The future St. Camillus de Lellis was born on May 25th,
1550 in the hill town of Bucchianico, in the Hapsburg Kingdom of Naples. The
son of a military officer, Camillus inherited his father’s assertive
disposition which, coupled with his towering height of over six feet, made him
restless and dissatisfied with a life in his hometown.
After his mother’s death – and at the age of 16 - he
followed his father into military life, enlisting in the armies of the Venetian
Republic. Although his service brought him into some skirmishes with the French,
without a doubt what would become the highlight of his military career was the
Ottoman-Venetian war of 1570, which started with the Turkish invasion of
Christian Cyprus that same year.
Eventually wounded in battle, and after the cessation of
hostilities, Camillus returned home with his now elderly and sick father, who
passed away soon after. Without any further parental guidance, the veteran,
still in his early twenties, turned to gambling and within a short time became
a pauper. To make matters worse, the injury he had received did not fully heal,
became infected, and left him with a limp.
One fortunate day, Camillus was spotted begging for alms at
the local parish by a man who promised to help him find employment. In a few
days, he began working at the local Capuchin monastery, as a mason and leading
the monks’ mule caravans. It was there where the guardian of the friary engaged
him in conversations about his faith and exhorted him to convert. It did not
take long: with his heart touched, Camillus yearned to be taken in by the
Church and did convert. He was 25 years old.
His newly found faith was soon to be tested, however. Full
of zeal, he attempted to enter the novitiate of the Benedictine order, but was
rejected for his lack of education and his limp. Discouraged, he headed for
Rome to try his luck, and was admitted into the Hospital of St. James, in hopes
of having his foot treated. Meanwhile, he continued to follow a rigorous
religious lifestyle that included the performance of penances, while befriending
a local priest, Father Philip Neri.
Still unable to pay for his treatment nevertheless, he
became a caregiver at the hospital and tended personally to many of the
patients, who sought care for their incurable diseases. While doing so, he became
aware of the poor attention that many received, while other patients were even
verbally – or physically – abused. Since many of the orderlies where criminals
who worked as at the hospital as part of their sentence, this situation does
not seem implausible.Nonetheless, Camillus, the former soldier, was appalled. He
argued, and fought back and, as a result, was dismissed. Determined now to
establish a religious community with the express purpose of tending to the
sick, he returned to the Benedictine monastery with a monetary donation from a
wealthy Roman, to begin his studies.
Yet once, again, as it seems to happen to all men who strive
to do good, fate was adverse. His wound reopened and forced him to seek medical
treatment once again. It was only after tedious negotiations that the friends
he had made at the hospital were able to help get him back in. And yet again,
Camillus was forced to work to pay for his treatment, and silently endure the
mistreatment of patients. But he had not desisted in his calling.
He resumed his seminary studies at the Jesuit College in
Rome, and was then ordained as a priest by Lord Thomas Goldwell, the last
surviving Catholic Bishop of Great Britain. It did not take him long to gather
a group of committed followers, retire from St. James, move into the hospital
of the Holy Spirit, and have the congregation confirmed by Pope Sixtus V. The members
of Camillus’ Order – self declared “Servants of the Sick” – sported a red cross
on their black capes in order to, in Camillus’ own words, frighten the devil.
His work continued for many more years, all the while he urged
the other members and volunteers to treat the hospital as a house of God, and
to cherish their time with the sick and the dying. But he was still a man, and
it is reported that during a particular time of anxiety, in which he questioned
all of his work he heard a voice loudly proclaim from his crucifix: “This is my
work, not yours.”
Camillus de Lellis died on July 14th, 1614, his
order having spread throughout Italy, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in
1746. His tomb is beneath the altar of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in
Rome.
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