There are so many of these stories about the saints and martyrs and they continue to be read and shared to this day. There had to be a reason for their creation and their endurance. Martyrdom was a popular subject because it aimed to inspire prayer, faith, and virtuous behavior. The depiction of saints in medieval art basically served as religious propaganda. Their ultimate goal was to evoke piety and strengthen the influence of the church in everyday life. Saints had sacrificed their lives for Christ. What better role model could there be for faith, courage, and virtue? The suffering in these depictions was often presented as a form of spiritual ecstasy. Most of the time if you focus your attention on the face of the martyr, the scene doesn’t seem gruesome at all. In fact some of these facial expressions could be interpreted as an expression of ecstasy which could be interpreted as erotic by some viewers. Many of the things depicted, especially the ways people are positioned and some of the activities they are engaged in, are commonplace in kinky pornography and erotica today. Just as there is a percentage of the population today who seek sexual gratification from S&M activities I would speculate that the same has been true throughout history. It is easy to believe that, for some, images such as these may have been used for more than religious purposes. While the art may not have been meant to be covertly sexual, for the church, martyrdom and sex could be related. Some early Christian texts suggest that martyrdom is a way to overcome sexual desire and achieve spiritual perfection. Other Christian writers argued that sexual desire was a result of original sin and that martyrdom was a way of atoning for this sin. This atonement would make humans, once again, one with God. Some of the reasons graphic religious art may have been perceived or used as pornography by some viewers, depending on cultural, social, and personal contexts. Some factors that influenced this were:
the availability and accessibility of other erotic or pornographic materials
the degree of censorship and repression imposed by the church or the state
the level of education and literacy of the viewers
the gender and sexual orientation of the viewers
the personal tastes and preferences of the viewers.
Depending on the viewer, the artwork could produce different effects which could include:
arousing sexual desire or even just sexual curiosity
inducing guilt or shame
inspiring devotion or admiration
provoking laughter or mockery
eliciting indifference or boredom
Sexual imagery in medieval religious art was not meant to arouse or offend, but rather to communicate complex theological and moral messages. However, not everyone understood or appreciated these messages, and eventually some forms of sexual imagery were condemned and censored by the authorities In the mid 1550s, the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art, declaring: “All lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust." Interestingly enough, the majority of the artwork I have reviewed was produced before the Council of Trent. It is impossible to know how much overlap there was between these sadomasochistic images and the sexual proclivities of the viewers, but it is hard to imagine that there wasn’t at least some.