by Terry Mattingly The second wave of influenza in the fall of 1918 was the worst yet. By the time Father Nicola Yanney reached Wichita, Kansas, a citywide quarantine was in effect. A 16-year-old girl had already died, creating a sense of panic. The missionary priest -- his territory reached from Missouri to Colorado and from Oklahoma to North Dakota -- couldn’t even hold her funeral in the city’s new Orthodox sanctuary. As he traveled back to his home church in Kearney, Nebraska, he kept anointing the sick, hearing confessions and taking Holy Communion to those stricken by the infamous “Spanish flu.” After days of door-to-door ministry in the snow, Yanney collapsed and called his … [Read more...]