Saint Who?
Saints Who Cared for the Sick
From a.d. 249 to 263, plagues occurred repeatedly throughout the Roman empire. In the city of Rome, five thousand people died in a single day during one epidemic. In 262, many people in Alexandria, Egypt, had already died from famine when an epidemic struck the city. People were so terrified that they simply abandoned sick family members and friends.
But there were many Christians living in Alexandria, people who had managed to survive and remain hidden despite periods of imperial persecution. Although they knew it was dangerous, those brave Christians risked their lives and safety to care for the sick and to bury the dead. Many of them became sick and died as a result. The Church has honored these unnamed men and women as martyrs of charity on February 28 ever since.
The holy men and women profiled this month, just like the martyrs of Alexandria, lived out their faith by caring for those who were sick. In this way, they were merely following in the footsteps of our Lord, who sought out those who were suffering and healed them. Over the years, so many men and women have become holy through their care of the sick that the saints and blesseds in this issue come from seventeen countries and cover a span of sixteen centuries.
