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Holy anorexia

• Absurd Inurbane Witless

An entertainingly unsympathetic look at Roman Catholic cult of virgin saints. Holy Anorexia indeed.

Thérèse [of Lisieux]also died of TB, in 1897, just short of her 25th birthday. Her illness was excruciating and prolonged. But popular piety preserved the romantic lie about the wasting consumptive and her gentle death; the sordid realities of vomiting and bedsores were suppressed, and her convent's policy of denying Thérèse pain relief was elevated into suffering gladly embraced. Kathryn Harrison's short life of Thérèse complements Monica Furlong's 1987 study, and is in many ways more sympathetic. Neither biographer found the saint easy to like. Despite her sobriquet of the 'Little Flower', Thérèse was tough when her saintly interests were at stake.

Hilary Mantel, London Review of Books: Some girls want out

Richard Evans Lee
March 04, 2004 •
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i am a catholic, and overweight. wish i could be holy and anorexic even just for one day

Posted by: amrou kithkin | September 5, 2004 2:30 AM

How do you feel?

Feel free to share your feelings about Holy anorexia. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted. This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard

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