Which Saint to pray for fighting against a Covid infection? A short survey

Antonio Perciaccante (1) , Alessia Coralli , Philippe Charlier (1)

1 LAAB - Laboratoire Anthropologie, Archéologie, Biologie

Background: In the absence of a treatment still considered universally effective, and of a vaccine validated by the health authorities, we wanted to know which Catholic saint the European Christian community turned to in the event of infection with Covid-19 to request a miraculous healing. Methodology: An online survey was carried out on a sample of 1158 adults using social media tools. Results: All results are presented in this research, with a few saints in the majority, and some dictated by the symptomatology of the Covid-19 infection or the personalities of certain « doctor guru ». Conclusion: This medico-anthropological study is revealing the psychology of Western patients vis-à-vis the magic-religious means used in the fight against diseases, particularly in the epidemic/pandemic context.

Mots clés: Health; Medical anthropology; Parallel medicine; Religion; Survey

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Antonio Perciaccante, Alessia Coralli, Philippe Charlier. Which Saint to pray for fighting against a Covid infection? A short survey. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 2021, 18, ⟨10.1016/j.jemep.2021.100674⟩. ⟨hal-03401777⟩