Vatican newspaper pays tribute to Florence Nightingale

August 13, 2010

The August 13 edition of L’Osservatore Romano paid tribute to the famed nurse Florence Nightingale, who died a century ago. Venerated as a saint on the Episcopal Church calendar, Nightingale felt called by God to special service at the age of 17 and never married.

Nightingale deeply admired Cardinal Henry Manning’s service to the poor and sought to enter the Church, but Manning declined because she did not accept the Catholic faith in its entirety. Nonetheless, the two remained friends, and Manning arranged for Nightingale to work with nuns at a Paris hospital before her famous service in Crimea.

 

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Further information:

• Isabella Farinelli: Cento anni fa moriva Florence Nightingale,l'infermiera che portò in Crimea professionalità e carità: Quella lampada accesa da passione e ragione (L’Osservatore Romano)
• Florence Nightingale (Wikipedia)
• The Faith Behind the Famous: Florence Nightingale (Christianity Today)
• Florence Nightingale (Episcopal Church lectionary resources)