Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. History Flagellantism was a 13th century and 14th century radical Christian movement. It began as a militant pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals. Flagellation (from Latin flagellare, to whip) was not uncommon practice amongst the more fervently religious. Various pre-Christian religions, like the cult of Isis in Egypt and the Dionysian cult of Greece, practiced their own forms of flagellation. Women were flogged during the Roman Lupercalia to ensure fertility. At first, flagellation became a form of penance in the Christian church, especially in ascetic monastic orders. For example, the 11th century zealot Dominicus Loricatus once repeated the entire Psalter twenty times in one we

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