Sister Anthony O 'Connell's Angels On The Battlefield'

Charity Heritage Assignment
The Sisters of Charity are a group of religious women who started out by serving and helping the poorest people in our nation, and anyone who was in need of help. Throughout the common ground course, students are taught about many things, one including the foundation that the Sisters if Charity built Mount St. Joseph University upon. The Sisters were focused on serving the common good, and in their case the common good was the people of this world. However, one group of sisters in particular stood out to me.
The Angels on the Battlefield reading was about a group of sisters of charity who were called onto help the wounded and sick soldiers affected by the time of The Civil War. These sisters were responsible for

tending to the wounded soldiers and were also there to comfort those on the verge of dying. The governors, begging them to provide care for the wounded and sick, called upon these amazing women. The sister-nurses were called “sisters of mercy,” by President Abraham Lincoln, because of the way they provided care and never gave up on the soldiers.
Sister Anthony O’Connell was a Cincinnati based sister who also aided those affected by the war and those who were just sick.

She provided care for those on the battlefield, in the hospital, in camps, and only floating surgery ships. She stood out among the others because she always made sure people knew of her motivation. In Sister Anthony’s eulogy, written and given by Bishop Thomas Byrne of Nashville, Tennessee, he said:

“Christ was her inspiration, and for this reason she trod the battlefield and entered the hospital pregnant with pestilence. Her presence was more to those brave sons of America than that of an angel. Yet she was only a type of many.” (Angels on the Battlefield)

By saying this, Bishop Thomas Byrne was reminding people that she never gave up on the soldiers. Christ was within her, and because of that she wouldn’t give up. Sister Anthony felt as if she was doing God’s work, and pursuing the common good by helping those in need. The soldiers viewed her as a savior, but she was one of the many caring for

soldiers.
Immediately after the war the sisters were sent to Santa Fe to help open the first hospital in the New Mexico territory. The sisters expanded throughout the Midwest (Angels on the Battlefield).
This reading caught my interest because it seems as if these ‘Angels of the Battlefield’ invented nursing.

At that time nursing was not yet a profession, they had caretakers in hospitals but they were untrained. As a nursing major, I find interest in the works of the sisters who aided thousands of soldiers on the brink of death, and put everything they could into helping comfort them. Those who pursue an education in nursing or are nurses have a calling, and a duty from God. The duty is to provide care and help God’s people.
During the tour of the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse in Delhi, I learned that the sisters of charity have a hospital in China. I wasn’t aware of how well known the Sisters of Charity were and how broad they and their impacts have gone. The replica of the hospital was interesting. It had a men’s hospital, a women’s hospital, and many other separated rooms. Hospitals in the United States do not have designated wings based on gender, and I thought that was interesting. The hospital in China is called the St. Joseph

Hospital.
The Sisters of Charity mission statement for Mount Saint Joseph University states that we should join together to work toward wholeness (“Mission and Vision Statements.”) To my understanding, this means working together towards a common goal. By attending a place of higher education, we are all working towards obtaining a degree. In a way, the Angels on the Battlefield were working towards providing relief and comfort for those injured and sickened by or during the war.
The common good in every case is about benefitting someone or something. I believe that in most cases that helping common good means helping those who are in need.