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P51 First case of lupus: Bishop Eraclius of Liège, Belgium
  1. Donald Thomas1,2 and
  2. R Hal Scofield3,4
  1. 1Arthritis and Pain Associates of Prince George’s County, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
  2. 2Dept. of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  3. 3Arthritis and Clinical Immunology Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Facility, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
  4. 4Dept. of Pathology and Dept. of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Dept. of Veterans Affair Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Abstract

Background Around 963 A.D., Bishop Eraclius (Liège, Belgium) wrote an affidavit stating, ‘I … was nearly taken to death by the disease called Lupus.’ On the seventh night of praying at Saint Martin’s tomb (Tours, France), Saints Martin and Brice (figure 1) appeared, curing him. His sores disappeared; he returned to good health.

Appreciative, Eraclius dedicated a church to Saint Martin. The rebuilt Basilique de Saint Martin in Liège contains a reproduction of the sarcophagus of Eraclius, the first person recorded as suffering from a disease called ‘lupus.’

There are many errors in lupus history articles and books (including our own), usually because they cite each other without deeper research. A major source of error is a 12th-13th Century historical account of this story falsely attributed to Hebernus (therefore, Pseudo-Hebernus), a 9th-Century bishop (Tours, France), describing the origins of the term ‘lupus.’ However, Hebernus died before Eraclius’ time. From 1988 to 2022, 23 sources mistakenly cite Pseudo-Hebernus’ account; 19 of the sources date this story before Eraclius was alive. Thus, the perpetuation of incorrect information continues into the 21st century.

The term ‘lupus’ (wolf) had several related origins. Lupus was an ulcerating skin disease resembling wolf bites. The lesions would devour surrounding flesh in a ‘wolfish’ manner and also devour eviscerated chicken meat placed on them as treatment (instead of eating surrounding flesh). Pseudo-Hebernus stated the bishop had temporary relief from this treatment before his religious healing.

Conclusion The 10th Century Bishop of Liège, Eraclius, is the first person described as having a disease called lupus, which had ulcers resembling the bites of a wolf and would ‘wolfishly’ devour adjacent flesh as well as topical chicken meat used as treatment. The Basilique de St. Martin (Liège, Belgium) is dedicated to the saint who supposedly cured the bishop of his lupus.

Abstract P51 Figure 1
Abstract P51 Figure 1

Woodcutting of Eraclius’ (lying down) healing of ‘le loup’ by St. Martin and St. Brice (standing left to right) from a 1496 French translation of Pseudo-Hebernus’ Miracula entitled La vie et miracles de monseigneur saint Martin, translatee de latin (Pseudo-Hebernus’, Miracula B Martin) en francoys. 1496, Pg 156

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2024-el.105

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