How Valentine's Day Is Connected to Epilepsy

[Lisa Boylan]

Did you know St. Valentine is considered to be the patron saint of epilepsy? True story.

Medicine and religion have long been intertwined, however medical practitioners were sometimes regarded skeptically in medieval times causing people to seek spiritual intervention for their illnesses. 

In addition, brain disorders in the 14th and 15th centuries were widely regarded as supernatural phenomena incited by evil spirits or the devil.

Because many people believed their symptoms were the work of dark spiritual forces, it made sense for them to combat their perceived tormenters with an antidote to evil in the form of saints—in particular patron saints—who were believed to have restorative abilities for specific ailments.

Information on the origins of St. Valentine’s connection to epilepsy varies. Some accounts suggest he is connected to epilepsy because the name Valentine is similar to the German word for “fallen.” Epilepsy was once known as the “falling sickness” because some seizures cause a person to lose consciousness and fall. Still other legends propose that a 3rd century bishop named Valentine von Terni freed the son of a Roman orator from an epileptic seizure.

The good news is, medical research and an increasing variety of scientifically proven therapies have improved the lives of the nearly 3 million people living with epilepsy in the United States, significantly diminishing the need to turn to supernatural forces for respite!

So, in the wake of this Valentine’s Day, when all the sugar-coated, floral-scented hype has passed, remember that Valentine’s Day is not just for lovers, it’s for people with epilepsy, too.

[Boomer Sooner]

I've always hated st. Valentines day, because in school, no one cared to talk to me, give me a valentines day card or gift, but we HAD to give everyone else a valentines day card. very frustrating. Now, everyone is so entheusiastic about it, except me- never had a girlfriend, never got my first kiss, or first date. I always said "so what- big deal"; everybody kept saying "you'll find a girlfriend...." I'm tired of hearing that..

[Lisa Boylan]

Hi Kari--great idea! :-)

[Kari Lynne Brauer]

So they should switch November's epilepsy month to February?! LOL! It would be lovely!

SMILES!!!!!!!

[Mary Lou Connolly]

Had forgotten that Lisa. Thanks for the reminder and thanks to Phylis as well for sharing the interesting info. 

[Lisa Boylan]

Phylis--thanks so much for sharing this fascinating information!

[Phylis Feiner Johnson]

Ancient people thought epileptic seizures were caused by evil spirits or demons that had invaded a person’s body. Luckily for them, the “cure” was prayers and magic.  Unfortunately for  Victorian epileptics, the “treatment” was often castration and bleeding by leeches.

On the other hand, epileptic seizures were considered to have a power and symbolism which suggested creativity or unusual leadership abilities. Scholars still are fascinated by how  prominent prophets and other holy men, political leaders, philosophers, and many who achieved greatness in the arts and sciences, suffered from epilepsy.

Here are just a few of the many.  Perhaps you recognize them…

Alexander the Great (356 BC – 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, was the ancient Greek king of Macedon (336–323 BC). During his time, epilepsy was known as “the sacred disease” because of the belief that those who had seizures were possessed by evil spirits or touched by the gods and should be treated by invoking mystical powers.  Which might explain his success in twelve years of military campaigning.

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) Aristotle was one of the first to point out that epilepsy and genius were often closely connected. He found that seizure disorders may have the ability to increase brain activity in specific places and maybe also enhance a persons natural abilities to a certain extent.

Alfred the Great (849 – 899) The King of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex didn’t let his epilepsy keep him from doing good works for his kingdom and making one of the best books of laws of his time. He was very Catholic and by the time of his death he had helped increase the quality and amount of churches and schools from all over his lands.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 –1892) In Tennyson’s time, epilepsy was the ultimate stigma because it was believed that masturbation was the culprit!  As a result, up until the 19th century, one approach to epilepsy was castration.  Tennyson’s was also dragged off to European spas where treatment consisted of drinking large amounts of water, walking long distances in bad weather, and being submersed, wrapped in sheets, into cold baths.  It’s a wonder that, despite these odds, he became Poet Laureate in 1850.

Vincent van Gogh(1853 — 1890) Vincent van Gogh is probably the most widely known artist with epilepsy. “The storm within” was how he described it and a hospital worker witnessed Vincent having a seizure once while painting outside. He was prescribed potassium bromide as an anticonvulsant and ordered to spend countless hours bathing in tubs at the asylum in Saint-Remy. His most troubling seizures peaked with his greatest art in the south of France, where he painted A Starry Night, the extraordinary Self-Portrait, and the famous Crows in the Wheatfields.

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) The famous Victorian author of such classic books as A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twisthad epilepsy, as did several of the characters in his books. The medical accuracy of Dickens’s descriptions of epilepsy has amazed doctors who read him today. Through some characters in his novels, Charles Dickens recorded observations on the nature of epileptic seizures, their causes and provocation, and their consequences. Three of his main characters, Monks, Guster, and Bradley Headstone, had seizures which Dickens realistically described.

Alfred Nobel (1833 – 1896) Nobel had epileptic seizures since childhood which later made him write of convulsions and agony in a poem.  Yet he went on to become a chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and inventor of dynamite.  He held more than 350 patents and controlled factories and laboratories in 20 countries by the time of his death. And in 1895, Nobel left much of his wealth to establish the