{"id":10212,"date":"2016-09-09T16:55:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T16:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=10212"},"modified":"2016-09-09T16:55:32","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T16:55:32","slug":"a-raid-in-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/a-raid-in-argentina\/","title":{"rendered":"A Raid in Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cilice\"We\u2019ll have to see what emerges from the eventual prosecution, but this story<\/a> (reported in the Daily Telegraph, <\/em>with my emphasis added) from Argentina may be interesting for the light it casts on the Christian\u00a0fascination with\u00a0suffering (discussed here<\/a> the other day) and also by the claim that the church should be above the law, a claim that also\u00a0runs through the arguments sometimes made for the absolutist version of \u2018religious liberty\u2019 now\u00a0 being peddled in the US.<\/p>\n

A Carmelite mother superior in Argentina faces prosecution for alleged torture after one of her former charges told a TV show that she had gone through \u201chell\u201d before managing to escape from a convent. The 34-year-old nun, whose face was blacked out during the interview on the channel El Trece, claimed she had endured \u201cphysical and psychological\u201d torture during her 10-year period of reclusion in the convent, including enforced self-flagellation, the wearing of a wire garter, being gagged for up to a week and locked up in isolation. \u201cWith Mother Superior Isabel I was subjected to the gag. Then there was a whip called discipline which was dipped in molten wax to make it harsher. We performed self-flagellation, beating ourselves on the buttocks, every week as a rule,\u201d the former nun from the Barefoot (or Discalced) Carmelite convent in Nogoy\u00e1, northern Argentina said.<\/p>\n

The woman, who said she had entered the order at the age of 18, also said they were forced to wear a cilice<\/a>, a \u201ccrown of wires strapped around the leg that draws blood\u201d, three times a week during Lent. But she said the worst torture she endured was psychological, being locked up alone in a cell and hearing voices telling her that others nuns\u2019 illnesses, such as one sister\u2019s tumour, were curses wrought upon the monastery due to her sinful nature.<\/p>\n

Two nuns have reported the mother superior, identified by the authorities only as Mar\u00eda Isabel, claiming she kept them against their will in the gated convent grounds. In late August police raided the convent, forcing the door open after the mother superior allegedly refused to allow them to enter.<\/p>\n

The officers seized instruments of the alleged torture, including whips, cilices and gags. Prosecutors have recommended charges with a penalty of 15 years in prison for the mother superior, who was to face an investigating judge on Wednesday. Church leaders have justified the use of such instruments as penitential aids. \u201cIt\u2019s not punishment, but rather discipline,\u201d said Ignacio Patat, spokesman for the Archbishopric of Paran\u00e1, which oversees the convent.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not forget that monasteries have different rules. This is the law of Saint Teresa, shall we say the old way of life that the Carmelite sisters follow\u201d, Mr Patat told a radio station.<\/p>\n

The austere order of the Barefoot Carmelites was founded in 1593 following the teachings of two Spanish saints, Teresa of \u00c1vila and John of the Cross. Mortification and penance are considered useful as aids to deep prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church has the right to rule itself,\u201d<\/strong> read a statement by Argentina\u2019s Society of Canon Law. \u201cThe state should enforce respect for religious freedom and not compromise it because some things seem incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crux<\/em> magazine <\/a>appears to disapprove of the raid, taking time to defend the use of the cilice:<\/p>\n

Although the practice to use the cilice is not as widespread as it once was, some of history\u2019s greatest saints wore them, either in the most common modern form of a spiked chain which irritates the skin or as an undergarment made of hair as it was customary in the past. For instance, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Therese of Lisieux are known to have used them, as well as soon to be declared saint Mother Teresa, St. Padre Pio, and Pope Paul VI\u2026.<\/p>\n

The sisters have remained silent, yet the local Catholic hierarchy has expressed its concern over the way the situation was handled. Archbishop Juan Alberto Piuggari of Entre Rios, the diocese where the convent is located, said the papal representative in the country and the bishops conference considered the raid to be disproportionate\u2026Piuggari also denied that the Mother Superior had refused to let them in: \u201cShe told them to give her a minute to call the bishop and they broke down the door. Is that refusing [to let them in]?\u201d<\/p>\n

The prelate also said that the procedure should have been \u201cdifferent,\u201d and that Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, the papal representative in the country, should have been informed beforehand since the monastery reports directly to the Vatican.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmmm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ll have to see what emerges from the eventual prosecution, but this story (reported in the Daily Telegraph, with my emphasis added) from Argentina may be interesting for the light it casts on the Christian\u00a0fascination with\u00a0suffering (discussed here the other … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[746,711],"tags":[609,1173,16,1075],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10216,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions\/10216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}