The Church in Times of Plague

(Above) St Charles Borromeo leading a procession in time of plague (window in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York). The inscription reads: “Bonus pastor dat vitam pro ovibus.”

Times of epidemics and plagues are often associated with the heroic deeds and miraculous interventions of bishops, priests and saints, commemorated down the ages in liturgy, art and tradition. Does not the angel atop the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome derive its origin from a procession organized by Pope St. Gregory the Great which culminated in a miraculous appearance of St Michael? In 16th century Milan, the archbishop, St Charles Borromeo, led the city both in spiritual and temporal matters when a plague threatened to overwhelm society. In Palermo, in the 17th century. St Rosalia miraculously intervened to bring an end to a plague and ever after has been the chief patron of that city. In the 18th century, Tiepolo painted one of his greatest masterpieces,  depicting the early Christian martyr St Thecla interceding for the liberation of the city of Este from the great plague of 1630(the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a preliminary oil sketch).

The angel  atop the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome, sheathing his sword.

(Above) St. Rosalia, carried in procession, saving Palermo from the plague (18th century Mexico); (below) St Rosalia (image in the saint’s grotto, Palermo)

(Above)  “Saint Thecla interceding with the Eternal Father for the Liberation of the city of Este from the Plague of 1630” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

In our days the reaction of the clergy has been entirely different. In
Italy and specifically in Rome, the pope, the bishops and the priests have taken to their heels, suspending all masses and even closing all churches (I read today, however, that they may be having second thoughts about the latter step). This bishops of the rest of Western Europe – especially Austria – are beginning to fall in line with these actions. And we are seeing the first repercussions on these shores. 55 years of the Council have left an entirely secular episcopate, incapable of offering any kind of spiritual leadership but ready only to take direction from the secular authorities. The legacy of these days in the minds of the faithful will be a disastrous one for the Church.