Miracles Related to Skin Diseases

Skin diseases occupy a special place in hagiographic sources because they are visible and have long caused fear, exclusion, or isolation. Accounts speak of leprosy, wounds, ulcers, gangrene, or manifest bodily ailments. They often highlight a gesture of proximity: washing, touching, welcoming, or serving a person whom others avoid, before reporting an improvement attributed to the saint's intercession. The motif thus associates healing and charity, but one must not transform ancient vocabulary into contemporary diagnosis. An affliction named "leprosy" by a source may cover diverse historical realities. The page therefore presents terms as they are transmitted, with caution, and distinguishes these episodes from torture wounds, mystical stigmata, and pain without explicit skin lesions.

Accounts

160

Saints

145

Period

1st century – 20th century