Holy Infirmity and the Devotees

Abstract

The final chapter of the book focuses on the saintly candidates’ devotees and their various encounters with the infirm saint, as well as the attempts and prospects for healing holy infirmity. It also analyses the cultural significances of holy suffering. While the devotees gave varying meanings to saints’ infirmities, they did not directly overlap with the documents we have of their own suffering. Saints valued and cherished their own infirmities, but they also helped, even medically, those of their devotees who were ill or suffering. At the same time, it is likely that the culturally internalized narratives of the benefits of infirmity and the valorization of suffering had a therapeutic function in the same way as miracle narratives.