The nuns were members of the Community of Saint Mary, which is the oldest religious community of the Episcopal Church founded in this country. The selfless service that these nuns offered through the outbreaks of Yellow Fever in Memphis during the 1870's changed the perception of many towards religious orders and their vocation.
Memphis was described as the most plague-ridden city in the nation at the time, and in the six years of almost constant pandemic from 1873 to 1879, more than ninety percent of the population had contracted the disease and almost 8,000 people died. The community of nuns, along with a few priests, put themselves in the middle of the worst afflicted parts of the city, and indeed the cathedral and its buildings were situated in one of the districts that was hardest hit.
In the 1870's monks and nuns had only recently appeared in the Episcopal Church. Monasteries and convents were suppressed in England under the direction of the venial Thomas Cromwell during the reign of King Henry VIII. In the nineteenth century, the Church regained a sense of itself and monastic orders were reestablished. Monks and nuns have been the spiritual heart of the Church since the third century offering lives that are bound by lifelong vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and community. Such lives remind the Church of Christ’s call to faithfulness, and enable the Church to be responsive in ways that would otherwise be impossible. Religious communities offer a true witness to the Gospel and to radical Christian discipleship.
These nuns who fell victim to Yellow Fever in the midst of caring for the sick are in sharp contrast to the regimen of care today when no one but health care professionals are allowed to be in the presence of those infected with COVID-19. Most of the COVID-19 victims have died alone without a priest, family or friends. Our age understands infectious disease better than the mid-nineteenth century and there is no question that strict quarantines have saved countless lives.
Yet, following the example of our blessed Lord, across two thousand years, the Church has responded to life’s most difficult moments by anointing the sick or dying person with oil, or with just a calming and reassuring touch and today that is simply not possible out of the necessity of remaining physically distant from others. Looking back on Sister Constance and her nuns who braved Yellow Fever to care for the sick and dying and who succumbed to the disease, there is perspective to be had. Just as the COVID-19 virus has attacked the respiratory system, the pandemic itself has assaulted the soul. Strict quarantines that have saved lives have also left us feeling helpless, grieving, lonely, mistrustful, and looking for someone to blame.
The nuns of Memphis gave of themselves that others could be cared for. One hundred and fifty years later, that is not our vocation. Rather in this time and place, this pandemic has reminded us that we have not mastered the universe. Nineteenth century nuns were called to give up their lives as a witness to Christ; we may be called to give up our sense of self-sufficiency. They were called to over-function that Christ’s love might be known; we may be called to under-function to gain perspective on the vulnerability of life itself in an overconfident age.
The great fourteenth century saint, Gregory Palamas once said, “The mind that realizes its own limitations has discovered whence it might enter upon salvation and draw near to the light of knowledge and receive true wisdom which does not pass away with this age.”
Today we remember the vulnerability of those Episcopal nuns more than a hundred years ago, and we reflect on our own vulnerability midst pestilence and plague in our time. And in doing so we come to understand that it is in our very weakness we are saved by Christ.
Andrew +
