“If the world takes something from us on the one hand, God will give us something on the other.”
St. Louise de Marillac
The Angels of the Battlefield
“I spent three months in Cumberland and then returned to Cincinnati to assist in caring for the soldiers who were sent from Richmond (Kentucky) and Nashville (Tennessee) to St. John Hospital. … We cared for Unionists and Confederates alike. We knew no difference. Made no difference.” Sister Mary Agnes Phillips
In honor of the approaching Memorial Day holiday, we remember the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati who served as nurses during the Civil War. More than 40 Sisters served in army encampments, on battlefields, in tent hospitals, and on the floating hospitals transporting the sick and wounded along the river system. That accounts for nearly half of the Community at that time! Although their contributions weren’t officially acknowledged by the U.S. government for many years, historian Ellen Ryan Jolly spent nearly one decade in the early 20th century researching the Catholic Sisters who served during the Civil War. The names uncovered from her work were submitted to the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Army Nurse markers now found at the graves of our Sister veterans in the Mount St. Joseph cemetery are a result of that effort.
To learn more about the Sisters’ service in the Civil War, please view our new digital exhibit. As we honor their legacy this Memorial Day, may we remember the Sisters’ commitment to compassion—urged always by the love of Christ—that transcended division and continues to serve as a lasting witness of their selfless service to others.
The iconic painting Angels of the Battlefield by S. Ernestine Foskey visually captures the breadth of the Sisters’ service, both on the battlefield as well as on floating steamboat hospitals.
S. Mary Agnes Phillips
The U.S. Army Nurse marker found at the gravesite for S. Mary Agnes Phillips.
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