Modern Flagellants: Processions of Pain

Religious flagellation has a long and disturbing history in the West. Most militant and brutish during the Black Death of the 14^th century, flagellants continue to exist in the dark corners of the Earth, despite official bans by the Catholic Church. And no, not just in the vibrant and bizarre BDSM community of the internet world. Secretive Christian cliques readily continue to practice immolation of the flesh. It is a mystical addiction of enduring appeal, probably due to the heavy release of endorphins that follows the intense pain, reportedly inducing mystical visions as well.

The practice appears most frequently today in the more passionate societies of the West: the Mediterranean and Hispanic ones and their offshoots. Italy’s town of Guardia Sanframondi is one of these, long shrouded in many trappings of medieval mystery, including a castle and archaic festivals. Every seven years, it holds one of the most open and rigorous events in modern times that feature torturous penitents. An enormous procession with a choir and a statue of the Madonna with her child, said to be hundreds of years old, heads through town. Among them are countless hooded men who beat themselves with metal scourges. Secrecy is standard in this practice, as the men do not tell their wives or other family members that they are participants. As the feverish pitch rises on Sunday, flagellants also utilize sponges soaked in white wine (probably to ward off infection from their wounds) and packed with sharp pins to strike each other.

In a more extreme form, Catholic sects have even adopted crucifixion re-enactments of varying painful quality across the world. Hispanic flagellants in New Mexico and Colorado, the “Brothers of Light,” were said to have used this practice up until the late 19^th century. In another of Spain’s former colonies, the Philippines, brutish (though still non-lethal) crucifixion that still includes the use of nails through appendages continues for devotional purposes up to this day.

The aforementioned Hispanic penitents of the American West are reported to still hold secretive, punishing rites on a regular basis. The original “Brothers of Light” seems to have dissolved, but less organized “Penitentes” continue to lurk in New Mexico, though in much reduced numbers since the late 1940s, when postwar depopulation of their traditional haunts occurred. While no longer nearly as punishing as their 19^th century practices, their continuing existence is still a testament to the longevity of flagellation.

This brief overview only touches on Western subscribers to flagellation in contemporary or recent times. Even in this age of mass communications, it’s reasonable to assume more secretive flagellant organizations continue to operate. And, certainly, other spiritual groups throughout the world are confirmed to practice flagellation and other painful related practices, sometimes in forms that greatly dwarf the lasting Western performances in size and intensity. In the end, one can arrive at their own judgment about modern flagellants, but know they’re sure to persist indefinitely as either freakish anachronisms or divine cults (whichever you prefer).

-Namtlieu