LECTURE 1 "Holy MDs"
1h 8m
There are an incredible number of Christian saints associated with medicine, healing, and disease. The reason for this and the rationale behind having medical saints in the first place will be our starting point for this first lecture. We will then focus on the saints who are identified as actually having been physicians. Starting with the patron saints of the medical profession, Cosmas and Damian, we will explore the iconography and art associated with them, especially the many representations of their miraculous successful leg transplant surgery. Moving on to the Three Holy Doctors (Marius and his two sons, Abachum and Audifax) we will consider their medical credentials and histories as well as those of St. Luke the Evangelist and other less well-known saints who practiced the healing arts in life and went on to sainthood after their deaths. How much of the skills of these physicians can be associated with their medical knowledge and how much with their holiness and martyrdoms will be part of our analysis.