A former nun claimed that she was forced to engage in self-flagellation and write her vows in her own blood while living in a convent in Italy.

In an interview with an Italian newspaper the woman claims that the nuns of Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate were forced to take part in punishing rituals, as Daily Mail reports.

She accuses the order to have forced her to write her vows using her own blood, on the day of her initiation in 1996, when she was 17 years old.

‘Father Manelli [head of the order] was satisfied that we did this practice because it made our love for God more authentic, this eternal vow with God…made with blood,’ she told Correriere Della Sera.

‘All the practices related to expired food are true – expired yogurt or corned beef for example. We were told that if we ate that food with obedience nothing would have happened… but that’s not true because I had many stomach aches and abdomen pains.’

She also revealed that nuns of the order would ‘flagellated ourselves in the evening during the time it took to say these prayers: five Our Father, five Ave Maria and five Salve Regina’ .

Also, the newspaper claims many former priests and nuns of the Franciscans of the Immaculate have contacted and told stories of alleged beatings, oppressions, violence and extreme practices such as flagellations and branding with fire.