Anorexia Mirabilis: The Practice of Fasting by Saint Catherine of Siena in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article PerspectivesFull AccessAnorexia Mirabilis: The Practice of Fasting by Saint Catherine of Siena in the Late Middle AgesFernando Espi Forcen, M.D.Fernando Espi ForcenSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Apr 2013https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12111457AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Giovanni di Paolo (c. 1399–1482), Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata (tempera and gold on wood, 27.9×20 cm). Used by permission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Anorexia mirabilis, holy anorexia, or inedia prodigiosa means miraculous lack of appetite. This syndrome was popular among religious people in the Middle Ages.Perhaps the most popular case of anorexia mirabilis took place in Tuscany in the 14th century. Catherine (Caterina) Benincasa was born in Siena in 1347. It is reported that at age 6 she saw Christ in pontifical vestments above her neighborhood Dominican church. One year later she made a vow of perpetual virginity. She was also familiar with the fasting behaviors of her sister, who would decrease her food intake in order to change her husband’s bad attitude. After her sister died, Catherine responded with a massive fast to her parents’ intention of arranging a marriage with her sister’s widow. She joined the Dominican order after claiming to have a vision of Saint Dominic, and she declared that Jesus came from heaven and gave her a ring as the wedding alliance; thus she would be eternally married to Christ. Later in life, Saint Catherine told her confessor that she could have conversations with Jesus (1). For almost her entire life, her diet consisted of water and vegetables, and by the age of 33 she starved herself to death. She reported stomach pains that did not allow her to eat anything but the holy host (2).Self-starvation was a common behavior among religious women in the Middle Ages, but this behavior was not usually approved by religious authorities as a holy one. Suffering was considered a way to imitate Jesus in remembrance of Christ’s torments during the Passion. Whereas holy men experienced suffering through physical punishment, women preferred this voluntary pain by fasting (3). In cases of extreme holiness, the follower of Christ would miraculously receive the stigmata as a reward for a devout and pious life (4). As depicted by Giovanni di Paolo (figure), this was the case for Saint Catherine of Siena: the experience of suffering through starvation turned her into a model of virtue to the extent that she received the wounds of Jesus during the Passion.Parallels between the medieval behavior and anorexia nervosa now are apparent. In both, a person fastens onto a valuable culturally dependent goal: beauty or slimness in present-day society values and austerity or deprivation in medieval society values (5).From the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago.Address correspondence to Dr. Espi Forcen ([email protected]com).The author thanks Carlos Espi Forcen, Ph.D., for help in developing this manuscript.References1 Jacobs AS: Christ Circumcised: A Study in Early Christian History and Difference. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, pp 72–100Crossref, Google Scholar2 Gardner EG: Saint Catherine of Siena: A Study of the Religion, Literature and History of the Fourteenth Century in Italy. New York, Dutton, 1907, pp 1–27Google Scholar3 Bynum CW: Holy Fast and Holy Feast: the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988, pp 228, 246, 256Google Scholar4 Camille M: Gothic Art: Glorious Visions. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1996, pp 107–108Google Scholar5 Bell RM: Holy Anorexia. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp 3–9Crossref, Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByHoly anorexia: Views of femininity as a potential mediator in the association between religiosity and disordered eatingWomen's Studies International Forum, Vol. 79Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, Vol. 42, No. 3The 14th century religious women Margery Kempe and Catherine of Siena can still teach us lessons about eating disorders today3 July 2017 | Journal of Eating Disorders, Vol. 5, No. 1“Holy anorexia”-relevant or relic? Religiosity and anorexia nervosa among Finnish women27 March 2017 | International Journal of Eating Disorders, Vol. 50, No. 4The Practice of Holy Fasting in the Late Middle AgesJournal of Nervous & Mental Disease, Vol. 203, No. 8 Volume 170Issue 4 April 2013Pages 370-371 Metrics The author thanks Carlos Espi Forcen, Ph.D., for help in developing this manuscript.PDF download History Accepted 1 December 2012 Published online 1 April 2013 Published in print 1 April 2013