Holy Anorexia

Tomorrow is Good Friday, which for Catholics has traditionally meant fasting. Although previously Catholics were encouraged to abstain from meat on all Fridays (a sacrifice of their own to remember Jesus' sacrifice of himself), in the 1960s, Paul VI suggested alternatives: those who were between the ages of 18-60 should fast (eat one meal a day) on Good Friday OR find some other sacrifice as befitting their consciences . In some places, this sacrifice could be refraining from an activity and giving that money to the poor, or spending a part of that day doing community service.

For some people, especially girls in high school, Lent and the fasting days are an excuse to diet - give up something fatty, or don't eat as much with the excuse of religion. Women and the connection to food and religion goes back a long time. Eve eats fruit and gets expelled from Paradise (but don't get me started on what Catholic tradition has done to that story), and some pretty famous women saints have fasted themselves to death.

In "Teach Yourself Catholicism" Peter Stanford discusses a few instances where, what he calls "the link between women's sinfulness and food" has led to disastrous consequences (127). Apparently religious starvation reached its peak in medieval times (but really, are we surprised by that?) when religious women refused food except at the Eucharist. Here are a few examples of the extremes:

• Saint Margaret of Cortona (1247-97) wanted to "die of starvation to satiate the poor" while she worked with the destitute of Cortona, Italy
  
• Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80) would only drink water and eat bread and raw herbs, which led to her untimely demise (or perhaps she did it on purpose? She died at age 33, the same age Jesus supposedly died)
• Saint Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727) reportedly acquired marks like a crown of thorns on her head (in Catholic terms, stigmata) while she refused to eat
• Mary Magdalen de'Pazzi (1566-1607) denied herself food to be one with the poor.

So the reasons for fasting seem mixed: either as a penance (i.e. Catherine) or to be in solidarity with the poor (Margaret and Mary). I wonder among Catholic lay people if fasting is still prevalent today? In the U.S. you don't hear about a lot of people suddenly flocking to homeless shelters on Good Friday to do service, so do you think people are giving up food or doing something else? Or perhaps "the day my God died" (for dramatic effect) isn't as important as it used to be.

Do you ever fast? If so, what are your reasons?

Until next time,
The Unfasting Theologian (when medicine says take 4 times a day before meals, I'm not going to mess with it)

~

Work Cited:
Stanford, Peter. "Teach Yourself Catholicism." U.S.: The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., 2008.

Have any popes ever been assassinated?

The answer is: Yes.

Several for sure, many more died under shady conditions.

I suspect there are some juicy stories out there, but for now I will leave you with this:

In her book, Saints and Sinners, Eamon Duffy says, "A THIRD* of the popes elected between 872 and 1012 died in suspicious circumstances...

• John VIII (872-82) - bludgeoned to death by his own entourage
  
• Stephen VI (896-7) - strangled
• Leo V (903) - murdered by his successor, Sergius III (904-11)
• John X (914-28) - suffocated
• Stephen VII (939-42) horribly mutilated, a fate shared by the Greek antipope John XVI (997-8), who, unfortunately for him, did not die from the removal of his eyes, nose, lips, tongue, and hands

"Most of these men were maneuvered into power by a succession of powerful families... John X, one of the few popes of this period to make a stand against aristocratic domination, was deposed and then murdered by [those] who had appointed him in the first place" (104).

If I find out any more bloody details, I will be sure to share them.

Until the next question arises,
Your Unemployed Theologian with way too many books

~

Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

*formatting added for emphasis