Leprosy and Pilgrimage in the medieval ages

[SYates]

Just saw this interesting article on BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38748911 seems that pilgrims were, partly, involved in spreading leprosy throughout Europe. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Very interesting indeed , thank you for sharing.
Wish you well , Peter .

 

[JabbaPapa]

Just saw this interesting article on BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38748911 seems that pilgrims were, partly, involved in spreading leprosy throughout Europe. Buen Camino, SY

Maybe -- except that former pilgrims frequently sought to be buried with their scallops, so that there may be nothing more than coincidence here.

One swallow does not a summer make, any more than one scallop turns the Camino into a plague train ...

 

[Bradypus]

Maybe -- except that former pilgrims frequently sought to be buried with their scallops, so that there may be nothing more than coincidence here.

I found the story interesting and did a little Google search around it. Here is a paper published by the academic team researching the burial. Rather more to it than simple sensationalism based on a single shell:

http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005186

 

[kelleymac]

I just read the journal article after seeing the headlines in the CNN article. I was very moved by the photo of the skeleton buried with the shell. I have never thought of being buried with my shell-- but then again, time moves on, and in these days most people I know aren't buried with their treasures.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Maybe -- except that former pilgrims frequently sought to be buried with their scallops, ...
One swallow does not a summer make, any more than one scallop turns the Camino into a plague train ...

I do not agree - the BBC article did not infer that the Camino was any "plague train". Yes it did say that pilgrims may have been one way the disease entered England. In fact as they advised the particular strain of leprosy had its origins in Western Asia so our pilgrim may have travelled more widely.

 

[Mark Lee]

very interesting article...thanks

 

[Felipe]

As far as I know, leprosy only can be transmitted after long-term (months to years) contact with an individual with the disease. It is not plague...

 

[JabbaPapa]

I found the story interesting and did a little Google search around it. Here is a paper published by the academic team researching the burial. Rather more to it than simple sensationalism based on a single shell:

http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005186

Really ? "The Sk27 burial at the leprosarium of St Mary Magdalen, Winchester, represents the only example of a pilgrim burial with a scallop shell in a medieval leprosy hospital cemetery."

This link between leprosy and the Camino has quite clearly been invented out of thin air -- as Felipe quite rightly points out, " leprosy only can be transmitted after long-term (months to years) contact with an individual with the disease". I'm sure nobody in here needs it to be pointed out to them that this is the precise opposite of the Camino experience.

 

[maricristina]

Thank you Sy and Bradypus for your input. Very interesting research.
World Leprosy Day is tomorrow. Maybe a donation to the work of Lepra might be considered as this disease still affects many people. Lepra is a charity which aims to change "the lives of people affected by disease, poverty and prejudice." The website is www.lepra.org.uk

 

[SabsP]

A quick side remark...
A very well known non governemental organisation here in our country due to our Father Damian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Damien

https://www.damiaanactie.be/

The felt-pen in a packet of four colours are a yearly tradition for me to buy to support the organisation.

 

[JabbaPapa]

You confuse the modern Camino experience with that of the period in question.

No I don't, and if one skeleton buried with farrier guild insignia were discovered in a mediaeval leprosy hospital graveyard, this would create no meaningful link between that profession and leprosy either.

Just because something is published in the academic press doesn't make it worthwhile in and of itself.

 

[VNwalking]

leprosy only can be transmitted after long-term (months to years) contact with an individual with the disease

Which would certainly have happened in the course of the long pilgrimage from England to Santiago and back. Lubin's book The Worcester Pilgrim offers a vivid description of what a medieval journey to Santiago and back might have been like. There would have been no shortage of opportunity for months of long term contact!
And granted, with as sample size of one you can say anything--and all we can really know is that there was a possible pilgrim buried with evidence of leprosy. But the hypothesis that pilgrimage journeys were a conduit for the spread of leprosy makes a good deal of sense. And to be fair, the conclusions in the original study were more cautiously articulated than the popular headline makes them out to be.

Today, apparently, about 95% of the world population is immune to leprosy. This wasn't the case for the European population in the 11th-15th century when leprosy became endemic.

When leprosy came to Hawaii in the 19th century, the immunologically naive Hawaiian people contracted it much more easily than other ethnic groups. Who knows for sure of course, but the situation in 11-12th C Europe would likely have been very similar.

A very well known non governmental organisation here in our country due to our Father Damian.

Thank you for this link, Sabine. Being from Hawai'i, I'm used to thinking of Father Damien as 'ours' but of course he is was yours first!
Now he belongs to all of us.

 

[SabsP]

@Viranani yes of course there is no such thing as ours or yours in this case...I could have expressed it better...

And thanks again to the OP for this interesting link.

 

[VNwalking]

You expressed it perfectly, Sabine! He is yours, mine, and ours. In this case everyone's right and there is no argument whatsoever.
And there's no argument either that the article is touching and thought provoking. Thank you for posting SY!

 

[Former member 60103]

Discount the historical context of the disease that this pilgrim may have taken or brought back from Spain and where the remains were found and I found I was left with a sense of identity and kinship with that person. The published picture with the drilled scallop shell by his side was profound. 900 years on and we continue the tradition with the same objective. We share the same path in places and carry the same shell. The experience was as relevant for that pilgrim as it is for us today. I did read that they had tested the shell and sourced it to Galicia/West Coast of Spain which lends credence to the assertion he had come from Santiago.
It was just that reading the above post I felt it had diverted away from the true essence of the story which for me comes down a travelled pilgrim who was known as such - sufficiently so as to be buried with the scallop shell he carried in life.

 

[Tincatinker]

The argument that the Black Death emerged from China and travelled to Europe along the Silk Road has been posited in the past but I've never seen much to substantiate the assertion beyond Colin Thurbron's musings. Too busy trying to push a camino through the Sierra Demanda to chase this hare