The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-02-09
communicated So
The Late Epidemic.

| ---t Communicated N,'rFs7-Ha'r'r
The Late Epidemic.
| This subject, 40 fraught with the most
| saddening associations, presents IA many
varied reflections while it passes through
different minds, as the prism which reflects
fron>one single ray the many colored hues
of lightap shade. From the happyehOme
| and the tireside, here domestic affection
reigns and sweetens the daily cares that
beset The path of everyday life; from the
and broker, and the less Pretending homes
of the artisan, laborer, there[cOme
sounds freighted with@cmotions peculiar III
their tone, -asthe tracks of the plague were
heavy or light in it's ravages on each.
This dreadful visitation had many aspects
to be viewed from, affecting the social,
business, and domestic relations of the
citizens. Society Mt large stood appalled,
business in all its branches was crushed
the noisy tongues of politicians were
silenced the gay resorts of amusement
were closed the streets were deserted by
pleasure seekers, and the vehicles that
Hlstf
olOorl- inspiring healses, with their funeral
PROFESSIONS. The dark pail of the grave
Drooded and hung over the city, and men,
the most reckless, looked in their friend y
faces with the ~stafthhg d'es'i""' -"
next.f'
| But We are not writing history of the
yellow fever scourgc. That can be found
| in its prototyp. OF desOiat1On, the great
London plague, of tw" centuries age. ne
scenes of unutterable woe depicted there
found here the CHASTITY role enacted oyer
again. No written description could give
| i'm human language the reInotest idea OF
the ocean OF tears shed, the woes unnum-
bered-of broken hearts, OF family ldois
| shattered, of loved ones lost or scattered,
of thu, husbands pent-up agony, or the
piercing wall of wife and children, as the
| husband and father was carried out OF the
home and from the hearts that were to
know him no more.
No. it's not n history we write; some
| futureotime we NAV record some of the in
cidents that came before us; but for the
/ present we have to do with-one phase OF
4 the gloomy times which is refreshing to
recall, and throws a halo of light that seems
to cheer even the darkness OF the grave.
Amid all our sorrows, religions, born o!
heaven, stepped in between its victim ana
\ The grave. She sent her~pf minister's, regard
r less of death, standing near, to so0the 'he
: frightened conscience, and make the dark
: shadow of the tomb more endurabie, less
: appalling, by the torch of faith. In the gay
houses of the great, in the infected shantles
of sanallid poverty, by the mondays heat
t the. nidnight's oppressive gloom, her minis
tiers stood, telling his Christian brother &c
20 forth with courage-with hope thar ~
was not all darkness i'll the land before MN
$ where faith and hope called him; anu nov
i often the very lips that uttered these WORD
4, of cbeertO a brother mortal were soon them
selves to he sealed in death forever! 1es
81 the Catholic priests sealed their deVotiol
II to their flock with their lives, as they nav
a always done from the earliest age down
In the late epidemic there died in tn
; Archdiocese from fifteen to twenty, priests
y OF all orders, secular and regular. In
# ,Jesuits, the Redemptionist, the Lazarists i
the city all furnished their quota IN TIM
y martyr-throng, and proved their titles to b
e called the good shepherds, who lay dow
IF their lives for their flock. Their heroi
y deeds are registered on high their divln
Il work done in poor, humble flesh, can only
~ known to God himself
loS Nor was the Church's ministerng apge
al in the gentle form of woman, the Sisters
- Charity, unknown in the dark hours OF on
desolation, as the number of deaths In the
IL ranks has borne a sad, yet glorious test
I'd lnony to their self sacrificing devotion
~ the sick and the dying. The annals mao
glorious in past days by the charitab
heroism of the daughters of st. vincent
ty Paul were again renewed, aud while the
n reflected fresh glory ON their long, brig
record, they ad4ea renewed lustre to tn
d faith they adorned by their lives. Cou
ne hut the vail of the tomb be withdrawn, III
an the lips of those inclosed beneath be pc