More than a century ago, Our Lady of Mount Virgin, located in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood, was once the heart of Seattle’s Italian community. In 1915, when the church was built, about 215 Italian families called the neighborhood home. As new immigrants arrived, Our Lady of Mount Virgin was one of the first places they would visit for information on jobs and housing, to make new friends and to tend to their spiritual needs.

A few years later, Seattle watched in horror as the great flu pandemic of 1918 spread through the Pacific Northwest along with the rest of the world. Although it remains to be seen whether the coronavirus will be as devastating, the so-called “Spanish flu” was the most widespread and lethal outbreak of disease in recorded history.