Why god cannot heal amputees? Well... he did, once.

[Angrboda]

I actually posted in the Introductory Post the reply from skeptoid, and I think I covered well his objections (primary, that there was no testimony of anyone to confirm the leg was gone). The fact is that there was testimony of this. Three of the three doctors who cutted the leg declared, including a nursey and a mancebo ( though this ones, that are the helpers, merely claimed that Pellicer "seemed" to be the same. On the other hand, the doctors, specially Estanga who knew him for two subsequenty years, were sure about the identity of the dude ). I put the pages and the declarations translated in english.

Note that the testimony is all given after two years of knowing Pellicer as a beggar.

From the comments below the skeptoid article:

I have read the process, and the case is slightly more complex. The doctors at Zaragoza, Juan de Estanga, Diego Millaruelo and Miguel Beltrán did declare, and confirmed they had decided to cut the leg, which was phlegmous and damaged.But they did not operate themselves, the work was done by their assistants ("mancebos"). Those also declared, with Juan Lorenzo García, the one who later buried the leg confirming the history. The leg was, by the way, buried in a communal grave, so it makes sense that it was never recovered. The weak point of this testimonies is that they also declared that they got to know Pellicer after the fact, when he was a famous one legged beggar, and could not be totally sure he was the amputee. So we know for sure someone was amputated around that time, but that must not have been uncommon in XVII century Spain.

I said famous beggar, and apparently Pellicer became something of a minor celebrity. He had his spot in front of the cathedral and used to show his leg and let people touch the scar. He also used to rub the oils of the cathedral on it, something that irked Juan de Estanga to no end. The doctor [ Juan de Estanga ] seems to have seen the beggar from time to time, but he was not allowed to touch the scar. It is not implausible that Pellicer was faking it, with the weakened leg hidden behind his body.

Some time later, a priest from Calanda, his hometown, locates him and advices him to go back to his parents. He had run out of home to work with an uncle years ago...

Leirus, Madrid
March 26, 2012 6:20pm