Part 22 (2/2)

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 amba.s.sador to diverse European princes by the Duke of Ferrara. He was also sent as amba.s.sador 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 doc.u.ment 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 Regiomonta.n.u.s 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 ma.n.u.script volume by him preserved in one of the libraries in Rome, bearing the t.i.tle _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 Sebastia.n.u.s Vetera.n.u.s, 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.

Another of the physicians of Pope Sixtus IV, to whom he dedicated his important work on food, was John Philip de Lignamine, who had been professor of medicine at Perugia, where his lectures attracted a large following. His book, which appeared at Rome after his office of Papal Physician secured him the leisure for its completion, is ”On Every Kind of Food and Drink Useful and Harmful For Man with a Consideration of Their Prime Qualities” (_De Unoquoque Cibo, et Potu Utili Homini, et Novivo, Eorumque Primis Qualitatibus_). [Footnote 52]

[Footnote 52: Lignamine interested himself in the new art of printing and was the publisher of a well-known series of finely printed _incunabula_.]

One of the important medical scientists of the end of the fifteenth century was Benedict of Nursia, whose book _De Conservatione Sanitatis_ is really an important contribution to medical botany. He is placed in the list of Papal Physicians by Mandosius, whose authority is usually unquestioned. Giacobilli is his authority. Marini in his comments on Mandosius' work declares that Benedict was not a Papal Physician but the ducal physician at Milan, and tells the story of his exile from his native country Nursia. He was so distinguished for his medical learning that he became almost at once one of the most prominent of the physicians in Milan. There is no doubt, however, that Benedict dedicated his book, {440} which is now looked upon as basic in the history of medical botany, to Sixtus IV, and the suggestion that he was a Papal Physician seems to have come from the fact that though remaining in the service of the Duke of Milan he was summoned in consultation to see this Pope during an illness.

Innocent VIII (1484-92).--Petrus Leonius, one of the physicians of Innocent VIII, finds a place among Paul Jovius' ”Eulogies of Learned Men” and is the author of a commentary on medicine and mathematics and a treatise, _De Urinis_. He had been a professor of medicine at several of the important Italian universities and was very well known throughout Italy. He was summoned to treat Lorenzo de Medici and the early death of that ill.u.s.trious Florentine gave occasion for a good deal of opprobrium for his physician, though the most careful investigation has shown that there was no reason for criticism of him.

The fact that Petrus Leonius had been called as the consultant in Lorenzo's case shows how thoroughly he was appreciated. One of his biographers suggests of him that he was ”a learned rather than a lucky physician.” Physicians will probably appreciate that distinction, better than others.

<script>