medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I am a Byzantinist and monasticism happens to be a focus of my research (I also happen to be Eastern Orthodox, but that's really beside the point). The Byzantine monastic ethos was very strongly rooted in the Desert tradition and maintained a strong identification with John the Baptist, so one does encounter references to such things as hair shirts in the hagiography (as well as other forms of mortification, which is really NOT a tendency toward S&M, as popular fiction likes to present it, even though it can, at times, be quite harsh).
I've never considered the manufacture of hair shirts before and I don't think I've seen it discussed, just stated that the saint in question wore one (and usually slept on the ground or something). My GUESS is that the ascetics who wore hair shirts (and in the Byzantine tradition, he or she would have to obtain a blessing from his or her superior first) simply took something like a goatskin shirt or vest that still had the hair on it (in photos of some modern monastics, one sees them wearing such things in normal peasant fashion, i.e., as a way of staying that much warmer when it gets cold)and turned it inside out without any sort of undershirt.
I do not personally know of any monastics wearing hair shirts (of course, if any of the monastics I know wear them, they wouldn't tell me that), but I know of some modern monastics doing other things for bodily mortification (St. Herman of Alaska, for example wore an big cross that weighed something like 30 lbs. and his bed was a board and he used another board for a blanket), Elder Joseph the Hesychast used what he called the cane and hit himself in the thighs to drive away overwhelming sexual logismoi (the term for thoughts in the Byzantine tradition has a somewhat specialized meaning). It was something of a tradition for monks at Valaam to strip to their waists and stand in the lake and let the mosquitoes bite them.
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of George FERZOCO
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 8:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] Instruments of bodily mortification
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear medieval-religion colleagues,
We very briefly had the pleasure of having Anne Schutte as a member of the list. She has left us, asking if I could send this to you on her behalf.
I propose that we reply to her queries here, and that I shall pass along the answers to Prof. Schutte.
Many thanks and all good wishes, George
* * * * * * *
Forwarded message:
First: I am not and never have been either a Catholic or an anti-Catholic,
nor do I get off on masochism and sadism. Now, my weird question. Does anyone
know how devout people in the Middle Ages and early modern period procured
instruments of bodily mortification: cilices, disciplines, hair-shirts? Could they get
them in shops? Or did they have to special-order them from artisans
(blacksmiths, rope-makers, tailors)? Conceivably, a experienced amateur seamstress with
access to scratchy fabric could stitch up her own hair-shirt, and someone
with extraordinarily strong hands could knot up a passable discipline. But fabricating
a cilice would have required professional skill in metal fabrication.
For a hair-raising look at such instruments, go to www.cilice.co.uk.
This firm claims to sell its products only to collectors - but I bet they have a flourishing
user market in various quarters.
Please reply offline to Anne Schutte: [log in to unmask]
--
Anne Jacobson Schutte
(Professor of History, emerita,
University of Virginia)
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