Anorexia mirabilis

It differs from anorexia nervosa in that the disease is associated with religion as opposed to personal aesthetics, although this behavior was usually not approved by religious authorities as a holy one.

[3] People with anorexia mirabilis engaged in worrisome and bizarre behaviors designed to cause them pain, so that they might be reminded of Jesus Christ's suffering, and desired to appear unattractive in hopes of avoiding marriage and sexual contact.

[1][2][3] In anorexia nervosa, people usually starve themselves to attain a level of thinness, as a way of dealing with sexual or other trauma, undiagnosed mental illness, or as a form of self harm.

If a young woman were to make the decision to self-starve as a means to communicate with Christ, healthcare professionals would code her as having anorexia nervosa, regardless of her motives.

[15] Others maintain that anorexia mirabilis should be comprehended as a distinct medieval form of female religious piety, within the historical context of such societies.

[17] Many women refused all food except for the holy Eucharist, signifying not only their devotion to God and Jesus, and demonstrating, to them, the separation of body and spirit.

Both she and Beatrice of Nazareth claimed that the smell of meat made them vomit, and that the slightest whiff of food would cause their throats to close up entirely.

Fasting then was a means of exercising some control, taking power back for the individual and is similar to one of the underlying factors in anorexia nervosa today.

[24] A gang of would-be rapists got as far as removing the clothing of Columba of Rieti (1467–1501), but they retreated as she had mutilated her breasts and hips so thoroughly with spiked whipping chains that they were unable or unwilling to continue.

They were said to alternately be able to make a feast out of crumbs, exude oil from their fingertips, heal with their saliva, fill barrels with drink out of thin air, lactate even though virginal and malnourished, and perform other miracles of note.

[26] The practice of anorexia mirabilis faded out during the Renaissance, when it began to be seen by the Church as heretical, socially dangerous, or possibly even Satanically inspired.

[27] Contemporary accounts of anorexia mirabilis do exist, most notably that of a fundamentalist Christian girl in Colombia, as reported by medical anthropologist Carlos Alberto Uribe.