Knoxville, Tenn., Aug 2, 2021 / 13:20 pm
The body of Servant of God Patrick Ryan, a Tennessee priest who died in 1878 caring for victims of the Chattanooga’s yellow fever epidemic, was moved and reinterred at the city’s Saints Peter and Paul Basilica over the weekend.
During a yellow fever epidemic in 1878, some 80% of Chattanooga residents fled the city. Father Ryan stayed to minister to the sick, dying of yellow fever himself Sept. 28, 1878.
Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, who opened Father Ryan’s sainthood cause in 2016, celebrated a memorial Mass and presided over Father Ryan’s entombment July 31.
“There is no greater gift than to give your life for your friends,” Bishop Stika said, as reported by the Chattanoogan.