Francis of Assisi

Tornados are rated zero to five on the E.F. scale. A level 5 tornado is the strongest, with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour that can level homes, hurl automobiles through the air, and cause significant damage to high-rise buildings. On August 21, 1883, an EF5 tornado roared through North Rochester, Minnesota, killing 37 people and injuring 200. Dr. William Mayo was called upon as the only doctor in town to care for the injured. He set up a makeshift hospital in a school run by the Catholic Sisters of St. Francis. In the aftermath of the storm, the school’s director, Sister Mary Alfred Moes, shared a vision with Dr. Mayo of a permanent full-fledged hospital. “I am nearly 60 years old,” said Dr. Mayo, “how will I build it?” “You have sons,” she reminded him, “They will be surgeons, great surgeons. The world will find a path to your door.” She reminded Dr. Mayo, an Episcopalian, of the Psalmist’s words, “Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will sustain you” (Ps. 37.5). Still, the prospect of raising enough funds to build a hospital seemed a daunting task. “Just promise me you will take charge of the hospital, and we will set the building before you at once,” she told him. Six years later, in 1889, St. Mary’s Hospital opened with Dr. Mayo and his two sons, William (Dr. Bill) and Charles (Dr. Charlie), as chief surgeons and the sisters as nurses. Its revolutionary sanitary methods and advanced surgical procedures made it a state-of-the-art hospital. You may have put it together that their hospital is today the Mayo Clinic. The Sisters are a Franciscan Order in the tradition of Francis of Assisi (1225-1275) who often pray Francis’s prayer in worship: