Holy Anorexia

277 Pages·1985·22.789 MB·English

by  Rudolph M. Bell

HOLY
ANOREXIA

H O L Y
ANOREXIA
RUDOLPH M. BELL
EPILOGUE BY WILLIAM N. DAVIS
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO AND LONDON
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1985 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1985
Paperback edition 1987
Printed in the United States of America
060504030201 009998 97 6 789 10
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bell, Rudolph M.
Holy anorexia.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Christian saints-Italy-History. 2. Women
Italy-History. 3. Women-Italy-Psychology-History.
4. Anorexia nervosa-Patients-Italy-History. I. Title.
BX4656.B45 1985 305' .90824 85-8460
ISBN 0-226-04205-7Ipaper)
Photos by courtesy of the following individuals or
organizations. Figures I, 2,3,4: Alinari/Art Resources;
Figure 5: Foto Grassi, Siena; Figures 6,7, 10, II, 12:
Foto Soprintendenza B.A.S.-Siena; Figure 8:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lehman Collection, 1975;
Figure 9: Umberto Brandigi, Florence; Figure 13: Foto
Sopintendenza B.A.S.-Firenze e Pistoia; Figures 14, IS, 16,
17: Carmelo di S. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi; Figure 18:
Centro Studi S. Veronica Giuliani, Citta di Castello.
8 The paper used in this publication meets the
minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
FOR ALESSIA TAMARA

CONTENTS
Preface
ix
I
Recognition and Treatment
I
2
I, Catherine
22
3
The Cloister
54
4
Wives and Mothers
84
5
Historical Dimensions: Ascent
114
6
Historical Dimensions: Decline
151
Epilogue
180
Notes
191
Bibliography
215
Sources for Figures
238
Index
241
Illustrations follow page I I 6
PREFACE
S
EVE R A L years ago, while I was at work with the Renaissance
historian Donald Weinstein on a study of popular piety, it
dawned on me that some holy women in late medieval times were
described in terms that were similar in important ways to clinical
descriptions of modern-day sufferers of anorexia nervosa. Because
of other commitments, I could not pursue the idea systematically
at that time. Furthermore, the response of some of my colleagues
to my early ruminations was discouraging-had I entered a phase
of mild to acute insanity? they wondered. What could Twiggy and
Karen Carpenter possibly have in common with Clare of Assisi
and Catherine of Siena, or scientifically based behavior modifica
tion programs and tube feeding with cloistered Capuchin con
vents and Jesuit confessors? Recently several scholars-Caroline
Bynum, Marina Warner, and Marcello Craveri perhaps are the
most significant-have published findings of self-starvation be
havior patterns among female saints in places from the Low
Countries to Italy and from the twelfth through the seventeenth
centuries. And John Demos, in his penetrating study, Entertaining
Satan, has seen the likelihood of anorexia in seventeenth-century
New England even while recognizing how a paucity of relevant
documentation may force the historian to limit his exploration.
At least, if I am mad, I am not alone in my madness.
Two years in Florence as director of the Rutgers Junior Year in
Italy Program provided me with the opportunity to complete the
necessary research. Laura Bell, Olivia Cardona, Sandra Fedeli,
Katherine Gill, Natalie Marchetta, Beth Price, and Carmela Verga
assisted in the gathering of documents. I am especially grateful to
Padre Innocenzo Colosio, Padre Eugenio Marino, Padre Giacinto
ix