Several people have mentioned Richard Kieckhefer's Unquiet Souls for examples
of people practising extreme asceticism, and noted that they are generally
outside the main monastic traditions. The same point has been made for the
"mulieres sanctae' of norther Europe, such as the beguines, who are often
much more ascetic than they would be allowed to be under a monastic rule
(where permission of the superior is needed for any extra penances to avoid
spiritual athleticism and pride.
The extreme fasting of female saints like Catherine of Siena is discussed, of
course, in Rudolph Bell's Holy Anorexia, and whatever one thinks of Bell's
psychologizing interpretation, he lists many examples of the ambivalent
response to this behaviour by the clerics who acted as the saints' confessors
and spiritual directors. Part of the concern was that the "heroic asceticism"
could equally well be the work of the devil, and discernment of spirits was
necessary. The Cathar example earlier would simply have been regarded as
one instance of this evil form of asceticism.
It is probably for this reason that Jacques de Vitry, in his vita of the
Liegeoise holy woman Marie d'Oignies, mentions her great feats of asceticism
with the warning that this is meant only to be admired/marvelled at, not to be
imitated (e.g. cutting bits of her flesh off, going for long periods without
eating, etc.). (The text is in Acta Sactorum, 23 June)
Monica
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