In the 1960’s, A Woman Named Jane Tried to Become a Saint Through Starvation
One of the more modern cases of Anorexia Mirabilis happened to a girl named Jane from Chicago. She began to restrict her eating at the age of 13 in hopes of becoming a nun and later, a saint. Jane did eventually become a nun, but her weight worried those at the convent and she was dismissed from her religious training at 21 years old and told to seek psychiatric help. Her malnutrition caused amenorrhea, an absence of a period. This completely affected her physical development, and caused her to be infertile. She grew to be only 5” tall. This behavior continued her entire life, and at her highest weight, she was still only 92 pounds. At the age of 66, she weighed only 60 pounds and shrank to 4’10”. Despite trying all her life, Jane did not become a saint.