1918 flu pandemic took heavy toll

April 20 is the 25th anniversary of Archbishop William E. Lori’s episcopal ordination as an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Public acknowledgement of that milestone was among the events canceled or postponed by the coronavirus. The health crisis recalls Cardinal James Gibbons canceling the 50th jubilee of his episcopal ordination during the 1918 influenza pandemic that claimed millions of lives, including an estimated 2,000 residents of Baltimore City.

In early October of that year, Cardinal Gibbons issued orders “dispensing” with plans to mark his jubilee. Within a week, he canceled all Masses but “low” ones on Sundays, just before the city public health commissioner asked all houses of worship to close. By then, the cardinal had suspended all funeral Masses “until the epidemic has passed.”

The death toll included at least two priests from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and two Religious Sisters of ­Mercy.

“DIOCESE LOSES TWO PRIESTS” read the all-caps headline in the Oct. 26, 1918, edition of The Catholic Review. Father Thomas Kenny, pastor of St. Peter in Southwest Baltimore, “had been unwell for several weeks, and his constant attendance upon the sick of his parish weakened him further.” The Baltimore native died Oct. 23, at the parish rectory.

The article noted that “During the Spanish American War (in 1898) Father Kenny was a volunteer chaplain and saw much service among the ­fever-stricken at Chickamauga, Ga.” His ministry included 21 years as pastor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea.

The article also reported the Oct. 17 death at St. Agnes Hospital, due to influenza, of Father John L. Sullivan, the pastor of St. Clement in Lansdowne. He had attended medical school before entering St. Mary’s Seminary, and “was a man of many talents … an excellent musician.”

“The Sisters of Mercy of Maryland, 1855-1930,” a 1931 book by Sister Mary Loretto Costello, describes the sacrifice of religious women during the crisis.

“In response to an appeal of the Government … Sisters of Charity, Sisters of St. Francis, Bon Secours Sisters, and Sisters of Mercy, 20 in all, joined the ranks of the nursing corps at Camp Meade.”

Sisters M. Celestine Doyle and M. Teresita McNamee were among the registered nurses in the RSMs who volunteered for the duty.

“The scene which greeted these sisters was a distressing one,” Sister Mary Loretto wrote. “As far as they could see were long lines of barracks, bed after bed, occupied by boys fighting a most powerful foe. Some of them were in a delirium, wildly waving their arms and talking incoherently. Others were bleeding, others coughing, and sounds of distress could be heard on every side.”

At what is now Fort Meade, in western Anne Arundel County, “The chaplains sick-call book registered 817 soldiers who received the last rites.” Cardinal Gibbons went there to offer a memorial Mass, “after the epidemic abated.”

At Mercy Hospital, Sister M. Mildred Gilroy “was a martyr to the work incident to the epidemic,” succumbing Oct. 8.

Sister Mary Loretto also wrote that “At St. Vincent’s Male Orphan Asylum (a forerunner of St. Vincent’s Villa, a Catholic Charities of Baltimore program), the disease found numerous victims among the little boys. … Sister Mary Ann Carroll, who was engaged at the asylum at the time, was also stricken with influenza.”

She died Oct. 28, 1918.

Before the month had ended, houses of worship in Baltimore had been reopened.

Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org