St. Pauls Disease from
© German Epilepsymuseum Kork - Museum for epilepsy and the history of epilepsy.
In old Ireland, epilepsy was known as 'Saint Paul's
disease'. The name points to the centuries-old assumption that the
apostle suffered from epilepsy.
To support this view, people usually point to Saint Paul's experience on the road to Damascus, reported in the Acts of the Apostles
in the New Testament (Acts 9, 3-9), in which Paul, or Saul as he was
known before his conversion to Christianity, is reported to have a fit
similar to an epileptic seizure: '...suddenly a light from the sky
flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to
him: ''Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?''...Saul got up from the
ground and opened his eyes, but he could not see a thing... For three
days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or
drink anything.'
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