St. Camillus de Lellis, Priest

St. Camillus de Lellis was born at Bucchianico, Italy, on May 25, 1550. As a young man, he thought of enrolling in the military, but an ulcer on his right foot kept him from fulfilling that desire. He went (1571) to Rome’s Hospital of San Giacomo for treatment, and after the wound healed, he found employment at the hospital as a servant. His service, however, did not last long because he was dismissed for gambling. He then served in the Venetian army for four years (1571–74), and when he gambled away all that he owned he got a job as a laborer at a Capuchin monastery in Manfredonia. Repenting his past life and undergoing a conversion, he joined (1575) the Capuchins as a coadjutor brother. Because the wound on his foot again became ulcerated, he left the Capuchins and returned to the hospital in Rome. Once healed, he remained at the hospital for almost three years working with the sick. He then reentered (1579) the Capuchins, but again his wound opened and he was forced to leave.

Camillus now decided to dedicate his life to the sick. He returned to San Giacomo, and there they asked him to serve as the hospital’s superintendent. Coming under the influence of St. Philip Neri (see May 26), Camillus began studies for the priesthood and was ordained in 1584. He gathered others about him who also wanted to share his work; they called themselves Servants of the Sick. They daily visited Rome’s Santo Spirito Hospital, and there they nursed the sick, offering them both physical and spiritual assistance, especially in cases near death. Camillus, who was renowned for his charity, died in Rome on July 14, 1614, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746. The congregation he founded is called the Order of the Servants of the Sick, but its members are more commonly known as Camillians. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII named St. Camillus de Lellis and St. John of God (see March 8) patrons of the sick and of hospitals; and in 1930, Pope Pius XI named St. Camillus patron of nurses. Today’s Mass prayer also mentions St. Camillus’s special love for the sick.