Medical Saints: Cosmas And Damian In A Postmodern World

246 Pages·2013·5.032 MB·English

by  Jacalyn Duffin

Medical Saints
This page intentionally left blank
MEDICAL
SAINTS
Cosmas and Damian in
a Postmodern World
z
JACALYN DUFFIN

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offi ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
© Oxford University Press 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law,
by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization.
Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent
to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form and
you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duffi n, Jacalyn.
Medical saints: Cosmas and Damian in a postmodern world /Jacalyn Duffi n.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-974317-9 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Spiritual healing—
Christianity. 2. Miracles. 3. Medicine—Religious aspects—Catholic Church.
4. Cosmas, Saint—Cult. 5. Damian, Saint, d. ca. 303—Cult. 6. Christian saints.
I. Title.
BT732.5.D835 2013
231.7ˇ3—dc23 2012034143
Photos by the author unless credited otherwise.
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For
Ross Duffi n
Bert Hansen
Anita Johnston
and
Ana Cecilia Rodríguez de Romo
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Illustrations i x
List of Tables x i
Acknowledgments x iii
Prologue x v
1 . Medical Miracle 3
2 . Doctor Twins: from Cyrrhus to Toronto 31
3 . Talking to Pilgrims in the New World 61
4 . Chasing Saints in the Old World 97
5 . Miracles, Medicine, and MEDLINE 137
6 . C onclusion: Home to the Clinic 165
Epilogue 175
Tables 179
Notes 189
Bibliography 201
Index 2 21
This page intentionally left blank
List of Illustrations

1.1 Auer rods inside a leukemia blast cell 5
1.2 La miraculée going to the Vatican, December 1990 18
1.3 Cosmas and Damien receiving a trousse
of medical wisdom from God 21
1 .4 Roman Forum with Basilica and
Castor and Pollux Temple 24
1.5 Pope John Paul II, Père Bouchaud,
author, and Dr. Jeanne Drouin 28
2 .1 Poster for Toronto feast 32
2.2 Fra Angelico, Th e Healing of Palladia 34
2 .3 Fra Angelico, Cosmas and Damian and
their Brothers crucifi ed 35
2.4 Fra Angelico, Th e Decapitation of
Cosmas and Damian and their brothers 3 5
2.5 Fra Angelico, Th e Miracle of the Black Leg 38
2.6 Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian
and San Lorenzo in Miranda, Rome 42
2.7 Crowd at the Toronto feast, 1992 48
2 .8 Procession with Toronto Hospital in distance, 2010 49
2.9 Boys dressed as the saints, Utica, 1996 55
3 .1 Toronto procession on College Street, 1998 67
3 .2 Devoted parishioner, Utica, 2003 68
3 .3 Joe DeCandia carrying his saints,
Howard Beach, 1999 78
4 .1 Statues of the santi medici, Naro, Sicily, 2001 106
4 .2 Hospice and sanctuary to santi medici,
Riace, Calabria, Italy, 2001 108
4 .3 W ax votives for sale, Riace, Calabria, Italy, 2001 1 09