Today is the feastday of St Camillus de Lellis, another post-Trent or Counter Reformation saint, founder of the Order of Clerks Regular Ministers of the Sick, the Camillans or Camillians, the Brothers of a Happy Death. From breviary.net, here are Lessons iv. v. and vi. from the Divine Office readings for the Feast of St Camillus de Lellis and some information about the Saint, ordained a priest in 1584 by the exiled Thomas Goldwell of St Asaph, the last English bishop of the old hierarchy.
St Camillus, by an unknown artist
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Camillus Bucclánici, Theatinæ diœcesis oppido, ex nobili Lelliórum família natus est matre sexagenaria, cui gravidæ visum est per quietem, puerulum crucis signo in péctore munítum, et ágmini puerórum idem signum gestántium præeuntem, se peperisse. Adoléscens rem militarem secutus, sæculi vitiis aliquamdiu indulsit ; donec, vigesimum quintum agens ætátis annum, tanto supernæ gratiæ lúmine divinæque offensæ dolóre correptus fuit, ut uberrimo lacrimárum imbre íllico perfusus, anteáctæ vitæ sordes indesinenter abstérgere, novumque indúere hóminem firmiter decreverit. Quare ipso, quo id cóntigit, Purificatiónis beatíssimæ Vírginis festo die, ad fratres Minores, quos Capuccinos vocant, cónvolans, ut eórum numero adscriberétur summis precibus exorávit. Voti compos semel atque íterum factus est ; sed, fœdo úlcere, quo aliquando laboráverat, in ejus tibia iterato recrudescente, divinæ providéntiæ majora de eo disponentis consílio humíliter se subjécit ; suique victor, illíus religiónis bis expetítum et susceptum habitum bis dimísit. |
Camillus was a son of the noble family of the Lelli, and was born at Bucchianico, a town in the diocese of Chieti. His mother was sixty years of age at the time of his birth. While she was great with child, she dreamed that she brought forth a babe bearing the mark of a Cross upon his breast, and going before a troop of other babes marked likewise. When Camillus was a young man he served as a soldier, and yielded himself for a while to the sins of the world. In the twenty-fifth year of his age light from God broke upon him ; and in a violent fit of tears he determined to wipe away the evil relics of his past life, and to put on the new man. That very day, being the holiday of the Purification of the most blessed Virgin, he ran to the Friars Minors, who are commonly called Capuchins, and implored them to enrol him among them. They granted his wishes, but God was keeping him for greater things, and on this as well as on another occasion when he made the same attempt he was forced to abandon it by the increasing virulence of a loathsome running sore in the leg, with which he was afflicted. He meekly bowed himself to the will of Providence, and conquering his own wishes twice, stripped himself of the habit of the Order, which he had sought and received. |
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Romam profectus, in nosocomíum, quod Insanabílium dícitur, recéptus est ; cujus etiam administratiónem, ob perspectas ejus virtútes sibi demandatam, summa integritate, ac sollicitúdine vere paterna peregit. Omnium ægrotum servum se réputans, eórum stérnere lectulos, sordes térgere, ulcéribus medéri, agoníque extremo piis precibus et cohortatiónibus opem ferre solemne hábuit ; quibus in munéribus præclára præbuit admirábilis patiéntiæ, invictæ fortitúdinis et heróicæ caritátis exempla. Verum, cum animárum in extremis periclitántium, quod únice intendébat, levámini subsidium litterárum plurimum conférre intellígeret, triginta duos annos natus in primis grammaticæ elementis tirocinium inter púeros íterum subire non erubuit. Sacerdotio póstea rite initiatus, nonnullis sibi adjunctis sociis, prima jecit congregatiónis Clericórum regulárium infirmis ministrántium fundamenta, írrito conatu obniténte humani generis hoste. Nam Camillus, cælésti voce e Christi crucifixi, manus etiam de ligno avulsas admirando prodigio protendentis, simulacro emissa mirabíliter confírmatus, ordinem suum a Sede apostolica approbari obtinuit ; sodalibus quarto obstrictis maxime arduo voto, infirmis, quos etiam pestis infécerit, ministrandi. Quod institutum, quam foret Deo acceptum et animárum salúti proficuum, sanctus Philippus Nerius, qui Camillo a sacris confessiónibus erat, comprobávit, dum ejus alumnis decedéntium agoni opem feréntibus Angelos suggeréntes verba sæpius se vidisse testátus est. |
He went to Rome and was received as an inmate in the Hospital for Incurables. In consequence of his eminent good qualities the administration of the Hospital was committed to his charge, and he discharged this office with the most thorough trustworthiness and with a tenderness like a father's. He counted himself the slave of all the patients, and made it a religious duty to make their beds, clean them, dress their sores, and help by godly prayers and exhortations such as were in their last agony. In doing these things he shewed himself a bright example of wonderful patience, indomitable firmness, and heroic charity. He became persuaded that a knowledge of letters would make him much more useful as a comforter to the dying, who were his peculiar care, and therefore, at the age of thirty-two years, he humbly went to school again, among little boys learning the first rudiments. After a time he took Priests' orders, and in company with some companions who joined him, he laid the first foundations of the Congregation of Regular Clerks for ministering to the sick, a scheme against which the enemy of man made an unsuccessful struggle. Camillus heard a voice from heaven issue from an image of Christ Crucified, strengthening him, and saw the nailed hands stretched out from the Cross to protect him. He obtained from the Apostolic See an approval of his Institute, the members of which take a fourth and very stern vow, by which they bind themselves to serve all sick persons, even those stricken with the plague. Holy Philip Neri, who was Confessor of Camillus, testified that he had often seen Angels prompting the members of this Congregation what they should speak when they were assisting the dying, a proof how well-pleasing in the sight of God, and how useful for the salvation of souls, is this Institution. |
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St Camillus, another image by an unknown artist
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Arctioribus hisce vinculis ægrotántium ministerio mancipatus, mirum est qua alacritate, nullis fractus laboribus, nullis deterritus vitæ periculis, diu noctuque ad supremum usque spíritum, eórum cómmodis vigilaverit. Omnibus ómnia factus, vilíssima quæque offícia demissíssimo obsequio flexísque plerumque genibus, véluti Christum ipsum cérneret in infirmis, hílari promptoque animo arripiebat ; utque ómnium indigentiis præsto esset, generalem ordinis præfecturam, cælique delicias quibus in contemplatióne defixus affluebat, sponte dimísit. Paternus vero illíus erga míseros amor tum maxime effulsit, dum et Urbs contagióso morbo primum, deinde extrema annonæ laboraret inópia, et Nolæ in Campánia dira pestis grassarétur. Tanta denique in Deum et próximum caritate exársit, ut angelus nuncupari, et Angelórum opem in vario itinerum discrimine experiri promererétur. Prophetíæ dono et grátia sanitátum præditus, arcana quoque cordium inspéxit ; ejusque precibus nunc cibária multiplicáti sunt, nunc aqua in vinum conversa. Tandem vigiliis, jejuniis et assiduis attritus laboribus, cum pelle tantum et óssibus constare viderétur, quinque molestis æque ac diútinis morbis, quos misericórdias Dómini appellabat, fortiter tolerátis, sacramentis munítus, Romæ, inter suavíssima Jesu et Maríæ nómina, ad ea verba : Mitis atque festivus Christi Jesu tibi aspectus appareat ; qua prædixerat hora, obdormívit in Dómino, pridie Idus Julii, anno salútis millesimo sexcentésimo décimo quarto, ætátis suæ sexagesimo quinto. Quem, plúribus illustrem miraculis, Benedíctus décimus quartus solemni ritu Sanctórum fastis adscripsit ; et Leo décimus tertius, ex Sacrórum catholici orbis antístitum voto ac Rituum Congregatiónis consulto, cælestem ómnium hospitalium et infirmórum ubíque degéntium patronum declarávit, ipsíusque nomen in agonizántium litaníis invocari præcepit. |
When he had thus given himself entirely over by these strict ties to the service of the sick, it was wonderful to see with what earnestness Camillus, broken by no weariness, and scared by no danger himself, watched over their comfort by day and by night as long as life lasted. Becoming all things to all men, he took with cheerful readiness the most repulsive duties, discharging them with the most humble attention, and oftentimes on his knees, as though he saw Christ himself in his suffering members. That he might be the readier to serve every one's needs, he resigned the general government of his own Institute, and denied himself the indulgence in the heavenly refreshment which abundantly poured upon him, when he fixed his mind solely upon God. His tender, fatherly love toward the wretched had its brightest manifestations when Rome was stricken first by a contagious sickness, and then by famine, and Nola in Campagna suffered from a frightful plague. His love to God and to his neighbour was so glorious that he earned the nickname of Angel, and found Angels helping him in the difficulties of his divers journeyings. He had the gifts of prophecy and healing, and could read the secret thoughts of men's hearts. At his prayer, food was multiplied, and water turned into wine. His want of sleep, fasting, and unceasing work wore him down till he seemed nothing but skin and bones. He suffered from a complication of five different painful and incurable diseases, which he was accustomed to call the Lord's mercies to him, and which he bore bravely. He died at Rome on the day which he had himself foretold, the fourteenth of July, in the year of salvation 1614, and of his own age the 65th. He had received the Sacraments, and fell asleep in the Lord in an attempt to utter the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, while the Priest was reciting the words of the Ritual, Gentle and joyous may the Countenance of Christ Jesus appear to thee. He was famous for many miracles, and Benedict XIV solemnly enrolled him in the Kalendar of the Saints. Leo XIII, at the desire of the bishops of the Catholic world, and on the recommendation of the Congregation of Rites, declared him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and of the sick in all places, and ordered his name to be invoked in the Litany of the dying. |
When the Saint began his ministry to the sick, he and his companions worked at Holy Ghost Hospital in Rome, itself founded by Pope Innocent III, after the Pope had a nightmare. In his dream, he saw boats casting their nets into the Tiber, but instead of drawing fish, what came up were the corpses of the babies the poor threw into the river, having no money to care for and raise them. In his July 14, 2005, podcast (link is to the mp3 audio file), Fr Roderick Vonhögen of Holland stopped at the hospital, and described the mothers anonymously dropping off their newborns, then returning to nurse them.
Prayer card to St Camillus
On May 25, 1550, Camilla Compelli de Laureto – at almost sixty years of age – gave birth to Camillus de Lellis in Bucchianico, Italy. Camillus was welcomed with great joy, also with much anxiety, for his birth was preceded by a strange dream that profoundly disturbed his mother.(from Early History of the Order of St. Camillus, Servants of the Sick.)
She saw her son with a cross on his chest leading other men with a similar cross. “An ominous cross,” she thought, for it was the sign of those condemned to death in the gallows. Her son, she feared, would end up a leader of a gang of criminals.
When the Order which he founded was formally approved by the Pope, that its members might be distinguished from other regulars, Camillus asked that they might be permitted to wear a red cross on their cassock and mantle. By an apostolic brief, dated 26th June, 1586, the permission was granted; and three days later, on the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, Camillus with a few of his followers came to St. Peter's, each wearing the red cross, and there dedicated themselves and their work to God for all time.(from St. Camillus de Lellis: The Ex-Trooper—1550-1614.)
A final quote, this one from Camillus de Lellis, Priest (RM) +:
Camillus made sweeping reforms in the hospitals that were nothing short of revolutionary. His ideas were few and simple, but they were full of common sense and nobility of heart. At a time when medicine was backward, when attendants and orderlies were recruited from among hardened criminals and chaplains and almoners from among priests who had been suspended from their regular duties.
The filth and squalor that had been a standard feature of hospitals were eliminated, and he himself would often get down on his knees and scrub the floor. New arrivals were washed, their beds were made regularly, the dirty linens were changed, wounds were dressed carefully, and for the first time the patients were separated into different wards according to the nature of their maladies.
From the moment of entry, each patient was given personal attention. Day and night, Camillus would go from bed to bed, listening to complaints, watching over the dying, giving Communion and Extreme Unction, making sure that a person was properly cured before being allowed to leave, and seeing to it that the food served was of good quality and properly cooked.
If the administration was slow in giving him the supplies that he needed, he would go out on foot or with a little donkey and beg from door to door. "I do not think," he said, "that in the whole world there is a field of flowers whose scent could be sweeter to me than is the small of these hospitals." "These holy places," as he once called the hospital, were also the best places to convert souls to God.
