St. Camillus de Lellis
Posted on July 14, 2019 by admin No comments
Born: May 25, 1550 Bucchianico, Chieti, Kingdom of Naples
Died: July 14, 1614 (aged 64) Rome, Papal States
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified: 1742, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Benedict XIV
Canonized: 1746, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Benedict XIV
Major shrine: Church of Santa Maria Maddalena, Rome, Italy
Feast: 14 July 18 July (General Roman Calendar, 1762-1969; still in the United States)
Patronage: sick; hospitals; nurses; physicians
Saint Camillus de Lellis, M.I., (25 May 1550 – 14 July 1614) was a Roman Catholic priest from Italy who founded a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick.
Biography
Early life
Camillus de Lellis was born on May 25, 1550, at Bucchianico (now in Abruzzo, then part of the Kingdom of Naples). His mother, Camilla Compelli de Laureto, was nearly fifty when she gave birth to him. His father was an officer in both the Neapolitan and French royal armies and was seldom home. De Lellis had his father’s temper and, due to her age and retiring nature, his mother felt unable to control him as he grew up. She died in 1562. As a consequence he grew up neglected by the family members who took him in after her death. Tall for his age, at 16 De Lellis joined his father in the Venetian army and fought in a war against the Turks.
After a number of years of military service, his regiment was disbanded in 1575. Having gambled away all his possessions, De Lellis took work as a laborer at the Capuchin friary at Manfredonia; he was constantly plagued, however, by a leg wound he received while in the army, which would not heal. Despite his aggressive nature and excessive gambling, the guardian of the friary saw a better side to his nature, and continually tried to bring that out in him. Eventually the friar’s exhortations penetrated his heart and he had a religious conversion in 1575. He then entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars. His leg wound, however, had continued to plague him and was declared incurable by the physicians, thus he was denied admission to that Order.
He then moved to Rome where he entered the San Giacomo Hospital, possibly founded by the Colonna family and dedicated to cardinal Giacomo Colonna (uncle of the founder Giovanni Colonna), which cared for incurable cases. He himself became a caregiver at the hospital, and later its Superintendent. In the meantime, he continued to follow a strict ascetic life, performing many penances, such as constant wearing of a hairshirt. He took as his spiritual director and confessor, the popular local priest, Philip Neri, who was himself to found a religious congregation of the Camillians and be declared a saint.
De Lellis began to observe the poor attention the sick received from the staff of the hospital. He was led to invite a group of pious men to express their faith through the care of the patients at the hospital. Eventually he felt called to establish a religious community for this purpose, and that he should seek Holy Orders for this task. Neri, his confessor, gave him approval for this endeavor, and a wealthy donor provided him with the income necessary to undertake his seminary studies.
He was ordained on Pentecost of 1584 by Lord Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, Wales, and the last surviving Catholic bishop of Great Britain. Camillus then retired from his service at the hospital, and he and his companions moved to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, where they assumed responsibility for the care of the patients there.
Founder
Thus De Lellis established the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm (abbreviated as M.I.), better known as the Camillians. His experience in wars led him to establish a group of health care workers who would assist soldiers on the battlefield. The large, red cross on their cassock remains a symbol of the Congregation today. Camillians today continue to identify themselves with this emblem on their habits, a symbol universally recognized today as the sign of charity and service. This was the original Red Cross, hundreds of years before the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was formed.
During the Battle of Canizza in 1601, while Camillians were helping with the wounded, the tent in which they were tending to the sick and in which they had all of their equipment and supplies was completely destroyed and burned to the ground. Everything in the tent was destroyed except the red cross of a religious habit belonging to one of the Camillians who was ministering to the wounded on the battlefield. This event was taken by the Camillans to manifest divine approval of the Red Cross of St. Camillus.
Members of the Order also devoted themselves to victims of Bubonic plague. It was due to the efforts of the brothers and supernatural healings by de Lellis that the people of Rome credited de Lellis with ridding the city of a great plague and the subsequent famine. For a time, he became known as the “Saint of Rome”.
De Lellis’ concern for the proper treatment of the sick extended to the end of their lives. He had come to be aware of the many cases of people being buried alive, due to haste, and ordered that the Brothers of his Order wait fifteen minutes past the moment when the patient seemed to have drawn his last breath, in order to avoid this.
Expansion
In 1586 Pope Sixtus V gave the group formal recognition as a congregation, and assigned them the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rome, which they still maintain. In 1588 they expanded to Naples and in 1594 St. Camillus led his Religious to Milan where they attended to the sick of the Ca’ Granda, the main hospital of the city.
Pope Gregory XV raised the Congregation to the status of an Order, equivalent with the mendicant orders, in 1591. At that time they established a fourth religious vow unique to their Order: “to serve the sick, even with danger to one’s own life.”
Throughout his life De Lellis’ ailments caused him suffering, but he allowed no one to wait on him and would crawl to visit the sick when unable to stand and walk. It is said that Camillus possessed the gifts of healing and prophecy. He resigned as Superior General of the Order in 1607, but continued to serve as Vicar General of the Order. By that time, communities of the Order had spread all throughout Italy, even as far as Hungary. He assisted in a General Chapter of the Order in 1613, after which he accompanied the new Superior General on an inspection tour of all the hospitals of the Order in Italy. In the course of that tour, he fell ill. He died in Rome in 1614, and was entombed at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Veneration
Camillus was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in the year 1742, and canonized by him four years later in 1746.
Popularly, Camillus is the patron saint of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians. His assistance is also invoked against gambling.
His mortal remains are located in the altar in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rome, along with several of his relics. Also on display is the Cross which allegedly spoke to Camillus, and asked him, “Why are you afraid? Do you not realize that this is not your work but mine?” which has become the motto associated with St. Camillus, as well as healthcare workers who were inspired by him.
The Congregation of the Servants of the Sick of St Camillus, the Daughters of St. Camillus, the Secular Institutes of Missionaries of the Sick Christ Our Hope, of the Kamillianische Schwestern (Camillan Sisters) and of the Lay Camillian Family, were born later of the charism and spirituality of St. Camillus.
St. Camillus’ feast day was originally inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1762 for celebration on 18 July, since 14 July, the day of his death, was at that time taken by the feast of Saint Bonaventure. It was then given the rank of Double; later, it was changed in 1960 to that of “Third-Class Feast”, and in the liturgical changes of 1969 to that of an optional “Memorial”, when it was also moved to the anniversary of his death, 14 July. In the U.S.A. it is currently an optional Memorial celebrated on 18 July, because on 14 July there is the obligatory Memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Prayer of the sick to St. Camillus de Lellis
Glorious St Camillus, turn your merciful eyes upon those who suffer and those who care for them. Grant to the sick Christian resignation and trust in the goodness and power of God. Make those who take care of the sick be generous and lovingly dedicated. Help me to understand the mystery of suffering as a means of redemption and the way to God. May your protection comfort the sick and their families and encourage them to live together in love.
Bless those who dedicate themselves to the infirm. And may the good God grant peace and hope to all. Lord, I come before You in prayer. I know that You hear me, You know me. I know that I am in You and that Your strength is in me.
Look at my body racked with infirmity. You know, Lord, how much it hurts me to suffer. I know that You are not pleased with the suffering of Your children. Give me, Lord, the strength and courage to overcome moments of desperation and exhaustion.
Make me patient and understanding. I offer up my worries, anxiety and suffering to be more worthy of You. Let me, Lord, unite my sufferings with those of Your Son Jesus who for love of men gave His life on the Cross.
Furthermore, I ask You, Lord: Help doctors and nurses take care of the sick with the same dedication and love that St Camillus had. Amen
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be. St Camillus de Lellis, pray for us.
Prayer to St. Camillus de Lellis for the Sick and Poor
O glorious Saint Camillus, special patron of the sick poor, thou who for forty years, with truly heroic charity, didst devote thyself to the relief of their temporal and spiritual necessities, be pleased to assist them now even more generously, since thou art blessed in heaven and they have been committed by Holy Church to thy powerful protection. Obtain for them from Almighty God the healing of all their maladies, or, at least, the spirit of Christian patience and resignation that they may sanctify them and comfort them in the hour of their passing to eternity; at the same time obtain for us the precious grace of living and dying after thine example in the practice of divine love. Amen.
Novena to St. Camillus de Lellis
First Day:
Dear St Camillus, knowing that there is no greater love than to give your life for another, you patiently put up with many infirmities during your life without ceasing to work on behalf of the sick. Intercede with God so that I (or mention name(s) of the person(s) instead of “I” during the course of these novena prayers) may have the strength necessary to overcome the troubles that afflict my life and the life of my family and friends. Help me to spiritually benefit from everything that happens.
Do a good deed to someone in need.
Read Mark 5:21-43.
Second Day:
Dear St Camillus, shocked by the abandonment in which the sick lived, you received from Jesus the inspiration to create an organisation for caring for the sick with love. Help me to understand that it is important before God to treat those who suffer with love. In the difficult moments of life, give me courage not to become disheartened.
Pray for someone who suffers more than you do.
Read Mark 10:46-52.
Third Day:
Dear St Camillus, inspired by the example of the Good Samaritan, you vowed to improve the treatment of the sick. In all countries, may there be more concern and responsibility in helping the sick and in all health services. Give those who are in good health more joy in taking care of the sick. May everyone believe in the immense riches that God reserves for those who love Him and their brothers and sisters.
Ask God for the help needed by those who are not taken care of.
Read Luke 10:29-38.
Fourth Day:
Dear St Camillus, because of your extraordinary love of the infirm, the Church declared you patron saint of hospitals, the sick and nurses. Intercede with God in favour of doctors, the sick and all who take care of them so that they may be good hearted, enthusiastic and competent in their work. Make them remember that Jesus said that ‘everything you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me’.
Pray for those who take care of the sick.
Read Matthew 25:31-46.
Fifth Day:
Dear St Camillus, meditating on the words of Jesus (everything you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me), you received from God such great faith that you considered the sick as if they were Jesus Himself. Help me to grow in faith in order to always increase my love of the sick and to be ready to help them like a loving mother cares for her only sick child.
Make an effort to have more faith.
Read John 5:1-18.
Sixth Day:
Dear St Camillus, in a moment of great difficulty, you heard from the open-armed crucifix: “Courage, do not become downhearted, this work is not for you, but for me.” Give me always the strength not to become disheartened before the problems of my life and that of others. May everything I suffer convince me of the immense power of God in my favour.
Never desist of doing good.
Read John 9:1-41.
Seventh Day:
Dear St Camillus, you had great devotion to the Mother of Jesus. May I have greater trust in the power of intercession of Mary with God and be able to imitate her virtues. Help me understand the meaning of suffering and not consider it a punishment. Lord, You helped Camillus in his struggles, help me in the difficulties I face to remain at peace and not get disheartened.
Peace must be worked at every day.
Read John 2:1-12.
Eighth Day:
Dear St Camillus, even in the most difficult situations, you always trusted entirely in Divine Providence. Increase my faith in the goodness and power of God in favour of His creatures. May I always put myself in His hands in order to be strong in trials and suffering. Help me remember the last words of Jesus: “I will be with you until the end of time.”
Never lose hope. God is there.
Read Matthew 6:25-34.
Ninth Day:
Dear St Camillus, inspired by the words of Jesus (“I was sick and you visited me”), you dedicated your life and all your strength to help the sick, and to improve hospitals and health conditions in the most difficult circumstances. Arouse everyone’s conscience to be more interested in health problems and to diminish the suffering of the people. Commit yourself to doing good and being with the good.
Read John 13:1-17.
Prayer of the sick:
Lord, I come before You in prayer. I know that You hear me, You know me. I know that I am in You and that Your strength is in me. Look at my body racked with infirmity. You know, Lord, how much it hurts me to suffer. I know that You are not pleased with the suffering of Your children.
Give me, Lord, the strength and courage to overcome moments of desperation and exhaustion. Make me patient and understanding. I offer up my worries, anxiety and suffering to be more worthy of You. Let me, Lord, unite my sufferings with those of Your Son Jesus who for love of men gave His life on the Cross.
Furthermore, I ask You, Lord: Help doctors and nurses take care of the sick with the same dedication and love that St Camillus had. Amen.