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Posted on 02/07/2009 8:18:50 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Nuns and priests sacrificed their own lives to provide medical care for the poor in Renaissance France, according to a new study that implicates exposure to contagious plague victims in the deaths of several religious order members. The study is among the first to find that plague, a deadly bacterial disease also known as "the Black Death," can be quickly and accurately identified in ancient human remains. Several recently identified women who died after caring for plague victims were all Benedictine nuns from the Sainte-Croix Abbey's chapter house near Poitiers, France... Historical accounts suggest that nuns caring for the plague victims succumbed to the disease sometime between 1628 and 1632. At that time, General Vicar Jean Filleau ordered the remaining nuns to leave the cloister and retreat to a seaside residence... The researchers applied an "RDT dipstick test" to the bones and teeth. Similar to a home pregnancy test, the "dipstick" changes color if it detects the presence of markers for Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes plague. The nuns tested positive for the deadly infection, according to the study, which will be published in the March issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. The scientists also performed the test on priests buried near the altar of Saint-Nicolas' Church in La Chaize-le-Vicomte, in central France. The priests also tested positive.
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
Medieval DNA, Modern Medicine (Lessons From The Black Death)
Archaeology Magazine | 11/12-2007 | Heather Pringle
Posted on 10/16/2007 12:58:12 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1912071/posts
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Thought you’d like this.
How Clanceyesque.
Sad for the nuns.
If you’ve never read, ‘Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague’ by Geraldine Brooks, do so. It’s a terrific read.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Year-of-Wonders/Geraldine-Brooks/e/9780142001431/
Chapeau! to SunkenCiv for this fascinating article on Medieval France, from Archaeology Magazine, always a winner.
FRENCH POLITICS AND CULTURE PING LIST: IF YOU WANT TO JOIN, FReepMail me.
Thanks for the ping; interesting, thanks for posting.
I had to do a double take.
But you have to admit, that would make for an awesome thread!
Thanks! I don’t read fiction anymore (or rather, rarely do), but I like to see recommendations.
If that were the case, perhaps they died of shellshock, or just cracked up.
You love to flaunt your dry-roasted humor.
It’s a bad, hab-, uh, never mind...
My pleasure.
I’m just the opposite. Non-Fiction Real Life is hard enough; I need FICTION to get through some weeks, LOL!
Though it SEEMS as if we’re living in ‘Fictional Times’ these days, doesn’t it?
:’)
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