Abstract
Christian love (agapē, caritas) as a constitutive feature of the religiously-informed early-modern communities took various shapes from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Within the Capuchin order, "caritas" came to the fore especially in times of plague epidemics.
Even though Bohemian Capuchins were active with their charity even during lesser plague epidemics in the first half of the 17th century, best documented in historical sources is their nursing activity during the major plague epidemics of 1680 and 1713. During these, Capuchins across the Czech Lands attended urban hospitals and provisionally established lazarettes, where Capuchin priests provided the infected patients with sacraments, thus preparing them for their encounter with Christ.
The also provided the sick with physical care and medication, whose effect from today's perspective was quite negligible, but they also participated in the physical burial of the dead. This Capuchin comportment provably endorsed the order's reputation within the society, which can be also demonstrated on the basis of the increase in liveries taking place in the years immediately after the end of the plague epidemics.
To some extent, this charity service became regular part of the order's self-presentation in those times.