Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Source of Morphine Drugs in Rome

The photo below is St. Bartholomew's clinic, entrance to the Pharmacy. Tiber Island, Rome.
Once the church complex took over the cult site, a new medical center was needed, and it gradually grew until now the entire upstream end of the island is covered by the modern hospital. It was in an earlier version of this hospital that, according to legend, Rahere, a roisterous member of the court of King Henry II of England, recovered from malaria and had his vision of St. Bartholomew. That reformed him, made him a monk, and caused him to found the great hospital of Saint Bartholomew in London in 1123. Since 1548, St. Bartholomew's hospital on Tiber Island has been administered by the Fatebenefrateli religious order of monks -- their name means "do-good Brothers".
The Founder used to send young Legionaries there to get morphine drugs for him according to several testimonies, including those of Arturo Jurado and Fr. Felix Alarcon.

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