Gregory of Tours (c. 539-594),
perhaps the greatest historian of the 6th century, came from a very religious
family that was filled with generations of saints and bishops. Gregory,
himself, continued the family tradition by becoming Bishop of Tours in 573 and
by living a life that would eventually grant him the coveted label of saint.
Much of what we know about Gregory comes from his own written word, as he often
stuck bits of personal information here and there when his, or one of his
family member’s, experiences were applicable to any given subject. By combining
information from his various books, the reader can get a decent picture of Gregory’s
life. One aspect of Gregory’s personal life, however, usually attracts more interest
than the rest—the man liked bizarre pseudo-medical remedies.
As mentioned earlier, Gregory
of Tours grew up in a very zealous family and he learned to venerate the
remains of saints at an early age. Gregory claimed that his father, Senator
Florentius, carried some holy ashes of a saint in a golden locket around his
neck for good luck. The golden locket became a treasured heirloom that passed
upon Florentius’ death to his wife, Armentaria, and then finally to their son,
Gregory. In addition to the ash-filled locket, Gregory also received from his
family an interest in medical remedies produced from ingredients found in the
tombs of saints. Gregory’s exposure to odd healing potions evidently began when
he was a young boy. According to the Eight
Books of Miracles, Gregory was still a child when his older brother, Peter,
fell deathly ill. The feverish Peter was brought by his family to the tomb of
St. Julian, where everyone prayed for his quick recovery. Meer prayers, however,
were apparently not powerful enough for the worried family—Gregory wrote that
he was instructed by his parents and brother to gather dust from the tomb and
mixed it with water. After Gregory’s sick brother drank the potion, he
supposedly made a drastic recovery and felt much better within the day. The
event must have had a great impact on Gregory, because he would personally use
a similar potion later in his life.
In 573, around the time he
became bishop of Tours, Gregory fell severely ill with dysentery. He wrote
about the experience in his Eight Books
of Miracles, elaborating that a high fever and a horrible stomachache were
the main symptoms of his illness. Gregory initially let a physician treat him,
but when the medicine seemed to not be working, Gregory decided to create his
own cure. The ill bishop gave the physician and a deacon the recipe of his
family’s potio de pulvere sepulchri (potion
of tomb dust). Following their bishop’s orders, the physician and the deacon
retrieved some dust from the tomb of Saint Martin, located in the city of Tours,
and mixed it with water. According to Gregory, the dusty water eased his pain
and led to his quick recovery.
Although the dust potion was
Gregory’s favorite remedy, the bishop apparently had some success ingesting the
tomb’s dust in other odd ways. In another incident, while suffering greatly
from a swollen tongue and lip, Gregory claimed that he successfully healed himself
by awkwardly dragging his swelled tongue across a wooden lattice in the tomb of
St. Martin. To each their own, I suppose.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Picture Attribution: (European
depiction of the Persian doctor Al-Razi, in Gerardus Cremonensis "Recueil
des traités de médecine" c. 1250-1260, [Public Domain] via Creative
Commons).
- The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours, translated by Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Classics, 1971.
- https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gregory-mirac.asp#gregmir
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