Misericordia and leprosy in the 20th century.

Leprosy, which in particular affects poor people of developing countries, was also a challenge for social and charitable activities. This was possible due to the engagement of "great community workers," people who devoted their professional and family life, passions, and their own material goods to conduct socio-medical activities among leprosy affected persons. This contribution discusses the work of the lepro-activists of international fame, Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as well as those who are less well known, Wanda Maria Blenska and Marian Zelazek.

Misericordia and leprosy in the 20th century

Leprosy, which in particular affects poor people of developing countries, was also a challenge for social and charitable activities. This was possible due to the engagement of "great community workers," people who devoted their professional and family life, passions, and their own material goods to conduct socio-medical activities among leprosy affected persons. This contribution discusses the work of the lepro-activists of international fame, Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as well as those who are less well known, Wanda Maria Blenska and Marian Zelazek.

[Infamous rooms or: the dead birds of Lyon. The accomodation of sick men about the year 1800, befor the establishment of a pavilion system]. / Infame Räume oder: Die toten Vögel von Lyon. Zur Unterbringung erkrankter Menschen um 1800 vor der Etablierung des Pavillonsystems.

The contribution follows an architectural perspective on the history of hospitals that are conceptualised as locations of Christian charity. It goes into the German, Italian, and especially into the French developments, and it identifies three types of hospitals in 18th century: That of Christian charity, the military lazaretto, and the new prototypes of modem clinics. Furthermore three technical types are identified, according to the ventilation of the ,machines a guérir' (Tenon): the partial system, the central system, and the technical system.

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.(AU)

"Essentially Christian, eminently philanthropic": the Mission to Lepers in British India.

The early history of the Mission to Lepers in India is an interplay between politics, religion, and medicine in the context of British imperialism. The Mission pursued the dual but inseparable goals of evangelization and civilization, advancing not only a religious program but also a political and cultural one. These activities and their consequences were multi-faceted because while the missionaries pursued their religious calling, they also provided medical care to people and in places that the colonial government was unable or unwilling. Within the context of the British imperial program, the work imparted Western social and cultural ideals on the colonial populations they served, inculcated patients with Christian beliefs, and provided medical care to individuals who had been expelled from their own communities. Physical healing was intimately tied to religious salvation, spiritual healing, and the civilizing process.

[The history of Yunosawa village and the policy of leprosy of Japan. II].

There was a village which was called Yunosawa, lots of leprosy patients lived, existed from 1887 to 1941, Kusatu town, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. It was the only place continued securing self-government to the last as area was free from the isolation policy of State in prewar days there. The aim of this study will make clear the dynamism of "The protection from the tension of the society of leprosy patient currently persecuted" to "The defense of the society from the leprosy patient who is a source of infection". In this study, explained the history of the Yunosawa village and the shift of the policy of leprosy by State had relation to the village. In addition, the effort of residents and Christianity persons' activity are drawn in this paper. Moreover also drew what is desired how it is going to live under adverse circumstances, and showed worth of free medical-treatment area here.

The evangelical uses of leprosy.

The history of leprosy treatment among the Karo of Sumatra illustrates how leprosy afforded missionaries an evangelistic opportunity, and how that opportunity eroded in the twentieth century with changing therapies for the illness. Because it symbolized Christian charity, leprosy care drew donations and support for the missionary movement of the nineteenth century. In Karoland, as elsewhere, leprosy patients were attracted to the missionaries' religion because therapy entailed separation from kin and community and then incorporation into a new kind of community, an asylum, where the authority structure, the dispensation of resources, and the constructed spaces of everyday life made the idea of a supreme deity an experienced reality. When therapies of leprosy shifted to an out-patient system, one of the older missionaries to the Karo struggled to maintain control of the leprosarium that had been one of the few pockets of conversion in this mission field.