Huge Great cross”
Catholic Pain Management in Early Modern England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16618367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Grace May Howe (The University of Adelaide, corresponding author), Charlotte Walker (0000-0003-0761-1042, The University of Adelaide), Claire Walker (0000-0003-3528-1933) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 737-759 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sixteenth Century Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0361-0160 • E-ISSN: 2326-0726 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/732385 |
| OpenAlex | W4405464474 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
In 1659, an English Benedictine nun with breast cancer interpreted her pain as a form of atonement for sin, but she also likened the ulcerating tumors to the five wounds of the crucified Christ. Without effective analgesics, early modern people sought alternative remedies to manage physical trauma and they invariably turned to their religious beliefs and practices. Scholarship on British Protestant attitudes to sickness and treatment is strong, but there is little on Catholic approaches. This article explores experiences of British Catholic women in childbirth and terminal illness. It analyses their management of suffering within contemporary medical ideas about the body, disease, and recovery, arguing that women interpreted extreme pain within a spiritual matrix that provided psychological and somatic relief. Although Protestants and Catholics employed similar Christological and martyrological tropes, the paper reveals how personal devotional preferences might curate and narrate trauma. Drawing upon recent medical research, it concludes that the narratives, objects, and rituals used by Catholic women provided useful coping mechanisms for ameliorating discomfort
Pain management · Physical therapy · Early Modern Women Writers · History · Medicine · Moravian Church and William Blake · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |