How Catholic Sisters Responded in 1918
By Susan Flansburg
The calls here came from priests, doctors, and from the afflicted ones themselves. In many cases whole families were afflicted with the dread disease, and the Sisters had to do the cleaning, washing, cooking, as well as nursing. - From the National Institutes of Health Archives
“Although most of the nuns had little experience of the outside world and no medical training, 2,000 sisters … signed on for 12-hour shifts, navigating the unfamiliar streetcar system through a city made still with fear. Dressed in white gowns and gauze masks, the sisters treated patients who represented a cross section of Philadelphia: immigrants from Italy, Ukraine, Poland and China; black families, Jewish families, and the city’s poorest, its orphans, its homeless and destitute, all in need of care. …
“They washed linens, served hot soup and mixed medicine. They brought water, ice, blankets and comfort. ‘The call Sister could be heard every minute during the night,’ one remembered of her hectic shifts. Another spoke about her initial trepidation on her first day: ‘I was struck, at first, with a fearful dread, for I never came in close contact with death but once in my life. But realizing what must be done, I quickly put on my gown and mask, and being assigned to the women’s ward, I began my duties.’”
This story from the New York Times so clearly illustrates what I found in my own research on Catholic Sisters. They respond to need.
They did back in the 1800s, when they agreed to cross the Atlantic Ocean to help educate and care for American pioneers and their children.
The Sisters traveled by steamship, train and covered wagon across the new frontier. In my neck of the woods, that meant the Mississippi River Valley corridor. I wrote about their experience, and was heartened by their selflessness. Still am.
Whether at the U.S.-Mexico border - which I’ve been researching and writing about for Vision Vocation magazine - or in our own backyard, Catholic Sisters have always led with their hearts.
Thank God.