THE PLAGUE IN LISBON: THE CITY SAVED BY THE HOLY NAME

A devastating plague broke out in Lisbon in 1432. All who could do
so fled in terror from the city and thus carried the plague to every
corner of the entire country of Portugal.

Thousands of men, women and children of all classes were swept away
by the cruel sickness. So virulent was the epidemic that men died
everywhere, at table, in the streets, in their houses, in the shops,
in the marketplaces, in the churches. To use the words of historians,
it flashed like lightning from man to man, or from a coat, a hat or
any garment that had been used by the plague-stricken. Priests,
doctors and nurses were carried off in such numbers that the bodies
of many lay unburied in the streets, so that the dogs licked up the
blood and ate the flesh of the dead, becoming as a result themselves
infected with the dread disease and spreading it still more widely
among the unfortunate people.

Among those who assisted the dying with unflagging zeal was a
venerable bishop, Monsignor Andre Dias, who lived in the Convent or
Monastery of St. Dominic. This holy man, seeing that the epidemic,
far from diminishing, grew every day in intensity, and despairing of
human help, urged the unhappy people to call on the Holy Name of
Jesus. He was seen wherever the disease was fiercest, urging,
imploring the sick and the dying, as well as those who had not as yet
been stricken down, to repeat, "Jesus, Jesus." "Write it on cards," he
said, "and keep those cards on your persons; place them at night under
your pillows; place them on your doors; but above all, constantly
invoke with your lips and in your hearts this most powerful Name."

He went about as an angel of peace filling the sick and the dying
with courage and confidence. The poor sufferers felt within them a
new life, and calling on Jesus, they wore the cards on their breasts
or carried them in their pockets.

Then summoning them to the great Church of St. Dominic, he once more
spoke to them of the power of the Name of Jesus and blessed water in
the same Holy Name, ordering all the people to sprinkle themselves
with it and sprinkle it on the faces of the sick and the dying.
Wonder of wonders! The sick got well, the dying arose from their
agonies, the plague ceased and the city was delivered in a few days
from the most awful scourge that had ever visited it.

The news spread to the whole country and all began, with one accord,
to call on the Name of Jesus. In an incredibly short time all Portugal
was freed from the dread sickness.

The grateful people, mindful of the marvels they had witnessed,
continued their love and confidence in the Name of our Saviour, so
that in all their troubles, in all dangers, when evils of any kind
threatened them, they invoked the Name of Jesus. Confraternities were
formed in the churches, processions of the Holy Name were made
monthly, altars were raised in honor of this blessed name, so that
the greatest curse that had ever fallen on the country was
transformed into the greatest blessing.

For long centuries this great confidence in the Name of Jesus
continued in Portugal and thence spread to Spain, to France, and to
the whole world.

 Taken from the booklet
THE WONDERS OF THE HOLY NAME
by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan