Jutta's metal 'belt'


When Jutta (the elder) dies and her body is being prepared for burial, the two girls take a metal "belt" or something from off her body. It appears the flesh around it is infected. What was this object, please?

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Hopefully someone with more knowledge will respond sooner or later! I don't know what it's called, but it's a sort of self-torture device that some Catholics used to use (according to a recent article, some still use them, ugh!). The metal digs into the skin and creates pretty much of a constant pain. I think it's viewed as partly a way of keeping the mind away from 'earthly' or 'carnal' things and partly a constant penance. Hildegard and Jutta are totally shocked that their beloved and respected 'mother' would have felt the need of such a thing. Later we see that Hildegard does not approve of such unnecessary penance when she treats the man who's been flagellating himself and tells him, that's not what God wants of us.

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I believe it is called a cilice and is used in some religious traditions to induce some degree of discomfort or pain as a sign of repentance and atonement. Originally it was a hair shirt but it seems members of Opus Dei, a more extreme wing of the Catholic Church still use it to this day.

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