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March 2, 1919
INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC RAGING - LENTEN OBLIGATION OF FAST AND ABSTINENCE LIFTED
St. John’s as an international port of call for ships from around the world was exposed to all the good and ill that came with its geographical location. In 1918 with the influenza epidemic raging throughout the world, it was only a matter of time before the province became vulnerable to the disease.
The pandemic reached Newfoundland on 30 September 1918 when a steamer carrying three infected crewmen docked at St. John’s harbour. Three more infected sailors arrived at Burin on October 4 and they travelled by rail to St. John’s for treatment. A doctor diagnosed the city’s first two local cases of influenza the following day and sent both people to a hospital. Within two weeks, newspapers reported that several hundred people were infected in St. John’s.
Soon after the outbreak, government officials closed many public buildings in St. John’s, including schools, churches, and meeting halls, and introduced quarantine regulations for incoming ships. Many outport communities also closed public buildings to curb the spread of influenza. By the time the epidemic was over, 62 deaths were reported in St. John’s and 170 more in outport Newfoundland.
Churches were in the fore front of the fight against the spread of the dreaded disease. In St. John’s, on March 2, 1919, Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche, issued a Pastoral Letter removing any obligation of fast and abstinence during the 40 days of Lent with the exception of “Ash Wednesday and the Wednesday in Holy Week.” The rationale was that if Roman Catholics were observing the ritual Lenten fast and rules of abstinence that they might be weakening their immune systems making theme more susceptible to the pandemic.
On March 12, 1919 a notice was read in all churches that “Owing to the prevalence of influenza among the people, His Grace the Archbishop by the authority of the Holy See, grants during this present Lent, a general dispensation from the fast, except on Good Friday”
Church Term: A Pastoral Letter, often called simply a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of his diocese, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances.
Church Term: Lenten Fast and Abstinence: Fasting usually refers to the limited consumption of food. Abstinence is not eating meat (pork, beef and chicken).
Archival fonds: Archbishop E.P. Roche, Pastoral Lenten Regulations, 107/32/4
Roman Catholic Cathedral Parish Publication fonds
For more information on this and other related subjects contact the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese. www.stjohnsarchdiocese.nf.ca
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Larry Dohey
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