On 14 & 18 July, we have just celebrated the extraordinary life of
SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS
“The Hospital is a House of God, a Garden where the Voices of the Sick are Music from Heaven.”
From improbable beginnings – a wastrel, addicted to gambling, a mercenary combatant and a recalcitrant troublemaker with a violent temper – Saint Camillus, late in life, after more than one false start, went on to become a huge saint – huge in stature (muscular and over 6’ tall), huge in his indomitable spirit and huge in his devotion to and love of the Lord.
Like Saints Junipero Serra and Peregrine, he suffered from a pus-draining leg wound that failed to ever heal.
Called to a late vocation, he studied Latin humbly with school children in order to gain eligibility. He was ordained at age 34.
Along with Saint John of God (another male nurse), he has become a patron saint of nursing. He is also the patron of hospital workers, physicians and the sick. Hospice workers have a special place in his heart. Those caring for victims of COVID might also turn to him. (And if you are looking for a saint to help with a gambling problem, Saint Camillus would be a good bet.)
Hospitals of the 17th century, especially for the incurably sick, were staffed not by health care professionals, but often by mercenaries and criminals performing what then was called “penance.” Their commitment to their patients was, therefore, often doubtful. Camillus de Lellis — who knew both the military and sickness — turned that around.
Saint Camillus had a special commitment to care of the terminally ill and abandoned. He named is new order, “Brothers of a Happy Death.” The Order of Clerics Regular, Ministers to the Sick (MI). In addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, members of this order take a vow of unfailing service to the sick, even at risk to their own lives.
Saint Camillus and his men risked their lives, caring for victims of the plague in Rome and Naples, a two of his earliest followers gave their lives in the effort.
A bright red cross marked the cape that he and his fellow caregivers wore. Camillus reportedly said it was to “frighten the devil.” It stood out when his men bravely ventured with stretchers onto a battlefield in Croatia in order to directly aid the wounded in the midst of combat. Theirs was the first recorded use of a military field ambulance. And their red-cross symbol was a forerunner, adopted, centenaries later, by the International Red Cross.
When the Tiber overflowed, Saint Camillus, tall and brawny – Hercules with a halo – physically lifted bed-bound patients from their flooded hospital beds and carried them in his arms to safety.
Oremus pro invicem!
Dr. Rich Watson
Past President, Catholic Medical Association of the USA
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*The attached article is a little lengthy, but a great read:
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/st-camillus-de-lellis-the-extrooper-5840
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Prayer to St Camillus:
