Bad To Worse And Then

 We think that nothing good can come out of this pandemic.  Well, look at Elizabeth Ann Seaton, for whom my middle sister was named.  Seaton was born Episcopal and rich in New York City.  She married money and had five children.  All good, like our world before the pandemic.  Then things went downhill.  Her husband's business went bust, without a pandemic, and he got TB.  So the couple went off to Europe for a cure.  He died on the way.  Elizabeth ended up living with a Catholic family in Italy.  She was so impressed by them, that she converted.  Went home and was disinherited by Episcopal family.  They kept the kids.  She was penniless.  A priest in Baltimore invited her to start a school in his parish.  This led to her founding the Sisters of Charity.  She opened schools in several cities.  And then she died in 1821.  End of story? No.  The unexpected, unplanned for, European immigration came in mid-century, with Irish Hunger, Italian wars, and her order was ready with the means to help these poor people.  So maybe some unseen good is in the works from all this misery of the coronavirus.  Stay safe.