Medical Work

Abstract

The references in Thuillier’s necrology to those members who worked for any length of time in the Infirmaries or Pharmacies of the Order tend to follow a certain pattern - work within the cloister and without, a visit to Rome, return to the Province and, more often than not, death from infection contracted during their spell of duty. The entry under January 16 which refers to Louis d’Alençon, a friend of Mersenne, may be taken as typical ¹:

…vivus alter Aesculapius et secretorum Naturae indagator curiosus; non solum in saeculo, verum etiam in Religione fuit turn chyrurgus Celebris, turn pharmacopola; ideoque plurimos Fratres laborantes, quin et exteros, si ve Romae sive in Provincia Franciae cuius professus erat, egregie adjuvit, et ab extremis eripuit; fugiendae tamen mortis secretum sibi non novit, earn quippe arte sua, suaque peritia vi tare non potuit; illam autem placidam, et Sacramentis omnibus praemunitus, consecutus est in secessu Vicennensi, ubi Pharmacis praeerat …