Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and PathologyHammond, William A. (William Alexander)
History
Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology
Hammond, William A. (William Alexander)
Anorexia in children; Fasting; Medicine -- Case studies -- 1800-1900; Psychology, Pathological
I shall not stop now to comment further on the circumstances detailed by
Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, and of which I have cited but a small part. I will
only say at present that science and common sense would conclude in
regard to Palma d'Oria,
1st. That she had probably at a former period contracted syphilis.
2d. That she was strongly hysterical.
3d. That she was the subject of purpura hæmorrhagica.
4th. That she was a most unmitigated humbug and liar.
And now we come to the consideration of a case of stigmatization which
has greatly stirred both the theological and the scientific world of
Europe--that of Louise Lateau--and here again I shall draw largely,
though by no means exclusively, from the works of the believers in the
miraculous production of the phenomena manifested.[13]
Louise Lateau was born at Bois-d'Haine, a small village in Belgium, on
the 30th of January, 1850. She was reared in the utmost poverty, was
chlorotic, and did not menstruate till she was eighteen years old. She
loved solitude and silence, and when not engaged in work--and she does
not appear to have labored much--she spent her time in meditation and
prayer. She was subject to paroxysms of ecstasy, during which, as many
other ecstasies, she spoke very edifying things, of charity, poverty,
and the priesthood. She saw St. Ursula, St. Roch, St. Theresa, and the
Holy Virgin. Persons who saw her in these states declared that, while
lying on the bed, her whole body was raised up more than a foot high,
the heels alone being in contact with the bed.
The stigmatization ensued very soon after these seizures. On a Friday
she bled from the left side of her chest. On the following Friday this
flow was renewed, and in addition, blood escaped from the dorsal
surfaces of both feet; and on the third Friday, not only did she bleed
from the side and feet, but also from the dorsal and palmar surface of
both hands. Every succeeding Friday the blood flowed from these places,
and finally other points of exit were established on the forehead and
between the shoulders.
At first these bleedings only took place at night, but after two or
three months they occurred in the daytime, and were accompanied by
paroxysms of ecstasy, during which she was insensible to all external
impressions, and acted the passion of Jesus and the crucifixion.
M. Warlomont, being commissioned by the Royal Academy of Medicine of
Belgium to examine Louise Lateau, went to her house, accompanied by
several friends, and made a careful examination of her person. At that
time, Friday morning at six o'clock, the blood was flowing freely from
all the stigmata. In a few moments the sacrament would be brought to
her, and then the second act of the drama would begin. The scene that
followed can be best described in M. Warlomont's own words:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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