Denderbelle, East Flanders, Belgium: pilgrims visiting the church of Saint Cornelius in search of cures for their nervous disorders. Engraving, ca. 191-.

Saint Cornelius was Pope from 251 to 253. According to his legend, Cornelius cured people who had suffered from epileptic fits after having persecuted Christians and who had repented of their actions. He is also credited with the cure of a woman with a nervous disorder which she had suffered from for 15 years. Since at least the 12th century, Denderbelle in East Flanders was one of several places in Flanders and north Germany which had a shrine to Saint Cornelius which people could attend in an attempt to replicate his cures. The shrine was still being visited by pilgrims seeking cures around the time of World War I (1914-1918), when this pennant was collected by Oscar van Schoor and presented by him to Henry S. Wellcome for Wellcome's historical collection. Schoor was one of the leading collectors of medical antiques in Belgium, and also the country's most prominent Esperanto speaker. The lettering on the pennant names St Cornelius as protector against 'seskens' (a popular word meaning convulsions), epilepsy, nervous diseases etc.