Most numeraries use the cilice for around an hour a day as an act of penance.
"And there's a long history of the use of the cilice."
But the site goes on to note, "Within this spirit, numeraries and associates (celibate members) sometimes practice traditional Catholic penances such as using the
cilice and discipline." ("Discipline" is a corded whip some members use to strike themselves on the back and buttocks.
"The daily workout I do at the gym is far more uncomfortable than the
cilice," he says, also mentioning that Mother Teresa used a
cilice.
on the
cilice 376, associated with Thomas d' Angleterre).
The
cilices are worn two hours a day and apparently they come in single or triple row spikes.
In regard to mortification, for instance, no contemporary religious, to my knowledge, was ever asked to wear the
cilice (a knotted band of rough wool worn tightly around the thigh during specified periods) or once a week to inflict upon herself 33 vigorous blows on the buttocks.
In Dan Brown's book, it's portrayed as a murderous cult whose members take part in self-flagellation and wear a
cilice - a belt tightened around the thigh with metal prongs pointing inwards.
But what about the barbed
cilice belt worn round the thigh to stop impure thoughts.
Similarly, a devotional treatise circulated in the colony, advocated the practice of rituals such as "fasts, disciplining, [wearing of]
cilices, [and] praying with arms outstretched in the form of a cross (rezar en cruz)" (Larkin, p.
