Influenza part 2

Letter from Dougherty dated October 4, 1918

 

 

On October 3, 1918, the Board of Health of the city of Philadelphia ordered the closing of all schools and suspended church services until further notice. Theaters, movies houses, bars, dance halls, courts and other public gathering places were also closed. The ban would finally be lifted on October 26 as the number of flu related deaths diminished.

 

How Pastors and Religious May AId

 

 

Archbishop Dennis Dougherty placed the resources of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at the disposal of civic authorities in this time of crisis. Archdiocesan buildings were offered for use as temporary hospitals and all priests, non-cloistered nuns, and the members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul were enlisted to aid the victims of the flu but the most unusual experience may have been that of the students of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.