himself saying to the ailing man whom he had cured 'Go now and sin
no more lest something worse should happen to you,' we declare by
the present decree and distinctly impose upon physicians of the body
that whenever it shall happen that they are called to ailing
persons, they must before all warn and persuade the ailing that they
should call in physicians of the soul so that after the spiritual
safety of the sick has been provided for he may proceed more
healthfully to the remedy of corporeal medicine, since the cause
ceasing the effect shall also cease.
"This among other things gave cause for this edict that certain
people lying on a bed of sickness when persuaded by physicians that
they should dispose things for the safety of their souls fall into a
condition of despair whence the more easily they incur the danger of
death.
{430}
"If any one of the physicians after this constitution of ours shall
have been published should transgress it he should be kept from
entrance to the Church until he shall have satisfied competently for
the transgression.
"Besides, since the soul is by far more precious than the body, we
prohibit under dire anathema that any physician should ever advise a
patient to do anything for his corporal welfare that would bring him
into danger of losing his soul."
_The Synodal Statutes of the Church of Mans (the chief town of
the Province of Main), A.D. 1247._
On Communion for the Sick.
"It was decreed in the general session and distinctly enjoined on
physicians of the body that when they happen to be called to the
ailing they must before everything else warn and persuade their
patients to call physicians of the soul, in order that after the
spiritual safety of the sick one may be provided for they may
proceed with more assurance to the remedy of corporal ills. If any
physician should transgress this constitution let him be kept from
entrance to the Church until he shall have made competent
satisfaction.
"Besides since the soul is much more important than the body it is
prohibited under anathema that any physician should advise a patient
anything for his bodily health which might bring his soul into
peril."
{431}
APPENDIX V.
PAPAL PHYSICIANS.
To make many sources of information with regard to this vexed question
of the relation of the Popes to Science more readily available, a
series of authoritative references to Papal Physicians so far as we
know them and their work during the past seven centuries has seemed to
me especially needed. Physicians at all times have been interested in
phases of science besides medicine and have not infrequently made
important discoveries in the non-medical sciences. Their constant
occupation with scientific subjects in their professional capacity has
always given them an open mind for scientific advances. As the Papal
Physicians were at all times men chosen because they had reached
distinction in medicine, they were usually scholars who thought for
themselves and were ready to recognize the new in science in any
department from which it might be presented. Many of the Papal
Physicians made important contributions to other sciences and not a
few of them laid important foundations, especially in the biological
sciences. The fact that the Popes constantly had near them, in the
confidential capacity so inevitable between a man and his physician,
scientists of prestige in their chosen profession, so often the
teachers of their generation in medicine and almost as a rule
interested in the sciences related to medicine and not infrequently in
physical science generally, is the best possible evidence not only
that there could not be opposition, but on the contrary that there
must have been, so far as human assumption may go, a constant
favorable attitude of mind of the Popes toward science.
In my chapter on Papal Physicians in the first edition of this volume
I gathered such references as would enable me to bring out the
valuable services of many of the medical attendants of the Popes to
medical and physical science. I was not aware then that a more or less
complete list of Papal Physicians for some five centuries at least had
been published, giving an excellent idea of what they had done and
written in scientific matters. There was no copy of the work in this
country so far as I could learn and it was only after considerable
difficulty that I was able to secure the volumes through the kind
offices of Rev. Father Hagan, S.J., who is the Papal Astronomer in
Rome at the present time. From that {432} work the History of the
Papal Physicians, originally written by Mandosio at the end of the
seventeenth century and extended and annotated by Marini at the end of
the eighteenth, [Footnote 50] it has seemed worth while to present
such abstracts as will supply ample material for the consultation of
those interested in Papal relations to science yet who have not the
longer work available for reference. This will show that many of the
Papal Physicians were, as I have said, leaders in the science of their
time, not only in medicine and also the biological sciences generally,
but in all departments of physical science.
[Footnote 50: _Degli Archiatri Pontifici_, Roma, Pagliarini, 1784.]
Nicholas I the Great (858-67).--Almost needless to say the available
list of the Papal Physicians does not go back much beyond the
thirteenth century, though we have the name of one Ursus who is
mentioned in a very old manuscript, No. 5696 (Fol. 184) of the Vatican
Library. The author of this manuscript work is Anastasius the Abbot
and he dedicates it to Ursus, Physician, Domestic Prelate of Pope
Nicholas I. Beyond a mention of Ursus by Fioravante Martinello in his
work, _Roma ex Ethnica Sacra_, (p. 414), nothing else is known of this
old-time physician. Even this mention, however, seems to make it clear
that there was a physician formally attached to the Papal See thus
early in the Middle Ages.
Sylvester II (999-1003), Victor III (1086-87).--In the tenth century
Gerbert, who became Pope under the name of Sylvester II, was famous
for his knowledge of medicine as well as other sciences and the close
personal friend of men who did much for medical education in France,
as we have noted in the body of the book. Before the end of the
eleventh century the Abbot Desiderius, as we have said, became Pope
after having been for years the intimate friend of Constantine
Africanus, to whom we owe the earliest serious development of the
medical school of Salerno and the first important medical writings in
modern Europe. We owe much of Constantine's writing to Desiderius'
inspiration.
Innocent III (1198-1216), Gregory IX (1227-41), Martin IV
(1281-85).--With the beginning of the thirteenth century the documents
for the history of culture in Europe are better preserved and the list
of Papal Physicians begins to be more complete. Guy of Montpellier was
summoned to Rome to establish the Hospital of Santo Spirito by
Innocent III just at the opening of the thirteenth century. Richard
the Englishman was the physician to the famous Pope Gregory IX, one of
Innocent's successors in the first half {433} of this century. Another
Englishman, Hugo Atratus or Atractus, said to have been from Evesham,
became the physician of Pope Martin II, 1281. Oldoino in his _Athenaeo
Romano_ mentions a series of books written by this Hugh of Evesham, as
he is called in English. They bear the titles _Medicinales Canones_,
Medical Canons, and _De Genealogiis Humanis_ and there is besides an
_opusculum_ by him on the work of Isaac the well-known Jewish
physician of the Middle Ages "On Fevers." The physicians of Pope
Honorius IV, Taddeo the Florentine, and of Nicholas IV, Simon a Corde,
or as he is better known, Simon Januensis, are mentioned in the body
of the book.
Boniface VIII (1294-1303), Benedict XI (1303-04), Clement V
(1305-14).--In the preface of his great text-book of surgery, written
in the first half of the fourteenth century, Henry of Mondeville,
whose work represents an important landmark in the history of surgery
that has been reissued in our own generation in at least two editions,
one in Germany, the other in France, declares that "I began to write
this work ... on the proposal and request of Master William of
Brescia, distinguished professor in the science of medicine and
formerly physician to Pope Boniface VIII, and Benedict XI, and Clement
V, the present Pope." This is almost all that we know of William, and
he is not mentioned in Mandosio's list of Papal Physicians nor in
Marini's additions to Mandosio. This is not so hard to understand
because no printed edition of Mondeville, who died untimely from
tuberculosis and whose work was left unfinished, was issued until our
time. If William had done nothing else, however, than stimulate his
younger colleague Mondeville to write his great book, which Pagel
thought it worth while to edit in our generation and to which Gurlt,
in his History of Surgery, devotes some forty pages, he would have a
right to a distinctive place in the history of surgery. As it is we
have Mondeville's praise of him and as the French professor of surgery
was himself one of the most scholarly men of that important period,
his opinion is of great value.
Another of the physicians of Pope Boniface VIII, Angelus Camerinensis,
is called by Oldoino "a most learned doctor of medicine (medicus
absolutissimus) who made a fortune out of his profession and for many
years not only pleased but benefited the students who crowded to hear
him." The two books from him that we know are on "The Regimen for
Preservation from the Pest" and on "Protection against Poisons."
One of the most distinguished of the Papal Physicians was Arnold {434}
of Villanova, who, after having been protected by Pope Benedict XI
from enemies who insisted that his scientific writings were heretical,
afterwards became the friend and physician of Pope Clement V at
Avignon. He is the author of a great many writings which have gone
through a number of editions. His works have proved a treasure house
of quotations from a number of his colleagues in medicine and surgery
who lived before his time, from whom nothing has been preserved except
these quotations in Villanova. The edition of his works published at
Lyons in 1504 contains some fifty-five different treatises.
One of the physicians of Pope Clement V, at least he seems to have
been summoned in consultation when the Pope was suffering from a
severe illness, the cure of which was attributed to him, was Petrus
Aichspadius. He appears to have been a very Admirable Crichton of
various learning, for Mandosius says of him that "he was distinguished
for his knowledge of the best literature, and as a theologian as well
as for his virtues, an excellent physician whose reputation had made
medicine respected in his time." With all this he was the Bishop of
Basel and after Pope Clement's recovery he was transferred to the See
of Moguntum by the Pope, who declared that as he was such a happy
curer of bodies it seemed only appropriate that he should be given a
larger cure of souls.
Pope John (XXI) XXII (1314-16).--Gentilis Gentilis, said to have been
the son of another Papal Physician of the name of Gentilis, was the
medical attendant of John (XXI) XXII. His death was due to his
faithful devotion to the citizens of Perugia during a time of
pestilence. He is the author of a volume of Commentaries on Avicenna,
of "The Best Councils for every Form of Disease of the Whole Body," of
a volume "On Fevers," of a treatise "On Leprosy," a monograph "On
Baths," and of a book that went through many editions after printing
was introduced on "The Proportions of Medicine and the Method of
Investigating their Composition and of Knowing the Appropriate Dose of
Each Medicine." This was printed at Padua more than a century after
his death and later at Lyons, and there seems to have been another
edition in the Low Countries. He wrote a series of smaller medical
treatises on "The Activity of Medicines," on "Phthisis" and on
"Medical Dosage." He also wrote "On the Pulse and on Urine" in a
volume of which editions were issued at Venice and at Lyons.
Another of the physicians of Pope John XXII was Dino del Garbo, a
Florentine, the son of Bruno del Garbo, a skilful surgeon and the
disciple of Taddeo of Florence. He is sometimes known as {435} Dino
the Expounder because of his successful devotion to the exposition of
Galen and Avicenna. Like many of the physicians of his time he had
degrees in both medicine and philosophy and was celebrated for his
scholarliness. According to Van der Linden, he wrote _De Caena et
Prandio Epistola_, which was published by Jerome of Cartularius in
1545; Commentaries on Hippocrates' Nature of the Foetus, Venice, 1502;
a treatise on surgery which was published at Ferrara in 1485 and a
subsequent edition at Venice in 1536. His Commentaries on Avicenna and
the General Practice of Medicine were published at Venice in 1495 and
his book on The Virtues of Simple Medicines, a commentary on the
Second Canon of Avicenna, was published at Venice the same year. Dino
is usually looked upon as one of the most distinguished contributors
to medicine in the fourteenth century. His son Thomas is said also to
have been in the service of the Popes and has written books on The
Reduction of Medicines, a Commentary on Avicenna and a commentary on
Galen's work "On Fevers."
John XXII (1316-34), Clement VI (1342-52), Innocent VI (1352-62), St.
Urban V (1362-70).--Of Guy de Chauliac, physician to the Popes at
Avignon, enough has been said in the text of this book to make clear
how important was his place in the surgery of his time and, indeed, of
all the modern time. I have written on him more at length in my Old
Time Makers of Medicine (Fordham University Press), and during the ten
years that have elapsed since the writing of the original edition of
this volume on The Popes and Science, Guy de Chauliac's fame and
merits have come to be recognized everywhere.
Gregory XI (1370-78).--One of the well-known physicians of the Popes
at Avignon was Jean de Tornemire, known by his Latin name of
Tornamira, the physician of Pope Gregory XI, who on the death of that
Pope went to Montpellier, where he became Dean and Chancellor of the
Medical Faculty. Gurlt, in his History of Surgery, says that he must
be "counted among the most learned and expert physicians of his time."
He wrote a commentary on Rhazes and some notes of his on stone in the
kidney and bladder show how careful an observer he was. His Rhazes was
published at Lyons, 1490. His collected works were published in many
editions in the sixteenth century.
Urban VI (1378-89), Innocent VII (1404-06), Martin V
(1417-31).--Francis Casinus, the son of a noble family of Siena, one
of the best-known of the physicians of North Italy in the fourteenth
century, was chosen physician to Urban VI in 1378. His son {436}
Francis was physician to Pope Martin V, 1417. A brother of Francis
Casinus, John by name, was Papal Physician to Pope Innocent VII.
Isadoras Ugurgerius in his work _"Le Pompe Sanesi"_ says, "The Casini
among the philosophers and physicians of their time held easily the
first place. John lectured on the theory of medicine at Siena about
the year 1370 and afterwards was summoned to Rome by Pope Innocent
VII, by whom he was admitted among his most intimate friends and
declared the guardian and conserver of his health." One of John
Casinus' sons became Cardinal Antonius Casinus, and another,
Bartholomeus, was the Abbot of Valombrosa, while the son of Francis
Casinus, his brother, became Bishop of Massa and is famous for a
collection of manuscripts made during the first half of the fifteenth
century.
Another of the physicians of Pope Martin V was Andrew Gamuccius, who
had also been physician to Pope John XXIII. He was a descendant of a
noble family of San Gemignano, well known for scholarship and for the
number of distinguished men who came from it.
Eugene IV (1431-47) chose as his physician John Baptist Verallus,
doctor of medicine and philosophy, to whom he gave besides the title
of archiater to the Pope that of chief physician of the city. Verallus
is famous for his work in improving the health of Rome itself and
represents one of the pioneers in public hygiene. At various times
most of our modern hygienic regulations were anticipated at Rome. The
ancient Romans had brought in water from a distance, because they had
experienced the seriousness of contamination and during the early
Renaissance the aqueducts which had fallen out of repair were
gradually restored. The contagiousness of tuberculosis began to be
suspected at this time and the idea of intimate contact with patients
suffering from disease as a definite cause took shape. In a chapter of
"The Century of Columbus," Catholic Summer School Press, N. Y., 1914,
I reviewed some of these anticipations in Italy of our modern hygiene
due to thinking physicians, of whom Verallus was one of the pioneers.
Another of the physicians of Pope Eugene IV was Ludovicus Scarampus.
His fame was for surgery rather than medicine, so that it is
interesting to learn in spite of the supposed ecclesiastical
opposition to surgery that Pope Eugene learned to think so much of him
that he made him a Bishop and then Archbishop of Florence, and
afterwards Patriarch of Aquilea with the rank of Cardinal. More than
one distinguished medieval surgeon in Italy had been a colleague in
the episcopal dignity. Practically all the historical {437} writers of
Scarampus' time give him a prominent place in their histories.
Nicholas V (1448-55).--One of the physicians of Pope Nicholas V, the
Renaissance patron of learning, was Bernard Garzonius, distinguished
for his knowledge of philosophy and medicine, who had been professor
in the medical school at Bologna before being summoned to Rome.
Alidosio in his volume _I Dottori Bolognesi di Teologia, Filosofia,
Medicina, ed Arti Liberali_ (page 29) gives an interesting account of
the hours and subjects of his teaching at Bologna. At nine in the
morning Garzonius lectured on the Theory of Medicine, and in the
afternoon on the Practice of Medicine. Besides there were special
lectures on Moral Philosophy probably setting forth the moral
principles of medical practice on the festival days. Garzonius died in
Rome of the pest in 1454, having devoted himself to the care of those
suffering from the disease, though the mortality was so high that most
of those who could, including even not a few of his colleagues in
medicine, had left the city.
Another of the physicians of Pope Nicholas V was Laurentius Roverella
of Ferrara, of whom his contemporaries speak in the highest praise for
his erudition, his ability to teach and the piety and charity of his
life. He was for a time professor at the University of Ferrara, but
afterwards was called to Padua, where his lectures attracted a great
deal of attention. He was recalled to Ferrara by the D'Estes in order
to secure his prestige for his native city and it was from here that
he was summoned to Rome to become the chamberlain and physician of
Pope Nicholas V. After the death of Nicholas V he went to Paris,
lectured there for a time and was crowned with the doctorate. After
this he returned to Ferrara and was frequently sent as ambassador to
diverse European princes by the Duke of Ferrara. He was also sent as
ambassador for the Popes into France and Hungary. He died at the
Monastery of Monte Oliveto in the arms of his brother, who was the
Prior of the monastery, but his body was brought for burial to the
Church of St. George in Ferrara. Roverella finds a significant place
in all the histories of the time.
Calixtus III (1455-58).--The physician of Pope Calixtus III and Pius
II was Joannes Serninus. He was a native of Siena, practised for a
time in his native city, was offered the position with a good salary
of public physician to Citta di Castella, then went to Ancona in a
similar position with such success, according to tradition, that his
cures were considered almost miracles. From here he was summoned by
Pope Calixtus III, and after his death {438} was retained as his
physician by Pope Pius II, himself one of the Piccolomini family of
Siena. After his death his body was transferred to Siena because the
city considered that the remains of so great a son should rest in her
soil. It is significant that this physician of wide experience in
public health matters, whose successful career in helping various
Italian towns to make conditions more healthy for their citizens gave
him a wide reputation, should be the chosen physician of Pope Calixtus
III, to whom is attributed a famous Bull, that has never been found
however, against Halley's comet on its appearance in 1456. The
selection of such a man as Serninus as Papal Physician makes it
extremely improbable that the Pope should have issued any such
document as is attributed to him. Its issue has been accepted only
with the thought that in the middle of the fifteenth century the Pope
and his court were buried in ignorance of science and above all of
medicine and the cause of disease. [Footnote 51]
[Footnote 51: The whole subject of the supposed Papal Bull against the
comet is discussed in my sketch of Regiomontanus the father of modern
astronomy, as he is sometimes called, in "Catholic Churchmen in
Science," second series, Phila., Dolphin Press, 1909.]
Another of the physicians of Pope Nicholas V and Calixtus III was
Simon Tebaldi, who came of a distinguished family, one of whom was a
Cardinal. He is called by the historians of the time an illustrious
philosopher and physician of the period.
Paul II (1464-71).--Christopher of Verona is mentioned by Platina in
his life of Paul II as the physician of that Pope, but nothing more is
known of him. Jacobus Gottifredus, another of Paul's physicians, is
better known. He taught medicine for a time at Rome, which was his
native city, and devoted himself particularly to the practice of his
profession. According to tradition he became the most sought after
physician of the city and made a large fortune. He had many
archaeological interests, collected curiosities of all kinds and
generally used the fortune which he made in medicine for cultural
purposes.
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul II was Joannes Burgius, who was
also a bishop. He is highly praised by his contemporaries, and
Mandosius describes a huge manuscript volume by him preserved in one
of the libraries in Rome, bearing the title _Secreta Verissima ad
Varios Curandos Morbos_--The Truest Secrets for Curing Various
Diseases.
The fourth of the physicians of Paul II of whom there is record was
Sanctes Floccus, whose activities as writer and physician are summed
up in the inscription on his tombstone.
{439}
_"Flocca Domus, nomen mihi Sanctes, Patria Firmum,
Scriptor eram, et medicus Paule Secunde tuus."_
The fifth of the physicians of Paul II was Sebastianus Veteranus, who
was also the archiater or chief physician of the city of Rome
according to the list given in the appendix of the statutes of the
Roman College, called _Nomenclatura Medicorum._ He is mentioned by his
contemporaries as "well versed in the serious disciplines of
philosophy and medicine and as constantly a diligent, fruitful
cultivator of them, devoting his life to his studies."
Sixtus IV (1471-84).--One of the physicians of Pope Sixtus IV was
Onofrio de Onofriis. Oldoinus declares him "a celebrated physician
greatly esteemed for the success which he had in the treatment of
patients and the very large practice which he consequently enjoyed."
He had been a professor of philosophy and of medicine--the two nearly
always went together in these days, unfortunately they do not so often
any more--at the University of Perugia, where he achieved great
success. It was from here that he was summoned to be the physician of
Pope Sixtus. He wrote a series of books on medicine and some of his
lectures were published, though these are not now extant.