Puss-Drinking and
Scab-Eating--The
general populace scorned lepers for their appearance and disease.
As an act of humility and caring, many female saints such
as St. Catherine would care for these "untouchables" by licking
away the puss in their wounds then eating the scabs. People
considered these saints especially holy.
These men would take a ladder, climb up to the top of a ruined
Roman column, sit down, and then kick away the ladder, vowing
to remain there contemplating God until they died.
The greatest of medieval kings was born in 742, at a place unknown. He was of German blood and speech, and shared some characteristics of his people- strength of body, courage of spirit, pride of race, and a crude simplicity many centuries apart from the urbane polish of the modern French. He had little book learning; read only a few books- but good ones; tried in his old age to learn writing, but never quite succeeded; yet he could speak old Teutonic and literary Latin, and understood Greek.