Jane's Illness: What Did Community & Church Offer?

Image: Unsplash

 

This is the sixth post in this series about Jane Darragh Cassidy's illness. Catch up with the first five posts here:

 

Maria Jane Darragh's Illness: Researching Acute Mania in 19th Century Ontario

Next Steps in Researching Jane Darragh's Diagnosis 

Jane's Illness: What Did Acute Mania Look Like in the 19th Century? 

Jane's Illness: Home Life, Beginnings of Mania, and Mental Illness as a Cause of Death 

Jane's Illness: Home Care, Her Doctor, and Her Caretakers

 

In the past few weeks, I've been looking at my great-great-grandmother Jane Darragh Cassidy's cause of death—acute mania. We've learned that Jane was not institutionalized for her illness but rather cared for at home as was usually a first option. Her physician, Dr. John Sheahan, was newly graduated from the University of Toronto and opened an office in St. Catharines in 1896, just a few years before Jane fell ill. He possibly knew the most advanced treatments for Jane and with the help of her caretakers, possibly her daughters, he would have prescribed a course of rest, good food, exercise, and medications to calm Jane and help her gain strength. Without it, Jane would deteriorate over the course of weeks to the point of death.

While her family cared for her, I wondered how her community would have reacted to Jane's illness. Did her friends and neighbors know she was ill? How did her family account for it? Did she receive help or comfort from her Catholic Church community?

 

Jane's illness was likely stigmatized by the general population of the time. Even her closest friends might not have known of her illness and family might have covered it up or attributed her illness to something else.

Not knowing how Jane's illness manifested itself, one can only guess how widely her diagnosis was known amongst her family, friends, and neighbors. In one scenario, given her husband Charles' role in the St. Catharines community, her illness might have been minimized or called something else, so as not to taint his business dealings. It could also be that their family privacy was maintained and Jane's illness seen as no one's business but their own. Her family likely also wanted to protect Jane from judgmental eyes, hoping that she would be cured and able to resume her life in the community. Unfairly or not, Jane's husband and children were probably concerned how they would be looked upon with a mentally ill wife and mother. 

Mania was not a topic seen in public discourse very often in St. Catharines. From 1900-1903, the word was typically used in newspaper articles to indicate a craze or fad. The word mania was used just a few times to describe the actions of a person in reporting. In two instances, men accused of murder were said to have committed the act in a "homicidal mania." Mania was noted as a cause of two suicides.¹

Nina Phillips ended her life after developing a "suicidal mania." This is one of the few mentions of mania in local newspapers around the time of Jane's death.

 

It's unlikely that the majority of St. Catharines residents would have heard of mania, known much about it, or knew anyone who suffered from it. In a vacuum of information, some of Jane's friends and neighbors might have reacted with fear and prejudice if they knew about her condition. Perhaps some looked with compassion on the family and offered a helping hand. But it seems most likely that her family might not have spoken of Jane's illness to anyone outside her family.

 

The Catholic Church to which Jane belonged would have been sympathetic to her illness.

It's possible that once Jane became ill and homebound by her treatment, she would have been absent from her regular Sunday appearances at Mass. This might have been noticed by her priest and her church community. Inquiries might have been made of Charles, her husband, or her children, as to what ailed Jane. It's also possible that her family might have sought the comfort and prayers of their priest and the prayerful intercessions of the community on Jane's behalf. 

Whether her family informed others about the specifics of Jane's illness is unknown. Depending on the exact nature of her symptoms, they might not have told others, especially if in her manic state Jane hallucinated, had religious delusions, or spoke profanely. 

Christianity has long reached out to the poor and marginalized, and the Gospel tells stories of Jesus' healing of those considered lunatics or possessed, conditions we might recognize today as mental illnesses. One would hope that Jane's family found support and comfort in their church, as the mentally ill were among "the least of these" that the church was called to care for, along with the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. The church might have seen mental illness as a tragic brokenness of a person's intellect, where "...one cannot know the world, one's self, or one's God in the way one was meant to."²

It's likely that Jane's priest at least was informed of her diagnosis, so that he might minister to her. He may have come to visit her and pray with her or over her. Depending on her level of lucidity, it remains a question as to whether she would have been given sacraments like Holy Eucharist. 

One sacrament typically given to the gravely ill, however, was not available to Jane in the early days of her distress. What we now know as Anointing of the Sick was in the 19th century known as Extreme Unction. This sacrament, as its name suggests, was reserved for those in imminent danger of physical death. While debilitating in the early stages, Jane's mania would not have moved into this danger zone until several weeks had passed. Then her priest would have given her Extreme Unction to prepare her for death.

This last of the Catholic Church's seven sacraments was instituted to "...purify the dying, to strengthen them in their last combat, to enable them to pass through their agony with Christian fortitude, and if profitable to their soul, to restore health to their body."³ This would have been a fitting balm to Jane's trials.

Prior to her death, Jane would be anointed by a priest in the Catholic sacrament called Extreme Unction. (Image: rawpixel)

 

Scripture reads, "Is any man sick among you; let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him. (James V. 14, 15). The sacrament is seen to complete the cycle begun in baptism and confirmation, where the infant and the young adult are also anointed.

 

"Is any man sick among you; let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord"

 

The rite involves a priest praying over the dying and anointing their body—the eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands, and feet— with holy chrism. The priest prays, "By this holy unction and by His own most tender mercy, may the Lord forgive Thee whatever sins thou hast committed with thy sight-- with thy hearing--with thy smell--with thy taste and speech-- with thy touch--with thy steps."⁴

As Jane's end drew near, the priest may have spoken a prayer like this one: "Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world in the name of God the Father Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Ghost who has sanctified thee. Let thy place be this day in peace and thy abode in the Holy Zion. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."⁵ One can imagine Jane's family's emotions were a tumult of sadness at their loss, and gratitude that her trials were finally over.

A Catholic Requiem Mass for Jane was held at the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria on 26 October 1903. She was buried at Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines, in the same plot as her father-in-law, Philip Cassidy. When purchased, the plot had two spots, for Philip who died in 1874, and for his wife, Mary Jane Sheridan Cassidy. But after Philip's death, his widow moved to Cleveland with some of her other children. She died and was buried there.⁶ This left a place in the Victoria Lawn plot for Jane to be buried in.

Jane is buried in the same plot as her father-in-law, Philip Cassidy, in Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines. Her name is not engraved on the headstone. (Photo by author.)

As little as I knew about Jane's illness, I knew less about her burial. No headstone marks Jane's grave, a fact that might be attributed to neglect, ambivalence, lack or funds, or other unknown reasons. Perhaps over time, as the lives of her family moved on, this omission was forgotten. 

Charles eventually remarried and had two more sons. Three of Jane's children, Kate, Philip, and James, immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, while daughter Mary Jane entered the Sisters of St. Joseph order in Toronto.⁷ Perhaps the trauma of Jane's illness made each eager for a fresh start, and they wished to hold Jane's memory closely yet quietly, sharing stories of her only amongst themselves. 

If stories of her survived, they did not make it to my generation. One hundred twenty-two years have passed, yet her story remains as relevant today as ever, informing us of the historical struggles of those with mental illness, the burdens on family caretakers, and the frustrations of developing successful treatments. It seems some things are unchanging.

________________________________ 

Until recently, Maria Jane Darragh was an unknown to me. She simply was a name in her daughter's marriage record. I set out last year to discover her identity, and I drew upon that research and projects about my larger Cassidy and Baker families of which she was part for this story.

Importantly, I could not have understood Jane's illness except for how it fit into her life and the lives of those around her. A comprehensive timeline of all her family members offered insights that I could not have seen by looking at Jane's life timeline in isolation. 

Understanding Jane's illness has been a labor of love. Two simple words "acute mania" sent me on a research path into 19th century St. Catharines, Ontario, to discover what life was like there, and what medical and religious thought of the day meant for her diagnosis. 

Still, I will never know exactly what happened during Jane's five weeks of illness. I've had to read between the lines and make educated guesses about what transpired. I hope I've done her and her situation justice. It was important to me to look at her diagnosis head on, and upon her with sympathy and respect. But for her, I wouldn't be here. I owe her that.

Until next time... 

NOTES

¹ "Wesley Watson's Death," The Daily Standard, 30 December 1902, p. 5, col. 4; jury exonerates man's brother; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1017917257/ : accessed 3 Sept. 2026). Also, "Who Was Glory's Slayer?" The Daily Standard, 3 June 1903, p. 1, col. 3; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1017916367/ : accessed 3 Sept. 2026). Also, "The Waters Called Her," The Evening Star (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), 16 July 1902, p. 1 col. 6; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1188071990/ : accessed 16 July 2026). Also, "Suicide at the Falls," The Daily Standard, 9 Oct. 1901, p. 1, col. 7; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1017913052/ : accessed 3 Sept. 2026). 

² Dana Dillon, "St. Augustine, Catholics, and Mental Illness," Catholic Moral Theology (https://www.catholicmoraltheology.com/p/st-augustine-catholics-and-mental-illness : posted 10 May 2013). 

³ Rev. Ferreol Girardy, "Extreme Unction and the Spiritual Care of the Sick," n.d.; Catholic Harbor of Faith and Morals (https://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Extreme%20Unction.html : accessed 4 Sept. 2026).

⁴ Ibid. 

⁵ Catholic Truth Society, "Extreme Unction," The North-Westerm Chronicle (St. Paul, Minnesota), 3 April 1891, p. 7, col. 1; imaged, The Catholic News Archive (https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/ : accessed 4 Sept. 2026). 

⁶ "Local Happenings," The Daily Standard (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), 26 October 1903, p. 4, col. 4, Funeral of Mrs. Chas. Cassidy; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1017923119/ : accessed 24 July 2025). Also, Victoria Lawn Cemetery, Registry of Interments 1902-1934, np, #9588, Mary Jane Cassidy, interred 26 Oct. 1903; citing City of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Also, Victoria Lawn Cemetery, Registry of Interments 1856-1902, np, #2278, Phillip Cassidy, Section C, Division 38, Lot East ½ - Lot 3 interred 11 Feb. 1874; citing City of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Also, County of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada, Deaths, Book B, p. 298, no. 8, Phillip Cassidy, 9 Feb. 1874; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-68L3-SWG : accessed 20 Jan. 2025); citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto. Also, The Cleveland Directory for the Year Ending July 1892 (Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Directory Co., 1891), p. 153, Mary J. Cassidy, wid. Philip, r. 89-1/2 Literary; imaged, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/3840702 : accessed 2 Feb. 2025).

⁷ Ontario, Office of Registrar General, County of Lincoln, Division of St. Catharines, Marriage Registrations 1869-1911,  unit "J," 1909, p. 478 (stamped), #13691 (stamped), marriage of Charles Cassady and Mary Louisa Boyne, 22 February 1909; database & images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-Y399-3G1J : accessed 27 January 2022); citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. Also, Catherine Anne Baker, A5289342, Alien Registration Form, 14 December 1940, Cleveland, Ohio; Record Group 566: Records of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, College Park, Maryland. Also, Manifests of Alien Arrivals At Buffalo, Lewiston, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, New York, 1902-1954, roll 20, Niagara Falls, NY, Phillip Cassidy, 2 July 1909; imaged, "U.S., Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1075/images/M1480_20-6426 : accessed 4 Sept. 2026); citing Record Group 85, Series M1480, Roll 20, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Also, Manifests of Alien Arrivals At Buffalo, Lewiston, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, New York, 1902-1954, roll 20, Niagara Falls, NY, James Cassidy, 1 July 1914; imaged, "U.S., Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1075/images/M1480_20-6217 : accessed 4 Sept. 2026); citing Record Group 85, Series M1480, Roll 20, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. . Also, Dictionary of Biography of Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, database entry for Mary Jane (Magdalena) Cassidy (1888-1947); citing Archives of Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.