The epilepsy motif in religious art

Introduction:

In all epochs of the history of the human race, poverty, misfortune, illness and suffering are frequently connected with higher powers, divine entities, personal deities or 'spirits'. This also applies, last but not least, to epilepsy, for whose frequently dramatic symptoms mankind has been just as unable to find a natural explanation as it has been unable to find its cause over hundreds and thousands of years.

The various names alone which have been given to this illness in medical terminology and in the vernacular in the various historical epochs are an indication of this supposed relationship between epilepsy and the supernatural: hiëra nosos (Greek) or morbus sacer (Latin): the holy illness; morbus divinus the divine, morbus deificus that created by God, morbus coelestis the heavenly illness; or morbus astralis the star and morbus lunaticus the moon illness.

Particularly in the German of the Middle Ages, a large number of colloquial epilepsy expressions refer very emphatically to the relationship shaped by religion and superstition between 'the falling sickness' and supernatural, divine power: Zuchtrute Christi, Gewalt Gottes, schedelnde (schüttelnde) Gottesstraf, dat hillig (rod of Christ, act of God, shaking punishment from God) (Mecklenburg). Even the term 'Gichterle', used to describe epileptic fits suffered by small children, which is still a very common expression in Southern Germany, refers to the supposed supernatural (albeit demonic rather than divine) cause of the illness: 'gichtige Krankheit' ('Gichterle is a diminutive of this term) means something like 'illness passed on through witchcraft and magic'.

According to the concepts of popular Christian piety in the Middle Ages, God had both the power to inflict epilepsy on people (as punishment, atonement, a challenge) and to release them from it. Thus, relief from this illness was more likely to be obtained from God, rather then a doctor, and in Christian faith, rather than in medicine. In addition to Christ himself, his saints were also frequently called upon to assist in combating the 'falling illness' - in Hagiotherapy ('Treatment with the sacred and with saints') there were qualified 'epilepsy specialists', the most important of whom - in the German-speaking world - was Saint Valentine, who has remained so until the present day.

The Valentine patronage of epilepsy is probably attributable to the name of the saint: 'Valentine' has a phonetic similarity (albeit no etymological relationship) with the German word 'fallen' (fall). ("Valentine (8296) fall net hin!" (Valentine - don't fall down!), is a popular wish for people prone to fits. - the phrase "He/she must be having a Valentine's day today" is still used in the vernacular nowadays to refer to a person who has dropped something for the umpteenth time.)

In the European Middle Ages, the German-speaking vernacular gave epilepsy numerous names connected with the Valentine patronage: Saint Valentine's illness, St. Valentine's revenge, St. Valentine's infirmity, St. Valentine's affliction or - in Latin - morbus Sancti Valentine. (the subject of Saint Valentine and his patronage of epilepsy will be explored in more detail within the scope of a separate article in this series.)

For the linguistic reasons mentioned, it is understandable that in countries with a Christian tradition, in which German is not spoken by the majority of the population, Saint Valentine scarcely played a role as 'patron of the falling sickness'. In France, for example, Saint Johannes was an important helper for combating epilepsy (mal de Saint Jean), and in Anglo-Saxon countries, especially in Catholic Ireland, it was Saint Paul (Saint Paul's disease).

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising at the end of the day if we frequently come across artistic depictions linking the themes of 'the Deity and epilepsy' in various epochs and cultures - amongst the ancient Egyptians and the Hindus in ancient India, the Incas in Central America or amongst Christians of the Middle Ages in Europe.

In the case of the Hindus, ill people frequently call upon the powerful god Shiva, who can bring and banish illnesses.

This status, reproduced here and around one metre high in the original version, represents Shiva as a ’divine dancer’, who stands with one foot on the back of the demon ’apasmâra’, and can thus defeat him. In ancient India ‘apasmâra’ was an evil epilepsy god. In the ancient Indian medical Caraka script (6th century AD), the name of this demon is used synonymously with the illness ‘epilepsy’. Four ‘apasmâra’ variations’ (four different types of epilepsy with varying symptoms) are listed – and the dancing god Shiva can help to relieve all of them!

(The Shiva status shown here [Bronze, 11th century, Southern India] stands in the Musée Guimet, the Museum for Asian Art, in Paris).

The Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl was also able to bring about epilepsy - or even spare people from it. By penetrating human beings, she could send them into convulsions. On the Tapisserie reproduced here (privately owned), the goddess herself is depicted as a personified epileptic incident: foam and blood-spewing mouth, watering eyes in a red face, twisted and 'clenched' feet.

The picture reproduced here from the book of the Gospels of Emperor Otto III. refers to the healing of 'sleepwalking' (epileptic) boy, as described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. "Lord, have mercy on my son! For he sleepwalks and suffers greatly; he often falls into fire and often into water", it says in Chapter 17 of the Gospel of Matthew. "And I have brought him to your disciples and they could not help him."

The illumination, which is over 1000 years old, shows the subsequent healing at the father's request: With an insistent gesture Christ orders the sickness demon to leave the boy alone, who is held in a reclined, 'tensed' position by the father, and to exit the sick body. Christ's disciples, and the father, look at Christ with large and astonished, but also hopeful, eyes. "And the evil spirit", it continues in Matthew, "left him and the boy became healthy in the same hour."

The painting which Lucas Cranach the Elder painted in 1502, and which is kept in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, shows the early Christian Saint Valentine of Terni (Central Italy) in magnificent bishop's robes. Behind his back, virtually forced out of the picture, lies the epileptic sufferer having a fit. His almost roughly painted facial features, with the mouth wide open, are in stark contrast to the delicately reproduced donating figure kneeling before the saint. The tree above the epileptic sufferer is scarcely green any more; the leafless, dried up boughs and the marginal position of the sufferer can be seen as a metaphor for the social standing of the fit sufferer; the contrast with the magnificent, palace-like buildings above the donating figure shown symmetrical to this is also striking.