Divine Hysteria. Readings of the Sacred Disease in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

While historians have explored the deployment of medical expertisein studies of the supernatural for some time, the medical report on supernaturalphenomena thus far has evaded similar scholarly attention. Thischapter puts the expert report centre stage and focuses on the religious contextof ‘hysteria’ diagnoses. Through an analysis of two controversial mysticswho were examined and diagnosed with corporeal symptoms of the ‘sacreddisease’ even though their cultural contexts differ substantially, we argue thata historicised reading of the report that integrates the circumstances of itsproduction as well as its circulation, reiterations, and legacies allows for anexamination of the genre’s role as source for wider (counter) expertise andauthority in evaluations of the supernatural.While historians have explored the deployment of medical expertisein studies of the supernatural for some time, the medical report on supernaturalphenomena thus far has evaded similar scholarly attention. Thischapter puts the expert report centre stage and focuses on the religious contextof ‘hysteria’ diagnoses. Through an analysis of two controversial mysticswho were examined and diagnosed with corporeal symptoms of the ‘sacreddisease’ even though their cultural contexts differ substantially, we argue thata historicised reading of the report that integrates the circumstances of itsproduction as well as its circulation, reiterations, and legacies allows for anexamination of the genre’s role as source for wider (counter) expertise andauthority in evaluations of the supernatural

The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800–1950

In the nineteenth century a new type of mystic emerged in Catholic Europe. While cases of stigmatisation had been reported since the thirteenth century, this era witnessed the development of the ‘stigmatic’: young women who attracted widespread interest thanks to the appearance of physical stigmata. To understand the popularity of these stigmatics we need to regard them as the ‘saints’ and religious ‘celebrities’ of their time. With their ‘miraculous’ bodies, they fit contemporary popular ideas (if not necessarily those of the Church) of what sanctity was. As knowledge about them spread via modern media and their fame became marketable, they developed into religious ‘celebrities’. Readership: All interested in European religious history of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, those who have an interest in cultural history and/or celebrity studies

La Sainte famille

Adopting a diachronic and interdisciplinary approach, this book questions the relationship maintained by the Church and the Catholic world with the family

Mystics of a Modern Time? Public Mystical Experiences in Belgium in the 1930s

This paper focuses on the journalistic fieldwork on a Belgian wave of “ popular mysticism” in the nineteen thirties. As it turned individual mystical experiences into public happenings, the series did not fail to incite discussions, also among the Belgian Catholics. Delving into these debates, this article examines the reports and correspondence of three catholic journalists on one particular site, Lokeren-Naastveld. While documenting the lived devotional culture and the attendant discrepancies in religious agency, the accounts of these reporters illuminate their personal interference at the site and their collisions with the ecclesiastical and public authorities. In addition, their texts indicate how these journalists tried to substantiate or refute claims of authenticity and attempted to situate the phenomena both within catholic tradition and their own time.Tine Van Osselaer, Mystiques des temps modernes ? Expériences mystiques publiques en Belgique pendant les années trente. Cet article est centré sur les journalistes et leurs recherches sur le terrain concernant une vague de «mystique populaire » pendant les années trente. Transformant des expériences mystiques individuelles en happenings publics, cette vague incita à la discussion, aussi parmi les catholiques belges. En analysant ces débats, l’article examine les rapports et la correspondance de trois journalistes catholiques sur un site en particulier, Lokeren-Naastveld. Documentant la culture dévotionnelle vécue et les décalages en “ religious agency”, les témoignages de ces reporters mettent en lumière leur interférence personnelle et leurs confrontations avec les autorités ecclésiastiques et publiques. Leurs textes soulignent également comment ils essayaient d’étayer ou de récuser des assertions d’authenticité et tentaient de situer les phénomènes dans la tradition catholique et dans leur propre époque.Dit artikel bestudeert het journalistieke veldwerk dat werd verricht naar aanleiding van een Belgische golf van “ populair mysticisme” in de jaren dertig in België. Aangezien in deze reeks individuele mystieke ervaringen tot publieke happenings uitgroeiden, was er stof tot heel wat discussie, ook onder de Belgische katholieken. In dit artikel wordt nader ingegaan op deze debatten en meer in het bijzonder op de rapporten en de correspondentie van drie katholieke journalisten over een specifieke site, Lokeren-Naastveld. Hun teksten documenteren zowel de geleefde devotionele cultuur als de bijhorende discrepanties in ‘ religious agency’ en brengen de persoonlijke betrokkenheid van de journalisten en hun aanvaringen met de geestelijke en publieke autoriteiten in kaart. Daarenboven geven ze aan hoe de reporters probeerden om opvattingen over de authenticiteit van de gebeurtenissen kracht bij te zetten of te verwerpen en hoe ze poogden de fenomenen te situeren binnen de katholieke traditie en hun eigen tijd.Van Osselaer Tine. Mystics of a Modern Time? Public Mystical Experiences in Belgium in the 1930s. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 88, fasc. 4, 2010. Histoire médiévale, moderne et contemporaine. pp. 1171-1189

Embodying the pain of others: the shared pain model in catholicism of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Abstract: Scholars working on Catholic conceptions of pain have primarily emphasized that pain is meaningful according to Catholic teachings. Pain and ailments can be salutary or soul-cleansing illness and injury have meaning; and physical and emotional suffering could be God-given and an opportunity for the soul to grow. Rather than focusing on the individual benefits to be gained through suffering, this article focuses on the intersubjective aspect of Catholic conceptions of pain in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Analysing the shared pain model in Catholicism, we show that this social aspect went beyond merely communicating about and perceiving pain: it also included suffering on behalf of others. We explore three case studies of apparent vicarious suffering, focusing on women bearing the wounds of Christ: Walburga Zentner, Marie Jalhay-Munzbach and Therese Neumann. In doing so, we gain a more nuanced understanding of what that shared pain model entailed. More specifically, we will see that this notion of suffering \u2018on behalf of others\u2019 not only concerned the latter\u2019s spiritual well-being, with the sufferer atoning for the sins of others. It could also refer to their physical well-being, where the suffering was seen as a means to alleviate the pain of others, with the mystic becoming the substitute for someone else \u2013 entailing a transfer of pain. Thus, instead of studying the efforts these women were thought to be making for society as a whole as new Christs, we explore the more intimate social exchange between these women and the people, dead or alive, for whom they suffered