Gabriel of Ferrara

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gabriel von Ferrara (* around 1543; † January 15, 1627 in Vienna ) was an Italian religious, surgeon and founder of hospitals.

Life

Ferrara was born in Milan around 1543 as Count Camillo of Ferrara . He studied medicine, became a surgeon and worked, among other things, as the personal physician of the Duke of Urbino , Francesco Maria II. Della Rovere .

In 1591 at the latest he joined the Hospital Order of the Brothers of Mercy in Milan , took the religious name Gabriel and took the religious vows in 1595 . Here he wrote the two-part Nuova Selva di Cirurgia , which was first printed in Venice in 1596 and became the standard work of surgery.

Ferrara was transferred to Rome, where he took on leadership roles within the order. He was prior of the monastery with the hospital on the Tiber Island , was appointed provincial in 1602 and soon afterwards also appointed to the general administration of the order. From 1605 he was also vicar general for the branches north of the Alps and was entrusted with the establishment of hospitals.

In 1608 Gabriel was able to heal the Polish king Sigismund . As a thank you, a hospital was donated in Krakow , which was followed by other foundations in Poland, as far as Belarus and Lithuania .

Thereupon the Austrian Emperor Matthias also offered him the establishment of hospitals. Ferrara went to Vienna, where a first house was purchased in 1614 and opened in 1616, the still existing hospital in Taborstrasse .

After Gabriel was able to heal Archduke Ernst, the brother of Emperor Ferdinand II , in 1615, another hospital was founded in Graz in 1615 . The emperor became Ferrara's personal friend and important patron of the order. In 1624, the Brothers of Mercy in Austria were granted the right to public fundraising.

During the Thirty Years War , Ferrara was a field surgeon with the imperial troops and took part in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Gabriel later founded hospitals in Neuburg an der Donau (1622) and Trieste (1625).

When Ferrara died on January 15, 1627, he left an extensive hospital system, which mainly served the medical care of the poor. Gabriel von Ferrara died in the reputation of holiness and was buried in the Church of the Brothers of Mercy in Vienna's Taborstrasse.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ferrara, Gabriel of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ferrara, Camillo von (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian religious, surgeon and founder of hospitals
DATE OF BIRTH around 1543
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1627
Place of death Vienna