Today, July 14, is the memorial of Saint Camillus de Lellis.
Founder of the Camillians (Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm or M.I.)
Camillus was the son of a military officer who had served both for Naples and France. His mother died when Camillus was very young. He spent his youth as a soldier, fighting for the Venetians against the Turks, and then for Naples.
He was said to be a large individual, perhaps as tall as 6’6, and powerfully built, but he suffered all his life from abscesses on his feet.
At one point in his life, he became a gambling addict. He lost so much money he had to take a job working construction on a building belonging to the Capuchins, who converted him.
Camillus entered the Capuchin novitiate three times, but a nagging leg injury, received while fighting the Turks, each time forced him to give it up.
He went to Rome, Italy for medical treatment where Saint Philip Neri became his priest and confessor. He moved into San Giacomo Hospital for the incurable, and eventually became its administrator.
Since he lacked schooling, he began to study with children when he was 32 years old.
He then was ordained priest and later founded the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm (the Camillians or Fathers of a Good Death). Camillus honored the sick as living images of Christ, and hoped that the service he gave them did penance for his wayward youth. He was reported to have the gifts of miraculous healing and prophecy.
At age 64, he died of natural causes in Rome in 1614. Pope Benedict XIV beatified (1742) and canonized (1746) him.