A Michigan convent is mourning the loss of more than a dozen of its sisters after the deadly coronavirus tore through the nunnery in what might be the worst loss of life to a community of religious women in the U.S. since the 1918 influenza pandemic.
As CNN reported, 12 members the Felician Sisters convent in Livonia died within the same month as a result of the virus, with a 13th having initially survived before eventually succumbing to its effects in June.
The women all ranged in age from 69 to 99 and were all longtime members of the convent, located just outside of Detroit.
According to the nonprofit Catholic news publisher, the Global Sisters Report , the first 12 sisters passed away from Good Friday, April 10, to May 10 while 18 other members of the convent were infected by the virus at this time as well.
In June, a thirteenth nun who was one of the 18 who were believed to all have recovered from the virus also passed away, making her the 13th victim.
Sr. Noel Marie Gabriel, director of clinical health services for the Felician Sisters of North America, dubbed the time of the sisters’ deaths “a month of tragedy and sorrow and mourning and grieving.”
“We went through the motions of doing what we had to do, but that month was like a whole different way of life,” Gabriel said, as per the report . “That was our most tragic time.”
The report also suggests the death of these nuns in Livonia “may be the worst loss of life to a community of women religious since the 1918 influenza pandemic.”
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When the virus first began spreading through the country back in March, the convent put serious restrictions in place in an attempt to keep its members safe.
There was a strict no-visitors policy implemented, as well as an end to shopping trips and group activities. Mass was canceled, them Communion Services.
Although visitors were prohibited from entering the convent, essential staff members were still allowed inside, including nurses, nurse’s aides and dining hall workers.
It was the staff members who first began falling ill with the virus, unknowingly bringing it into the convent and exposing the sisters.
“I first heard two aides had contracted the virus,” Sister Andrew said in the report. “We don’t know who they are, and we don’t want to know. Then it hit sisters on the second floor, and it went through like wildfire.”
The first death came on Good Friday, April 10, with the loss of Sister Mary Luiza Wawrzyniak, age 99. Then more sisters followed. By May 10, a total of 12 sisters had died.
Sister Nancy of the convent explained that each lost member followed the same pattern of the virus.
One would enter the hospital overnight with complaints of being unable to breathe before claiming she felt better the next morning. After three or four days, she would return to the convent, but “then would come the news that she had died.”
“It was the classic case of what we had heard about the virus,” Sister Nancy said in the report. “It’s vicious, and it’s quick.”
The women who perished all left behind a legacy of service through different roles, including teachers, a librarian, a nurse, and an organist.
The 12 sisters who initially passed away include Sister Thomas Marie Wadowski, 73, Sister Mary Patricia Pyszynski, 93, Sister Mary Clarence (Adeline) Borkoski, 83, Sister Rose Mary Wolak, 86, Sister Mary Janice (Margaret) Zolkowski, 86, Sister Mary Alice Ann (Fernanda) Gradowski, 73, Sister Victoria Marie Indyk, 69, Sister Mary Martinez (Virginia) Rozek, 87, and Sister Mary Madeleine (Frances) Dolan, 82.
98-year-old Sister Mary Danatha (Lottie) Suchyta was the thirteenth sister who passed away in June.
Only 10 people were allowed to attend each sister’s funeral, leaving many members of the convent feeling a serious lack of closure with their fallen sisters.
“The faith we share with sisters as they are dying, the prayers we share with sisters as they are dying: We missed all that,” Sister Joyce Marie Van de Vyver shared. “It kind of shattered our faith life a little bit.”
“Part of our tradition is to tell stories of the sister who died on the night we have the vigil, sharing happy moments we had together,” Sister Nancy added. “You get a copy of their bio and a holy card, but none of that has happened. It feels like that door is still open.”
The Felician Sisters convent isn’t the only nunnery to have been bit by the coronavirus in the U.S.
Sister Mary Ramona (Florence) Borkowski , 93, died from the virus on April 18 at a New Jersey convent. And between April and May, six sisters of different religious orders who all lived together at Wisconsin’s Our Lady of the Angels convent, died from the coronavirus as well.
“I look at it like an accordion that can open and close, and right now, that accordion is still really tightly closed,” Sister Noel Marie of the Felician Sisters convent said . “We’re not touching each other, not hugging, not doing the things we usually do… We miss that part of how we live. It’s on a cellular level for us.”
h/t: Global Sisters Report , CNN
