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mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

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Eleanor Herman<br />

Doctors, <strong>the</strong>ir assistants, and courageous volunteers were each given<br />

a certain number <strong>of</strong> houses to visit once a week to check on <strong>the</strong> health <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong>ir inhabitants. At <strong>the</strong> slightest sign <strong>of</strong> illness an individual would be<br />

taken on a cart to <strong>the</strong> lazaretto. Many people, believing <strong>the</strong>y were<br />

merely getting a cold, refused to enter <strong>the</strong> contagious miasmas <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

plague hospital where, if <strong>the</strong>y didn’t have plague already, <strong>the</strong>y would<br />

surely catch it. Their relatives tried to hide <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong> basement behind<br />

wine barrels or in <strong>the</strong> thatched ro<strong>of</strong> over <strong>the</strong> attic, but <strong>the</strong> doctors,<br />

aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se tricks, usually plucked <strong>the</strong>m out and carted <strong>the</strong>m <strong>of</strong>f. It<br />

was especially unfortunate when entire families were dragged away;<br />

sometimes upon <strong>the</strong>ir return <strong>the</strong>y found <strong>the</strong>ir houses cleaned out by<br />

robbers.<br />

Those houses from which a resident had been taken to a lazaretto<br />

were boarded up on <strong>the</strong> ground floor to prevent <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r inhabitants—<br />

who were not yet showing symptoms but might also be infected—from<br />

wandering about town. Volunteers trolled <strong>the</strong> streets in donkey carts,<br />

dispensing food to baskets lowered from upstairs windows. Those who<br />

could pay for <strong>the</strong> food did so, while those who could not received it for<br />

free.<br />

Every morning in <strong>the</strong> papal palace, doctors gave reports on <strong>the</strong> ill<br />

and <strong>the</strong> dead to <strong>the</strong> pope, <strong>the</strong> congregation <strong>of</strong> cardinals, and o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

ministers. Having worked on <strong>the</strong> plague commission <strong>of</strong> Siena in 1630,<br />

Mario Chigi was appointed chairman <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> antiplague task force<br />

and superintendent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> food supply. Going out into <strong>the</strong> most infected<br />

sections <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> city to help <strong>the</strong> sick and poor, <strong>the</strong> pope, Cardinal<br />

Antonio Barberini, and <strong>the</strong> pope’s bro<strong>the</strong>r and nephews were<br />

greatly admired for <strong>the</strong>ir fearlessness in <strong>the</strong>ir fight against <strong>the</strong> plague.<br />

Some cardinals suggested that to avoid <strong>the</strong> miasmas Alexander should<br />

travel in a glass case, a kind <strong>of</strong> early pope-mobile. But <strong>the</strong> pope insisted<br />

on breathing <strong>the</strong> same air, and taking <strong>the</strong> same risks, as his<br />

people.<br />

The first activities banned by <strong>the</strong> authorities were those not considered<br />

necessary to sustain life: dances, concerts, games, and parties.<br />

Holy water was no longer used in churches, as <strong>the</strong> dipping <strong>of</strong><br />

plague-stricken fingers was thought to cause contagion. A sheepskin<br />

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