Case file · High strangeness
Saint Anthony's Fire and the Antonine order
Medieval chroniclers described epidemics of 'holy fire' that blackened limbs and drove sufferers mad; in 1095 a hospital brotherhood for victims was founded at Saint-Antoine in the Dauphiné.
1095 CE · 45.17, 5.22 · status: explained
The account
Sigebert of Gembloux described a terrible outbreak in Lorraine in 1089. Pilgrims sought cures at the relics of Saint Anthony, and the Antonine order spread hospitals across Europe.
The sceptical view
The 'fire' was ergotism, poisoning by a fungus on rye; the cures came largely from eating wheat bread at the hospitals.
Connections in the atlas
- The Holy Candle of Arras
- St Anthony's Fire, the holy fire