Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Discipline (instrument of penance)" in English language version.
In the many letters to her correspondents, Fish, Anthony, Hopkins, and Noyes, Osborn examined the state of her soul, sought spiritual guidance in the midst of her perplexities, and created a written forum for her continued self-examination. She cultivated an intense and abiding spirit of evangelical humiliation--self-flagellation and self-torture to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God.
Luther subjected himself to long periods of fasting and self-flagellation. He spent many sleepless nights in a stone cell without a blanket to protect him from the damp cold that was characteristic of the area.
Opus Dei is also rebuked for its practice of "taking the discipline," which consists of striking oneself with a rope whip (Walsh, 1991, pp. 110- 112; Tapia, 1997, p. 34). St. Paul states: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection" (1Cor, IX, 27).
Sacred Tradition expressed through the lives of the saints provides innumerable accounts of the necessity and importance of the practice of mortification. [...] Mortification is a good that is relative to a higher purpose or end, namely the pursuit of holiness. Pain or suffering in and of itself is a physical evil, one of the consequences of humanity's fall from grace; however, when suffering or pain is accepted in faith it can be redemptive and a source of sanctification.
Sacred Tradition expressed through the lives of the saints provides innumerable accounts of the necessity and importance of the practice of mortification. [...] Mortification is a good that is relative to a higher purpose or end, namely the pursuit of holiness. Pain or suffering in and of itself is a physical evil, one of the consequences of humanity's fall from grace; however, when suffering or pain is accepted in faith it can be redemptive and a source of sanctification.
