Diseases in the light of the book of miracles and graces of Our Lady of Święta Góra (16th - 18th century)

Abstract

The article analyses the health condition of the inhabitants of Greater Poland between the 16th and the 18th c. on the basis of Prospekt Wesoły, Miłosiernych Oczu, Przenayświętszey Maryi, ... z Gory S. Gostynskiey, i.e. the book of miracles and graces of Our Lady of Święta Góra. The time frame of the analysis is correlated with the period covered by the book, which includes testimonies considered by the committee working in 1726. The accounts recorded in the book rarely allowed for identifying particular diseases. The author’s mentions indicate that some pilgrims had epileptic seizures or plica. Prospekt... mentions interventions of barber-surgeons; due to the character of the document the records are very general, still there are some data on barbers’ helplessness and on treatments or medication they applied. The book is also a valuable source of data concerning social and family relations, since it shows that the people closest to those suffering from diseases, e.g. mothers, fathers, husbands or wives, supported them and were engaged in votive practices. Beseeching and thanksgiving practices included a pilgrimage, a mass and prayer. A pilgrim-age was connected with the necessity to announce a miraculous occurrence. Apart from that, votive offerings were brought (silver tablets and silver representations of body parts), which usually symbolized the body part that had been cured; they were usually offered by affluent people of noble birth.