Am J Nephrol. 1997 ; 17(3-4): 286-8.

Cistercian medicinal herbs for renal therapy in the 15th century.

Iorio L, Nacca RG, Simonelli R.

G. De Bosis Hospital, Cassino, Italy.

The rule conceived the monastery as a citadel of divine service so that medicine, together with other arts, was the subject of studies and searches which contributed to the foundation of monastic medicine. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Cistercian monks did not limit themselves to the study of the ancient treatises on medicinal herbs, but enlarged their knowledge through clinical experience to such an extent that they created the principal therapy of diseases for about five centuries.