# Older Chgo dopers - Cardinal Stritch slept with amputated arm? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2024, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142 "2024-03-21T13:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/1 "2024-03-21T13:13:53Z")
Had to be mid to late 50s. Cardinal Stritch of Chicago had his arm amputated. I’m almost sure I remember that he slept that night with the amputated arm. I can’t find any reference to it, so now I’m doubting my memory. Did it really happen? What’s the straight dope on this story? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/2 "2024-03-21T14:04:56Z")
Per his wiki bio, there were, at most, a few weeks between the amputation, a debilitating stroke and his death. I think this may have been a ‘let’s keep his parts in his room so they’re buried together, um, shortly’ situation. I doubt he was alert at the time. > In May 1958, a blood clot required the Cardinal’s right arm to be amputated above the elbow. Following the operation, he suffered a stroke on May 19, and died eight days later, at age 70. > **[Samuel Stritch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Stritch)** > > Samuel Alphonsius Stritch (August 17, 1887 – May 27, 1958) was an American Cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1940 to 1958 and as pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith from March 1958 until his death two months later. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Pius XII in 1946. > Samuel Stritch was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to Garret (Gerard) (1839–1896) and Katherine (née O'Malley) Stritch. His mo... ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/3 "2024-03-21T20:12:11Z")
I knew that the arm was amputated. My question was if he had slept in bed with the arm after it had been amputated. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/4 "2024-03-23T13:46:45Z")
First time ever. I’ve been on the SDMB for years. Never saw a question that did not eventually get a factual answer. While **jnglmassiv** did his part, I’m surprised that no one has been able to find a definitive bit of information. I’ll keep hoping. xo, C. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/5 "2024-03-23T20:37:20Z")
There is a rather hagiographic biography of him called _The Cardinal Stritch Story_ by Marie Cecilia Buehrle published in 1959. It doesn’t say anything about his sleeping with his own arm after the amputation, but I think I know how the story got started. The book does say “Throughout the night preceding the operation a major relic of the arm of St. Francis Xavier remained in the Cardinal’s room” (p. 182). That would have been the night of April 27-28, in Rome where the amputation was done. The book says that after the surgery, he “revived with extraordinary resilience” and was in “excellent spirits and good physical condition.” After returning to Chicago, celebrated the mass on May 18, but then unexpectedly had a stroke on the night of May 18-19 (p. 187). Even after the stroke he was “perfectly lucid” (p. 188) and “showed some signs of rallying” (p. 189) and was able to speak a few words. He later took a turn for the worse and died on May 27 (p. 190). The relic of St. Francis Xavier’s right forearm is normally housed in Il Gesu, the Jesuit mother church in Rome, but it sometimes [goes on tour.](https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/07/19/how-465-year-old-arm-st-francis-xavier-brought-faith-and-healing-canada) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-chgo-dopers-cardinal-stritch-slept-with-amputated-arm/999142/6 "2024-03-23T21:09:06Z")
TL;DR version: He didn’t sleep with _his own_ severed arm, because that would be creepy. He slept with _somebody else’s_ severed arm, because that’s perfectly normal.