Tag: mental illness

“St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque (1647 – 1690) was frequently visited by
Jesus, who exposed to her his heart. Sometimes the heart was burning,
sometimes torn and bleeding. To torment herself, she ate rotten fruit
and dusty bread. She allowed herself no drink from Thursday to Sunday,
and when she did drink, drank water in which laundry had been washed.
She frequently fell to the ground in convulsions and imagined the devil
was buffeting her. In her diaries she describes how she wished to clean
up the vomit of sick patients with her tongue. She cut the Lord’s name
into her chest, and when the wounds began to heal, she burnt them with a
candle flame. Like many other female saints, she sought out suffering
and humiliation. Her excessive masochism hinted at severe mental
illness.”