Today’s Chaste Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
An example of a “chastity suicide” is Sophronia, who was unfortunate enough to have been admired by Roman Emperor Maxentius (283-312 AD). When Sophronia’s husband consented to her begin given over to satisfy the emperor’s sexual appetite, and Maxentius arrived to claim his prize, Sophronia asked for a few minutes to prepare herself. Straightaway she plunged a dagger into her breast. St. Augustine excused Sophronia, who had later been canonized for her action, by saying that she, and a small number of other women, had had a special dispensation from God. But pagan women had no such excuse, and St. Augustine had harsh words to say about Lucrece, the most famous chastity suicide of all. The rapist, Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus, was merely banished for his crime. According to St. Augustine, it was Lucrece who committed the greater crime, since chastity is an attitude of the mind and not a state of the body. “Lucrece, so celebrated and lauded, slew the innocent, chaste, outraged Lucrece.” [What a dick. – DeSpair]
No. 914
The Rape of Lucrece by Titian
Although suicide to safeguard chastity was condemned by the Church, mutilation for the same purpose was not. In 870 Ebba, a Yorkshire abbess, and all the nuns in her convent, when besieged by the Danes, cut off their upper lips and noses rather than endanger their virtue.
Culled from: Death: A History of Man’s Obsessions and Fears
Garretdom
Today’s horrible olde news comes from the July 26, 1872 issue of the Big Woods Citizen (Delano, Minnesota) as quoted in the excellent compilation book Coffee Made Her Insane.
Horrible Suicide!
Jacob Dietz Dies by His Own Hand.
Our readers will recollect the attempted suicide of Mr. Jacob Dietz of Watertown, which took place on the 9th of May last. After recovering from the injuries sustained on that occasion, Mr. Dietz seemed to have recovered his usual health of body and mind, and his friends had mainly dismissed their fears of a repetition of the attempt.
Within the past month, however, his unfortunate appetite for intoxicating liquors again overcame him and he had been drinking heavily, although for a few days next preceding his tragic death, he had been induced to abstain. He seemed to be haunted by fears that a conspiracy to murder him had been formed, and in various ways manifested the unsound condition of his mind. He was closely watched by his wife to whose control he seemed to yield readily; but the fatal germ was growing, and on Wednesday morning he was seen to start from his house to the barn with a large knife which he had taken from the kitchen. His wife, fearing the worst, ran after him, at the same time calling to a hired man who was near at hand. She caught her husband by the arm, within a few feet of the door, whereupon he drew the knife across his throat, inflicting a fearful wound. He fell to the ground and expired in a very few moments. Mr. Dietz was widely known and the business of his brewery was in a prosperous condition. His terrible death must be carried to the fearful balance that stands against the Rum Demon.