When I started studying herbal medicine many years ago there were often famous herbalists who were mentioned for their knowledge and contribution to the field. Maria Treben was not one who ever came up in any classes or any of the herb books that I have read, which is really too bad after learning about her work. Maria Treben was born in the early 1900s and was a Catholic Austrian herbalist. She was well-known for her work among the people, her books were translated into several languages, and what started as a hobby for her grew into an occupation.
Her book Health through God’s Pharmacy taught me information about herbs that I had never heard anywhere else. For example, I had learned that various parts of the dandelion plant are edible and medicinal, but I had never considered the stem. She suggests to eat ten raw, fresh picked stems every day for two weeks to give your body a good treatment in the spring.
She also recommends making a plantain syrup made with honey and unrefined sugar to purify the blood. This is to be taken before every meal, which is interesting since I had never heard an herbalist suggest this; usually plantain is made as a tea, poultice, or oil/salve.
Another interesting recommendation is about thyme tea- which is usually used for respiratory ailments. She says that in her experience drinking thyme tea in the morning instead of coffee will make you feel more refreshed and wide-awake. She also recommends wild thyme for certain types of neuralgia.
She was a major proponent of Swedish bitters and wrote that it is a great preventative remedy for the flu and pains of any kind. Bitters are well-known in the herbal community for their myriad uses-usually for various digestive troubles. And since good digestion is the foundation for good health, this makes perfect sense.
Calendula is a plant that I use very often, usually infused in oil for skincare products, but also as a tea for swollen glands or for gut health. Maria places calendula in a group of plants that are beneficial for cancer and “cancer like growths.” She credits it as a blood cleanser and writes that she has personally seen it work effectively for bad wounds and varicose veins. For varicose veins, she recommended it as an ointment and stated that her client noticed much improvement after a month of use. I had previously learned about making a gut heal tea with calendula and plantain for people who suffer from intestinal inflammation, so it was interesting to read that Maria told of a case where a nurse who had inflammation of the large intestine for 8 years drank 2 cups of calendula tea for 4 days and then reported that her symptoms were gone.
Every herbalist I have met loves the plant stinging nettle for its highly nutritive benefits, and in Europe this was also true. Maria wrote that nettles is the best blood cleansing and blood building herb. She recommended it to a mama who had headaches and eczema after her 7th child, and after drinking nettle tea she reported her symptoms gone. She had people write to her to thank her for recommending nettle tea for them because of how much better they felt after drinking it.
Regarding goldenrod, in western herbalism we learn that it is a great plant for the kidneys. Maria also wrote it is an excellent remedy for disorders of the kidneys and works as a diuretic with a cooling effect. This is a quote from her book that is worth quoting in full:
“All our emotions are worked off through the kidneys. Therefore they are the most affected after an emotional shock, be it a death in the family or any other accident. Golden Rod (sic) proves its worth as a medicinal plant which influences the human emotions most favourably. It should therefore be drunk without delay in cases of disappointments and emotional stress.”
I was also excited to learn from her writings about a German priest named Father Sebastian Kneipp who promoted hydrotherapy and natural medicine back in the 1800s. He cured himself of tuberculosis by using hot and cold water therapy and later wrote about natural cures. He suggested to women that they would do well if they drank a cup of yarrow tea every so often. This is probably because yarrow is great at regulating the menstrual cycle, and is the premier herb for blood ailments. Maria Treben says it’s a good idea to drink a cup of yarrow tea every day year round. Since yarrow is bitter, you can always mix it with something tasty, like mint or rose to offset its bitterness.
She even has a remedy for sleepwalking. I never heard of any natural remedies for this but she suggested St. John’s wort. Two cups of tea can be taken daily (sipped slowly), or a sitz bath can be made with the herb weekly, along with a foot bath six times per week. The sitz bath water has to be deep enough to cover the kidneys. I doubt there will ever be a randomized-controlled trial to test this but fascinating nonetheless.
Maria Treben was a highly acclaimed and much sought after herbalist in Europe. She lectured widely and had auditoriums filled where she would speak with people wanting to hear her success stories using natural remedies. It’s not hard to see why. Her wisdom is needed today as much as ever.
Further reading:
Thus Shalt Thou Live – Father Sebastian’s book you can read online
A Spoonful of Garlic 
Jim, as a Catholic myself, I hold Catholicism to be the only true religion founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church is not responsible for the evils of modern medicine, I’m not sure why you think that. The Bible is actually a Catholic book and passages are read at every Mass (I mean the traditional Latin Mass, not the new mass that is false worship). I was surprised to find Maria Treben as a Catholic, since many herbalists are pagans, at least in modern times. I truly hope she died belonging to the One True Faith.
Funny, I always saw Maria Treben as too Christian to be catholic. I first found her “Health Through God’s Pharmacy” book back in 1983 and it has been a staple in my extensive herbal library, second only to the very Protestant Jethro Kloss’ “Back to Eden”. I hold the catholic church accountable for all the modern medicine that is turning our bodies into toxic waste dumps. Like you I was shocked to find her a catholic, however, I was also raised in that church and had I not read the Bible, I might still be enslaved there to this day. I know God’s people are in every church, but it is the job of all to heed the warning to “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4). I sure hope Maria Treben saw the light before she took her final breath…