If the well-being of the soul has been and still is today the principle concern of religious brothers and sisters, they are also -in memory of the saying "mens sana in corpore sano" -concerned with the body, having developed through observation and secular experience ways of living and health remedies, which have been used inside their respective communities and advised to those they met. Furthermore, they have already read in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiasticus: "The Lord has brought medicines into existence from the earth, and the sensible man will not despise them. He has also given men learning so that they may glory in his mighty works. He uses them to heal and to relieve pain, and the chemist makes up a mixture from them." (Ecclesiasticus 38, 4-7).

Upon this foundation a long tradition of popular experience and direct observation came about and was enriched by generations of religious who desired to bring to fruition the methods that nature had concealed in herbs, as well as healthy practices to keep up in order to return to general health and purity. And here we find, along this same continuum, the Discalced Carmelite fathers of Sant'Anna in Genoa, Italy. The monastery was established in 1584 as the first installment of the reformed order in Italy, around 20 years after St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross established the new branch of the Carmelite family in Spain. It is located on the top of the Bachernia hill where one can enjoy a beautiful vista of Genoa's old port. Back then the monastery complex was built in an isolated area of Genoa; today instead it is part of the city and can easily be reached by car or public transportation in minutes.

The first documented traces of a "pharmacopoeia" managed by discalced Carmelites in Genoa goes back to the years 1721-1729, and are found in the monastery of San Carlo. The church, which can still be admired today, stands near Piazza Principe. These first documentations are not very precise, but they allow for the idea of an institution in the charge of religious who likewise served the population.

However, it came about in all of its clauses the agreement approved by the discalced Carmelites of Sant'Anna on July 27, 1778 between the physician Lorenzo Robello and the monks, regarding the "speziaria" (herbal pharmacy, literally spice-ery) of the monastery. Robello was committed to begin on the successive August 1st to "annually serve the convent of Sant'Anna as a surgeon and a herbal specialist with the task of setting up, working in and supplying the "spezaria" of the convent in all of the medical fields and medicines, both inside and outside of the religious complex." In exchange he was given an annual salary of 130 lire, as well as room and board, and free assistance for 15 days in the event of a sickness. This is an interesting case of a doctor and pharmacist who reported his work to a religious brother who was in turn delegated by the prior, and who lent his services to the advantage of the laity of Genoa and the religious who contracted him.

The doctor was committed to preparing medicines and teaching his art to a religious brother who would eventually be destined by his superiors to become the herbalist. In fact a short time later, on exactly April 7, 1792, Domenico De Simoni donned the habit of the discalced Carmelites under the name of John of the Cross, and was entrusted with the care and administration of the herbal pharmacy. According to him the conditions of the pharmacy were not so rosy anymore. But he prepared himself anyway, hired an assistant and rolled up his sleeves. And by 1798 the yearly production activity was valued at 1,580 lire.

The records of the herbal pharmacy provide us with the names of the specialties and the identities of the customers, some of whom took the pharmacy's preparations for long periods of time until being healed. Among the products frequently used were manna, worm tablets, white sugar, decoction of cinchona, English salts, cinnamon, rose oil, poppy flower oil, and an interesting "witty drink of incense, myrrh, aloe and wine spirits", as well as an ointment for scabies.

Some of the specialties are still produced and in use today

Rose syrup, a classic concoction of the pharmacy as a thirst quencher and bland laxative; althea syrup for coughs and allergies; sweet almond oil, an important ingredient in ointments for skin irritations; rose honey used against oral inflammations; rhubarb potion with tonic properties in cases of excessive physical and mental exertion; aloe laxative pills; burdock, very effective for various skin problems; sarsaparilla syrup as a body depurative; valerian potion for insomnia and nervous tension.

Among the clients of the pharmacy at the beginning of the 19th century we find the doctor Angelo Bruzick, the surgeon Rocco Artisi di Voltri, the consulate from Denmark Giuseppe Alessi Morellet (an constant consumer of the Elixir of Life), the herbalist from the Pammatone Genoese hospital that would buy cinchona extract and dried pink rose, the discalced Carmelite sisters of the Santa Teresa convent, the sisters of the San Silvestro convent and those from the San Girolamo convent, and the pastor of the Crocefieschi parish. Some years later the herbalist at the pharmacy had contracts with a famous and much talked about Parisian doctor named Louis Le Roy, whose principal work was translated in Italian under the title "Therapeutic Medicine", published in Naples in 1825 in four volumes. The herbal pharmacy continued to disseminate Dr. Le Roy's suggestions and towards the middle of the last century it produced the specialties recommended by Dr. Le Roy in the form of syrups, pills and laxative powders.

Among the various "historic" specialties the most particularly sought after were the anti-rheumatic salves for sciatica, cervical and spinal cord neuralgias and joint pains; depurative therapy with a foundation of sarsaparilla and boldo herb, artichoke potion and magnesium chloride; the vinous infusion of oak mistletoe which combats blood pressure disturbances and promotes blood circulation; the purple loosestrife potion which remedies intestinal inflammation; nettle potion and parietaria which is used for urinary tract care; erysimum syrup which is taken by singers to prevent vocal cord problems; and the marine oak potion which promotes weight loss; and the Siberian ginseng potion is suggested for cases of anxiety, stress and nervous tension.
The marriage of old and new and the processing of natural products with modern methods that keep the therapeutic properties intact, contribute to upkeep of a secular tradition- keeping always in mind what the cupid at the entrance of the pharmacy reminds us, "Nos Medicinam Paramus, Deus Dat Nobis Salutem. or "We prepare the medicine, God gives us health".

The monks currently prepare a range of various phytotherapeutic products that are highly esteemed and requested by many clients. In their workshop, equipped with modern tools, the monks employ centuries old, superior herbal formulas following modern standards. Father Ezio and his collaborators welcome and advise, visitors to the ancient herbal pharmacy coming from various regions of Italy.

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