Feast Day: July 18
Patron of: the sick, hospitals, nurses, and physicians
Early Life and Conversion
Saint Camillus of Lellis was born on May 25, 1550, in Bucchianico, in the Kingdom of Naples. His father, a mercenary soldier, was often away from home, and his mother died when Camillus was still young. He inherited from his father both a military spirit and, unfortunately, a passion for gambling, which would plague his early adult years.
As a youth, Camillus led a dissolute life, serving as a soldier and falling deeper into vice. His lifestyle left him destitute and spiritually barren. Around the age of 25, after suffering from a painful leg wound that rendered him unfit for military service, he sought work at the San Giacomo degli Incurabili hospital in Rome. It was there, while caring for the sick, that the grace of God moved his heart to profound repentance.
His conversion was total. Renouncing his former life, Camillus dedicated himself to penance and charity. In 1575, he attempted to join the Capuchins, but his leg wound made him physically unfit for the rigors of the order. Yet God had another work prepared for him.
A New Work of Mercy
While working at hospitals, Camillus was struck by the indifference and rough treatment often shown by attendants toward the sick and dying. Burning with zeal for the corporal works of mercy, he resolved to found a society of men who would serve the sick with the same love and devotion they would offer to Christ Himself.
In 1582, under the spiritual direction of St. Philip Neri, Camillus was ordained a priest. That same year, he and a small band of companions formed the Clerics Regular, Ministers to the Sick (known as the Camillians), whose members took an additional fourth vow: to serve the sick, even at the risk of their own lives.
The Red Cross on their habit became a sign of their self-sacrificing charity, particularly in times of plague and war. The Camillians were among the first organized groups to provide professional and spiritual care to the sick, both in hospitals and on battlefields.
Holiness in Charity
Camillus’s life was marked by extraordinary compassion, heroic service, and tireless labor. He spent countless hours in hospitals, tending to the bodily and spiritual needs of the dying. He often stayed with the infected during plague outbreaks, seeing in each patient the suffering Christ.
He was known to weep over the patients in his care and to rejoice when a soul was saved through repentance and the sacraments. Despite his own chronic infirmities, including the painful leg wound that never fully healed, he persevered in his service, traveling across Italy to establish hospitals and houses of his order.
He also labored intensely to reform hospital practices, advocating for cleaner, more humane conditions—centuries before modern healthcare standards emerged.
Death and Legacy
Saint Camillus died on July 14, 1614, in Rome, having served the sick for over 40 years. Pope Benedict XIV canonized him in 1746, and he was declared patron of the sick and of all hospitals. Later, Pope Leo XIII also named him patron of nurses and physicians.
His order, the Camillians, continues his mission worldwide, serving the poor, the sick, and the dying with Christ-like charity.
Spiritual Legacy
Saint Camillus embodies the Catholic tradition of the corporal works of mercy, especially the care for the sick and dying. His life is a model of how one can turn from vice to virtue through the grace of conversion, and how love for Christ can be expressed in tireless, practical charity.
He often exhorted his brethren:
“Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will lead us to Heaven.”