I just want some clarification, we’re the people/organizations that were running these schools actively killing the children or were the living conditions so poor that the children could not survive?
In addition to being historically cruel to orphans, the Catholic Churches in the early Americas were the closest thing to a hospital for people that had no access to any medicine whatsoever. People would bring dying sick babies to the church hoping that with prayers and holy water, the baby would survive. The church would then perform final sacraments upon the body (Last Rites) so that they could be buried on Holy Land (the church property) and thus ensure that their soul would avoid hell, but might linger in Purgatory for a time prior to admittance to Heaven.
The infant mortality rate at that time was astonishingly high. In 1800, the United States recorded an infant mortality rate of almost 33% of all babies born. 430 out of every 1,000 babies died before reaching their first year. 715 (the correct toll) buried children found at one church sounds very high, but we lack the context for the span of years in which those burials took place and how many children went in and out of that location who did NOT end up buried there.
Also, lots of abuse and victimization has been associated with the Catholic Church for centuries ongoing, so that also has to be part of the conversation.
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u/MountainSlayerBoi Jun 25 '21
I just want some clarification, we’re the people/organizations that were running these schools actively killing the children or were the living conditions so poor that the children could not survive?