What Is ”Nun’s Disease”?

While you may not know what it is because it’s fallen out of use over time, for hundreds of years there was a disease known as the “Nun’s disease.”

But why, might you ask?

In 1700, a smart Italian physician by the name of Doctor Bernardino Ramazzini made a keen observation.

Ramazzini is considered to the father of occupational medicine – ensuring health in the workplace.

He noticed there was just one profession, a female one, whose members who far more likely to die from breast cancer than the overall female population.

That profession? Nuns.

The reason being having given birth is associated with a decreased risk of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers. Of course, the vow of celibacy a nun takes precludes this.

He wrote a dissertation on the Care of the Health of Nuns, and sought the aid of a Roman Catholic priest to translate it into English from the original Latin it was written.

In his dissertation, he pioneered preventative medicine. He actually wrote one of the earliest versions of the saying: “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

“It was my intention to discuss the ailments of nuns and their treatment, but have thought it better to write on the care of their health first, judging it to be far more praiseworthy to prevent disease than cure it’.” 

🙏 Pray for good health for all people!

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