (canticles) in honour of the Blessed Virgin, but which gradually assumed a dramatic form and grew into a theatrical form known as rappresentazioni sacre. A play in the Roman dialect of the 14th century, edited by Vattasso (Studi e Testi, no. 4, p. 53), explicitly bears the title lauda.

In the Philippines, some practice penitential flagellation and have themselves briefly crucified, at times in fulfilment of a panatà (sacred vow) made to God. [18] [19] Both customs are deemed as heterodox acts of penance by the Church in the Philippines, whose episcopate have condemned repeatedly.

Los hermanos penitentes (English: “The penitent brothers”) is a semi-secret society of flagellants among Hispanic Roman Catholics in the American states of Colorado and New Mexico. [20]

Other religions

Unrelated practices exist in non-Christian traditions, including actual flagellation amongst some Shiites whom were converted by the Qizilbash (commemorating the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortification of the flesh</span> Act by which an individual or group seeks to deaden their sinful nature

Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify or deaden their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flagellation</span> Whipping as a punishment

Flagellation, flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an unwilling subject as a punishment; however, it can also be submitted to willingly and even done by oneself in sadomasochistic or religious contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scourge</span> Type of whip or lash

A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification. It is usually made of leather.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penance</span> Repentance of sins

Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part in confession among Anglicans and Methodists, in which it is a rite, as well as among other Protestants. The word penance derives from Old French and Latin paenitentia, both of which derive from the same root meaning repentance, the desire to be forgiven. Penance and repentance, similar in their derivation and original sense, have come to symbolize conflicting views of the essence of repentance, arising from the controversy as to the respective merits of "faith" and "good works". Word derivations occur in many languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cilice</span> Coarse garment important to Christianity

A cilice, also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions as a self-imposed means of repentance and mortification of the flesh; as an instrument of penance, it is often worn during the Christian penitential season of Lent, especially on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and other Fridays of the Lenten season.

<i>Geisslerlieder</i> Medieval music genre

In medieval music, the Geisslerlieder, or Flagellant songs, were the songs of the wandering bands of flagellants, who overspread Europe during two periods of mass hysteria: the first during the middle of the 13th century, and the second during the Black Death in 1349. The music was simple, sung in the vernacular, often call-and-response, and closely related to folk song; indeed some of the flagellant songs survived into the 17th century as folk songs in Catholic parts of central Europe. Musically the Geisslerlied were related to the Laude spirituale: they were unaccompanied song, with instrumental accompaniment specifically forbidden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Week procession</span> Processions held in Christian countries to celebrate the Holy Week

A Holy Week procession is a public ritual march of clergy and penitents which takes place during Holy Week in Christian countries, especially those with a Catholic culture. Various images of the saints, especially the Virgin Mary, and most importantly the image of the crucified Christ are carried aloft by foot on shoulder-borne pasos as an act of penance; acts of mortification are carried out; traditional Christian hymns and chants are sung. In many confraternities of penitents, the faces of the members are covered by elaborate hoods, such as the capirote, as a way of hiding one's identity in order to not ostentatiously draw attention to oneself while performing penance. Crosses, and biers holding Catholic holy images surrounded with flowers and offerings of candles, are carried usually from one parish church to another led by the clergy, monastic orders, or heads of the penitential orders.

The Christian movement known as the Penitents goes back to the 4th century. Those who had committed serious sins confessed their sins to the Bishop or his representative and were assigned a penance that was to be carried out over a period of time. After completing their penance, they were reconciled by the Bishop with a prayer of absolution offered in the midst of the community. Penance assumed many forms, such as pilgrimages to holy sites; constructing, repairing and rebuilding churches; and caring for the poor and sick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penitential</span> Set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance

A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD. It consisted of a list of sins and the appropriate penances prescribed for them, and served as a type of manual for confessors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Loricatus</span> Italian Roman Catholic saint

Dominic Loricatus, O.S.B. Cam., was an Italian monk, born in the village of Luceolis near Cantiano. His father, seeking social advancement, paid a bribe to have him ordained a priest when still a child. When he discovered the fact, he resolved on a life of penance and became a hermit in the woods near the abbey of S. Emiliano in Congiuntoli, then a Camaldolese monk at the monastery of Fonte Avellana in 1040.

Redemptive suffering is the Christian belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the Passion of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for one's sins or for the sins of another, or for the other physical or spiritual needs of oneself or another. In Christianity, it is a tenet of Catholic theology, although it is taught in Reformed doctrine as well.

The Sacrament of Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, in which the faithful are absolved from sins committed after baptism and reconciled with the Christian community. During reconciliation mortal sins must be confessed and venial sins may be confessed for devotional reasons. According to the dogma and unchanging practice of the church, only those ordained as priests may grant absolution.

Penitential canons are religious rules laid down by councils or bishops concerning the penances to be done for various sins. These canons, collected, adapted to later practice, and completed by suitable directions formed the nucleus of the Penitential Books .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-flagellation</span> Whipping oneself as part of a religious ritual

Self-flagellation is the disciplinary and devotional practice of flogging oneself with whips or other instruments that inflict pain. In Christianity, self-flagellation is practiced in the context of the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh and is seen as a spiritual discipline. It is often used as a form of penance and is intended to allow the flagellant to share in the sufferings of Jesus, bringing his or her focus to God.

Central Italian flagellant confraternities evolved and emerged from Central Italian confraternities that originated in the tenth century. The members of these original confraternities were lay persons who were devoted to religious life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confraternity of penitents</span> Christian associations for engaging in penance

Confraternities of penitents are Christian religious congregations, with statutes prescribing various penitential works; they are especially popular in the Catholic Church. Members of the confraternities of penitents practice mortification of the flesh through fasting, the use of the discipline, the wearing of a hair shirt, among other instruments of penance, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capirote</span> Catholic pointed hat of conical form

A capirote is a Catholic pointed hat of conical form that is used in Spain and Hispanic countries by members of a confraternity of penitents. It is part of the uniform of such brotherhoods including the Nazarenos and Fariseos during Easter observances and reenactments in some areas during Holy Week in Spain and its former colonies, though similar hoods are common in other Christian countries such as Italy. Capirote are worn by penitents so that attention is not drawn towards themselves as they repent, but instead to God.

The Roman Catholic Church has often held mortification of the flesh, as a worthy spiritual discipline. The practice is rooted in the Bible: in the asceticism of the Old and New Testament saints, and in its theology, such as the remark by Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, where he states: "If you live a life of nature, you are marked out for death; if you mortify the ways of nature through the power of the Spirit, you will have life.". It is intimately connected with Christ's complete sacrifice of himself on the Cross: "those who belong to Christ have crucified nature, with all its passions, all its impulses". Christ himself enjoined his disciples to mortify themselves when he said: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "[t]he way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: ‘He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.’". The purpose of mortification is to train "the soul to virtuous and holy living". It achieves this through conforming one's passions to reason and faith. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, internal mortification, such as the struggle against pride and self-love, is essential, but external mortification, such as fasting can also be good if they conform with a spirit of internal mortification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discipline (instrument of penance)</span> Instrument of physical penance in some Christian denominations

A discipline is a small scourge (whip) used as an instrument of penance by certain members of some Christian denominations in the spiritual discipline known as mortification of the flesh.

Konrad Schmid was the leader of a group of flagellants and millenarians in Thuringia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nethersole, Scott (2018). Art and Violence in Early Renaissance Florence. Yale University . p. 107. ISBN   978-0-300-23351-3. As Fra Antonio emphasised, the confratelli sought through self-inflicted pain to gain remission for their sins, by sharing in Christ's suffering, in imitatione Christi.
  2. Grayling, A. C. (29 August 2008). "Religion and its mortifying history of self inflicted pain". The Times.
  3. Tierney, John. “Flagellation.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Last modified September 1, 1909. Accessed March 5, 2020. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06092a.htm .
  4. Mansch, L.D.; Peters, C.H. (2016). Martin Luther: The Life and Lessons. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-7864-9854-3 . Retrieved 2022-05-12.
  5. Rubin, Julius H. (1994). Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America . Oxford University Press. p.  115. ISBN   9780195083019. In the many letters to her correspondents, Fish, Anthony, Hopkins, and Noyes, Osborn examined the state of her soul, sought spiritual guidance in the midst of her perplexities, and created a written forum for her continued self-examination. She cultivated an intense and abiding spirit of evangelical humiliation--self-flagellation and self-torture to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God.
  6. Yates, Nigel (1999). Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910. Oxford University Press. p. 60. ISBN   9780198269892. Self-flagellation with a small scourge, known as a discipline, became quite common in Tractarian circles and was practised by Gladstone among others.
  7. 1 2 Fudgé, Thomas A. (20 October 2016). Medieval Religion and its Anxieties: History and Mystery in the Other Middle Ages. Springer. p. 243. ISBN   978-1-137-56610-2. As justification for the mortification of the flesh, Peter Damian argued that only those who participated in the sufferings of Christ could be partakers of the promise that the faithful, one day, would inherit the kingdom of God and thereby join Christ in glory.
  8. Jeremiah, Ken (10 January 2014). Christian Mummification: An Interpretative History of the Preservation of Saints, Martyrs and Others. McFarland. p. 92. ISBN   978-0-7864-8979-4.
  9. Lewis-Stempel, John (2006). England : the autobiography : 2,000 years of English history by those who saw it happen. London: Penguin. p. 76. ISBN   9780141019956. Flagellants Come To London, Michaelmas 1349. Robert of Avesbury.
  10. Aberth 2010, p. 144.
  11. Schmidt 2017, p. 500.
  12. Lea 1922, p. 393.
  13. Cohn 1970, p. 138.
  14. 1 2 Lea 1922, p. 395.
  15. 1 2 Cohn 1970, p. 142.
  16. Cohn 1970, p. 147.
  17. Marvin Harris, Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, Chapter 10 .
  18. "Men Crucify Themselves in Philippines". Newser. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-16. (during the end of Lent season).
  19. "Filipino devotees re-enact crucifixion of Christ". Yahoo News. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  20. "Catholic Encyclopedia: Los Hermanos Penitentes". New Advent .

Sources