The remarkable story of a little known saint who devoted his life to the sick and poor in Rome

The life of St. Camillus de Lellis, the 'Giant of Charity,' can inspire us to seek heaven with renewed fervor.

(LifeSiteNews) — The Imitation of Christ teaches us that we should not “inquire or dispute about the merits of the saints, as to which is more holy, or which shall be greater in the kingdom of heaven.” There is no good reason for this kind of speculation. Nevertheless, it is true that some saints are more popular and better known than others, whether because they founded a religious order, because their specific mission had a more popular character, because they wrote renowned works, or for some other reason.

Thus, it is easy to understand why Saint Benedict, the father of Europe and founder of the Benedictine Order; Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor; Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower of the Little Way; and other saints are among the best known among Catholics. There is, however, one saint whose pioneering work, social impact, and extraordinary life story should have made him immensely popular, yet he remains surprisingly little known: Saint Camillus de Lellis, whose feast is celebrated today, July 14. In a series of brief points, we present this monument of charity: a life that can inspire us to seek heaven with renewed fervor.

Early life Saint Camillus de Lellis’ birth was a sign of God’s special providence and predilection for him. What would already be surprising today was even more extraordinary on May 25, 1550, when his mother gave birth to him at more than 50 years of age. Camillus was born and raised in Bucchianico, in the province of Abruzzo, in the Kingdom of Naples.

His father was a soldier, and that was the path he followed. Serving as a mercenary soldier in the armies of the Italian states, he was a young man immersed in the ways of the world. At around the age of 20, he developed a serious wound in his leg, perhaps osteomyelitis, which would accompany him throughout his life and whose origin was most likely venereal.

He was not an unbeliever; his mother was a devout woman who taught him the faith, but he lived almost as a pagan. Like many of us, he experienced moments of faith and made promises to God that he failed to keep. He remained deeply attached to worldly pleasures.

Camillus received very little education, despised discipline, and was addicted to gambling. He eventually reached the point of wagering even the clothes he wore when he had nothing else left, until he was reduced to begging in order to survive. He was a tall man, especially for the sixteenth century: he was over six feet, seven inches tall.

Seeing such a tall and strong young man reduced to begging, a man invited him to work on the construction of a monastery. Camillus hesitated, but faced with the miserable condition of his life as a beggar, he eventually accepted the invitation. There, his conversion began.

Conversion Camillus was a temperamental man. He was a fiery melancholic with a strong choleric streak. He worked on the construction of the monastery reluctantly.

He even asked to leave the job, but the priests, seeing that he would return to his former bad ways if he left, did everything they could to convince him to stay. Camillus yielded to their insistence only because he had nowhere else to go. Camillus began to take on other duties at the monastery.

He transported goods from one monastery to another. On one of his journeys, he went to a monastery to deliver a shipment of goods in exchange for wine. This monastery was located in San Giovanni Rotondo, where, three centuries later, Padre Pio would live in the very same cell where Camillus spent the decisive night of his life.

Curiously, like Camillus, Padre Pio was also born on May 25. At that monastery, a certain Father Angelo invited him to a spiritual reflection. The priest said to him: “Camillus, my brother, you are young and strong; you have your whole life ahead of you.

Put God first: God is everything, and all else is nothing. To save your immortal soul is the only duty of one who lives a short and uncertain life, as human life on earth is.” Camillus simply replied to the priest: “Father, pray to the Lord for me, that He may enlighten me, so that I may know and do what I must accomplish for His service and for the salvation of my soul.”

Having reflected throughout the night, on the following day, February 2, 1575, Camillus set out on his way back to his monastery, and there he almost repeated Saint Paul’s experience. Unable to stop thinking about the words he had heard the previous day, the inner turmoil he felt reached such a point that he threw himself from his donkey onto the ground. Kneeling on a stone and weeping, he mourned his former life and cried out: “What great blindness was mine for not having known my God sooner!

Why did I not dedicate my whole life to His service? Forgive me, Lord, forgive this great sinner!” After thanking God for His patience in waiting for him for so long, he repeatedly exclaimed: “Enough of the world!

Enough of the world!” After his conversion at the age of 24, Camillus never again committed a mortal sin. The dawn of his vocation Camillus sought to channel his firm resolve for conversion by dedicating himself tirelessly to the humblest tasks of the monastery, practicing penances such as fasting — a practice he would continue for the rest of his life from that point onward — and resolving to become a Capuchin, which he indeed did.

However, his leg wound, which proved incurable, prevented him from continuing along this path and forced him to go to Rome, to the Hospital of St. James of the Incurables, for treatment. Upon seeing the condition of the sick in the hospital, Camillus soon realized that it was God’s will that this should be his field of sanctification. In 1582, the seed was planted of what would eventually become the Order of the Ministers of the Sick (Camillians), the first religious institution in the Church specifically dedicated to the care of the sick.

Although he himself was a sick man, Camillus began to serve in the hospital. The hospital environment at that time was shocking. It was difficult to find good attendants, and they often had to resort to the dregs of society, even criminals.

Since these workers were almost always forced to work or did so merely for the sake of a salary, they performed their duties unwillingly and very poorly. To understand the deplorable conditions of the hospital environment that Camillus encountered, bodies were piled up, and some who were still alive were placed among the dead. Moreover, there was an almost complete lack of spiritual assistance for the sick.

The “Giant of Charity,” as he came to be known, understood that the only way to transform that reality was to inspire men who would serve the sick voluntarily and out of love for God, with the same love and tenderness that mothers show toward their own sick children. Camillus gathered a small group of five men who lived alongside him in the hospital. In one of the hospital rooms, they created an oratory where they prayed, and from there they went out to care for the sick like seraphim inflamed with love.

By divine inspiration, he was attentive to matters that centuries later would become recognized medical practices, such as appropriate nutrition, the hygiene of bed linens, and the circulation of air in hospital rooms. Camillus thought of it merely as a fellowship of laymen serving at the Hospital of St. James of the Incurables, without any greater ambitions. Only God knew the magnitude of the work that was beginning there.

The envy of some who saw the work of Camillus and his companions bearing fruit led to months of criticism, mockery, suspicion, and sabotage, culminating in a day when Camillus found the small oratory room in disarray. Upon encountering that scene, Camillus, dejected, lay down discouraged and dwelt upon the events of the day until he fell asleep. It was then that he had the famous vision in which Jesus, on the crucifix that stood in the oratory and is still preserved today by the Camillians in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rome, said to him: “Do not be afraid, fainthearted one!

Go forward, for I will help you and will be with you, and I will bring great good from this obstacle. This work is not yours, but mine.” The Camillian spirit Reanimated and comforted by God, Camillus resumed his small work with his companions.

At first, they did so secretly; then, little by little, in an organized manner and independently from the Hospital of St. James of the Incurables. Eventually, Camillus realized that he would have difficulty continuing the work forward unless he was ordained a priest. He humbly decided to resume his studies, almost from the beginning, already being over 30 years old, since he had barely learned to read and write during his childhood.

Camillus’ humility and effort were admirable: he took the first steps like a child until he became prepared for ordination, which took place in 1584. Camillus was naturally introspective, austere, and severe; therefore, many who did not know him considered him rough and harsh. He had disagreements with many people, even with his spiritual director, Father Philip Neri (yes, the saint — Saint Philip Neri), who was not always able to moderate his impulses and ardor.

He had an explosive temperament and was straightforward, but those who knew him felt at ease in his presence. Although he was generally quiet and strict, he inspired immense joy among the poor and the sick. Whenever he arrived, all the patients rejoiced.

Even the blind recognized his scent and called him and greeted him by name. His magnificent charity was the fruit of countless and persistent prayers, good works, and penances that gradually led him to holiness. His charity toward his brothers, especially the sick and the poor, knew no barriers, not even the illnesses he carried for years.

The wound in his leg never left him. It extended from his calf to his foot, involving both ankles, and the nerve damage was so severe that, humanly speaking, it was impossible to explain how he was able to walk. In addition to this illness, Camillus suffered for almost four decades from an inguinal hernia, until the end of his life, as well as painful calluses on his feet, kidney colic, and cartilaginous growths in his knees that caused him great pain, among other ailments.

Camillus added many voluntary penances to his illnesses, including interior ones, such as the effort to restrain his speech. Despite so much suffering, he worked normally for about 18 hours a day and slept only four hours each night. Those who knew him and saw him were amazed that he was able to work as he did.

Instead of resting after the great labors of the day, he would unfailingly rise at midnight, take his turn serving the sick, and remain on his feet until after their lunch. He was diligent in reading, prayer, and meditation. Everyone marveled that a man with such a diseased leg — from which nearly a pound of fluid drained every day — could remain kneeling for so long.

Camillus spared no effort out of love for the poor and the sick. He gave away what he had and even what he did not have, and he took every opportunity to evangelize those in need and counsel them against sin. He fled occasions of sin, hated sin, and had no hesitation or fear in admonishing sinners, even when doing so placed his own life at risk.

He was intolerant of liars, grumblers, and gossips. Camillus rebuked them without hesitation. He did the same with those who swore or blasphemed.

He could not restrain himself from correcting them, even in the street. He would turn pale and tremble when he heard a blasphemy. His biographer and contemporary, Father Sanzio Cicatelli, relates that Camillus “did not avoid meeting with infidels, but when he heard of heretics, he reacted and fled from them as from the devil.

He considered them his greatest enemies and gave the impression of perceiving them by their smell.” He constantly spoke of spiritual matters. Wherever Camillus was, it was impossible to speak of anything else, because his presence inspired respect and devotion.

He demonstrated his zeal and honor for God, as well as the integrity of his faith. His piety was liturgical both in form and in content; that is, it corresponded to the directives and spirit of the Church. Camillus cultivated devotion to many saints.

Among others, he was devoted to Saint Nicholas, Saint Francis, Saint Mary Magdalene, and Saint Charles, and he held Saint Michael the Archangel and his Guardian Angel in special esteem. Above all, however, he was especially devoted to the Queen of Angels and Saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a man of prayer.

Camillus never failed to pray the Rosary and the Angelus. He prayed regardless of the place or the people around him, without concern for human respect. Likewise, he never passed before an image or statue of Our Lady or a saint without greeting it.

The center of Camillus’ piety, however, was the Eucharist. The tabernacle was for him a center of attraction. Devout and modest, he performed all the external acts of worship that, besides edifying others, help the soul to recollect itself and manifest its faith.

He did not want his religious, when assisting the dying, to speak or say subtle or abstract things, but rather to read and speak about piety, repentance for sins, the firm resolution not to offend God, trust in divine mercy, patience, perseverance in faith, and above all, the holy Passion of Jesus Christ. Death and miracles Camillus died at the age of 64 on July 14, 1614. He was beatified in 1742 and canonized in 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV.

He was proclaimed patron saint of the sick and of hospitals in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII, and patron saint of nurses and hospital workers in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. Even during his lifetime, there were numerous miraculous cases of sick and even terminally ill people who recovered after his intercession, including the healing of a man blind from birth and of people on the verge of death whose burials were already being prepared due to the severity of their illnesses. In addition to the miraculous cures that God worked through him, many other extraordinary events were witnessed, from the calming of storms to levitations and bilocations.

The work begun by Saint Camillus saved many souls, especially those nearing the end of life. Father Cicatelli reports that “it happened many times that even through our simplest [Camillian] brothers, obstinate heretics were converted in their agony, and, renouncing at that moment the errors of Calvin or Luther, they died as good Catholics.” In his spiritual testament, Camillus wrote: “I wish to believe firmly all that the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church believes, and all that is contained in the Creed, together with all Catholic interpretations, decisions, and determinations of the holy fathers and doctors, confirmed by the Councils.

I wish to live and die in the same faith in which so many saints of God lived and died. I wish to live and die always confessing that I am a soldier of Jesus Christ crucified.”