Sister Adelaide Elder coughed. Crimson droplets appeared on her lips, the first sign of tuberculosis, or consumption, as it was called.
Tuberculosis is something people don’t often think about anymore. But 19th century people in Minnesota were frighteningly aware of the symptoms: flushed cheeks, bright eyes, fever, loss of appetite, and most of all, the cough. It was feared, but regarded with a peculiar resignation because it was so unavoidable. It was dreaded, but at the same time romanticized. It was a disease that reflected the culture of its time: the victim slowly, gracefully fading away, transcending their corporeal body, their immortal soul shining through, according to A Gentle Death: Tuberculosis in 19th Century Concord by Constance Manoli-Skocay.
In reality, tuberculosis, commonly called consumption in the 19th century, affected the poor more often than the wealthy, females more than males, and people of all ages. Anyone could be a victim, but it was especially prevalent among young adults, cruelly striking down those in the prime of their lives.
Unfortunately, the disease was not well understood. Its cause would not be discovered until 1882. In the meantime, beliefs about the disease reflected the cultural and scientific thinking of the time. It was thought that it might be a vaguely environmental, “something in the air;” but more likely caused by the victim’s own constitution, either physiologically, psychologically, or both. It was not believed to be contagious, so those suffering from the disease were not avoided. Recommended steps toward prevention included fresh air, a wholesome diet, exercise, and healthy manual labor.
Priscilla Jane Elder was born in 1840 near Loretto, Pennsylvania, according to Jane Hanson in May 2007. Her parents were James Elder (1811-1880) and Ann O’Conner (1819-1898). By 1850, Ann O’Conner Elder had died, and Jane and her siblings were living with various families in the area. Jane’s brothers, William (1838-1928) and James (1845-1919) moved to Hastings, Minnesota with their uncle in 1867. Her brother Peter (1842-1926) was a banker in Philadelphia. Thomas (1843-1862) died in the Civil War. And Jane’s sister, Mary Ann (1847-1873) went to St Xavier’s school near Latrobe, and became a nun called Sister Mary Leonard.
As for Jane? She went to the convent of St. Benedict in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania and became a nun.
Priscilla Jane Elder told her brother, Peter, that she wanted to be a nun. “After a talk to with a priest, she was pleased as (the priest) told her he would accept her as a sister of the order of St. Benedict’s and that she could go to St. Mary’s, Elk County, Pennsylvania to join the order as same as others who were going to join,” said Peter Elder, who told the relatives in a writing “A Chapter in the Life of Jane Elder” by Peter Elder, her brother, in 1924. “I was present and saw her off on the way to St. Mary’s. I corresponded with Jane all the time she was at St. Mary’s.”
Boniface Wimmer was a missionary from Metten, Bavaria. He wanted to spread the Benedictine Order to people in America. Boniface asked the sisters in St. Walburga’s in Eichstatt to teach German immigrants in Pennsylvania. Three arrived to America: Sister Benedicta Riepp, age 27, Sister Walburga Dietrich, age 48, and Sister Maura Flieger, age 30. They left Bavaria on June 12, 1852, and arrived in New York on July 8, 1852, and then to St, Mary’s, Pennsylvania on July 22. Before too long, 39 sisters were at St. Mary’s.
Rev. Boniface Wimmer wanted to spend the gospel to the west, and by October 9, 1862, Wimmer, along with Sister Clara Vogel, a lay sister, Sister Mechtild Richter, and Sister Adelaide Elder arrived in Shakopee and founded St. Gertrude’s Convent. Sister Adelaide was 21 years old.
“When the time came for her to go out to Shakopee, Minnesota together with two other sisters and one lay sister … She looked splendid in her habit. I again saw her on her western trip to Minnesota. That was the last time I saw our sister Jane,” said her brother, Peter.
In a letter to King Ludwig of Bavaria on December 2, 1862, Abbott Boniface Wimmer noted that he founded a little mission in Shakopee for the sisters “to the great joy of the English and German Catholics. The new convent has its own story. First, it was a cow shed, then a horse barn, and now it is an embryo of a woman’s convent, but it only serves, in any event, only the most necessary purposes.”
Sister Adelaide entered the convent in Pennsylvania in 1859, received the habit in 1860, and made triennial vows in 1861. She arrived in October 1862 and died of tuberculosis two months later.
The records at St. Mark’s Church in Shakopee noted that Sister Adelaide Elder died two months after arriving in Shakopee on December 21, 1862, and was buried the next day in Calvary Cemetery by Father Scherer, O.S.B., who assisted and anointed her before her death.
In the first 25 years at St. Mary’s Convent, the community lost 22 postulants and nuns who died of tuberculosis, ages 17 to 30, including Sister Adelaide Elder.
Tuberculosis is not gone if forgotten. Since 1985, tuberculosis (TB) has slowly come back to the U.S. Though the number of cases reported in the United States has been dropping since 1992, there were more than 16,000 cases reported in 2000.
Bibliography
Elder, Peter. A Chapter in the Life of Jane Elder, 1924.
Hanson, Jane. May 2007
Skocay, Constance Manoli. A Gentle Death: Tuberculosis in 19th Century Concord.