St Herman of
Alaska (+1837) shows us:
A ship from the United States brought to
Sitka Island, and from there to Kodiak Island, a contagious disease, a fatal
illness. It began with a fever, a heavy cold, and difficult respiration, and it
ended with chills; in three days the victim died. On the island there was
neither a doctor nor medicine. The illness spread rapidly through the village,
and then throughout the nearby areas. The disease affected all, even infants.
The fatalities were so great that for three days there was no one to dig
graves, and the bodies remained unburied. An eyewitness said, “I cannot imagine
anything more tragic and horrible than the sight which struck me when I visited
an Aleutian ‘Kazhim’. This was a large building, or barracks, with dividing
sections, in which the Aleuts lived with their families; it contained about 100
people. Here some had died, their cold bodies lay near the living; others were
dying; there were groans and weeping which tore at one’s soul.”
“I saw mothers over whose bodies cold in
death crawled a hungry child, crying and searching in vain for its food...My
heart was bursting with compassion! It seemed that if anyone could paint with a
worthy brush the full horror of this tragic scene, that he would have
successfully aroused fear of death in the most embittered heart.” Father
Herman, during this terrible sickness which lasted a whole month, gradually
dying out towards the end, visited the sick, never tiring. He admonished them
in their fear, prayed, brought them to penance, or prepared them for death. He
never spared himself.
May we also
show the same courage, love, and trust in God.
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
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