Saint Camillus de Lellis
A gambling soldier who became the founder of a religious order serving the sick
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Priest, Founder
- Life
- 1550 – 1614
- Era
- 17th century
- Feast
- 14 July
- Countries
- Italy
Life story
Camillus was born on 25 May 1550 at Bucchianico in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Tall and powerfully built, he served from youth in the armies of the Republic of Venice and of Spain and became addicted to gambling, losing both his money and his clothes. A leg wound that never healed fully, dating from his youth, forced him to seek treatment at the San Giacomo hospital in Rome.
He stayed on to work there but was later dismissed. He then worked as a labourer for the Capuchins at Manfredonia, and around 1575 he underwent a deep conversion. He asked to join the Capuchins but was refused because of the leg wound. He returned to serve at San Giacomo and was gradually given the management of the hospital.
At the hospital he noticed that hired attendants often cared little for the patients. He gathered a group of like-minded companions willing to nurse the sick with real affection. On the advice of his confessor, St Philip Neri, he studied and was ordained a priest in 1584. His community, approved by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 and raised to a religious order by Gregory XIV in 1591, was called the Ministers of the Sick, with a red cross on the habit.
His brothers cared for the sick in hospitals, in private homes and during epidemics, including on ships carrying patients. His own health declined steadily, but he continued his work until he died in Rome on 14 July 1614. Pope Benedict XIV canonised him in 1746. In 1886 Pope Leo XIII named him, with St John of God, patron of hospitals and the sick.
Works and witness
- Soldier and gambler; leg wound led him to San Giacomo hospital in Rome
- Converted around 1575 and returned to serve the sick
- Ordained a priest in 1584
- Founded the Ministers of the Sick, red cross on the habit, approved 1586 and 1591
- Canonised in 1746
Patron of
Hospitals, The sick, Nurses
Saints from the same country
References
- Martyrologium Romanum
- Sanzio Cicatelli, Vita del P. Camillo de Lellis (early biography)
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.