Spanish flu and its impact on the Sacrament.
We may think the closing down of businesses, churches, and schools, the quarantining of homes and towns, the wearing of masks and the search for vaccines to prevent the spread of disease is unique to our time but this is not the case. Just as the slaughter of 4 years of World War 1 was coming to an end a greater slaughter was about to be unleashed on the world. As silent as an encroaching gas attack, a flu virus more terrible than had been seen before and since began to infect the world population. By its conclusion, it is estimated one-third of the entire world population had been infected and more than 50 million died. The tightly packed troopships and trains of returning soldiers were a perfect breeding ground for this deadly disease.