Description
Book SynopsisThis book is an exploration of illness and healing experiences in contemporary society through the veneration of saints: primarily the twin doctors Saints Cosmas and Damian. It also follows the author''s personal journey from her role as a hematologist who inadvertently served as an expert witness in a miracle to her research as a historian on the origins, meaning and functions of saints. Sources include interviews with devotees in both North America and Europe. Cosmas and Damian were martyred around the year 300 A.D. in what is now Syria. Called the Anargyroi (without silver) because they charged no fees, they became patrons of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy as their cult spread widely across Europe. The near eastern origin explains their popularity in Byzantine and Orthodox traditions and the concentration of their shrines in Eastern Europe, Southern Italy, and Sicily. The Medici family of Florence also viewed the santi medici as patrons, and their deeds were depicted by great Renai
Trade ReviewJacalyn Duffin approaches the subject of Catholic miracle claims from the unique vantage of a medical doctor with a specialty in hematology as well as a historian of medicine. Medical Saints builds upon DUffin's earlier book, Medical Miracles: Doctors, Saints, and Healing, 1588-1999, Oxford University Press, 2009. Both books are fascinating, engagingly written accounts. Although not the first scholar to broach the subject of miracles through the lens of medical science, Duffin brings a refreshingly new perspective and style... Overall, this is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book that should prove valuable to a range of readers, including historians and sociologists of medicine and religion, as well as believers and skeptics of the miraculous. * Journal of the History of Medicine *
Medical Saints is a thoroughly interesting and dynamic study * Christopher D. L. Johnson, Religion *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ; List of Tables ; Prologue ; Acknowledgements ; Chapter One: Medical Miracle ; Chapter Two: Doctor Twins: from Cyrrhus to Toronto ; Chapter Three: Talking to Pilgrims in the New World ; Chapter Four: Chasing Saints in the Old World ; Chapter Five: Miracles, Medicine, and MEDLINE ; Chapter Six: Conclusion: Home to the Clinic ; Epilogue ; Tables ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
