II.

The Church's response to epidemics in the past

Jesus in the gospels touches many times the sick and the lepers to cure them and teaches that
whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt.
16:25); this is not a moralism but the sign of the victory over death; the parable of the Samaritan
announces that loving one's neighbor means drawing closer to those in need of help. Jesus
interprets catastrophes and diseases not as punishments but as signs to call to conversion or as
occasions to experience and announce the love of God; in the early Church martyrdom was seen
as a reward and giving one's life to help the sick was equated with martyrdom. Cyprian and
Dionysus, who found themselves at the center of terrible plague epidemics, speak of the epidemic
as a school to reveal the intentions of the heart that prepares to desire martyrdom and go to our
true motherland.

Primitive Church
a. Saint Cyprian: "The epidemic has accomplished this marvelous fact for Christians and
the servants of God: that we have joyfully begun to seek martyrdom while we are learning
not to fear death ... the pestilence is like a school ... it examines the minds to see if those
who are healthy care for the sick; if relatives love their children; if masters pity their dying
servants; if doctors do not abandon imploring patients; if the ferocious suppress their
violence; if the proud bow their necks; if the wicked soften their impudence ... We greet
the day that assigns each one of us to our motherland, which takes us away from this earth
and frees us from the snares of the world and takes us back to heaven and the kingdom."
b. Pontian, the biographer of Cyprian, writes that Cyprian "pushed Christians to take care
of everyone during the epidemic of 251: [Cyprian] said that there is nothing noteworthy in
taking care of only our people with loving attention, but that if one wants to be perfect one
must do something more than pagans or tax collectors, he must overcome evil with good
and practice a merciful love like that of God, he must also love his enemies and take care
of everyone ... in this way the good was done to all men and not only to the family of faith".
c. Dionysus of Alexandria: "Other people would think that this time of the epidemic is not
a time of feast; but far from being a time of anguish this is for us a time of unimaginable
joy. Most of our brothers have shown a love without limit, never sparing themselves and
thinking only of helping others. Regardless of the danger, they cured the sick by serving
them in Christ and with the sick they said goodbye to this life serene and happy ... many
priests, deacons and lay people gave their lives in this way, in this way obtaining a death
that equals death by martyrdom ".
d. Tertullian: "And it is our care for people in need, it is our merciful love that
distinguishes us in the eyes of many of our enemies. Look, they say, look how they love each
other!" Apology 39. Tertullian writes that Christians helped pagans despite being accused
of spreading the contagion: "if the Tiber overflows, if the Nile does not cover the
 countryside with its waters, if the sky does not send rain, if there is an earthquake, if there
is a famine or an epidemic, the cry is immediately: Christians to the lions!"
The pagan Porphyry writes that many thought that the plague was due to the fact that the
citizens of Rome had abandoned the temple of Asclepius to try to be taken care of in
Christian churches: his testimony, from the pagan side, confirms the fact that the churches
took care of pagans and Christians, while incurring civil condemnation for welcoming the
plague victims.
e. The emperor Julian the Apostate, hostile to Christians, however, believed that the
secret of their missionary success was precisely their charity not only towards the brothers,
but also towards the pagans, especially during the plagues. Julian writes that "the impious
Galileans [he means the Christians] help not only their poor but also ours, and everyone
can see that our people receive no help from us".
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the loss of Christian initiation drove people back into the behavior of pagans
who drove away lepers and plague victims. Franciscans and Dominicans represented an
extraordinary revival of the evangelization of the people who fell back into paganism and, at the
center of their preaching, there is precisely the care of lepers and plague victims.
f. St. Francis: For Francis, after his initial conversion, the encounter with the leper was the
fundamental sign of leaving the world. The life of Tommaso da Celano tells that in 1206
Francesco saw a leper, who turned away from him because he felt disgust and annoyance
but, to be faithful to the promise made to the Lord, jumped from his horse and ran to kiss
him.
Francis himself wrote in the Testament: "... being I in sin, it seemed too bitter to me to see
the lepers; and the Lord himself led me among them and I used mercy with them. And going
towards them, what seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of soul and body ...
and then I left the world".
The care of lepers became a central point in the life of the followers of Francis who went
to live in the hospitals with the lepers, called by Francis "Christian brothers". The Perugino
document writes that Friar John one day brought into the community from the lepers house
a particularly disfigured leper dripping blood; Francis reproached him for the danger of
contagion for the other friars. Immediately realizing that he had committed a grievous sin
against love and repenting that he had asked to remove the leper, he went to confession and
asked as a penance to eat in the same bowl as the leper, which he did in the refectory in
front of everyone. The witness wrote:
“Francis sat at the table with the leper and the other friars, and a bowl was placed between
them. Now the leper was all wounded: the fingers with which he took the food were
contracted and bloody, so that every time he dipped them in the bowl, blood dripped into
it. Then Francis with his fingers ate from the same bowl. Seeing this spectacle all the other
 friars were astonished. The one who is writing saw this scene with his own eyes and bears
witness to it.”
Shortly before his death, Francis repeatedly expressed his desire to serve lepers and return
to be despised by all.
g. Saint Catherine: Unlike the diocesan clergy, caring for the sick especially during
epidemics became a feature of the mendicant orders. Catherine's life took place in
conjunction with the great black plague which, according to historians, killed more than
half of the European population. Catherine spent her life visiting and treating the plague
victims and her community of lay people and priests did the same. Her proximity to the
plague victims was continuous and everyone was amazed that Catherine never fell ill with
the plague. While Caterina and her disciples treated the plague victims, the Florentine
nobles took refuge in their beautiful country villas and Boccaccio wrote the Decameron.
Modernity
The reform of the Council of Trent aims above all at a renewal of the spirit of the clergy and the
model of the mendicant orders was proposed for the diocesan clergy. Cardinal Carlo Borromeo
and Cardinal Federigo Borromeo placed it at the center of the new seminary formation promoted
by the Council of Trento.
h. Federigo Borromeo, Cardinal of Milan: During the plague of Milan in 1630 Ripamonti
(the historian of the plague of Milan) writes that all the archiepiscopal personnel died
around the cardinal; however, the cardinal, against the advice given to him, remained in
Milan, visiting and treating the sick personally every day. The Cardinal wrote to the parish
priests: "be willing to abandon this mortal life, rather than this family of sick people, this
sons of ours: go with love to meet the plague, as to a prize, as towards life, whenever there
is a soul to be gained for Christ" Ripamonti writes that the pastors dedicated themselves to
visiting and comforting the sick and about 90% of the pastors of Milan died, sowing faith
in the people.
i. Don Giovanni Bosco. Lemoyne - Don Bosco's biographer - writes that during the cholera
epidemic in Italy in 1854, which killed thousands of people, Don Bosco decided to invite
the boys of the oratory to go with him to heal and comfort the sick: "It flashed in mind of
Don Bosco a brave idea. Pitying at the sight of the extreme abandonment in which the
cholera victims found themselves, he exposed to the boys the miserable state in which they
found themselves, he said to the boys: ‘I exalt the great act of charity of consecrating
oneself to their relief, he said that the Divine Savior had assured him to consider as done
to Him every service done to the sick. In all epidemics and pestilences -he said - there were
always generous Christians who challenged death putting themselves close to the plague
victims. He expressed the deep desire that some also become his companions in that work
of mercy". Fifty young men accepted the invitation, followed by many others afterwards.
We could continue with so many others: San Giovanni di Dio and San Camillo de Lellis, who
created hospitals as a place to meet the love of God and be reconciled with Him; San Filippo Neri;
and San Luigi Gonzaga, who died at the age of 23 three days after carrying a plague victim on his
shoulder to take him to the hospital; to finish today with Mother Teresa who explains her work to
me with these words: we cure the dying people abandoned by everyone for one reason only: so
that before dying they may be reconciled with God.