In 1891, diphtheria struck a farming area west of Silverton, Oregon. A family called Simmons was particularly stricken by the disease, and they turned to the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel--who had established a monastery in the town only three years earlier--for help in caring for their ill children. The sisters responded to the call. For the next two months, indifferent to personal risk, they attended to the family, converting the Simmons...