St. Camillus de Lellis

 Tonight we have a Saint for our Front-Line Workers - a patron of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians.

Camillus de Lellis was born in 1550 in Italy. His mother, Camilla, was nearly 50 when she gave birth to him. His father was an officer in both the Neapolitan and French royal armies and was seldom home. After his mother's death when he was 12, he was taken in by other family, who pretty much neglected him.

At 16, he joined his father in the army and served for several years. His regiment was disbanded in 1575. Having gambled away all of his possessions, he took a job as a laborer in a Capuchin friary. Despite Camillus' aggressive nature and excessive gambling, the guardian of the friary continually tried to bring out the better side of his nature. He succeeded and Camillus entered the novitiate of the Capuchins. 

Unfortunately, a leg wound that he had received while in the army refused to heal and continued to plague him. It was declared incurable and the Capuchins denied him admission because of this. Camillus moved to Rome and entered the San Giacomo Hospital, which cared for incurable cases. He himself became a caregiver at the hospital and later its superintendent. He observed the poor attention the sick received from the staff of the hospital and was led to invite a group of pious men to express their faith through the care of the patients at the hospital. 

Eventually, he established a religious community for this purpose - the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm. He also sought Holy Orders in order to lead his congregation and was ordained in 1584. The order that he founded were known by the large red cross on their cassocks. This remains a symbol of the Congregation today. This symbol became what is today a universal symbol of charity and service - the original Red Cross, hundreds of years before the formation of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 

St. Camillus died in Rome in 1614 at the age of 64. His feast day is celebrated on July 14. In the U.S.A., it is currently an optional Memorial celebrated on July 18, because on July 1 there is the obligatory Memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.