Rome, April 1215. IV. In the Council, the Catholic Church prohibited the surgery of priests and monks, among others. Also in previous councils, Reimsen and Tours, they worked on the issue, arguing that only legataries had to deal with saving souls and that they had to avoid the salvation of bodies. And in the next century, the final decision was made in the Basilica of St. John Lateral, imposing the penalty of expulsion on the offenders.

The medical knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans was lost between the 4th and 10th centuries, and those who were still preserved were in monasteries, as the name of Umberto Eco Rose put it. By banning those who knew the most about medicine and, therefore, surgery, his relay was taken by another guild who knew a lot about anatomy: butchers.

In particular, the butchers of the town of Norcia, in the Umbria region, had a special ability to cut meat from the Roman Empire and, as a result of the council, began to cut meat from living things. By their origin they were called norcini; today, in Italian, the Norcino word is still synonymous with butcher. They underwent curative surgery for tumors, hernias and cataracts, and in some times there was
a great demand for castration of children for the career of singing, that is, castrates. They were ambulatory surgeons and butchers, two in two, and they often acted outside Umbria across the Italian peninsula.

According to historian Paolo Savoia, they had a great theoretical knowledge of anatomy, as well as a precise instrument and practical experience of surgical intervention. Therefore, we should not be surprised by the conjunction of both actions: “It is perfectly understandable that the relationship between the two professions is so successful”. We should be surprised that another “guild” was not able to save souls and unify bodily care activities.