So back in the day if you were hit by a car or some sort of serious calamity, one of the first people attending to you might not be someone helping your battered and bruised body, but rather, it might very well be a holy man tending to your soul.
Take for instance this 1929 story of a young lady hit by a car while dashing to catch a streetcar. She suffered a cracked skull and broken leg and was taken to the local church where last rites were read and only then did an ambulance come for her.
Priests were often right on the scene of the accident, such as in this 1938 car accident on the highway near Vercheres, or this one in 1933, another from 1933 in which a 72 year old woman was crushed under the wheels of a streetcar on Maplewood, again in 1932. Here in 1947 we get a tale of a priest getting to the site of an accident at Dorch and The Beave fast enough to give last rites to a construction worker who fell 35 feet.
Now some awkward questions arrive, for example, did these priests serve any useful purpose? How did they actually get to the scenes of such accidents, did they hitch along with the emergency teams? Did they ever slow down the transportation of a person to a hospital due to their interventions with god? If a patient died before he got there, would it mean his soul might be sent to hell, and if not, then what's the value of the last rites anyway? What type of olive oil do they dab your forehead with in Extreme Unction, Pure Virgin?
After the 1930s it would appear that the priests mostly hung around the hospitals to give last rites, although in 1970 the firemen had their own chaplain who would do that service, possibly at a blaze itself.
I suppose hospitals still have chaplains who soothe and talk to the big guy for you, here's a profile from 1960 of the hospital chaplain at the Montreal General Hospital, who apparently kept himself very busy, constantly meeting up with patients and doing odd chores such as fetching the dentures of patients.
Take for instance this 1929 story of a young lady hit by a car while dashing to catch a streetcar. She suffered a cracked skull and broken leg and was taken to the local church where last rites were read and only then did an ambulance come for her.
Priests were often right on the scene of the accident, such as in this 1938 car accident on the highway near Vercheres, or this one in 1933, another from 1933 in which a 72 year old woman was crushed under the wheels of a streetcar on Maplewood, again in 1932. Here in 1947 we get a tale of a priest getting to the site of an accident at Dorch and The Beave fast enough to give last rites to a construction worker who fell 35 feet.
Now some awkward questions arrive, for example, did these priests serve any useful purpose? How did they actually get to the scenes of such accidents, did they hitch along with the emergency teams? Did they ever slow down the transportation of a person to a hospital due to their interventions with god? If a patient died before he got there, would it mean his soul might be sent to hell, and if not, then what's the value of the last rites anyway? What type of olive oil do they dab your forehead with in Extreme Unction, Pure Virgin?
After the 1930s it would appear that the priests mostly hung around the hospitals to give last rites, although in 1970 the firemen had their own chaplain who would do that service, possibly at a blaze itself.
I suppose hospitals still have chaplains who soothe and talk to the big guy for you, here's a profile from 1960 of the hospital chaplain at the Montreal General Hospital, who apparently kept himself very busy, constantly meeting up with patients and doing odd chores such as fetching the dentures of patients.
This is a non story, what you don't seem to know is there were more priests per square block in the Montreal of the 20s thru 40s than there were medical folks to rescue you. Yes, I know, people today would wonder why the priests weren't up to speed on first aid e.g. CPR or just generally staunching the flow of blood but alas, it was all salt and holy water. Take that last fellow who fell 35 feet at Dorchestor and Beaver Hall Hill. He wouldn't have hit pavement before the Priests from St. Pat's - 2 minutes away - would have been over to give the poor fellow help to the next world. I swear in our little Griffintown community there were Priests out on the street by day and night, a roving foot patrol so to speak, not only looking for male/female miscreants who might be lurking in doorways for a goodnight kiss, but also waiting for the screech of tires announcing someone needing some "rites", last or otherwise. You have no idea of how privileged we felt back then, in the knowledge of those impending last rites. Course, I don't know how you felt if you were non-catholic and not entitled to last rites
ReplyDeleteTerrence Flanagan
My dad died in 1996 at St. Mary's and there was a Catholic priest who gave the last rites at my mother's request. But then that's technically a Catholic hospital. Doesn't the Jewish have a rabbi chaplain on call?
ReplyDeleteThe Montreal Fire Department STILL has an "aumonier" or spiritual chaplain, though this web entry gives the impression that he is more concerned with the Firemen than with their clients.
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