Religious Leaders as Healers

Medieval people were taught that some illnesses were sent by God
to punish individuals or communities, and therefore, it only made
sense to turn to church leaders for help. While the medical background
and methodology of priests varied greatly, these religious
leaders offered great comfort to many who were ailing.
“Before
and above all things, care must be taken of the sick” read the
Regula Benedicti (Rule of St. Benedict), written for monks by St.
Benedict (ca. 530). (The Rule of St. Benedict is one of the most
important written works in the shaping of Western society because
it included a written constitution, authority limited by law, and a
degree of democracy.) And while basic care was always attended to, prayer was the prime healing method used along with whatever
folk methods a priest chose to follow.
Saints were also an important part of religious healing. Certain
deified individuals were associated with specific illnesses, and they were often called upon when other remedies failed to help. The
church only recognized miracles by canonized saints, but if the
advice of a religious leader led to improvement in a patient, then,
understandably, the popularity of that particular healer grew, with
the healer taking on saint status to the general public.
In 1130 the Council of Clermont brought an end to the practice
of medicine by monks. Council members determined that it was
disruptive to religious prayer and the monastic life to have monks
tending to those who were sick. As a result, medicine fell into
the hands of the secular clergy, and this eventually led to a desire
for a more scholastically oriented medicine taught in a university
setting.