Martin Luther
In his mid-forties, Martin Luther suffered from bleeding hemorrhoids, which he described in detail in a letter to a friend. Then, as today, people were inclined to purify the body as a way of healing. As all food at the time was organic and macrobiotic, something else had to be used for purification. Doctors performed bloodletting, for which they charged dearly. Martin bled after each stool and thanked God for purifying himself while saving money. That is why hemorrhoids at that time were called golden veins.
Franz Joseph
When Emperor Franz Joseph had anal problems in 1890, the Imperial physician and head of the then Viennese surgery was invited to examine His Highness. In the darkness of the imperial dormitory, by candlelight, the head of surgery diagnosed a colon tumor. The emperor was very frightened and immediately asked for a second opinion and brought the young surgeon Julius von Hochenegg. His diagnosis was thrombosed hemorrhoids and thus the emperor lived for many years. When the new head of surgery was to be appointed, the emperor circled the name of Julius von Hochenegg from the names offered. And so the hemorrhoids determined the position of the head of the Viennese surgery. The lesson of this story is that if you want to progress in life, you need to be close to the opening of power.
Jimmy Carter
U.S. President Jimmy Carter received his first bout of hemorrhoids as a submarine officer. During his later life, the symptoms recurred, but he successfully treated them with conservative methods until the end of 1978. when he had to undergo emergency hemorrhoid surgery. The state administration, of course, tried to conceal this from the public, but the story was blown wide open. On Christmas Eve itself, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made sure that his good friend Jimmy Carter was recovering from hemorrhoid surgery and called on Allah to help him in his speedy recovery.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte had symptoms of acute thrombosed hemorrhoids accompanied by severe pain during the Battle of Waterloo. He stayed in a tent most of the time and could not ride a horse and tour the battlefield as he usually did during battles. They say defeat is usually the result of many small consecutive mistakes. We assume that hemorrhoids were one of the minor mistakes that led to Napoleon’s defeat in that battle.
George Brett
The baseball player missed several important games during the 1980s due to hemorrhoid surgery. After leaving the hospital, when asked how he felt, he said: my problems are now behind me.
St. Fiacre; protector of patients with hemorrhoids
Saint Fiacre is the protector of gardeners and patients suffering from hemorrhoids. He was an Irish monk who lived in the 7th century. Legend has it that he moved to France near the town of Meaux in the province of Brie. The local bishop promised him that he would get as much land as he could dig in one day. He just dragged his shovel across the ground and the bushes were uprooted, the ground dug up. But there is another legend that says that in the desire to dig as much land as possible he got hemorrhoids from hard work. After he sat down on the cold stone, the difficulties calmed down, and small fissures of swollen hemorrhoids remained on the stone. Allegedly, sitting on such a stone with depressions alleviates the discomfort with hemorrhoids.
St. Fiacre helped people spiritually through prayer, and he treated physical ailments especially fistulas and venereal diseases with herbs he grew in his garden. That is why he is better known as the protector of gardeners.
The power of his healing remained even after his death, and numerous pilgrimages to his monastery were organized in the hope of recovery. The hotel that rented carriages was called Hotel St. Fiacre, so the carriages were actually named after him.
Some celebrate it on August 30th and some on September 1st. We will not discourage you from praying to St. Fiacre for help with hemorrhoid problems, we would only recommend an examination to rule out other causes of your problems.