Holy medicine: Patron saints of wounds due to animal bites.

The cult (system of religious beliefs and rituals) of saints in Western Europe appeared in the 3rd century CE and gained momentum from the 4th to the 6th centuries. Its importance for European society in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages was undeniable; holy medicine was the only hope for sick people because the number of physicians was insufficient, and usually physicians were helpless in the face of most of the ailments that plagued society at that time. The number of saints had increased over the years, and people sought medical help from them through prayer and other religious practices. Some saints "specialized" in the treatment of various wounds, including skin diseases. Our research revealed many saints who were patrons of wounds and skin. They can be collected in three groups: patron saints against snakebites and dog bites; patron saints of the treatment of wounds, ulcers, burns, and frostbite; and patron saints against spreadable diseases such as ergotism, leprosy, and scabies. The large number of saints who were patrons against snakebites and dog bites shows the relevance and importance of the problem. In our research, we tried to find out whether the cult of saints led to the development of hospitals for the treatment of skin diseases like ergotism in the hospital of Brother St. Anthony or only in miracles of healing emphasizing the power of faith in the cure of diseases.

Sangue e fígado: a persistência das imagens simbólicas sobre a lepra a partir do mito do Papa-Figo / Blood and liver: the persistence of the leprosy symbolic images considering the Papa-Figo myth / Sangre e hígado: la persistencia de las imágenes simbólicas de la lepra a partir del mito de Papa-Figo

Este artigo volta-se para os processos simbólicos que, frente à iminência do adoecimento e da morte, fazem emergir no imaginário poderosas narrativas que se dinamizam em mitos. Elege, para isso, as imagens simbólicas sobre a lepra que circundam o mito do Papa-Figo ­ criatura fantástica, ele é representado por ricos e poderosos que, contaminados, fariam de tudo para recuperar sua saúde; inclusive consumir vísceras de crianças sequestradas. Em um percurso sincrônico e diacrônico, relacionamos relatos históricos e folclóricos com narrativas contemporâneas: vídeos de exploração à casa da 'viúva Papa-Figo'. Nesta leitura simbólica, exploramos a recorrência dos símbolos de sangue, fígado, poço, poder, dinheiro e de um Outro misterioso, mostrando que o medo da doença e suas consequências físicas e sociais nos movimentam arquetipicamente, despertando relações ancestrais que nos conectam com o plano da experiência humana.

This article is focused on the symbolic processes that, in the face of the imminence of illness and death, make powerful narratives emerge in the imaginary, which are symbolized by myths. For this purpose, we center on the symbolic images on leprosy that surround the Brazilian myth of the Papa-Figo - a fantastic creature represented by the rich and powerful people which were contaminated and would do anything to recover from the illness and back to their health; including consuming the entrails of kidnapped children. In a synchronic and diachronic journey, we related historical and folkloric reports to contemporary narratives: urban exploration videos exploring the abandoned house of the 'Papa-Figo widow'. In this symbolic reading, we explore the recurrence of symbols linked to blood, liver, well, power, money and the mysterious Other, showing that the fear of disease and its physical and social consequences move us archetypically, awakening ancestral relationships that connect us to the experience human level.

Este artículo se centra en los procesos simbólicos que, en vista de la inminencia de la enfermedad y de la muerte, hacen que surjan narrativas poderosas en el imaginario simbolizadas en mitos. Para este propósito, elegimos las imágenes simbólicas sobre la lepra que rodean el mito brasileño llamado Papa-Figo, una criatura fantástica representada por personas ricas y poderosas que, contaminadas con la enfermedad, harían cualquier cosa para recuperar su salud; incluyendo el consumo de las entrañas de niños secuestrados. En un camino sincrónico y diacrónico, relacionamos los relatos históricos y folclóricos con narrativas contemporáneas: vídeos de exploración urbana a la casa de la 'viuda Papa-Figo'. En esta lectura simbólica exploramos la recurrencia de símbolos vinculados a la sangre, al hígado, al pozo, al poder, al dinero y al Otro misterioso, mostrando que el miedo a la enfermedad y sus consecuencias físicas y sociales nos mueven arquetípicamente, despertando relaciones ancestrales por las cuales nos conectamos con el plano de la experiencia humana.

Leprosy's Untainted Child.

In the face of an obdurate disease, the Mission to Lepers made a virtue out of "saving" children from leprosy and from paganism by separating them from their parents so that they became a source of publicity, sponsorship, and fund-raising. This policy transformed a benevolent work of mercy into a professional one, for it soon became clear that children separated from their parents did not develop leprosy. Consequently, the asylum became a site where scientific conclusions were made about the transmission of the disease, and the authority of the mission was enhanced at international medical conferences. This nascent professionalism became sufficient for the Philippines to also be persuaded to remove children from their leprosy-infected parents. In turn, Culion-based research on the observations of children ensured the authority of the American and Philippine doctors in informing decisions made by the League of Nations and later the World Health Organization.

Humanitarian quarantine in practice: medicine, religion and leprosy in New Caledonia.

Medicine and religion worked in close synchronisation during the leprosy outbreak of New Caledonia (1890-1950). Once isolation of leprosy-affected people became mandatory doctors and missionaries came together to promote a particular form of medical practice that tied charitable zeal with cutting-edge medical research, developing a sophisticated set of medical practices that catered for the soul as well as the body. Such practices went hand-in-hand with ideas developed by doctors in the earlier stages of the epidemic about the way in which the disease had entered the Kanak (local Melanesian) population. Doctors and missionaries admitted that immoral colonial channels had upset the delicate balance of local social and biological rhythms. Yet they also believed that the highly contagious nature of the outbreak was linked to the inferior state of Kanak. This paper aims to highlight the way in which the leprosaria system in New Caledonia represented a double-edged moral high-ground within the French medical colonial narrative. It tracks the complex way in which emotionally charged arguments about contagion, science and spirituality constructed an ideology of humanitarian quarantine which was used to justify a highly aggressive form of medical biocontrol.

A lepra entre a religião e a medicina / The leprosy between religion and medicine

O presente texto analisa a lepra a partir das várias instituições erigidas para o seu controle, tanto as de cunho religioso do mundo ocidental, desde a Antiguidade mais remota até o final da Idade Média, como as embAsadas na ciência dos séculos XIX e XX. O objetivo aqui é discorrer sobre a trajetória histórica do drama dos hansenianos e identificar como o medo milenar do contágio, fortalecido pelos estigmas, acarretou um impacto subjetivo, porém tão profundo na vida das várias sociedades humanas a ponto de resistir aos séculos, às mudanças de pensamento introduzidas pela ciência moderna.(AU)

[Notes for a History of Hygiene taken from the Bible]. / Notas para una Historia de la Higiene tomadas de la Biblia.

Reading once more the Gospels, we found a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisee about the hand washing, this golden rule of medicine, and then, with the help of Thomas Mann, we began a search for other notes on hygiene in the Bible. For the return from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses established several rules for his people, some of them disguised as religious principles, concerning elimination of excreta, healthy and poisonous foods, isolation in case of contagious diseases (leprosy, gonorrhea), decontamination of clothes and houses, and many others that now seem to us ahead his time.

A clausura enferma: petições para a saída do Convento da Ajuda no Rio de Janeiro para tratamento de doenças contagiosas, c.1750-1780 / Disease in the cloisters: requests to leave Convento da Ajuda, Rio de Janeiro, for the treatment of contagious diseases, c.1750-1780

O artigo discute os pedidos de freiras do Convento da Ajuda para deixar a clausura a fim de curar doenças contagiosas. O padecimento dessas doenças era considerado uma das poucas exceções para permitir a saída das freiras. As ordens femininas guardavam estritamente a clausura, condição necessária para manter o recato de virgens consagradas a Cristo. A documentação contém detalhes sobre as causas e as formas de transmissão das doenças, bem como sobre os tipos de tratamento para combatê-las. Por fim, os processos esclarecem os procedimentos adotados fora da clausura para as freiras não colocarem em risco o recolhimento e a honra, quando iam buscar em locais distantes o tratamento adequado para aquelas doenças.(AU)

This article discusses the requests submitted by nuns from Convento da Ajuda (Ajuda Convent) to leave their life of enclosure to receive treatment for contagious diseases. Disease was one of the few cases in which nuns were granted permission to leave. The female orders were strictly cloistered in order to preserve their purity as virgins consecrated to Christ. Extant documents detail the causes of the diseases, the ways they were transmitted, and the treatments used to fight them. These processes shed light on the procedures adopted outside the cloisters so that the nuns did not jeopardize their reclusion and honor when they went to distant places in search of treatment.(AU)

A clausura enferma: petições para a saída do Convento da Ajuda no Rio de Janeiro para tratamento de doenças contagiosas, c. 1750-1780 / Disease in the cloisters: requests to leave Convento da Ajuda, Rio de Janeiro, for the treatment of contagious diseases, c. 1750-1780

Resumo O artigo discute os pedidos de freiras do Convento da Ajuda para deixar a clausura a fim de curar doenças contagiosas. O padecimento dessas doenças era considerado uma das poucas exceções para permitir a saída das freiras. As ordens femininas guardavam estritamente a clausura, condição necessária para manter o recato de virgens consagradas a Cristo. A documentação contém detalhes sobre as causas e as formas de transmissão das doenças, bem como sobre os tipos de tratamento para combatê-las. Por fim, os processos esclarecem os procedimentos adotados fora da clausura para as freiras não colocarem em risco o recolhimento e a honra, quando iam buscar em locais distantes o tratamento adequado para aquelas doenças.

Abstract This article discusses the requests submitted by nuns from Convento da Ajuda (Ajuda Convent) to leave their life of enclosure to receive treatment for contagious diseases. Disease was one of the few cases in which nuns were granted permission to leave. The female orders were strictly cloistered in order to preserve their purity as virgins consecrated to Christ. Extant documents detail the causes of the diseases, the ways they were transmitted, and the treatments used to fight them. These processes shed light on the procedures adopted outside the cloisters so that the nuns did not jeopardize their reclusion and honor when they went to distant places in search of treatment.

Notas para una Historia de la Higiene tomadas de la Biblia / Notes for a History of Hygiene taken from the Bible

Reading once more the Gospels, we found a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisee about the hand washing, this golden rule of medicine, and then, with the help of Thomas Mann, we began a search for other notes on hygiene in the Bible. For the return from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses established several rules for his people, some of them disguised as religious principles, concerning elimination of excreta, healthy and poisonous foods, isolation in case of contagious diseases (leprosy, gonorrhea), decontamination of clothes and houses, and many others that now seem to us ahead his time.

Leyendo una vez más los Evangelios, encontramos una discusión de Jesús con los fariseos sobre el lavado de manos antes de comer, que sus discípulos no respetaban. Como Jesús pareciera minimizar la utilidad de esta regla de oro para la medicina actual, fuimos a buscar otras notas bíblicas sobre las disposiciones higiénicas de aquellos tiempos, siguiendo una revisión que hiciera Thomas Mann para una de sus obras menores. Aparecen, fundamentalmente en el Levítico, numerosas recomendaciones, disposiciones y reglas que Moisés, invocando la autoridad de Yahvé, entregó al pueblo que salía de Egipto en pos de la Tierra Prometida, comprendiendo eliminación de excretas, alimentos recomendables y no recomendables, y aislamiento de enfermos en el caso de enfermedades que consideraban contagiosas, como lepra y gonorrea. También se detallaban en ellas la descontaminación de ropas y de casas, al igual que de otros objetos que habían estado en contacto con elementos estimados impuros, como cadáveres. Algunas de estas disposiciones, entre ellas las relativas al aislamiento de los enfermos, hoy nos parecen adelantadas a su época.

[Disease in the cloisters: requests to leave Convento da Ajuda, Rio de Janeiro, for the treatment of contagious diseases, c.1750-1780]. / A clausura enferma: petições para a saída do Convento da Ajuda no Rio de Janeiro para tratamento de doenças contagiosas, c.1750-1780.

This article discusses the requests submitted by nuns from Convento da Ajuda (Ajuda Convent) to leave their life of enclosure to receive treatment for contagious diseases. Disease was one of the few cases in which nuns were granted permission to leave. The female orders were strictly cloistered in order to preserve their purity as virgins consecrated to Christ. Extant documents detail the causes of the diseases, the ways they were transmitted, and the treatments used to fight them. These processes shed light on the procedures adopted outside the cloisters so that the nuns did not jeopardize their reclusion and honor when they went to distant places in search of treatment.

[Philo of Alexandria and his views on health and sickness]. / Gesundheit und Krankheit bei Philo von Alexandrien.

Philo of Alexandria, Torah scholar and philosopher of religion, (c. 20 BC to 50 BCE) is the first Middle Platonic philosopher whom we know through his own works. His thinking was determined by the two antitheses of God and world, and virtue and vice. The Logos (divine reason) mediates between the transcendent God and the earthly world. His thoughts on health and illness and on the possibilities and limitations of medicine are testimony to his comprehensive philosophical education as well as to his belief in God as ruler of the world and of human life. He saw human health as the reward for self-control for which one was best prepared by the classical education programme. Self-control and physical exercise were therefore, in his view, possible guarantors of health, and a coach potentially more important than a physician. Illnesses, if they result from the loss of self-control, may point to the necessity for penitence. Philo therefore saw virtuousness as the safest precondition for a healthy and cheerful life. That the life forces increase during youth and diminish in old age is part of destiny. Similarly, illness can be brought about by strokes of fate. If illness occurred in this or any other way, medicine was there to help and its success or failure depended on divine providence. Like Jesus Sirach, the Jewish scholar who taught around a hundred years earlier, Philo did not think it sinful to use medical help if one was ill, seeing that God himself had made natural remedies available. He compared the importance of physicians for their patients to that other professionals have in people's lives. Philo did not provide a compendium on the work of the physician, but he gave indications, on nutrition for instance, or on the use of laxatives and fragrances, or that complaints can be necessary stages of recovery. Philo also asked himself whether physicians were always obliged to tell patients the truth. The only case of illness he described in sufficient detail was one of leprosy, which he diagnosed in accordance with Leviticus 13:2. Philo saw physicians as helpers of God, who was the Lord of life and who would therefore decide on the fate of the healthy and sick. Faith in God, Philo thought, was vital if one was to cope with life's ups and downs. Only the wicked had to fear death, however, while the souls of the righteous returned to heaven after death.

Palomas blancas entre el amor y el dolor. El cuidado, las Hijas de la Caridad y el Hospital Gómez Ulla / White doves between love and pain. Medical Care, Daughters of Charity and Hospital «Gómez Ulla»

El cuidado, que ha existido desde los albores de nuestra humanidad, ha adoptado, conceptualmente, diversos significados a través del tiempo,al igual que lo han hecho la salud y la enfermedad. En dicho cuidado han estado secularmente implicadas las mujeres, en el interior delhogar, como prolongación de sus tareas de productoras y reproductoras de la vida, y lo han prodigado no solo a los niños y las niñas, sinotambién a las personas mayores, discapacitadas y enfermas. Además, desde siempre, mujeres de la más diversa índole trataron la enfermedadfuera de los límites de su casa, con mayor o menor preparación y asumiendo diferentes competencias hasta que, en la Baja Edad Media, seles negó autoridad y aptitud pues no se les permitió la entrada en las Universidades. El cristianismo había introducido en las conciencias losvalores de piedad, caridad y misericordia, afectando, especialmente, a muchas mujeres que pronto se dispusieron a mitigar las penas de losdesheredados y de los sufrientes entregando su vida por vocación de servicio a los demás. En el siglo XVII, en Francia, San Vicente de Paúly Santa Luisa de Marillac pusieron en marcha una sencilla organización: las Cofradías de Caridad, para canalizar la ayuda a los necesitadosde las parroquias parisinas. Poco después, ellas dieron a luz al instituto de las Hijas de la Caridad con características propias y con el fin deextender el servicio a los pobres y enfermos. Pronto, por su meritoria labor, las Hijas de la Caridad formaron parte insustituible de numerosasinstituciones: casas de expósitos, orfanatos, hospitales civiles y militares, cárceles, manicomios, leproserías… A España llegaron estasreligiosas en 1790 y rápidamente se extendieron por todas las provincias, mostrando mejoras en todo aquello que les era encomendado. Lossoldados heridos y enfermos fueron atendidos por ellas con todo celo en las numerosas contiendas del XIX: Guerra de la Independencia,Guerras Carlistas (AU)

Medical care, since the dawn of mankind, has conceptually adopted different meanings throughout the times, as well as health and sickness.Women have been involved for centuries in this medical care, at home, as an extension of their activities as lifegivers, and not only for childrenbut also for the elderly, sick and disabled. Moreover, women, from a wide range of origins, and more or less qualified, cared for the sick out oftheir own homes at different levels until the Low Middle Ages, when their aptitudes and capacities were denied as they were not allowed to enterthe Universities. Christianity introduced the values of mercy, charity and compassion, which were taken up particularly by many women whooffered their lives in service to their fellow men and women, mitigating the sorrows and sufferings of the unfortunates and dispossessed. In the18th century in France St. Vincent de Paul and Sainte Louise de Marillac started a simple organization, the Brotherhood of Charity to help theneedy in the Parisian parishes. A little later this originated the Daughters of Charity with their own characteristics and the objective to provideservice to the poor and sick. Due to their praiseworthy labor soon the Daughters of Charity became an irreplaceable part of many institutions:foundling homes, orphanages, military and civilian hospitals, prisons, insane asylums, leper colonies… These nuns arrived in Spain in 1790 andspread immediately all over the country improving everything they became responsible for. They were fully committed to taking care of sick andwounded soldiers in the numerous conflicts in the 19th century: Spanish War of Independence, Carlist Wars, African and Overseas Wars… Theycontinued their activities during the Spanish Civil War in field hospitals in the so-called national zone (AU)

[Leprosy--a stigma in the 21st century]. / Lepra--stigma a XXI. században.

For the initiation of the French journalist Raoul Follereau in 1954 the UNO inaugurated the Leprosy Day (Martyr's Day) that is celebrated on the last Sunday of January every year. Although the bacterium that causes leprosy was isolated by the Norwegian scientist Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen in 1873 and from 1982 this disease can be cured with a special pharmaceutical complex, still 219.826 new leprous are detected on Earth every year, according to the data published in August, 2010 by WHO-experts. Ancient Chinese and Hindu source-strings from 600 B. C. are referring to leprosy, however, the disease was imported by the army of Alexander the Great from India around 327-326 B. C. Even the Old and the New Testament from the Holy Bible are mentioning leprosy in several details. During the Middle Ages the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, established in the Holy Land in 72 A. D., did pioneer work in nursing leprous. In the process of time the medical attendance concerning leprous was organized in special hospitals called "leprosoriums" built on river-banks. Special office and even services were organized for the treatment and isolation of the people infected. Although medical science has prevailed against leprosy, and almost simultaneously even jurisprudence defended the patients' rights via legislation, still mankind can regrettably not get rid of this disease that stigmatizes seriously.

The inclusivity of exclusion: isolation and community among leprosy-affected people in the South Pacific.

From 1911 to 1969 those people diagnosed with leprosy in the South Pacific were gradually isolated and received medical treatment at the Central Lepers' Hospital, Makogai Island, Fiji. Until the discovery of sulfones in the 1940s leprosy was largely incurable and it was expected that those who went to the island would never return. This paper assumes that the stigma attendant on leprosy which provoked the isolation order is itself a form of disability. The paper draws on patients'stories to explore their individual and collective experience of isolation and suggests that for many, collective isolation on Makogai was an enabling experience. On Makogai, leprosy was the 'norm', the social disability of stigma was removed and people were able to be self-sufficient, to build community and social relationships and to live a fairly ordinary island life.

Leprosy and its socio-cultural perception in Indian religions and ancient texts.

Leprosy is one of the oldest ailments known to the mankind. Many of the ancient texts and scriptures reveal that leprosy was not categorised as a specified disease but was grouped along with other skin diseases. However, in certain texts categorical mention of this disease does exist. The prime objective of this article is to highlight the age old traditional line of perception about this disease. A literature review was done to up-date the socio-cultural perception of leprosy in Indian religions and ancient texts. References were obtained through examining relevant bibliographies and the views/suggestions of eminent scholars engaged in this field were also included. An analysis of the secondary sources of data, particularly the ancient texts reveals that in good old days, leprosy had been considered to be an infliction of wrong-doings and sins. This viewpoint has been significantly reflected in these texts.

[The religious imaginary of Hansen's disease patients: a comparative study of former inmates of the asylums of São Paulo and current Hansen's disease patients]. / O imaginário religioso de pacientes de hanseníase: um estudo comparativo entre ex-internos dos asilos de São Paulo e atuais portadores de hanseníase.

The article analyzes the religiosity of Hansen's disease patients who lived during two distinct treatment periods of the sick: that of internment in asylums and the current practice. Ten semi-structured interviews focused on health, religion and Hansen's disease, broaching the ways the two groups faced religion. In the former inmate group, the presence of institutionalized religion was noted, which served the purposes of vigilance and isolationist therapeutics. Present day Hansen's disease patients still feel the stigmatic weight of'leprosy" in certain situations. Five questionnaires were also given to DHDS health professionals, who presented their considerations concerning the patient's religion and the treatment.

O imaginário religioso de pacientes de hanseníase: um estudo comparativo entre ex-internos dos asilos de São Paulo e atuais portadores de hanseníase / The religious imaginary of Hansen's disease patients: a comparative study of former inmates of the asylums of São Paulo and current Hansen's disease patients

Analisa a religiosidade de pacientes portadores de hanseníase que viveram dois períodos distintos da história do tratamento dos doentes: o do internamento em asilos e o da prática atual. Dez entrevistas semiestruturadas focalizaram saúde, religião e hanseníase, abordando os meios de enfrentamento religioso nos dois grupos. No grupo de ex-internos, constatou-se a presença da religião institucionalizada, que atendia aos propósitos de vigilância e da terapêutica isolacionista. Os atuais portadores de hanseníase ainda sentem o peso do estigma da 'lepra' em determinadas situações. Foram aplicados também cinco questionários a profissionais de saúde do DHDS, que apresentam suas considerações sobre a religião do paciente e o tratamento.

The article analyzes the religiosity of Hansen's disease patients who lived during two distinct treatment periods of the sick: that of internment in asylums and the current practice. Ten semi-structured interviews focused on health, religion and Hansen's disease, broaching the ways the two groups faced religion. In the former inmate group, the presence of institutionalized religion was noted, which served the purposes of vigilance and isolationist therapeutics. Present day Hansen's disease patients still feel the stigmatic weight of 'leprosy" in certain situations. Five questionnaires were also given to DHDS health professionals, who presented their considerations concerning the patient's religion and the treatment.