Written by Sydney Langille, Heritage Center Intern
The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth have had a long history of serving as nurses in times of crisis. Those with decades of clinical experience worked alongside Sisters brand new to the field, working together to fight epidemics, pandemics, and injury. In the span of less than 50 years, Yellow Fever and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic shook the United States and relied heavily on Sisters to function as nurses.
Yellow Fever Epidemic
On September 4, 1878, an epidemic was declared when Yellow Fever struck Holly Springs, Mississippi. The illness was spreading rapidly throughout the entire Lower Mississippi River Valley, going through Memphis, New Orleans, and other major cities. Ten years prior, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth opened their first mission in the South: Bethlehem Academy in Holly Springs, MS. When Yellow Fever hit their town, the Sisters quickly rushed to aid the sick, helping at a hospital organized under the direction of Dr. T.D. Manning of Austin, Texas, who soon would succumb to the disease himself.
Sister Laurentia Harrison, remembered for her sacrifice in Holly Springs, MS.
There are stories of the Sisters that risked, and sometimes gave, their lives to help patients. Of the thirteen Sisters that were serving in Holly Springs, six passed away. Sister Victoria Stafford fought against the illness and recovered before contracting it a second time, leading to her death. Many testaments to her devotion and dedication were made by Col. W.J.L. Holland, local newspapers, and others. Sister Laurentia Harrison was remembered for her sacrifice, as well, through a letter from Archbishop William Henry Elder detailing his own illness and the thorough care he received from her. Sister Cointha Mahoney was honored by R.M. Swearingen, a patient of hers, who wrote on the hospital wall:
“Within this room, September, 1878, Sister Cointha sank into the sleep eternal. Among the first of the holy Sisters to enter this realm of death she was the last save one to leave it. The writer of this humble notice saw her in health, gentle, but strong, as she moved with noiseless step and serene countenance, through the crowded wards. He saw her when the yellow plumed angel threw his golden shadows over the last sad scene, and eyes unused to weeping, gave tribute to tears to the brave and beautiful spirit of Mercy.
She needs no slab of Parian marble
With white and ghastly head,
To tell wanderers in the valley
The virtues of the dead.
Let the lily be her tombstone,
And the dew drops pure and white,
The epitaphs the angels write
In the stillness of the night.”
Tribute to Sister Cointha Mahoney written by her patient R. M. Swearingen in 1878.
In a different part of Mississippi, Sisters serving in Yazoo City faced similar circumstances. They had been in ministry there since 1871 and opened St. Clara Academy in January 1872. Eight Sisters served in Yazoo City, and like their fellow Sisters in Holly Springs, they were just as swift to tend to the ill. They cared for the first victim of Yellow Fever in the town, and after her passing, continued to assist her family. Each one of the SCNs contracted the fever at some point, leading to the deaths of three, including Sister Mary Lawrence Perry, Superior of St. Clara Academy. All three were buried in Yazoo City.
Monument to the Sisters who died while attending to those with Yellow Fever and are buried in Hill Crest Cemetery in Holly Springs, MS.
1918 Influenza Pandemic
Pictured are Sisters Catharine Siena Speak, Emmanuel Dyer, Mary Leander Eiting, Mary Clarissa Reith, and Christiana Snyder with others in 1905-1906 who lived at St. Helena Convent and served as nurses at Camp Zachary Taylor in Fall 1918.
Similar to the 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic, SCNs were some of the first to answer when the 1918 Influenza Pandemic hit. At its onset, a number of SCNs were already volunteering at various hospitals, orphanages, and military camps. When influenza struck these camps, there were far more ill than there were nurses to care for them, most notably at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, KY. At Camp Taylor, many women religious from around the area were called on for their aid, numbering eighty-five Sisters in total coming from five congregations. Thirty-four of these were Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Due to such a large influx of both patients and nurses, barracks were converted into makeshift hospitals for the soldiers and housing for the Sisters, as well as other lay nurses.
Sisters in nursing uniform while in the barrack at Camp Taylor.
One nurse of particular note is Sister Josella Conlin, who was stationed at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky when the epidemic struck. She had years of experience tending to the sick and injured at St. Joseph’s in the Operating Department and even during the Spanish America War in 1898. With this background, she was placed in charge of all nurses – both Sisters and lay – serving at Camp Zachary Taylor.
Six Sisters representing the different congregations that served at Camp Zachary Taylor during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, Sister Josella Conlin, SCN, fourth from left.
Sister Catharine Siena Clark was one of those who served as a nurse at Camp Taylor. In a letter, she writes about an amusing encounter one Sister had with a soldier:
“Each night about eleven o’clock, an army truck was sent to the barracks to pick up the Sisters on the night force and take them to the Mess Hall for lunch. One night a Sister was overlooked. When it was discovered, a soldier went for her on a motorcycle with a contraption attached to it that resembled a bathtub. I imagine Sister felt reluctant about getting into the thing, but she did. She requested the soldier to let her out before they reached the Mess Hall. She did not want the Sisters to see her riding in that up-to-date conveyance… however, [someone] must have been star gazing instead of eating her lunch, saw the show, and poor Sister was well teased about her midnight ride in a bathtub.”
Though these days of influenza were surely a challenge, it’s interesting to see the light moments Sisters had while treating the sick. These Sisters can be remembered for their immense sacrifices and bravery during the 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.
SCNs pictured with other volunteer Sister nurses at Camp Zachary Taylor, KY.