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scarification |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Scarification \Scar`i*fi*ca"tion\, n. [L. scarificatio: cf F. scarification.] The act of scarifying. From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: SCARIFICATION, n. A form of penance practised by the mediaeval pious. The rite was performed, sometimes with a knife, sometimes with a hot iron, but always says Arsenius Asceticus acceptably if the penitent spared himself no pain nor harmless disfigurement. Scarification, with other crude penances, has now been superseded by benefaction. The founding of a library or endowment of a university is said to yield to the penitent a sharper and more lasting pain than is conferred by the knife or iron, and is therefore a surer means of grace. There are however, two grave objections to it as a penitential method: the good that it does and the taint of justice.
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