Books, Gold, and Elixir: Alchemy and Religious Orders in Early Modern Naples. 2018

Lorenza Gianfrancesco
a University of Chichester , UK.

In the early modern period Naples was a European centre of learning where a number of scholars engaged with alchemy. Variously perceived as a legitimate scientific practice or as a mendacious trick for gullible minds, alchemy engaged Neapolitan scholars in an ongoing dispute that involved members of the clergy. In this article I consider convents as research centres mainly engaged with medical alchemy. Specifically, I reconstruct the activity of the Dominican friar Tommaso d'Eremita. Upon his arrival at the Neapolitan convent of Santa Caterina a Formello in 1609, d'Eremita set up a laboratory where he spent years working on alchemical procedures in order to produce an elixir of life for the benefit of all. Beyond this charitable mission, I argue that members of religious orders in Naples engaged with alchemy for different purposes. In so doing, I discuss the cases of some members of religious orders in Naples who practised chrysopoeia with the aim of producing artificial noble metals.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007558 Italy A country in southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia. The capital is Rome. Sardinia
D012068 Religion and Medicine The interrelationship of medicine and religion. Religiosity Coping,Spiritual Coping,Medicine and Religion,Coping, Religiosity,Coping, Spiritual,Religiosity Copings
D012070 Religion and Science The interrelationship of science and religion. Science and Religion
D002947 Cities A large or important municipality of a country, usually a major metropolitan center. Municipalities,Towns
D000422 Alchemy Form of chemistry concerned with discovering methods for transmuting base metals into gold and with finding an elixir for eternal youth.
D049670 History, 17th Century Time period from 1601 through 1700 of the common era. 17th Century History,17th Cent. History (Medicine),17th Cent. History of Medicine,17th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 17th Century,History of Medicine, 17th Cent.,History, Seventeenth Century,Medical History, 17th Cent.,Medicine, 17th Cent.,17th Cent. Histories (Medicine),17th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 17th (Medicine),Century Histories, Seventeenth,Century History, 17th,Century History, Seventeenth,Histories, 17th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 17th Century,Histories, Seventeenth Century,History, 17th Cent. (Medicine),Seventeenth Century Histories,Seventeenth Century History

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