July 14th - Saint Camillus De Lellis, Confessor,
c.1550-1614
GOD can make a saint out of any kind of raw material. Out of the sort of
life that breeds criminals came Saint Camillus. His mother had died when
he
was a child, and he grew up absolutely neglected. An illiterate giant,
over
six-and-a-half feet tall, he became a soldier in the service of Naples and
later of Venice. From the beginning, his career as a soldier was
handicapped
by an overpowering addiction to gambling, which kept him penniless. When
he
was reduced to taking a job as a servant at the Hospital of San Giacomo at
Rome, he was dismissed for unruliness.
God thus allowed Camillus to reach the depths of poverty and shame, so
that,
having nothing of this earth to cling to, he would turn entirely to his
Creator. While working as a laborer on the new Capuchin buildings at
Manfredonia, he was so moved by the preaching of one of the friars that he
fell on his knees in tears, deploring his past life. From the time of his
conversion at the age of twenty-five, he never ceased to do penance.
Camillus was not permitted to make his vows after being admitted to the
novitiate of the Capuchins because of an unhealed wound, a souvenir of the
Battle of Lepanto, which had formed painful abscesses on one leg.
He therefore returned to the Hospital of San Giacomo to work among the
sick,
and especially the dying. So intense was his zeal that he was appointed
superintendent of the hospital.
It was clear to Camillus that the laymen working at the hospitals were
very
slack, and he determined to found an order of men who would tend the sick
out of charity. To further this end, he received holy orders and, in 1584,
left the hospital to found the Fathers of a Good Death, later called the
Ministers of the Sick.
The members of the order vowed to devote themselves to the
plague-stricken,
both in hospitals and in homes. Pope Sixtus V approved the congregation in
1586, and Pope Gregory XIV erected it as a mendicant religious order in
1591. As the congregation spread, Camillus founded many hospitals. In 1595
and 1601, he sent some of his religious with the papal troops into Hungary
and Croatia; these men, clad in black habits marked with a red cross,
staffed the first field hospital of modern times, the forerunner of the
Red
Cross.
A man's last moments are the most precious in his life. On them depends
his
eternal destiny. Camillus condemned the careless lack of attention to the
spiritual needs of patients, and dedicated himself to the dying. He
disposed
them to receive the last sacraments with the most perfect fervor and to
make
their death a voluntary sacrifice to God. Afflicted with many physical
sufferings himself, Camillus would leave his own bed to serve the dying.
He
resigned the general****p of his order in 1607, so that he might have more
leisure to serve the poor. He founded religious houses throughout Italy
and
sent his subjects to all places afflicted with the plague.
In Genoa, on July 14, 1614, at the age of sixty-four, he died. Just before
his death, when he knew the end was near, Camillus spoke: "I rejoiced
because they said to me, 'We will go up to the house of the Lord'." (Ps.
121:1)."O Lord, I confess I am the most wretched of sinners, most
undeserving of Thy favor; but save me by Thy infinite goodness." He was
canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746, and was declared patron of the
sick
(along with Saint John of God) by Pope Leo XIII. He was named patron of
nurses and nursing associations by Pope Pius XI. In every suffering man
Camillus had seen Christ and served Him.
This Version taken from:
http://www.geocities.com/barats2000/JulyFeast.html
Saint Quote:
Compassion is preferable to cleanliness: with a little bit of soap I can
clean my bed, but think of the flood of tears I would require to clean
from
my soul the stain that harshness against this unfortunate would leave.
--Saint Martin de ****res
Bible quote:
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest
come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be
healed.
(Matthew 8:8)
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Canticle Isaiah 2
The mountain of the house of the Lord
In the last days, at the end of time,
the mountain of the house of the Lord
will be prepared high above all mountains.
It will be raised above the hills
and all nations will come to it.
And many peoples will come there and say
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
Let him teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths".
For from Sion the law will go forth,
from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.
And he will judge the nations
and rebuke many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into sickles.
Nation will lift sword against nation no longer.
No longer will they go out into battle.
People of Jacob, come:
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
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