Pastoral Advice for the Pandemic from Pope Leo XIII

In 1884, facing major threats to the life and health of the Church and of civil society, Pope Leo XIII wrote Superiore Anno, the second of what would end up being 12 encyclicals that he wrote about the importance of the rosary. He explained in the encyclical. He explained that one of the reasons for the letter was that:

With respect to Italy, it is now most necessary to implore the intercession of the most powerful Virgin through the medium of the Rosary, since a misfortune, and not an imaginary one, is threatening-nay, rather is among us. The Asiatic cholera, having, under God’s will, crossed the boundary within which nature seemed to have confined it, has spread through the crowded shores of a French port, and thence to the neighbouring districts of Italian soil. – To Mary,therefore, we must fly – to her whom rightly and justly the Church entitles the dispenser of saving, aiding, and protecting gifts – that she, graciously hearkening to our prayers, may grant us the help they besought, and drive far from us the unclean plague.

A deadly pandemic was spreading from Asia into Europe, and the pope’s response was to call upon Christians to pray the rosary. And you know what? It worked. Outside of Hamburg, Germany, most of Europe was spared the ravages of the cholera outbreak. What’s more, this cholera outbreak led the physicist Robert Koch to isolate the responsible germ, confirming what’s now known as the “germ theory of disease,” revolutionizing our understanding of disease prevention, and saving untold millions (if not more) of lives.

But Leo recommended the rosary for more than just deliverance from the pandemic:

We have deemed it Our duty to exhort again this year the people of Christendom to persevere in that method and formula of prayer known as the Rosary of Mary, and thereby to merit the powerful patronage of the great Mother of God. In as much as the enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their aims, its defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly help and the benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the more usually the fruits of our perseverance. It is good to recall to memory the example of that illustrious widow, Judith – a type of the Blessed Virgin – who curbed the ill-judged impatience of the Jews when they attempted to fix, according to their own judgment, the day appointed by God for the deliverance of His city. The example should also be borne in mind of the Apostles, who awaited the supreme gift promised unto them of the Paraclete, and persevered unanimously in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.

The point he’s making on perseverance is brilliant, but easy to miss. Let’s take the examples in reverse order. After rising from the dead, Jesus charged the Apostles “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4) and said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

Nine days after He ascends into heaven, this prophecy is fulfilled with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. These days, we have “novenas,” prayers that you do for a particular cause for 9 days straight, in honor of the Apostles’ waiting. But they didn’t know they were making a novena. For all they knew, it could be 9 years. Not only did they not know how long it would take, they didn’t even have a clear sense of what they were waiting for. They were just praying, along with Mary, for an indefinite time: “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14).

But what about Leo’s other example? In Judith 7, the evil Holofernes and his men have laid siege to the city of Bethulia, and cut off the water supply. After 34 days, the people want to surrender. The city officials convince them to wait another five days, saying (Judith 7:30-32):

Have courage, my brothers! Let us hold out for five more days; by that time the Lord our God will restore to us his mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly. But if these days pass by, and no help comes for us, I will do what you say.

The numbers here matter. 40 is the perfect number of preparation (think of Noah’s ark, or the Israelites in the desert, or Jesus’ fast before His public ministry), and both the people and the officials are hijacking that. The people want to give up after 34 days, the officials want to give up after 39. But either way, they’re trying to put God on a human timetable. Judith stands up to both groups, and tells them that they’re both in the wrong (Judith 8:11-12):

Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the city to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you, that have put God to the test this day, and are setting yourselves up in the place of God among the sons of men?

Instead, she calls them to a radical trust in God (Judith 8:15-17):

For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies. Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, nor like a human being, to be won over by pleading. Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him.

This is a truly Marian faith. She’s making a radical yes to God, without knowing the timetable, without knowing the plan, without even knowing if she would escape with her life. She prayed for and hoped for God’s deliverance, but ultimately trusted that His plan was the best one, even if it involved her death. Trust, pray, and wait.

I’m sure that wasn’t a popular message to the thirsty people of Bethulia, fearing for their lives; and I’m sure it wasn’t a popular message to the people reading Leo’s encyclical in 1884; and I’ll wager that it’s not a popular message today. But this is the kind of persevering faith to which God calls us, and it’s the kind of faith that He rewards. So instead of complaining, like the people of Bethulia, let’s take up the spiritual weapons that we have at hand, and place our trust in God.