7. TREATMENT OF THE SPIRIT

Disease was sometimes regarded as an instrument of divine wrath, as in the scriptural case of Gehazi. Thus Gilbert de Saunervill after committing sacrilege was smitten with leprosy, whereupon he confessed with tears that he merited the scourge of God. The popular view that it was an expiation for sin is shown in the romance of Cresseid false to her true knight. But except in signal cases of wrong-doing this morbid idea was not prominent; and the phrase “struck by the secret judgement of God” implies visitation rather than vengeance. Indeed, the use of the expression “Christ’s martyrs” suggests that the leper’s affliction was looked upon as a sacrifice—an attitude which illuminated the mystery of pain. St. Hugh preached upon the blessedness of such sufferers: they were in no wise under a curse, but were “beloved of God as was Lazarus.”

Those responsible for the care of lepers long ago realized exactly what is experienced by those who carry on the same extraordinarily difficult work to-day, namely, that leprosy develops to a high degree what is worst in man. Bodily torture, mental anguish, shattered nerves almost amounting to insanity, render lepers wearisome p067 and offensive to themselves no less than to others. These causes, together with the absence of the restraining influences of family life, make them prone to rebellious conduct, irritability, ingratitude and other evil habits. Hope was, and is, the one thing to transform such lives, else intolerable in their wintry desolation. St. Hugh therefore bade lepers look for the consummation of the promise:—“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious Body.”[56]

Alleviation of the agonized mind of the doomed victim was undertaken first by the physician and afterwards by the priest. A recognized part of the remedial treatment advocated by Guy was to comfort the heart. His counsel shows that doctors endeavoured to act as physicians of the soul, for they were to impress upon the afflicted person that this suffering was for his spiritual salvation. The priest then fulfilled his last duty towards his afflicted parishioner:—

“The priest . . . makes his way to the sick man’s home and addresses him with comforting words, pointing out and proving that if he blesses and praises God, and bears his sickness patiently, he may have a sure and certain hope that though he be sick in body, he may be whole in soul, and may receive the gift of eternal salvation.”

The affecting scene at the service which followed may be pictured from the form in Appendix A. There was a certain tenderness mingled with “the terrible ten commandments of man.” The priest endeavours to show the leper that he is sharing in the afflictions of Christ. For p068 his consolation the verse of Isaiah is recited:—“Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet did we esteem Him as a leper, smitten of God and afflicted.” The same passage from the Vulgate is quoted in the statutes for the lepers of St. Julian’s:—“among all infirmities the disease of leprosy is more loathsome than any . . . yet ought they not on that account to despair or murmur against God, but rather to praise and glorify Him who was led to death as a leper.”

[♦ ] 9. A LEPER

After separation the fate of the outcast is irrevocably sealed. Remembering the exhortation, he must never frequent places of public resort, nor eat and drink with the sound; he must not speak to them unless they are on the windward side, nor may he touch infants or young folk. Henceforth his signal is the clapper, by which he gives warning of his approach and draws attention to his p069 request. (Fig. 26.) This instrument consisted of tablets of wood, attached at one end with leather thongs, which made a loud click when shaken. In England, a bell was often substituted for this dismal rattle. Stow and Holinshed refer to the “clapping of dishes and ringing of bels” by the lazar. The poor creature of shocking appearance shown in Fig. 9 holds in his one remaining hand a bell. His piteous cry is “Sum good, my gentyll mayster, for God sake.” This was the beggar’s common appeal: in an Early English Legendary, a mesel cries to St. Francis, “Sum good for godes love.”

Compelled to leave home and friends, many a leper thus haunted the highway—his only shelter a dilapidated hovel, his meagre fare the scraps put into his dish. To others, the lines fell in more pleasant places, for in the hospital pain and privation were softened by kindness.

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