Abstract
The aim of the study is to explore the medieval concepts on the voluntary death of severely sick people, as they emerge through the endura (endurance) of the heresy of the Cathars in France (twelfth to fourteenth centuries). The endura was the prerequisite act of repentance that would allow the fallen soul to return to heaven. The endura was a necessary act of repentance, after the performance of a ceremonial purification of the soul (consolamentum), and consisted of the patients’ voluntary abstention from vital food. The consolamentum and endura could be performed in the final stage of a disease with the consent of the patients or their relatives. The role of the Cathar physician was only to determine the severity of the disease and the forthcoming death of the patient. The physician was not allowed to take steps that would deprive the life of the patient, and the performance of the ritual endura was duty of the spiritual leaders of the community. The modern ethical approach to this subject is dictated by the medieval belief on the salvation of the soul and tries to answer the question of whether the endura could be seen as a medieval concept of a ritual euthanasia or fell within the theological sin of suicide.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Borst, A. (1953). Die Katharer [Schriften der MGH, 12] (pp. 193–197). Stuttgart: Hiersemann.
da Milano, I. (1972). Le heresie popolari del secolo XI nell’ Europa occidentale. Studi Gregoriani, 2, 70.
de Capellis, J. (1920). Summa contra hereticos (p. cxxxix). Bologna: Bazzocchi.
Döllinger, I. (1890). Acta Inquisitionis Carcassonensis contra Albigenses a. 1308 et 1309. (Cod. Reg. Paris 4269). In Döllinger I. Dokumente vornehmich zur Geschichte der Valdesier und Katharer herausgegeben. Vol. II (Beitràge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters) (pp. 23–24). München.
Döllinger, I. (1890). Auszüge aus den Acten der in Norditalien 1387 u. 1388 geführten Inquisitionsprocess contra Valdenses, Pauperes de Lugduno aliosque Hereticos. In I. Döllinger (Ed.), Dokumente vornehmich zur Geschichte der Valdesier und Katharer herausgegeben. Vol. II (Beitràge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters) (pp. 271–272). München.
Döllinger, I. (1890). Trancriptam confessionis et depositionis Petri Maurini filii Ramundi Maurini quondam de Monte Alionis, 1323. In I. Döllinger (Ed.), Dokumente vornehmich zur Geschichte der Valdesier und Katharer herausgegeben. Vol. II (Beitràge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters) (p. 247). München.
Duvernoy, J., (1976) Le catharisme: La religion des cathares. (pp. 164–166) Toulouse: Privat.
Evans, G. (2003). A brief history of Heresy (pp. 126–133). Oxford: Blackwell Publ.
Flanagan, S. (2005). Heresy, madness and possession in the high middle ages. In I. Hunter, J. Laursen, & C. Nederman (Eds.), Heresy in transition: Transforming ideas of heresy in medieval and early modern Europe (pp. 29–41). Aldershot: Ashgate Publ.
Given, J. (1989). The inquisitors of Languedoc and the medieval technology of power. The American Historical Review, 94(2), 336–359.
Lansing, C. (1998). Power and purity: Cathar heresy in medieval Italy (pp. 3–15). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lea, H. (1901). A history of the inquisition of the middle ages. Chapter Languedoc (vol. 2, pp. 1–111). New York: Harper & Bros.
LeRoy Ladurie, E. (1990). Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French village (1294–1324) (pp. 218–230). Transl. Bray B. London: Penguin Books.
Oldenbourg, Z. (1961). Massacre at Montségur: A history of the Albigesian Crusade. (Translation from the French by Green P.) (pp. 218–253, 286–339). New York: Pantheon Books.
Poulakou-Rebelakou, E., Liarmakopoulos, A., Tsiamis, C., & Ploumpidis, D. (2014). Holy fools: A religious phenomenon of extreme behavior. Journal Religion Health, 53(1), 95–104.
Roquebert, M. (2002). Historie des Cathares. Hérésie, Croisade, Inquisition du XI e –XIV e siècle (pp. 15–40). Paris: Perrin Éd.
Saggoni, Raynier. (1939). Summa de Catharis et Leonistis (p. 68). Rome: Dondaine A.
Stoodt, H. C. (1996). Katharismus im Untergrund. Die Reorganisation durch Petrus Auterii 1300–1310 (vol. 254, pp. 271–278). Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr.
Strayer, J. R. (1992). The Albigensian Crusades (pp. 40–54). Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Thouzellier, C. (1977). Rituel cathare (pp. 87–95). Paris: Cerf.
Vourzay, B. (1969). L’Émigration des Cathares occitans en Catalogne, d’après le Registre de J. Fournier. Thesis (p. 120).
Weis, R. (2001). The yellow cross: The story of the last Cathars 1290–1329 (90, 96–97,101,116,119–120,131,136–137,146). London: Penguin Books.
Winter, S. (2000). Terminal Nutrition: Framing the debate for the withdrawal of nutritional support in terminally ill patients. American Journal of Medicine, 109(9), 723–726.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tsiamis, C., Tounta, E. & Poulakou-Rebelakou, E. The “Endura” of The Cathars’ Heresy: Medieval Concept of Ritual Euthanasia or Suicide?. J Relig Health 55, 174–180 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0021-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0021-x