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Social History of Medicine 1998 11(3):381-402; doi:10.1093/shm/11.3.381
© 1998 by Society for the Social History of Medicine
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‘Purgatory on Earth’: An Account of Breast Cancer from Nineteenth-Century France

THERESE TAYLOR*

*School of Humanities, Charles Sturt University Locked Bag 678, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia

SUMMARY The subject of this article is the terminal illness of Zélie Martin who died from breast cancer in 1877. She was a Catholic woman of Normandy, a professional lace-maker, and the mother of five daughters. Her extensive correspondence, which records her fatal illness, is the main source for this study. Her accounts of the disease are compared with medical texts of the period. Religious responses to illness, and the support offered by family members are also described.

Keywords: breast cancer; pain; Lourdes; Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; terminal illness


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