Epilepsy over time: from Hippocrates to St. Valentine

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, lived in the 5th century BC. St. Valentine is a Roman priest and physician from the 3rd century AD. Although they lived many centuries apart, they share a connection to epilepsy.

St. Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman priest and physician. His life and miracles are celebrated on 14th February, his feast day. According to legend, he cured a woman and a boy of epilepsy, which made him, apart from the saint of love and marriage, the patron saint of people with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a neurological brain disorder that causes seizures. Seizures occur when brain cells fail to communicate properly. Certain types of seizures cause unconsciousness. For this reason, epilepsy was sometimes called the ‘falling sickness.’ The German word for “falling” sounds similar to the name Valentine; this similarity may also be why St. Valentine came to be known as the patron saint of epilepsy.

St. Valentine is one out of about 40 saints of epilepsy. St. Patrick and John the Baptist are other saintly figures considered as guardians of people with epilepsy. However, St. Valentine seems to be the most popular epilepsy saint, especially in Europe. In some European churches, there are statues and paintings of St. Valentine and people suffering from epilepsy.

In 2009, researchers studied 341 statues and paintings depicting St. Valentine and people with epilepsy. These paintings and statues were found in churches across 14 European countries and are dated between the 13th and the 21st centuries. This research found that the paintings and statues correctly portrayed the symptoms of epileptic seizures.

Some of these illustrations show supernatural elements too. For example, an 18th-century ceiling painting in a German church shows what is possibly a small black demon being exorcized by St. Valentine.

The idea that epilepsy was caused by supernatural beings has existed for more than 3,000 years. An ancient Babylonian tablet (now in the British Museum) describes different seizure types accurately but attributes their causes to evil demons and spirits. In some cultures, epilepsy seems to have been considered sacred. In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates, in his groundbreaking book titled On the Sacred Disease, states that epilepsy is not sacred but has a natural cause. He described epilepsy as a brain disorder with a cure.

Hippocrates also mentions that, sometimes, epilepsy is stronger than its cure. This is true even today when medicine can control epileptic seizures in 7 out of 10 patients. And not everyone can have their seizures controlled with the first medicine. And there are also the medical side effects to think about.

This difficulty in controlling and preventing epilepsy completely through modern medication is probably one reason why people turn to alternative (and sometimes supernatural) medical practices. Even to this day, on St. Valentine’s Day, in a church in Padua, Italy, children with epilepsy are given small golden keys to keep them safe from seizures.

In a study conducted in Sri Lanka in 2002, researchers found that epilepsy was attributed to supernatural causes and evil spirits by 13 out of 270 epilepsy patients who participated in the research. Another research in 2015 found that parents in 16 families with children with epilepsy had sought religious or spiritual healing at least once, especially after the first seizure, before their child was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Although seeking religious/ spiritual help alongside taking medicine for epilepsy seems innocent and harmless, misinformation about the source of epilepsy could continue the stigma that has surrounded epilepsy for millennia.

There are some efforts made at countering stigma associated with epilepsy. For example, researchers of the Monash University in Malaysia are studying the extent to which people in Malaysia consider epilepsy as a disgraceful disease. This, in the long run, would reduce the misinformation and superstitious beliefs surrounding epilepsy in Malaysia.

It would be true to say that similar research is needed all over the world. And may such research projects be backed by Hippocrates’ knowledge of epilepsy and the blessings of St. Valentine!

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