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Entry: Flogging Brother Ass Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/flogging_brother_ass#6048 Post contents: @Sid I did not blame Francis on the lack of knowledge of germ theory (I am not so stupid as to indulge in anachornism), only to regret that the belief that bathing was "sinful" spread out, because it had dire consequences (and it need not have been, all it needed was some ceremony of "daily purification" or such). The problem was not to become apparent until the nineteenth century - both Catholic and Protestan Europe were extremely filthy... consider that one highly prized erotic activity as mutual delousing. Of course, once the germ theory became known, and people started finding offensive the perspiration odor, then the nuns' behavior, which had not been that different from the population at large until then, became one more arrow in the quiver of anti-catholicism. Society changed around them, and they did not change fast enough for it, which made it more difficult to spread their message. Sent at: 2008 09 06