The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-01-04
NUNS OF PHILADELPHIA
1000 HEROIC SISTERS AIDED IN
FLuENzA SUFFERERS - MANY
NUNS SERVED UNTIL STRICKEN
BY DlSEASE-SOME DIED AS
MARTYRS.

The suggestion of Director Krusen
that public tribute be paid to Sister
Mary Gerald, of Mount st. Joseph's
Convent, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia,
for unceasing attention to influenza
sufferers. calls to mind the great
sacrifices the Sisters of the Catholic
Church have made during the cpl
demic,, says an Eastern daily paper.
Many have given their lives and
others are in the shadow of death as
a result of their efforts to ease the
pain and save the lives of others.
Fully 1000 of these good women have
worked continuously in hospitals and
private homes throughout the city of
Philadelphia.
In their zeal they had no thought
of self, and many of them collapsed
at the bedsides of those to whom they
bors feared to enter these nuns en-,
tered without hesitancy. Under their
brave hands bowels were transformed
| into places of health and sunshine
In scores of households they were not
| only nurse but housekeeper as we'll.
Saved Whole Family.
At one home not a stones throw
| from the Cathedral there were a wife
| husband and five children all stricken
| with influenza at once. One brave
| little nun tackled this task, which
tested all her resources-and every
member Of that family recovered.
City officials and physicians who
came in contact with the work done
by the heroic Sisters gave unstintet
praise. Archbishop Dougherty has
been fairly deluged with letters, mo-
only from the city officials but also
from hundreds of sufferers whose lives
| were saved by the Sister nurses.
| Mayor Smith said he had never seer
a greater demonstration of real char
ity or self-sacrifce. The service rem
| dered by the Archbishop and the Sis
ters, he declared, was one of the mos
potent aids in getting the epidemic
under control.
Director Krusen expressed simila
sentiments and asserted that two o
the vital factors in the fight agains
the plague had been the Archbishop
and the Sistershoods of the Catholi
Church.
Several buildings were cOnverte
into hospitals by the Church, and tn
most complete of these is Philadelphi
Emergency Hospital No. 3. Anon
the patients treated here were nj
merous American soldiers.
The care given a lieutenant and fl
teen soldiers brought to this hospita
was so thorough that the soldiers al
committee of Councils gave heart
commentator to the good work don
at the institution
Unequaled Heroism.
No one had better opportunity Q
seeing the good work of the Sister
there than Dr. John NJ Fisher, one G
the consulting physicians.
I'm my thirty-three years exper
ence,' he said, Il have never Wi
I HSSScu SuCu uSIOlC ucNOIlOu W uuLy d
that manifested by these Sisters
beautiful souls that they are"
Among the places where the Siste
nurses worked with untiring zeal wa
the Philadelphia General Hospita
Mother Marie Aloysius was anon
those who labored heroically Their
among the stricken poor. She cor
tracted influenza as result of he
devotion to duty and died after tw
days illness. Mother Aloysius wa
seriously ill many days before sh
complained. This was indicated b
her death following so quickly ate
she was confined to bed.
| The clergy of the Catholic Churc
have also done excellent work durin
the epidemic. They not only admir-
istered to the sick day and night, bu
gave valuable assistance in buryin
the dead.
Under the direction of the Rev. d.
Joseph M. Corrigan, former diocesa
director of charities. bodies of tn
!, victims in every parish were properl
buried. E. ]. du Nee, president c
: the Society of st. Vincent de Pau
j gave valuable aid in this work.