If you're my age and spent some time talking with your parents and grandparents about life in the early 20th century, you likely heard about the influenza pandemic that spread throughout the world in 1918. A devastating plague, it infected upwards of 500 million people worldwide and resulted in perhaps 50 million deaths.
To deflect attention from the reality of its spread among the troops fighting in World War One, the censors incorrectly named neutral Spain as the flu's source, so it became the "Spanish Flu." Of course, infected troops brought the disease home with them. And unlike most flu pandemics, young adults were particularly vulnerable. In fact Diane's grandfather and the grandfather of my stepmother, Barbara, were among those young men who died after being infected.
Diane's mother, Blanche, a six-year-old in 1918, explained that her entire family was infected: her father, mother, older brothers, and she herself were quarantined in their house near Bonafay, a rural community in the Florida panhandle. Although their neighbors would not enter the house, every day they left food at the front door. The sense of Christian charity of these good, faithful Baptists outweighed their fear of the disease. Blanche made a point of telling us that one neighbor even bought her a new pair of red shoes and left them at the door with the food. And, believe me, these were not wealthy people.
As we spoke about this today, Diane mentioned that, although young women also died during the 1918 pandemic, young men were far more susceptible and had a much higher death rate. She then told me, "God certainly blessed my mother's family because my grandmother survived and was able to care for the family and keep it together." Yes, indeed, everything is a gift, even when we are suffering and coping with the fears it brings.
People were indeed afraid back then, just as people are afraid today as we deal with another, but far less severe pandemic. And like today, businesses and schools closed in an attempt to mitigate the spread of that killing influenza. The people of Italy, like the rest of the world, suffered in fear as they witnessed the effects of the disease that infected and took the lives of family members and neighbors.
Fear, however, is incompatible with faith. One person who realized this back in 1918 was Padre Pio, now St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968). Many of Padre Pio's followers had succumbed to their fears and turned to the saint for help. The following is from a biography -- Padre Pio: The True Story -- published by Our Sunday Visitor. The story was posted a few days ago on the Aleteia website. I repeat part of it here:
By September, everyone in San Giovanni Rotondo seemed to be ill, the schools were closed, and what little commerce there was in town was brought to a halt. In the next couple of months, two hundred people from a population of ten thousand would perish. Padre Pio's spiritual daughters came to him terrified, begging him to save them. "Never fear," he assured Nina Campanile. "Put yourself under the protection of the Virgin, do not sin, and the sickness will not overcome you." Although some of the "daughters" fell ill, none of them died.
The saint's advice in 1918 is just as valuable for us today. Fear accomplishes nothing...
Do not fear brothers and sisters. Trust and pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment