Statue remains as symbol of deliverance

Arts & Sciences sophomores Stacey O'Brien and Sarah Castaneda talk in front of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Photo by Heidi Dunkleman

By Shay Graves
Commentary Editor

A white, marble statue of Jesus silently stands guard over the Jesuit Gardens, the fulfillment of a request to protect the Creighton community from a deadly influenza outbreak that ravaged the world.

Throughout most of 1918 and early 1919, the Spanish influenza pandemic circulated the globe, killing millions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 500,000 people in the United States were killed, but there were few deaths at Creighton because of a promise made by a Jesuit and the rest of the Creighton community.

News accounts from the time collected in the Creighton archives help piece together the story of the pandemic at Creighton and the vow.

In the fall of 1918 when the pandemic was at its height in Omaha, schools were closed, except for colleges. Indoor meetings were banned and Masses were moved outside. By Oct. 20, Masses were banned by the governor.

Creighton Medical College was closed Nov. 11 and the Students’ Army Training Corps were quarantined.

According to the CDC Web site, the disease progressed quickly for many. Some people would feel fine in the morning, become sick by noon and would die by evening.

Symptoms included coughing up blood, having one’s feet turn black, gasping for air and distorted nightmares from fever. Eventually the lungs would fill with a reddish fluid that would drown the person.

There was no cure, so patients were quarantined to help stop the spread of the disease. Healthy people wore masks made of gauze over their faces.

An infectious disease expert said people would do anything to prevent others from becoming ill.

“ Some ideas may have been good and some may have been bad. They may have called for isolation or just let people run around when that wasn’t such a good idea,” said Dr. Marvin Bittner, associate professor of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine at Creighton University Medical Center and Veteran Affairs Medical Center.

One Jesuit came up with the idea of turning to God. The Creighton community adopted the idea of the Rev. Francis Cassilly, S.J., that if the lives of students and faculty were saved, a statue would be erected in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

After the vow was made, no students or faculty members died of the flu. However, news accounts like these in the Creighton Courier reported that seven doctors at Creighton died from complications of the influenza.

The flu pandemic came to an end in the early months of 1919.

Graphic by Jen Edney

Creighton lived up to its vow when the statue was commissioned from an Italian sculptor in 1919. Students donated money for the statue, which cost $800.

Money for the statue base was raised by the students who raffled off a set of encyclopedias donated by the Knights of Columbus.

The statue was completed two years later. A dedication ceremony was held in what is now the north end of the Jesuit Gardens to present this statue to the university on June 3, 1921. The next day, graduation ceremonies were held in the gardens with a special procession in front of the statue as a symbol of honor.

Today the statue still stands in the Jesuit Gardens as a memorial. On the base is an inscription that reads, “Thank-offering of the students for protection in the world-wide plague of the war year 1918.”