This chapter examines the material dimension of idealised suffering in 20th-century Catholic culture, offering new insights into pain practices through material culture, emotions, and material religion studies. It focuses on Maria Van den Broeck (1891-1928), a Flemish mystic, her natural and supernatural suffering (illnesses, self-inflicted pain, and mystical pain), and her associated material culture. Exploring visual, textual, and material sources, the study analyses two key aspects: Maria’s personal pain management (her ideal of reparatory suffering and related practices) and the memory of her suffering among supporters. The article demonstrates the crucial role of suffering in her self-construction, the prevalence of self-inflicted pain, and how her suffering reflected and influenced interpersonal relations.
University of Antwerp, Belgium - ORCID: 0000-0002-7623-2292
Chapter Title
Strings and trouser buckles. An exploration of the material culture of suffering
Authors
Tine Van Osselaer
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0.12
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Pain fragments
Book Subtitle
Practising Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries
Editors
Tine Van Osselaer, Leonardo Rossi, Kristof Smeyers, Maria Heidegger
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
184
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1071-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1072-0
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-1073-7
Series Title
Fragmentaria. Studi di storia culturale e antropologia religiosa
Series ISSN
2975-1217
Series E-ISSN
2975-1225