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Flagellants are practitioners of a form ofmortification of the flesh bywhipping their skin with variousinstruments of penance.[1] Many Christianconfraternities of penitents have flagellants, who beat themselves, both in the privacy of their dwellings and in public processions, to repent ofsins and share in thePassion of Jesus.[1]
In the 14th century, a movement withinWestern Christianity known as Flagellantism became popular and adherents "began beating their flesh in a public penitential ritual in response to war, famine, plague and fear engendered by millenarianism."[1] Though this movement withered away, the practices of public repentance and promoting peace were adopted by the flagellants in Christian, especially Roman Catholic,confraternities of penitents that exist to the present-day.[1]
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Flagellation (from Latinflagellare, to whip) was quite a common practice amongst the more fervently religious throughout antiquity. The practice became popular in 1260 thanks to the example of BlessedRaniero Fasani of Perugia,[2][3] a saintly hermit who began scourging himself publicly after receiving an apparition of the Virgin Mary and St. Bevignate who told him to start preaching penance for sins and to establish peace.[4] He attracted followers and the movement grew in popularity throughout Italy and the rest of Europe.
Christianity has formed a permanent tradition surrounding the doctrine ofmortification of the flesh, ranging from self-denial, wearing hairshirts and chains, to fasting and self-flagellation using thediscipline.[5] Those who practice self-flagellation claim thatSt. Paul's statement in theBible ‘I chastise my body’ refers to self-inflicted bodily scourging (1 Corinthians 9:27).[6] There are prominent Christians who have practiced self-flagellation.Martin Luther, the ProtestantReformer, self-flagellated among other ascetic practices during his early years as an Augustinian friar (although he later condemned such practices).[7] Likewise, theCongregationalist writerSarah Osborn also practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God".[8] It became "quite common" for members of theTractarian movement within theAnglican Communion to practice self-flagellation using a discipline.[9]
Historically speaking, in the 11th century,Peter Damian, aBenedictine monk in theRoman Catholic tradition, taught that spirituality should manifest itself in physical discipline; he admonished those who sought to follow Christ to practice self-flagellation for the duration of the time it takes one to recite fortyPsalms, increasing the number of flagellations on holy days of theliturgical calendar.[10] For Damian, only those who shared in thesufferings of Christ could be saved.[10][11] Throughout Christian history, the mortification of the flesh, wherein one denies physical pleasures, has been commonly followed by members of the clergy, especially in Christian monasteries and convents; the 11th-centuryDominicus Loricatus repeated the entirePsalter twenty times in one week, accompanying eachpsalm with a hundred lash-strokes to his back. The distinction of the Flagellants was to take thisself-mortification into the cities and other public spaces as a demonstration ofpiety.[1]
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Flagellantism was a 14th-century movement, consisting of penitents in theCatholic Church. It began as aChristian pilgrimage and was later condemned by theCatholic Church asheretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals. This was a common practice during theBlack Death, or the Great Plague.
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The first recorded incident was in Central Italy inPerugia, in 1259, the year after severe crop damage and famine throughout Europe. FromPerugia the phenomenon seemed to spread acrossNorthern Italy and into Austria. Other incidents are recorded in 1296, 1333-34 (the Doves), notably at the time of theBlack Death (1349), and 1399. The practice peaked during the Black Death. Spontaneously Flagellant groups arose acrossNorthern andCentral Europe in 1349, including in England.[12]
Initially theCatholic Church tolerated the Flagellants and individual monks, friars and priests joined in the early movements. By the 14th century, the Church was less tolerant and the rapid spread of the movement was alarming.Clement VI officially condemned them in abull of October 20, 1349 and instructed Church leaders to suppress the Flagellants.[13] This position was reinforced in 1372 byGregory XI who associated the Flagellants with other heretical groups, notably theBeghards,[14] and instructed inquisitors to eradicate them.[15] They were accused of heresies including doubting the need for the sacraments, denying ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction and claiming to workmiracles.[16] In 1392, a sect of Flagellants and Beghards, consisting of peasants, were found throughout Swabia and Wurzburg.[17] The papal inquisitor imposed the penance of preaching and joining a crusade against the Ottoman Turks.[17]
TheInquisition was active against any revival of the movement in the 15th century, but action against the flagellants was often taken by the local princes. In 1414, 80–90 followers ofKonrad Schmid were burned inThuringia, in Germany, even though they had recanted.[18] Three hundred were burnt in one day in 1416, also in Thuringia.[18] Other trials where the accused were condemned as Flagellants were recorded as late as the 1480s.[19] The practice of flagellation within the bounds of the Catholic Church continued as an accepted form ofpenance.
Rulers likeCatherine de' Medici and France'sKing Henry III supported Flagellants butHenry IV banned them. Flagellant orders likeHermanos Penitentes (Spanish 'Penitential Brothers') also appeared in colonialSpanish America, even against the specific orders of Church authorities.
The first recorded cases of mass popular flagellation occurred inPerugia, in 1259. The prime cause of the Perugia episode is unclear, but it followed an outbreak of an epidemic and chroniclers report howmania spread throughout almost all the people of the city. Thousands of citizens gathered in great processions, singing and with crosses and banners, they marched throughout the city whipping themselves. It is reported that surprising acts ofcharity and repentance accompanied the marchers. However, one chronicler noted that anyone who did not join in the flagellation was accused of being in league with thedevil. They also killedJews and priests who opposed them.Marvin Harris[20] links them to the Messianic preaching ofGioacchino da Fiore.
Similar processions occurred acrossNorthern Italy, with groups of up to 10,000 strong processing inModena,Bologna,Reggio andParma. Although certain city authorities refused the Flagellant processions entry.
A similar movement arose again in 1399, again inNorthern Italy in the form of theWhite Penitents orBianchi movement. This rising is said to have been started by a peasant who saw a vision. The movement became known as thelaudesi from their constant hymn singing. At its peak, a group of over 15,000 adherents gathered inModena and marched to Rome, but the movement rapidly faded when one of its leaders was burned at the stake by order ofBoniface IX.
The German and Low Countries movement, the Brothers of the Cross, is particularly well documented - they wore white robes and marched across Germany in 33.5 day campaigns (each day referred to a year ofJesus's earthly life) ofpenance, only stopping in any one place for no more than a day. They established their camps in fields near towns and held their rituals twice a day. The ritual began with the reading of a letter, claimed to have been delivered by anangel and justifying the Flagellants' activities. Next, the followers would fall to their knees and scourge themselves, gesturing with their free hands to indicate their sin and striking themselves rhythmically to songs, known asGeisslerlieder, until blood flowed. Sometimes the blood was soaked up in rags and treated as a holyrelic. Originally members were required to receive permission to join from their spouses and to prove that they could pay for their food. However, some towns began to notice that sometimes Flagellants brought plague to towns where it had not yet surfaced. Therefore, later they were denied entry. They responded with increased physical penance.[citation needed]
Modern processions of hooded Flagellants are still a feature of various MediterraneanChristian countries, mainly in Italy, Spain and some of its former colonies such as the Philippines, usually every year duringLent and intensify during Holy Week. For example, in thecomune ofGuardia Sanframondi inCampania, such parades are organized once every seven years. In Italy, members of the Flagellant movement were calleddisciplinati, whilelaudesi never practiced flagellation, but met together in their own chapel to singlaudi (canticles) in honour of theBlessed Virgin, but which gradually assumed a dramatic form and grew into a theatrical form known asrappresentazioni sacre. A play in the Roman dialect of the 14th century, edited by Vattasso (Studi e Testi, no. 4, p. 53), explicitly bears the title lauda.
In the Philippines, some practice penitential flagellation andhave themselves briefly crucified, at times in fulfilment of apanatà (sacredvow) made to God.[21][22] Both customs are deemed asheterodox acts of penance by theChurch in the Philippines,whose episcopate have condemned repeatedly.
Los hermanos penitentes (English: “The penitent brothers”) is a semi-secret society of flagellants among Hispanic Roman Catholics in theAmerican states ofColorado andNew Mexico.[23]
Unrelated practices exist in non-Christian traditions, including actualflagellation amongst someShiites who were converted by theQizilbash (commemorating the martyrdom ofHusayn ibn Ali).
As Fra Antonio emphasised, theconfratelli sought through self-inflicted pain to gain remission for their sins, by sharing in Christ's suffering,in imitatione Christi.
In the many letters to her correspondents, Fish, Anthony, Hopkins, and Noyes, Osborn examined the state of her soul, sought spiritual guidance in the midst of her perplexities, and created a written forum for her continued self-examination. She cultivated an intense and abiding spirit of evangelical humiliation--self-flagellation and self-torture to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God.
Self-flagellation with a small scourge, known as a discipline, became quite common in Tractarian circles and was practised by Gladstone among others.
As justification for the mortification of the flesh, Peter Damian argued that only those who participated in the sufferings of Christ could be partakers of the promise that the faithful, one day, would inherit the kingdom of God and thereby join Christ in glory.
Flagellants Come To London, Michaelmas 1349. Robert of Avesbury.
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