The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-17
THE POPE'S PHYSICIAN.

We learn from various sources that
the Pope's doctor was always a person
of note, though it is very difficult to
saw lust when he began to be accredit-
ed with the title Of member OF the
Popes household. IN the middle ages,
aside from the duties connected with
his office, the Popes physician was
not infreQuently entrusted with eccle-
siastical commissions, and more than
one was raised to the episcopal dig
nifty.
Many of the papal doctors were in
sacred orders, so that they ministered
to the Popes both spiritually and cor
porally. The stipend granted them
varied under different Popes, and the
more or less signal services rendered
influenced much the greater or lesser
sum of money given. John OF Lucca'
under Nicholas III, received the an
nual allowance of $50. 1onOrius Ill
paid Peter of Albano 400 scudi, or $412
daily, for having piloted him through
q critical illness, and the same Pope,
having summoned Taddeo di Alderotti
from Bologna, paid him 500 daily, and
when he had accomplished what was
exacted if him, the Pope sent him
home with a sack filled with 10000
scudi, or $10,SO0.
During the period the Papacy was
at Ayignon, the POpe's doctors were
usually French. Clement raised one
of his medical attendants to the car
dinalitial dignity, while another be-
came Bishop of Basic.
The SUCCESSORS of, John XXI also
had surgeons, but it must be remem,
bered that they were always laymen
for then, as now, it was forbidden for
ecclesiastics to shed blood, and con
seuuently to perform operations. In
the fourteenth century the usual sti
pend of the Pope's surgeon was q
forms every two months, but when
the competition arose between the
Pope's doctor, surgeons and BARRIERS
who were allowed to perform slight
operations, the official title of the
Popes surgeon fell into disuse, bu
was revived under Leo X Q513-22)
who suffered much from tistula.
Blessed Urban V made his doctor ;
papal chamberlain, and when thi
Pope went to Rome, the doctor wa
accompanied by a brilliant suite o
chaplains, domestics and squires, from
which we can form some idea OF tn
position he held at the papal court.
The golden age, so to speak, of tn
in tho first hal
of the sixteenth century. Not onl
were they made much of by the Pope
themselves, and enriched with cost
presents, but the cardinals and Roma
ladies sought their attendance, and i
many instances outstripped in go
geous presents, the princely genero
ity of the Popes. Nor did the do
tors on their part show themselVe
strangers in comforting costly pre-
ents. Two of them paid for the CO
struction of the beautiful altar of
Aloysius in the Church of st. lgnatil
at Rome The world-famed hoSpit
of Santo Spirito In Rome was founde
by two papal doctors, and we req
that under Gregory XIII the doct,
Alessandro Petroni, a great friend
ST. Ignatius Loyola, gave the found
of the Society of Jesus many usef
points for his constitutions in co
nection with hygienic directions.
Like many Offices in the papal coul
that of Pope's physician had its III
and downs, and more than one Poi
never gave the title to any of his me
ical attendants. Gregory XVI, for e
ample, being of robust constitutio
did not name a pontifical doctor t
the year before he died Plus /
though surely cared for by doctor
gave none of them the official title
papal physician. Leo XIII, hoWev'
conferred it on Ruggero Valentino.
Formerly the Pope's doctor bore t
title of private chamberlain and W
named pontifical physician by b
of the Pope. At present the title
conferred by a letter from the maj
domo. The Popes doctor, when
service, takes the costume of the
cret chamberIains of cape and swo
Ho has his rank in the papal corte