Asceticism
1. During the Middle Ages, asceticism began to grow in the monasteries.
2. Asceticism is extreme self-denial or punishment.
3. Examples of asceticism are prolonged fasting, vows of silence, sleeping on a board, not wearing a coat, and beating yourself with a whip.
4. The idea began to develop that to be more holy, you had to become a monk or a nun.
5. Also, the more extreme the asceticism, the more holy you were.