The Plagues of Memphis, 1873-1879

FATHER ALOYSIUS WIEWER. O. F. M. Priest Hero of the Yellow Fever.
During the fever epidemics, especially of 1873, ’78 and ’79. when many husbands forsook their dying wives and children, brothers their sisters, to save themselves, the Catholic clergy and religious showed noteworthy bravery. Twenty-one priests and thirty- five sisters, after zealously nursing the plague-stricken. sacrificed for them also their lives.

But there were heroes equally great among the survivors. Rev. D. A. Quinn attended, as he says, almost 800 yellow-fever-stricken in 1873; Rev. M. Walsh an equal number, but Father Aloysius. O. F. M.. whom the historian calls “the veritable hero of Memphis.” assisted fully 1,500 in ‘73, and thousands in ’78 and ’79. Rev. Aloysius Wiewer, O. F. M., a German Franciscan, was ordained in 1862; was stationed at Memphis in ‘73; at Jordan, Minn., in ’74, but at once readily returned to Memphis at the new outbreak of yellow fever in ’78 and ’79. From 1879-1885 he was Pastor of St. Mary’s. Memphis. After this he was transferred to Teutopolis, Ill., to Jordan. Minn., and finally to Santa Barbara, Cal.. where he died in 1901.

In 1873 Father Aloysius was himself seriously stricken with the fever. “Hardly able to walk, he was again at his post. Like a gaunt spectre in the distance, he appeared in his coarse habit, white cincture and long beads, which all indicated what he was— a veritable hermit. His pale repose and lengthy features invariably convinced one that he was a living saint.” —D. A. Quinn.

“Having no desire to impugn the well-earned deserts of other clergymen who died or lived during this awful time, I make bold to state that Father Aloysius, in his own silent way, did more priestly work than any other clergyman of the diocese, living or dead. I feel that many will consider this assertion gratuitous. I have only to say that my experience and many years’ residence in the same city, force me to acknowledge this fact. If this priest’s name was seldom or never noticed in the papers, and no grand present or grateful testimonial offered to him, the fact only shows how blind the public eye can sometimes be, when there is a question of real merit.” —Rev. D. A. Quinn. “Heroes and Heroines of Memphis.”

The Book of Three States: Notable Men of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee (Memphis: Commercial Appeal Publishing Co., 1914), 227.

NOTE
During the 1870’s, Memphis experienced one of the worst plagues in urban America’s history. Between 1873 and 1879, nearly eight thousand died of Yellow Fever. One historian says that the very existence of the city hung in the balance for several years.” Its sanitary conditions were described as “perhaps no better than those of the poorest medieval borough.” It was considered the dirtiest city in the country. In the fifty years before 1873, ten plagues hit the city, an average of one about every five years.

Of the forty thousand in the city, about one half were Irish Catholics. Many lived in the neighborhood known as Happy Hollow. Some thought the plagues were divine retribution for the Mardi Gras being introduced to Memphis in 1871. Every church helped minister to the sick, but priests and nuns, as noted above, took the brunt of the burden. During the 1873 plague, there was a panic exodus, with some 25,000 leaving the city. In a desperate attempt to ward off the fever, some who stayed doused themselves with cologne and rosewater, others wore bags of onions around their necks, and still others wore masks.

Still, there was some humor on hand. One alleged corpse opened his eyes during the last rites ceremony and said to the priest, “What the hell are you doing?” Today there is a monument in Memphis to the priests who died during the plague (see above). As far as I can tell, none has been erected for the Sisters. Hopefully, that’ll happen one of these days.