BEECH GROVE, Ind. — As the number of COVID cases continues to soar, a community of nuns on the city's south side has found a simple and solemn way to memorialize those who've died.
The Benedictine sisters at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove gather in the chapel twice a day for prayer. At the end of their evening prayer, the sisters sit in silence as bell is tolled for every Hoosier who died the previous day of COVID.
Thursday night, the bell tolled 12 times.
"It's basically a way we can honor the memory of those who have died," said Sister Mary Luke.
The sisters began the practice July 29 of last year. The daily death count is posted at the entrance to the chapel. Each day, Sister Luke records the numbers on her calendar. They've ranged from a handful of zeroes - to a high of 164 deaths on December 29, 2020.
"164 people died in that 24-hour period. When you multiply that by 50 states and countries all over the world, it's very sobering," Sister Luke said.
The sisters don't know the names, ages, or anything about those who died, just that they left behind family and friends now mourning. In the last 13 months, the bell has tolled more than 9,500 times.
"It's discouraging, disheartening," Sister Luke said. "We feel all the same feelings that everybody feels about the pandemic and the toll it has taken on the people of the world."
And with the surge in cases, it seems there's no end in sight. Yet at the monastery, faith and hope persist.
"We made a commitment at the time that we would toll the bells until there was no longer a reason to do so," Sister Luke said. "And we pray for that day. That will be a 'zero-hallelujah day' when we have more zeros than anything else and when it's declared over."