By Dylan Hunt

The Black Death is a deadly disease that killed millions of people during the 1300’s There was many signs and symptoms of the disease: First, the infection spread by breath when two people speak to one another Pustules, called antrachi, start to form on various parts of the body, such as the chest, legs, arms or throat. The pustules start to grow into tumors and buboes the size of a hen A high fever and a deep depression would start to set in Finally the victims started to caugh up blood. This passing of blood from lungs to the throat courupted the body and they would die. Typically, the illness would last four days from infection to death THE BLACK DEATH

The Plague was brought to Sicily by 12 Genoese galleys landing in the port of Messina The Genoese were immediately expelled from Messina. However, It was too late The Plague took a large toll on the city. If one person in a household got infected, the whole household got infected as well. To escape this, many turned to god to pray for forgiveness. However, the priests and bishops refused to see them. If they did, soon they would die. All the good people who would visit the sick died shortly after Copses in Messina lay in their homes, because no person dared to enter. Valuables lay in homes of the dead, because no one was willing to go inside and risk getting sick All of the officials would die of and so no one was there to control the city THE BEGINNING OF THE PLAGUE IN SICILY

The Messinese started to leave the city rather than stay and die Many went to the nearby city of Catania trying to get the virgin Agatha of Catania to save them They asked the the Patriarch to allow them to take Agatha’s relics to Messina to cleanse the city. He promptly agreed to take them himself. The virgin did not want this, and so she prayed to god that the people uproar against the patriarch, causing his mind to change. The Patriarch himself traveled to Messina to bless the city with holy water. People flocked to him as he casted demons out of the people THE JOURNEY OF THE MESSINESE FOR HELP

The Messinese believed the cause of illness was the demons of dogs, who caused this. They were terrified of them and hid in their homes. The Messinese decided to process around the city with the priests. As they did this, a black dog with a sword in its paw ran into the church, destroyed it, and ran away Terrified by this event, the Messinese went to Santa Maria de Scalla to pray They took an ancient statue of the mother of god back to Messenia for help When the Mother of God arrived at the city, it was so awful she couldn't’t bare to look upon it. The statue was brought into the church after defying the Mother and it helped nothing. The people begged and pleaded but the plague continued. THE MESSINA CURSE

Most of the Messinese left Messina to go elsewhere to Calabria, or to Catania especially Many people died on the journey to other places on roads, in rivers and elsewhere People going to Catania often would reach it and die in the city An order from the Patriarch made it so that Messinese would be excommunicated and buried outside the city The Messinese were extremely loathed and feared so that no one would speak to them or be around them There became a joke that said “Don’t talk to me if your from Messina” No one would help them for fear of infection THE MESSINESE SCATTER

Because the Messians traveled so much, they infected many people all over The Syracusans were affected greatly because many great people died The area of Trapani and Sciacca was so devastated by the Messinese’s disease that they were left nearly bereft of people Catania was mostly affected because of the amount of people infected that came to the city. Many people there suffered horrible fates. Everyone not yet infected started praying heavily and drawing up wills. Judges and priests started to refuse to make wills and draw up prayers and make wills The Patriarch adapted a special policy in which every lowly church official was absolves sins. This way, all Catanians could be granted into heaven. THE AFFECT OF THE MESSINESE TRAVELS

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