Dvortsovaya Square, 2, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190000
Doctor Antonio Sanchez belongs to the most famous doctors of the 18th century, and the circumstances of his life related to his origin and religion are characteristic of the era in which he lived at the Russian court. His full name is Antonio Nunes Ribeiro Sanchez. In Russian documents, he is called sometimes Sanchez, sometimes Sanhes, and sometimes even Sanjes, Sanshes, or Sanshe; nowadays, the pronunciation Sanchez is accepted. He was born in the city of Pegna Macor, Portugal, on March 7, 1699. It is known about his parents that his father, Simon Nunes, was a merchant. The young man was drawn to medical sciences and began studying them under the guidance of another uncle, Diego Nunes, a practicing doctor in Lisbon. He received systematic medical education at the University of Salamanca, and driven by a thirst for knowledge, he traveled to various cities for improvement, spending two years in London, some time in Paris, Montpellier, and Genoa. In 1727, he became acquainted with the works of the famous Boerhaave, founder of the Leiden medical school, and was so fascinated by them that he decided to study further with him, making a great impression on the teacher. In 1730, the Russian government turned to Boerhaave with a request to recommend three scholarly doctors for the most responsible medical positions in Russia. Boerhaave suggested Sanchez enter Russian service, and when he agreed, recommended him to the Russian government as the most worthy candidate known to him.
Sanchez arrived in Russia in 1731 and was appointed “physicus” at the medical chancery in Moscow. His duties included training feldshers, midwives, and pharmacists. Soon he was transferred to the military department. In 1735, he was with the army in Novo-Pavlovsk. In general, as stated in the preface to his book about baths, “he spent a considerable time with the troops, with whom he repeatedly went on campaigns.”
Later he moved to St. Petersburg, where he was appointed chief physician at the Landed Noble Cadet Corps (this privileged educational institution for nobles was called the Knight Academy). At the same time, he served as the personal doctor to Cabinet Minister A. P. Volynsky. The talent and skill of Doctor Sanchez attracted the attention of the Empress herself, who summoned him to the court and made him her personal physician. It is known that he often treated Anna Ioannovna, especially during exacerbations of kidney stone disease.
Officially listed as a Catholic, he seemed to have reason to be calm about his fate during the persecutions of Jews in Russia. Therefore, he was not affected by the decree introduced by Catherine I in 1727, which prohibited Jews from living throughout the Russian Empire. But he, a secret Jew, could not help but shudder when in 1738 the trial took place against the Jew Borukh Leibov and the captain Alexander Voznitsyn, who had converted to Judaism. The auto-da-fé of the apostates took place in St. Petersburg, at the corner of Nevsky and Bolshaya Morskaya, with a large crowd gathered. Although Sanchez was not directly affected by this, the event resonated painfully in his heart, as in the hearts of all ethnic Jews of the empire. Among them was his friend, the Empress’s jester Jan Lacoste, also a descendant of Portuguese Marranos.
Although it is said “a baptized Jew is a forgiven Jew,” Sanchez was reminded from time to time of his Jewish origin. The 18th-century writer and poet A. P. Sumarokov, in a private letter, refers to a certain foreigner as being “of Jewish breed.” This very “breed” caused disdain and haughty contempt among courtiers.
The brief reign of the straightforward and merciful regent Anna Leopoldovna during the infant Emperor Ivan Antonovich’s time was the star hour of Sanchez’s career. In November 1740, he was appointed imperial court physician with a salary of three thousand rubles. The ruler believed so much in the miraculous doctor that she entrusted him with her august child and sent all prescriptions written by other doctors to him for review and approval.
Elizabeth Petrovna, who ascended the throne, did not persecute Sanchez. She retained him as the tsar’s personal physician and often used his services. And this despite being a fierce opponent of Jews. Apparently, at that time, the Empress did not suspect the Portuguese Catholic doctor of Judaism. Especially since the doctor was very useful: in 1744, he cured the dangerously ill bride of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Empress Catherine II, of pleurisy.
When Sanchez resigned due to eye disease, he was sent from Russia to France with great honors. Here is a copy of the certificate issued to him with the highest signature: “The bearer hereof, Doctor of Medicine Antonio Ribeiro Sanchez, was enrolled and accepted into Our service by capitulation in 1731, from which time he has served in Our service, performing his medical duties in various places, as befits a skilled doctor and honest man, commendably; therefore, for his labors and skill, He has been graciously granted by Us and held the position of second personal physician to Our Imperial Person with the rank of Actual State Councillor, and since he, the doctor, due to illness, requested dismissal from service, We have ordered to give him this discharge with Our own signature. Elizabeth. St. Petersburg, September 4, 1747.” The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences hastened to elect Sanchez “an honorary member of the physical class, with a salary of 200 rubles per year by Her Imperial Majesty’s decree,” so that he could send “various essays and dissertations from abroad for the local Academy.”
The fame of the imperial personal physician spread throughout Europe. The Paris Academy of Sciences elected him a full member. Sanchez went to France to, after a long rest, resume practicing medicine and writing scientific treatises. He also carried out assignments from St. Petersburg academicians: in particular, he negotiated the admission of prominent foreign scientists to Russian service. All the more unexpected and painful for him was the decree from Russia by Elizabeth Petrovna dated November 10, 1748, ordering that Sanchez be “excluded from the honorary academic members and that his pension be discontinued from this date.” Having lost his academic title and an important source of livelihood, the bewildered doctor wrote a penitential letter to the president of the St. Petersburg Academy, K. G. Razumovsky. Believing that his disgrace was due to accusations of political unreliability and recalling an incident that might have given rise to unpleasant rumors about him, Sanchez defended himself, proving his innocence.
However, the reason for his disgrace was quite different. Chancellor A. P. Bestuzhev wrote on this matter: “Mr. Sanchez is troubled by a circumstance that was not at all the cause of his disgrace. Her Imperial Majesty esteems scholars and patronizes sciences and arts to the highest degree. But she also wants the members of her Academy to be good Christians, and she learned that Doctor Sanchez is not among them. And so, as far as I know, the reason he lost his position was his Judaism, and not any political circumstances.” In the same spirit, K. G. Razumovsky wrote to Sanchez: “She was angry with you not for any offense or disloyalty committed directly against Her. But She believes it would be against Her conscience to have in Her Academy a person who has abandoned the banner of Jesus Christ and decided to act under the banner of Moses and the Old Testament prophets.”
Despairing, Sanchez turned to the intercession of the famous Swiss mathematician L. Euler, a member of the St. Petersburg Academy since its foundation. “... Her Imperial Majesty,” writes the doctor, “is not angry with me for any political mistake, but her conscience does not allow me to remain in the Academy when I profess the Jewish faith. I replied with great moderation that such an accusation is false and moreover slander, as I am of the Catholic religion, but I do not care to refute it because it is destined from birth that Christians recognize me as a Jew... and moreover, Providence has destined this for the blood flowing in my veins, the same that was in the first saints of the church and the holy apostles, humiliated, persecuted, and martyred in life, revered and worshiped after their death.” However, Elizabeth Petrovna remained adamant.
Deprived of his pension, the doctor worked in France with doubled energy. He treated the poor free of charge, actively engaged in scientific research, and maintained lively correspondence with medical luminaries.
Empress Catherine II, upon ascending the throne, ordered: “To the former personal physician in this service, now residing in Paris, Doctor Sanchez, to pay from the household funds a pension of one thousand rubles per year for life, because he saved me, by the help of God, from death.”
Antonio Ribeiro was granted a long life full of creativity. In particular, he authored the work “On Russian Steam Baths, as They Contribute to Strengthening, Preserving, and Restoring Health; a composition by Mr. Sanchez, former famous physician at the court of Her Imperial Majesty...”
He died in Paris, in the quiet of his study, on September 11, 1783. The Paris Academy of Sciences dedicated a special session to his memory.
In the doctor’s papers, 28 completed manuscripts were found, two of which deserve our special attention: “Reflections on the Inquisition. For my personal use” and “On the Causes of the Persecution of Jews.” The titles speak for themselves: even in old age, he was concerned about the fate of his fellow countrymen.
At the same time, he once admitted that he saw the meaning of life also in “service to the Russian Empire.” Indeed, he devoted his best years to this country. He not only healed Russians and helped them but also actively promoted Russian culture and civilization in the West. Therefore, Sanchez can also be called a son of Russia, for he diligently worked for its glory.
Sources:
Berdnikov Lev, Jews of the Russian State. 15th – early 20th centuries.
Samuil Gruzenberg, Personal Physician of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
