Lawrence Flick (1856–1938): Medical Crusader and Catholic Historian

Historians, archivists, and librarians devote themselves to many subjects, including the history of disease. As we face the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it is worthwhile to consider another serious infectious disease that afflicted the world over more than a century ago as well as the man who worked tirelessly to contain it. Tuberculosis is a disease which primarily infects the lungs with bacteria and is spread person to person through tiny droplets that are released into the air via coughs and sneezes. The person who pioneered the research and treatment of this deadly disease was Dr. Lawrence Francis Flick (1856– 1938). A devout Roman Catholic and German American hailing from western Pennsylvania, Flick was both a dedicated medical doctor and an serious historian of his church. His papers,¹ which encompass both of his fields of interest currently reside in the Special Collections of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.²

While still a child his father John Flick migrated to America in 1830 with his parents. Leaving Alstadt (also known as Weissenberg), a German speaking town near Strasburg in Alsace, France, they arrived in Pennsylvania and settled near Carrolltown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. That same year his mother, Elizabeth Sharbaugh (or Schabacher), also immigrated as a child with her parents, coming from the village of Homberg in largely Catholic Bavaria. Lawrence was born on August 10, 1856, the ninth of twelve children. Although he was frail, Flick was intelligent and attended county and area church schools.³ He was educated from 1869 to 1874, at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which was an adjunct to a Bavarian Benedictine monastery. There they trained priests for the Benedictine order as well as the Pittsburgh diocese, and also taught in both English and German.⁴

After contracting Pulmonary Tuberculosis, the version that affects the lungs, Flick was forced to drop out of school in 1874, approximately three months before graduation, and returned home to recuperate. The first few years Flick focused on physical outdoor exercise, with an emphasis on farming and horseback riding as a means of self-treatment for his tuberculosis. While he did experience improvement, he was not cured. It was at this point he decided to pursue a degree in medicine and enrolled at Philadelphia’s Jefferson Medical College in 1877.⁵ This same year the college became one of the first teaching medical colleges in the United States.

Flick performed well there and kept an interesting diary. Many excerpts from this diary are included in the biography written by his daughter, Ella. He graduated on March 12, 1879 as a medical doctor. He was also awarded the Mears Medal in Surgery.⁶ He interned at Blockley, the charity hospital located in Philadelphia, 1879–1880. It was here that Flick became exposed to the plights of the urban poor and gained practical experience in treating their maladies. During his time in Philadelphia, Flick lodged with the Stone family living on Pine Street. He would eventually convert Mrs. Stone and one of her daughters, Ella (1860–1934), whom he later married, to Roman Catholicism.⁷

Flick left Philadelphia in 1880 and devoted several years to curing himself. His carefully developed regimen included an experimental diet and strenuous exercise. He also went on an extensive tour of the American west from October 1881 to July 1882, which included a stint working to build wooden crates that held oranges picked in southern California. While in the west he and Ella carried on their relationship via postal mail. Although he often complained that she did not write to him as often as he wished, this issue did not prevent their love from growing. Apparently cured by 1883, Flick briefly returned to his native western Pennsylvania, but a short time later he moved permanently to Philadelphia to be reunited with his beloved Ella. He married her on May 26, 1885. After living their first year with her mother, they moved nearby to 736 Pine Street where they continued to live for many years to come. From this base Flick went on...