"Divine" Providence Origins
The English word Providence is derived from the Latin term providentia, which means foresight, foreknowledge, prudence, and forethought. When broken down, it comes from pro- "ahead" and videre "to see". Providence would translate in to "to see ahead". Providence is more like a clairvoyant term. Providence sounds more like a "god" who was turned into a symbol. This is a term and symbol that has been used for thousands of years. And a corporate hospital did exactly that. They hid behind their entity called Providence Medical Center.
Cicero (106-43 B.C.) used the phrase the “providence of the gods (deorum providentia)” and stated "it is improbable that the material substance which is the origin of all things was created by divine Providence. It has and has always had a force and nature of its own." This shows that he knew about the Greek gods, the role they played with Providence (especially Asclepius and Hermes), and that all of their divinity could not create what he tried to explain as God. This has been the case throughout history. No one could explain what God is and could only base their beliefs on faith.
The Stoic philosophers (301 B.C.-180 A.D.) thoroughly discussed the significance of the term providence. Seneca (4 B.C.-65 A.D.) wrote a six-piece essay titled De Providentia (On Providence). He stated in his essay “that providence rules the world and that God cares for us.” This separates providence from God. Could Seneca be saying that providence is Satan and that he rules the world and to turn to God because he cares? The Stoic school disagreed with those who believed that the world was ruled by blind fate. They believed everything happens according to a divine plan and they preferred to call this power Providence. Marcus Aurelius (121 A.D.-180 A.D.) stated "God wills everything that happens to man, and for that reason nothing that occurs can be considered evil."
Stoic ideas about Providence influenced Christianity. The Christian use of the term Providence is based on the Old Testament story of the patriarch Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac, in the book of Genesis. Abraham tells Isaac, "God will provide himself with a young beast for a sacrifice, my son." The Hebrew language lacks a proper word to express the notion of Providence, but the concept is well known in the Old Testament.
In all religions, divine providence or its equivalent is an element of some importance. There are two possible forms of belief in providence. The first form is belief in divine beings that are responsible for the world and humans. The belief in evil spirits does not contradict this belief in providence. An example would be Christianity and the belief in Satan strengthening the belief in God. The second form is belief in a cosmic order which human welfare has its appointed place. In most religions, both views are combined in some way. Augustine of Hippo is perhaps most famously associated with the doctrine of divine providence in the Latin West. Christian teaching on providence in the High Middle Ages was most fully developed by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica.
Eye of Providence
The association of an eye with the concept of Divine Providence did not emerge until well into the Christian Era. It represents the eye of God watching over humanity (or divine providence). In Renaissance European iconography the eye surrounded by a triangle was an explicit image of the Christian Trinity. Seventeenth-century depictions of the Eye of Providence sometimes show it surrounded by clouds or sunbursts.
In 1782, the Eye of Providence was adopted as part of the symbolism on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It was first suggested as an element of the Great Seal by the first of three design committees in 1776 and is thought to be the suggestion of the artistic consultant, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. In his original proposal to the committee, Du Simitiere placed the Eye over shields symbolizing each of the original thirteen states of the Union. On the version of the seal that was eventually approved, the Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid of thirteen steps (again symbolizing the original States, but incorporating the nation's potential for future growth).
Today, the Eye of Providence is often associated with Freemasonry. The Eye first appeared as part of the standard iconography of the Freemasons in 1797, with the publication of Thomas Smith Webb's Freemasons Monitor.
The Eye of Providence appears on many coats of arms, such as Braslaw, Belarus; Brasłaŭ, Belarus; Kalvarija, Lithuania; Plungė, Lithuania; Šiauliai, Lithuania; and Wilamowice, Poland. Several college fraternities use the Eye of Providence in their coats of arms or badges, notably Delta Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Delta Theta and Delta Kappa Epsilon. Many seals also have this symbol, such as the seal of the State of Colorado, The seal of The University of Mississippi, The seal of The University of Chile, and The seal of the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Providence St. Vincent Medical Center
Providence St. Vincent Medical Center is a non-profit, acute care teaching hospital in Portland, Oregon. The hospital was founded on July 19, 1875, by the Sisters of Providence in the Northwest district until January 31, 1971. That day, the hospital relocated to the current facility in the West Haven-Sylvan neighborhood. This is Providence Health & Services largest Oregon hospital. This is also Oregon's first permanent hospital.
The Sisters of Providence was a Roman Catholic sisterhood from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. On December 13, 1861, four Sisters of Charity from Montreal arrived in Kingston to found what is now known as the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. On December 8, 1856, five Sisters of Providence, led by Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart, traveled to Fort Vancouver at the request of the Most Reverend A.M.A. Blanchet, bishop of Nesqually (Washington Territory). They were assigned temporary quarters in the attic of Bishop Blanchet's house on the grounds of the original St. James Mission near the fort.
Within a few months, they opened Providence Academy, a boarding and day school and orphanage. Soon, additional sisters arrived from Montreal, and a cluster of small buildings surrounding by the "Providence enclosure" took shape.
In March 1858, the Sisters of Providence opened a hospital in a building that was originally planned to house a laundry and bakery for the mission complex. The two-story hospital with four beds was named St. Joseph Hospital after one of the sisters' patron saints. It was the first permanent hospital in the Pacific Northwest, and continues today as Southwest Washington Medical Center. The Sisters of Providence incorporated their charitable work in 1859, and slowly expanded their ministry, first north to Puget Sound and then into eastern Washington and Montana.
After St. Joseph Hospital opened, the Most Reverend F.N. Blanchet, archbishop of the Diocese of Oregon City, invited the sisters to establish a hospital in Portland. The sisters agreed that there was certainly a need for a hospital in Portland, but circumstances and financial concerns made them unable to accept Archbishop Blanchet's invitation for more than a decade. On July 19, 1874 (then celebrated as the Feast of St. Vincent), they received a letter from the local St. Vincent de Paul Society, a Catholic charitable organization, offering a block of land in northwest Portland bounded by Twelfth, Marshall, and Northrup streets.
In 1888, Mother Mary Theresa purchased a five-acre tract of hilly land from M.G. and Ada M. Griffin about a mile to the west of the hospital, near Northwest Westover Road. Mother Mary Theresa and Mother Joseph forged ahead on the construction of a new building, laying the foundation's cornerstone (now located at the main entrance of the current St. Vincent's) in 1892. The second St. Vincent Hospital was officially dedicated three years later, on July 14, 1895.
In 1941, the sisters opened a second Portland facility on the east side of the Willamette River, known today as Providence Portland Medical Center. On May 19, 1965, administrator Sister Mary Laureen [Rita] Ferschweiler announced that the hospital would move to the Beaverton area on the west edge of Portland. Construction began shortly thereafter, and on January 31, 1971, the third and current St. Vincent Hospital opened its doors. It is now known as Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
From the 1960's to 1980, Providence went through changes. Dr. Albert Starr is a world renown cardiovascular surgeon, who co-invented the first artificial heart valve in 1960. After this success, the hospital received multitudes of patients for the next 25 years. In 1985, Dr. Starr opened the Portland Heart Institute. Unfortunately, during this time, the hospital also had minimal administration. The ER and walk-in clinics literally had one administrator.
Then the early 1980's brought in the administrative bureaucrats. This staffing was filled with degree-holders in Health Care Administration and Business Administration. They modified Providence's core values with "stewardship", along with "respect, compassion, excellence, and justice". Then by the late 1980's, Providence hired professional coders to translate doctor's exams into medical bills. The mid-late 1990's changed the pay to doctors in the ER and clinics from salary to independent contractors. Providence Health & Services is now the third-largest nonprofit hospital system in the United States. Its CEO is paid around 3.5 million dollars a year.
"Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, has undergone a transformation in the past quarter century, which is typical of hundreds of hospitals in the United States. Providence has its roots in nineteenth-century religious charity...Healthcare has become a great way for the Catholic Church...to collect money." -Rosenthal, Elizabeth, An American Sickness, Pg. 24, Penguin Press, 2017
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