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<p>The <i>vita</i> of the Premonstratensian nun Christina von Hane (1268–ca. 1292) recounts her visions of Jesus beginning when she was quite young. In one such vision, she plays a game of hide and seek with the infant Christ who disappears under her cloak causing her to burn with desire. Unlike the games that were a staple of the <i>vitae</i> of medieval Dominican sisters, Christina’s play portends trouble: the fire that the infant has lit will torment the adolescent Christina, precipitating a violent struggle against her searing, sexual urges. She literally applies fire to her genitalia in hope of defeating her carnality. The drastic means by which Christina seeks to quell her physical urges and to redirect her longing towards a mystical union with God confounds any attempt to distinguish between the sexual and the spiritual experiences of a medieval religious woman in search of the divine.</p>

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Christina von Hane: Playing with fire

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月1日

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  • Philip Liston-Kraft

摘要

The vita of the Premonstratensian nun Christina von Hane (1268–ca. 1292) recounts her visions of Jesus beginning when she was quite young. In one such vision, she plays a game of hide and seek with the infant Christ who disappears under her cloak causing her to burn with desire. Unlike the games that were a staple of the vitae of medieval Dominican sisters, Christina’s play portends trouble: the fire that the infant has lit will torment the adolescent Christina, precipitating a violent struggle against her searing, sexual urges. She literally applies fire to her genitalia in hope of defeating her carnality. The drastic means by which Christina seeks to quell her physical urges and to redirect her longing towards a mystical union with God confounds any attempt to distinguish between the sexual and the spiritual experiences of a medieval religious woman in search of the divine.