Memories of the Meseta - 5

I am sure you have heard of St. Elmo's fire (a weather phenomenon), but have you heard of St. Anthony's fire?

It was a physical ailment prevalent during the Middle Ages, with symptoms including a dreadful burning sensation, the skin turning blue, poor blood circulation, leading to gangrene, as well as loss of metal capacity, not dissimilar to the symptoms of leprosy. In the beginning the ailment did not have a name, but that changed when a man whose daughter suffered these symptoms prayed to St. Anthony (whose relicts were in his church) and the child was cured.

This scourge reached epidemic proportions from the 11th to the 14th centuries, which coincided with the high point of the Camino pilgrimage. People found that a change of diet as well as exercise alleviated the disease and what could be better than walking for hundred and hundreds of miles in another country?

Turns out, the cause of St. Anthony's fire is food poisoning derived from a fungus that grew on barley (ergot), so eliminating barley bread in favour of wheat bread helped, as did drinking red wine, which dilates the blood veins. And then of course there was all that exercise!

However, St. Anthony's hospices sprung up all over the place, where prayer and pilgrimage were prescribed. Oddly, there is another illness whose symptoms resembled St. Anthony's fire, which is porcine in delivery method, so St. Anthony is often illustrated with a pig.

The order of St. Anthony (San Anton in Spain) adopted the symbol of the Tau, which is said to protect against disease as well as danger. By the 19th century the order was disbanded, presumably because science caught up with religion and the source of the problem was known and so could be cured without having to resort to pilgrimage.

The now ruined hospitale San Anton was originally a monastery as well, built in 1146 but the current ruins are a few centuries later. The whole complex was complex, with a church, convent, hospice, mill, orchard, and dovecotes. Any pilgrims arriving too late to be housed before the gates were shut found bread left out for them. Now pilgrims leave messages for each other in the same alcove, notes on little pieces of paper, stones and small coins.