Chapter Nine How Catholic Charity Changed the World p168 I
Chapter Nine I n the early fourth century, famine and disease struck the army of the Roman emperor Constantine. Pachomius, a pagan soldier in that army, watched in amazement as many of his fellow Romans brought food to the afflicted men and, without discrimination, bestowed help on those in need. Curious, Pachomius inquired about these people and found out that they were Christians. What kind of religion was it, he wondered, that could inspire such acts of generosity and humanity? He began to learn about the faith—and before he knew it, he was on the road to conversion.1 This kind of amazement has attended Catholic charitable work throughout the ages. Even Voltaire, perhaps the most prolific anti-Catholic propagandist of the eighteenth century, was awed by the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice that animated so many of the Church’s sons and daughters. “Perhaps there is nothing greater on earth,” he said, “than the sacrifice of youth and beauty, often of high birth, made by the gentle se