Violent Saint-Making: Ritual Resonances of Violence in the Vida of Douceline of Digne

The Old Occitan Vida of Provence’s founding beguine, Douceline of Digne, recounts violent tests conducted on her raptured body by the local laity. This essay assesses how the hagiographer crafted a narrative of the violent testing conducted by Charles of Anjou upon Douceline’s raptured body in such a way that it evoked other descriptions of violent rituals or violence against holy objects. First, by examining the role of violence in the revelation of truth in the ordeal and judicial torture, I argue that the hagiographer portrays Douceline’s body as relic being authenticated before an audience. Second, by comparing the description of the characters who perpetrate violence in Douceline’s Vida and the contemporary 1290 Paris host-desecration narratives, I argue that the violent test in the Vida served to connect Douceline and her community, the Ladies of Roubaud, with the House of Anjou. Moreover, the narrative offered comfort to these beguines during a time when the threat of persecution loomed large due to their connection to the Spiritual Franciscans and broader beguine movement. This essay concludes that by evoking certain aspects of ritual and sacramental violence, Douceline’s hagiographer linked Douceline, and thus her community, to the House of Anjou. This connection to political power resulted in practical protection for the beguines as well as offered the readers of the Vida assurance in the face of concern about the survival of their way of life.