THE CHURCH AND EPIDEMICS IN HISTORY b y P R O F. R O B E RT O D E M AT T E I
to the inseparable bond that exists between soul andbody.1 ForthisreasontheChurchinitshistory has shown itself to be the supreme guardian of the spiritual and material good of man, protecting the health of the body and showing the soul the way of eternalsalvation. And since the Church is not a private association but a public institution, it has publicly carried out this mission ever since, under the Emperor Constantineit ,)73-60( leftthecatacombs.Itistothatera thatthefirstexamplesof sheltersforthesickdate back, called xenodochi or nosocomi, according to the termusedbyStJerome,whostatesthatStFabiola d. ( 99) 3 wasthefirsttoestablishahospitalinRome tohousethepoorandthe2 sick. Theso-called“Arabiancanons”of theCouncil of Nicaea (325) established that every city should The following talk was given at Voice of the Family’s con3 poor. haveaplacetohostpilgrims,thesick,andthe ference “Health of the sick and salvation of souls – Church Theseplacesof hospitalitydeveloped - neartheepi and society in this dark hour of history”, held in Rome on copal sees and monasteries, along the major road23 October 2021. waysandpilgrimageroutes.Amongthesehospices we must mention the one founded by StBenedict pidemics, or pandemics, constitute a chapter of Nursia(480near 547),Salerno,whichgaverise in the history of medicine that is of particular to the Salernian importanceforitssocialrelevance.Anepidemicis MedicalSchool,thefirstandmost 4 importantmedicalinstitutionin Europe. in fact a collective evil that has a strong impact on InRome,amongtheoldesthospitalswefindthe theideasandcustomsof apeople. Hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia, whose origins How has the Church behaved in history in the to date back to the 8th century, when the faceof epidemics?Iwilltrytoozerafewseem “history “schola sassonum” was founded, an inn and hospital flashes”,recallingthatinspeakingof theChurchI for welcoming the Angles and Saxons who came to am referring not only to the ecclesiastical authorities visitthetombsof theapostles.Manyotherplacesof but to all the Christian people who are part of the this kind arose through the initiative of the Church Church, starting with the saints, who are the highest in the following centuries. At first hospitals were expression of the sensus fidei and of the sensus moralis places of “welcome” rather than of treatment and of theMysticalBodyof Christ. TheChurch,foundedbyJesusChrist,hasasits werenotstazedbyphysicians.InParis,forexample, attheHotel-Dieu,thedoctorcameonce5 aweek. primary mission the eternal salvation of souls, but Thestructureof thehospitalwasthatof achurch, does not neglect the temporal health of bodies, due
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