Dear wofahulicodoc: Haven't found the Breughel site yet, but here's another site:
"Ergot, more than any other drug, has a fascinating history, in the course of
which its role and meaning have been reversed: once dreaded as a poison, in
the course of time it has changed to a rich storehouse of valuable remedies.
Ergot first appeared on the stage of history in the early Middle Ages, as the
cause of outbreaks of mass poisonings affecting thousands of persons at a
time. The illness, whose connection with ergot was for a long time obscure,
appeared in two characteristic forms, one gangrenous (ergotismus gangraenosus)
and the other convulsive (ergotismus convulsivus). Popular names for ergotism
- such as "mal des ardents," "ignis sacer," "heiliges Feuer," or "St.
Anthony's fire" - refer to the gangrenous form of the disease. The patron
saint of ergotism victims was St. Anthony, and it was primarily the Order of
St. Anthony that treated these patients."