Saint Camillus de Lellis, Confessor
S. Camilli de Lellis Confessoris
Saint Camillus de Lellis, a converted soldier, gave his life to the service of the sick and the dying and founded an order to care for them, becoming a great patron of hospitals and of a holy death.
Saint Camillus was born in 1550 at Bucchianico in the Abruzzi region of Italy. As a young man he served as a soldier and fell into a disordered life, given to gambling and far from God. A grave illness and a profound conversion turned his heart wholly to the Lord, and the remainder of his life was spent in heroic service to those who suffer.
A new charity for the sick
Seeking to amend his life, Camillus came to serve in the hospitals of Rome, where he was moved with deep compassion at the neglect and misery in which the sick so often lay. Encouraged by his confessor, Saint Philip Neri, he was ordained a priest, and he gathered companions who would bind themselves to the care of the sick as a work of religion and love. From this grew the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers to the Sick — the Camillians — who wore a red cross upon their habit and vowed to serve the infirm even at the peril of their own lives, in time of plague and pestilence.
Camillus brought to the bedside not only practical care but a tender reverence, teaching his brethren to see in each sick person the very person of Christ, and to attend especially to the spiritual needs of the dying, that they might be helped to a holy death. He laboured for the reform of hospitals, insisting on cleanliness, good order, and gentleness, and is remembered as one who raised the care of the sick to a true apostolate.
Patron of the sick and the dying
Worn out by his labours and by his own infirmities, which he bore with patience, Saint Camillus died at Rome in 1614. He was canonised in 1746, and in time was declared, together with Saint John of God, a heavenly patron of the sick and of hospitals, and later of nurses and those who care for the suffering. The collect of his feast asks that, by his merits, God may pour into our hearts the spirit of his love, that in the hour of our death we may overcome the enemy and deserve to win a heavenly crown.
The Collect
O God, who didst adorn blessed Camillus with a singular grace of charity toward the sick in their last agony: pour forth upon us, we beseech thee, by his merits, the spirit of thy love; that in the hour of our death we may be worthy to overcome the enemy and to attain unto a heavenly crown.
Deus, qui sanctum Camíllum, ad animárum in extrémo agóne luctántium subsídium, singulári caritátis prærogatíva decorásti: ejus, quæsumus, méritis spíritum nobis tuæ dilectiónis infúnde; ut in hora éxitus nostri hostem víncere, et ad cæléstem mereámur corónam perveníre.
Patronage
He is a patron of the sick, of hospitals and the nursing profession, and of a happy death; his Order of the Ministers to the Sick continues his work.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 14 July as an obligatory memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Camillus de Lellis?
In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal his feast is kept on 18 July as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar it is observed on 14 July.
Who was Saint Camillus de Lellis?
He was a sixteenth-century Italian, once a soldier of disordered life, who after a deep conversion devoted himself to the care of the sick and dying. He founded the Order of Ministers to the Sick (the Camillians) and is honoured as a great patron of hospitals and of a holy death.
Why is he a patron of the sick and dying?
Saint Camillus made the loving care of the sick the whole work of his life and of his religious order, attending especially to the spiritual comfort of the dying. For this the Church declared him, with Saint John of God, a heavenly patron of the sick, of hospitals, and of those who nurse and care for them.
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