Anorexia Mirabilis

Anorexia mirabilis, also known as holy anorexia or inedia prodigiosa, or colloquially as fasting girls, is an eating disorder similar to anorexia nervosa that was common, though not restricted to, the Middle Ages in Europe, largely affecting Catholic nuns and religious women. Self-starvation was common among religious women as a way to imitate the suffering of Jesus during the Passion, since women were largely restricted to causing themselves voluntary pain through fasting while religious men experienced suffering through physical punishment.