mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
word plague was mentioned, people would cross themselves and say,
“God deliver us from it.”
Fortunately, Italy had by far the most modern health facilities in
Europe. The traveling Englishman John Evelyn was greatly impressed
when he toured Rome’s Christ Hospital in 1645; London had nothing
like it. “The Infirmitory where the sick lay was paved with various
colour’d marbles, and the walls hung with noble pieces,” he gushed.
“The beds are very faire. . . . The organs are very fine, and frequently
play’d on to recreate the people in paine. . . . Under the portico the
sick may walk out and take the ayre. . . . At the end of the long corridore
is an apothecary’s shop, fair and very well stor’d. . . . Indeed ’tis
one of the most pious and worthy foundations I ever saw.” 3
Though Italy boasted the most educated doctors and cleanest hospitals,
it was difficult for physicians to cure illnesses when they had no
idea what caused them. Plague was thought to be induced by “miasmas,”
or poisonous air. The atoms of miasma were believed to be stickier
than normal atoms and would cling to clothing, furnishings, skin,
and hair. When a person or animal inhaled the miasmas or absorbed
them through the pores of the skin, the venomous atoms would poison
the body, causing illness and, in at least half the cases, death. Doctors
noted that the epidemic festered in dirty places, and assumed that filth
exuded the corrupt, plague-inducing miasmas.
To combat plague, city officials cleaned up the sources of corrupt
air—plugged sewers, overflowing outhouses, and dirty straw in homes
and stables. Filthy areas were aired out, swept, washed with soap and
water, doused with vinegar, smoked with sulfur, and covered with lime.
Dirty walls were whitewashed. Grungy mattresses were burned, and
when the poor objected to losing their mattresses and started to hide
them from inspectors, the government bought them new ones. Such
measures promoting basic cleanliness often helped keep down incidents
of plague, thereby confirming the doctors’ theory of miasmas.
In the 1630 plague epidemic of northern Italy, French physicians invented
an anti-miasma suit for doctors to treat victims without fear of
infection. A certain Dr. Pona of Verona agreed to try out the suit, which
he described as “a long robe of thin, waxed cloth. The robe had to be
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