Martyrs of Memphis

When an epidemic of yellow fever ravaged Memphis in 1878, half of its 40,000 residents fled the city. Anyone who could afford to escape did so, leaving the poor and disadvantaged to fend for themselves. Medical services were limited as many doctors left the city, as did most clergy. Two women who resided in Memphis but were away at the time of the outbreak returned to nurse the sick and comfort the dying. Constance and Thecla were members of the St. Mary’s Anglican order of nuns (yes, there are also Protestant nuns) who opened a school for poor children in Memphis years earlier. When the call went out for more nuns to aid in the relief effort, Ruth and Helen stepped forward. Constance wrote to the head of the Community of St. Mary, “I will guard them to the utmost, but you and I know that they are offering their lives.” The four sisters set up soup kitchens throughout the city and opened an orphanage outside the city for children whose parents died in the epidemic. When the sisters attempted to bring more children to the orphanage, they were met by an angry mob. Constance did not back down, “Sirs, is it possible you would have us refuse to these children the very protection you have obtained for your own?” The men let them go. One priest who assisted the relief effort called the sisters “brave, unshrinking daughters of a Divine Love.” Five thousand residents of Memphis died in the epidemic, including the four sisters. The plague finally broke with the first frost (it was not yet known that the fever was mosquito-borne). Jesus said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12.24-28). Sister Ruth, the newest member of the order and only 26 when she died of the fever, wrote before leaving for Memphis, “I give myself to our dear Lord. Pray for me that in life, in death, I may ever be His own.” On September 9theach year, these four so-called Martyrs of Memphis are honored in Episcopal churches for their sacrifice, and believers join to pray: