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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
On the question of monastic services to medicine, sentimental and undocumented history has wandered farther from the truth, perhaps, than at any other point. Father Barrett is only exaggerating a little upon many predecessors, from Montalembert onwards, when he sums up monastic services to society (pp. 209 ff.). He writes:“Like other branches of knowledge, that of medicine was monopolized by monks in what may be termed the monastic age of Scotland. They were the recognized physicians of their time; and to them the poor turned for help and medicine in time of sickness”. The fact is, that popes and disciplinarians seldom or never mention monastic medicine except to forbid or discourage it, and this for two plain reasons; that it took them away from their true vocation, and that it tempted them to enrich themselves with fees. St Benedict's Rule has no hint of medicine except for the sick monks; and, even there, strict disciplinarians like St Bernard deprecated anything more than simple herbs and common-sense treatment. Later, when monastic ambition and the temptation of money caused serious difficulties, the popes stepped in. Alexander III (1159-85) writes:
The devil, after his accustomed fashion, transfiguring himself into an angel of light, under colour of caring for the bodies of sick brethren and of administering ecclesiastical business for the faithful, entices certain monks from their cloisters in order to study law and to weigh out medicinal prescriptions. […]
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