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The adolescence of a thirteenth-century visionary nun

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Jerome Kroll  and
Roger De Ganck
Jerome Kroll*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Redwoods Monastery, Whitethorn, California, USA
Roger De Ganck
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Redwoods Monastery, Whitethorn, California, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr J. Kroll, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals, Box 393 Mayo Memorial Building, 420 Delaware Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
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Synopsis

Among the most notable features of the religious revival in western Europe in the early thirteenth century was the development of mysticism among the nuns and religious women of the lowlands. As scholarly attention becomes increasingly focused on this group of remarkable women, the question arises whether a psychiatric viewpoint has something of value to offer to the understanding of such individuals and the culture in which they struggled. The methodological and intellectual problems inherent in examining the life of a thirteenth-century mystic with a twentieth-century empirical frame of reference are illustrated in this study of the adolescence of Beatrice of Nazareth. Beatrice's stormy asceticism, ecstatic states and mood swings lend themselves to potentially competing hypotheses regarding the spiritual and psychopathological significance of her adolescent development and eventual life-course. Common grounds for reconciling these alternative models are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , November 1986 , pp. 745 - 756
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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