“Angelical Conjunction” A Study of Minister-Physicians and Their Medical Practice in Seventeenth-Century New England, 1620-1720

Many ministers in early colonial America served concurrently as physicians. Drawing primarily on surviving medical literature, this study examines the medical theories and practices upon which minister–physicians in the New England colonies relied. While the vast majority of minister–physicians were “unauthorized” and had not undergone “orthodox” or “regular” medical training, their “angelical conjunction” as minister– physicians played a significant social role and filled a health care void in the colony. In seventeenth-century New England, both Galenic and Paracelsian medical theories and treatments coexisted and converged, competing with one another and influencing both physicians and the general public. These two philosophies not only provided a theoretical background for understanding disease and medical practices but also encompassed religious discourse. New England colonists regarded disease as manifestations of God’s “divine judgment” and, as such, believed that caring for the soul as well as the body was the key to preventing and remedying physical ailments. In addition to scripture, minister–physicians relied on supernatural practices such as astrology, witchcraft, and magic to determine pathological causes and select appropriate medical treatments. They also tended to practice herbal medicine rather than surgery for healing. During the English Civil Wars (1642–1651), medicine served as an alternative income for some unsettled British ministers whose lives had been rocked by religious and political strife. Medical practitioners were in short supply in the New England colonies; therefore, it did not matter whether physicians had undergone formal or “orthodox/regular” medical training. At the patient’s bedside, neither medical expertise nor religious sincerity was more important than the ardent social desire to alleviate both spiritual and physical suffering.