FACULTY COLLOQUIUM - RYAN MURPHY, PH.D., “MARTYRS OF CHARITY: PHILADELPHIA’S RELIGIOUS SISTERS AND THE 1918 FLU PANDEMIC”
November 16, 2022 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Location:
East Parlor
In response to an urgent need for nurses in the fall of 1918 during the influenza pandemic, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Denis Dougherty called on religious sisters to leave their ministries and serve as volunteer nurses throughout the city. Despite having little to no medical training, more than 2,000 sisters from various religious communities responded and cared for Philadelphia’s sickest patients in field hospitals and in private homes—especially to those who were unable to access traditional medical care due to overcrowding or segregation. Several dozen sisters died during the harrowing twelve week period in the fall of 1918, including seven Sisters of St. Joseph—only one of whom was over the age of 30. When the pandemic finally subsided, Philadelphia’s Mayor Thomas B. Smith attributed the city finally getting control of the outbreak to the religious sisters’ selfless service and tireless care for the city’s poor and marginalized.
Open/Applies to:
All Current Students
Faculty
Staff
Original source can be found here.
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