By the eleventh century the Franciscans were extolling self-flagellation as a penance. And the Italian Benedictine St. Pietro Damian organised group flagellation for laymen. Two hundred years later a procession of fanatical flagellants - closely linked to the Flagellant sect - set out under the auspices of St. Anthony of Padua. This austere saint, theologian and preacher-keen to combat manifest sexuality - was in fact adding to the sexual ferment. In 1260 unofficial processions of voluntary scourgers, each member heartily whipping the man in front of him, started streaming through Italy and out into northern and central Europe. The participants, all male, carried banners and candles, and they sang as they marched.