The Austrian priest Sigismund Aperger and his contribution to medicine – Opinion

Two and a half centuries have elapsed since the death of Fr. Segismundo Aperger SJ, a native of Austria, who ended his earthly existence in our lands on November 23, 1772. To the multiple evangelical work of the sons of Saint Ignatius of Loyola we must add his civilizing influence, and in the case at hand he was, according to RP Guillermo Furlong SJ, “one of the great medical figures (together with RP Falkner) that the Society of Jesus had in the second half of the 18th century”.

Our protagonist was born in Innsbruck on October 20, 1687, in the home of Juan Enrique Aperger, who held the position of Court waiter and bank manager, and María Schedlin. He was baptized with the names of Sigismundo Tadeo two hours following he was born in the then parish of San Jacobo Dom zu St. Jakob, which today is the Cathedral of the city with the name of San Santiago.

He was 18 years old when he entered the Society of Jesus, and despite what many authors have stated, it was difficult for him to have a medical degree at that age. It is true that he studied Letters at the University of Graz and that he also held the Chair of Grammar and Rhetoric for four years. When he returned to the house of studies to study Theology, he had to interrupt the lessons to travel to America destined to mission in the reductions of the Company. With a license dated January 28, 1717, he went to Buenos Aires on the mission headed by Father Bartolomé Jiménez, and arrived on our shores on July 13. They were traveling on an English-flagged ship, whose Protestant captain soon entered into friendly communication with the religious. According to one of them, it was a very fast trip, but a strong storm when they reached the coasts of Brazil had them bad luck, in which all the animals that were taken for the consumption of fresh meat perished.

Aperger’s sympathy earned him the captain of the ship to give him his pocket watch as a sign of affection. He was then 30 years old, despite noting him 37. He was “of medium height, white of complexion and ringed hair.”

TO THE FISH

A few days later he left for Córdoba, at whose university he was to finish his theology studies; shortly following arriving a terrible plague devastated the city. An eyewitness, the German priest John Klaussner, states that “the plague would have carried off even more people in this city if our fathers had not combated the growing evil with medicines. Father Aperger, a Tyrolean, from Innsbruck, did so with great success and renown. times as a doctor, because in these regions there is a great lack of doctors and medicines”. In turn, another Jesuit, the German Antonio Betschon, affirmed that “Father Segismundo saved so many people in Córdoba from death with the medicines he had brought from Europe and with various medicinal plants that he discovered in the country, that the Bishop and The City thanked him.”

To get an idea of ​​the smallpox epidemic, our priest then estimated the death toll at 17,000 Indians and everyone agreed that the damage would have been greater if the plague had not been fought “with the opportune and effective recipes of Father Aperger, who performed the medical doctor trades with success and applause”.

When he finished his studies, his superiors kept him in the city, but to the great pain of the population he was sent to the reductions, where his name would be indelible among the Indians. He would soon acquire just fame and in 1730 Father Magg affirmed that “Father Segismundo, renowned in these regions, has captured the love and esteem of all for his good skill in medicine. I heard a Spanish father say of him that “If this German had not been here, half of our Paraguayan province would have perished.” death, or because they were unaware of the Father’s experience in medicine, or because they did not trust”.

HERBORISTA

Despite what has been claimed, Aperger was certainly not a doctor, but as Father Furlong rightly points out, he was a noted herbalist and a great connoisseur of human ailments; He was not a qualified doctor nor had he studied medicine but, as Trelles rightly writes, he was one of those friends of humanity, whom the lack of doctors and medicines among the conquerors of these countries forced to dedicate themselves to the study of herbs and plants. to which the natives attributed curative virtues.

Among his destinations in the Missions he was in the towns of Mártires, Concepción and Apóstoles, where he ended his days. Father Cardiel affirmed in this regard that “spiritual care for the sick and temporal charity is great. For this there are three or four Indians in the town, who are called Curuzuyá, the one with the cross, because he always carries as if by crosier a cross two varas high, and thick as the thumb.These learn to heal and make medicines from a young age, they have papers from this faculty, made by some curate brothers, nurses in those missions, who were surgeons and surgeons in the century apothecaries, and they applied themselves a lot in the missions to medicine. They do not go with the others to the tasks of the town; rather the others do what they need, so that they can take better care of them in their ministry”.

It is impossible to summarize in one article the totality of the work and the testimonies regarding this priest: Carlos de la Rosa, a native of Rome and baptized in San Pedro in 1694, appeared before the Cabildo de Santa Fe, who recalled that he was a classmate of Aperger in Córdoba in times of the great plague, and other personal data, to finally affirm “great doctor, from where he stayed with the faculty and with the love he had for it, he began exercising, and dedicating himself to seeing authors of it and in Santiago and La Rioja assisted several patients”.

LAST DAYS

Father Aperger was in the town of Apóstoles, in Misiones, when the order for the expulsion of the Jesuit fathers came. The commissioner informed Governor Bucarelli that he left it “because he was unable to remove it, regarding being bedridden, nearly 90 years old, crippled, ulcerous, and dying.” He spent the last few years alone, without his brothers from the Company, under the care of Fray José Antonio Barrios, a Mercedarian religious who took charge of his spiritual assistance. He was the only Jesuit left in these lands and without a doubt, due to the closeness and gratitude that many of the inhabitants had for him, it was comforting to his spirit.

Furlong says that “his name has passed down to posterity wrapped in an aura of science and holiness; an exemplary priest and a zealous missionary, he devoted all his energies to the hard work of Christianizing our natives; a highly skilled doctor in curative science, he dedicated himself with zeal and with success never rivaled in the regions of the Río de la Plata, to the relief of his peers. His contemporaries considered him sent from heaven, since so many and so distinguished were the cures, of all kinds, that they came to work”.

With this commemoration, his Austrian, Argentine and Paraguayan compatriots, where he spread his charity, we do nothing more than an act of justice by honoring the memory of Segismundo Tadeo Aperger, while waiting for him in Apóstoles, in the province of Misiones, and in the city of Córdoba, in the Colegio de la Compañía, it is possible with the Austrian Embassy to discover a plaque and remember him in this way forever to whom so much good was given to sow in his ambulatory land. We do not doubt that two and a half centuries following his death, such a well-deserved homage will be fulfilled, as he honors and unites our countries.

* Historian. Vice President of the Academy of Communication Arts and Sciences.