The cleric who recorded this incident may have diagnosed the condition as
epilepsy but it looks like a classic case of teething convulsions to me!
Brenda M. Cook
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Noell <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 6:31 PM
Subject: Re: epilepsy/seizure as divine punishment
> I just came across an example from Herbert of Clairvaux's De Miraculis
> (a.k.a. Liber Miraculorum), ca. 1170s. It can be found in the PL 185:
> 1363-4. In it a mother is holding her young child in her lap. She remarks
> to her husband that the boy has a healthy and seemingly blessed glow. The
> father replies that he hopes their son will grow up to be a cleric. The
> "foolish woman" condemns this suggestion with vehemence and the child is
> immediately struck down with what the author specifically refers to as
> epilepsy. Here is the passage:
>
> Vix illa sermonem impleverat, et ecce, repente percussus est puer
> epilectico morbo, corruens et spumans inter brachia matris, et tam dura
> passione torquebatur, ut os ejus ad aurem pene verteretur.
>
> The boy is cured by the mother's sincere penitence, which includes a visit
> to a local monastery to pray at the shrine of the Virgin.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Brian Noell
>
>
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