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Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz was a prison doctor and philanthropist. Grateful patients often called him “saint.” The Catholic Church canonized him among the blessed in a process that lasted two decades. This man was admired by the writer A.P. Chekhov.
The fate of the merciful ascetic who came to Russia from Germany was not an easy one.
Biography of Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz
His real name is Friedrich Josef Haas. He was born into a family of hereditary doctors on September 4, 1780. His grandfather was a famous surgeon in Cologne, his father was a well-known pharmacist in the German city of Bad Munstereifel.
Frederick successfully continued the family dynasty. He studied medicine in Göttingen and Vienna. And when he just opened his practice, in 1806 he left for Moscow. It happened quite by accident.
In Vienna, 25-year-old Friedrich managed to cure Prince Nikolai Grigorievich Repnin, who was suffering from a serious eye disease. The prince’s daughter invited him to become their family doctor. The contract, which was concluded, stated that Frederick had the right to carry out his activities and treat other patients.
For half a century, Haas’s “other patients” were hundreds of people: government officials, aristocrats, merchants. But there were even more poor people, whom he treated for free, buying the necessary medicines with his own money.
One day the doctor found out that in the poorhouse the patients did not receive proper medical supervision and would certainly visit them two or three times a week. And, of course, free of charge, providing medicines.
In 1809 Fyodor Petrovich visited some regions of the Caucasus. He scrupulously studied the slopes of Mashuk, Beshtau, Narzan and discovered a considerable number of healing mineral springs. Determined their composition, acidity, what benefits they can bring to the body, are there any contraindications.
At his repeated petition to the emperor, the following resorts were opened and equipped: Essentuki, Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk, etc.
Dr. Gaaz
In 1812 Fyodor Petrovich, as a military doctor, took an active part in the war and reached Paris. After the war, he was appointed chief physician of the capital. And now he already took care of all its inhabitants. Achieved, with superhuman efforts, the reconstruction of the Old Catherine Hospital for the “working people”.
Gaaz begged for funds from the city authorities, paid visits to wealthy people asking for help. His suggestions and nagging drove officials of all levels crazy.
It was the “holy doctor” who insisted that a prison hospital be opened for the first time in the Russian Empire. Fyodor Petrovich contrived to be there often, and again his war began with the bureaucrats and the leadership of the prisons.
Dr. Haas in the prison hospital
He was much more tired of this than of taking patients. But, morning came, and he again walked in this circle, doing the impossible to alleviate the fate of the prisoners.
A. Herzen, being acquainted with the doctor, described him as follows: “An old, thin, like an old man made of wax in a tailcoat, went weekly to Vorobyovy Gory, from where the exiles departed. He carefully examined them before the long journey. And he also always brought them “on the path” food supplies and delicacies .. “
But the physician was not limited to a thorough medical examination and food. He regularly argued with the authorities and with the leadership of the prisons, trying in any way to make life easier for the prisoners.
Hurry to do good
No one knows what kind of work and nerves he had to achieve so that the wrists of prisoners were not fastened to a thick bar of iron connecting up to a dozen people.
Neither age, nor physique, nor height, nor health were taken into account. So they wandered, stumbled, stepped on each other, rubbed their hands bloody, along the Vladimir tract to distant and cold Siberia.
Fyodor Petrovich never tired of writing petitions: to the metropolitan governor, the head of prisons and even the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “The German is out of his mind, some blessed one!” – were angry in the offices, diligently writing new replies.
Prisoners chained to an iron bar
And yet … In the capital, the iron bar was canceled. He remained for a long time in other regions of the empire. In Moscow, instead of a rod, they began to use a flexible chain, but the relief for the convicts was insignificant. Only 10 years later, the rod and the chain disappeared from prison use.
Only the shackles remained. Gaaz was well aware that he could not achieve their complete abolition. But knocking on every door of high authorities and receiving refusal after refusal, he humbly walked again and again, along the second circle, on the third … But, after all, he achieved it.
In prisons, lightweight shackles were introduced, which the prisoners called “Gaaz’s”. The doctor experienced the shackles on himself, not taking off for weeks. The relief was significant. Against 16 kg., The new ones weighed only 7 kg. From the inside, where there was a lock, they were covered with leather so that they would not wash their feet into blood.
Such shackles can now be seen at the monument to Dr. Haas in the capital’s Vvedenskoye cemetery.
And Gaaz was constantly in conflict with the Moscow Metropolitan Filaret, who was a member of the leadership of the Prison Guardianship Committee. Filaret was skeptical about all the actions of the Catholic, who by his example seemed to “teach” the hierarch of mercy.
“Prisons and hard labor,” said the doctor, “are schools of crime that actively spread evil …”
Illness and death
When the “holy doctor” was already seriously ill, the prisoners on their knees asked to serve a prayer service for his health. The local priest Orlov did not know what to do: the rules do not provide for a prayer service for the health of a Gentile.
In order not to make a mistake, he asked Philaret, to which the Metropolitan replied: “God blesses the prayer service for all the living” and went to the doctor. Seeing the Metropolitan, the doctor tried to get up and greet him, but he quietly said: “I will sit with you … Let’s talk …”
The “holy doctor” departed into another world on August 16, 1853. 20 thousand people, with tears in their eyes, saw off the holy elder on his last journey. On the monument to Friedrich Joseph Haas, you can read a short inscription in Latin and in Russian: “Hurry to do good!”
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Don’t miss the video! Here is additional information “Fedor Petrovich Gaaz: biography”.
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