St. Camillus de Lelis was born in 1550 in Bucchianico, Italy. His mother was in her sixties when she gave birth to her son. He was tall for the time at 1.9 meters. He enlisted in the Venetian army to fight the Turks, but soon contracted a leg disease that caused him to suffer all his life. In 1571 he was admitted as a patient and servant to the incurable hospital of San Giacomo in Rome. Nine months later he was dismissed because of his unruly temperament, and returned to soldiering against the Turks. One of his vices was gambling. In 1574 he gambled in the streets of Naples his savings, his weapons, everything he owned and lost even the shirt he was wearing.
Forced into misery and remembering a vow he had made some time before joining the Franciscans, he went to work on the construction of a friary in Manfredonia. The preaching he heard there in 1575 led him to a profound conversion, when Camillus was 25 years old. He then began a new life. He entered the Capuchins, but the illness of his leg prevented his religious profession. He returned to the hospital of San Giacomo, where he returned to the care of the sick.
Hospital renovation
Hospitals at that time were very presentable buildings on the outside and sometimes looked like real palaces. But in the wards for the sick, the most elementary hygiene and cleanliness were unknown. The doctors of the time had a horror of the air. The service was neglected. Most of the nurses were condemned by justice and served their sentences working in that pestilence.
With Camilo everything changed. He was welcomed with open arms, after his "conversion"He was a nurse, at the same time that he medicated his ailment. And he showed such diligence and fraternal feelings towards the sick that he was soon appointed administrator and director of the establishment. He immediately took advantage of his powers to improve the situation of the center; each sick person had his bed with clean clothes; the food was greatly improved; the medicines were given with rigorous punctuality; and, above all, with his great heart, he personally assisted the sick, sympathized with them in their sufferings, consoled the dying and prepared them for their last hour, at the same time exciting the zeal of all, priests and laymen, in favor of those who were suffering.
Divine Inspiration
One night he had a thought (it was August 1582): "What if I were to gather some men of heart in a kind of religious congregation, to care for the sick, not as mercenaries, but for the love of God? Without delay, he communicated the idea to five good friends, who accepted it with enthusiasm. He immediately transformed a room in the hospital into a chapel. A large crucifix presided over it.
Other high-ranking leaders of the hospital did not take kindly to the saint's plan and dynamism; they prohibited the meetings of those gathered and dismantled the chapel, but did not oppose Camillo's taking the crucifix to his room, with a heart full of sorrow. Praying before it, he saw soon after that the Christ became animated and stretched out his arms to him, saying: "Continue your work, which is mine".
Definitely encouraged, he set out to move forward. He then decided with his companions to found a congregation: the Servants of the Sick. He realized, however, that in order to realize his desires, he lacked two conditions: prestige and independence. The prestige, he believed, had to be that of the priesthood. And for this reason he undertook the study of theology, which was taught at the time at the Roman College by the famous Dr. Robert Bellarmine. At the age of two he celebrated his first Mass. He became independent by leaving the hospital and renting a modest house for himself and his companions. From there they left daily to serve in the hospital of the Holy Spirit, whose vast wards housed more than a thousand patients. They did it with as much love as if they were healing the wounds of Christ. In this way they prepared them to receive the sacraments and to die in the hands of God.
Mission reinforcement
In 1585, the community having grown, he prescribed to its members a vow to care for prisoners, the infectious sick and the seriously ill in private homes. From 1595 he sent religious with the troops to serve as nurses. This was the beginning of war nurses, before the Red Cross existed.
In 1588, a ship with sick people with the plague did not receive permission to enter Naples; the Servants of the Sick went to the ship to assist them and died of the disease. They were the first martyrs of the new congregation. St. Camillus de Lelis also assisted heroically in Rome during a plague, which ravaged the city. In 1591, St. Gregory XIV elevated the congregation to the status of a religious order. St. Camillus prepared many of those men and women to die a Christian death by arranging for prayers to continue for at least a quarter of an hour after apparent death.
A sick person at the service of the sick
Camilo suffered a lot all his life. He suffered for 46 years because of his leg, which had been broken since he was 36 years old. He also had two very painful sores on the sole of his foot. Long before he died, he suffered from nausea and could hardly eat. However, instead of seeking the care of her brothers, she sent them to serve other sick people. He founded fifteen religious houses and eight hospitals. He had the gift of prophecy and miracles, in addition to many extraordinary graces. In 1607 he resigned from the leadership of his order, but attended the chapter in 1613. He died on July 14, 1614, at the age of 64. He was canonized in 1746. Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI proclaimed him patron of the sick and their associations, together with St. John of God.
The Order today has 1,770 members, including professed, novices and aspirants, spread throughout Europe, South America and China, among others, and cares for some 7,000 patients in 145 hospitals.
