Observations placeholder
Mary of Jesus of Ágreda - Made such efforts to resist her ecstatic levitations that she vomited blood
Identifier
024219
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Friar Herbert Thurston was a Catholic priest, a member of the Jesuit order and an historian. He wrote extensively on Catholic mysticism and psychic phenomena and was a member of the Society for Psychical Research. He was also widely read on this subject. He is described as ‘an honest skeptic’., and once said ‘the role of Devil’s advocate is a thankless one and does not make for popularity’.
A description of the experience
Friar Herbert Thurston - The Physical Phenomenon of Mysticism
I may draw attention to the curious experiences Of Maria Agreda. … we are told that the famous author of the Mystica Ciudad de Dios made such efforts to resist her ecstatic levitations that she vomited blood.
When she discovered that she had been made a show of by her nuns when in the trance state, and that her veil had been removed in order that curious strangers might be able to see the expression and radiance of her face, she declared she would rather have sat in the pillory. Bishop Samaniego, who knew her intimately, gives the following account of her ecstasies:
The raptures of the servant of God were of this nature. The body was entirely bereft of the use of the senses, as if it were dead, and it was without feeling if violence was done to it; it was raised a little above the ground and as light as if it had no weight of its own, so much so that like a feather it could be moved by a puff of breath even from a distance. The face was more beautiful than it normally appeared; a certain pallor replaced the naturally swarthy hue. The whole attitude was so modest and so devout that she seemed a Seraph in human form. She frequently remained in this state of ecstasy for two or even for three hours.