As a child, Camillus gave his parents nothing but
trouble. He got into fights with
neighborhood boys, he skipped school, he learned, but wouldn’t say his prayers,
he was so quick to unleash his violent temper that his mother was actually
afraid of him.
At the age of seventeen, Camillus joined his father as a
mercenary in a war against the Turks. He
quickly picked up a lot of the vices of the military camp—swearing, drinking,
womanizing. He and his father, Giovanni,
teamed up as a father and son con artists, swindling their fellow soldiers. They went from war to war when Camillus’
father fell seriously ill. Giovanni sent
his son to fetch a priest, and after Giovanni made a good confession, repenting
from all his sins and crimes, he received Holy Communion for the last time and
died.
This was a turning point in Camillus’ life…sort of. He had heard of deathbed conversions, but
never thought his father, a life time gambler and conman, would ever call for a
priest in order to die in a state of grace.
He decided to join up with the Franciscans, but that didn’t last long,
he soon fell into gambling again.
However, this time, his luck ran out, he lost everything and became
destitute.
A wealthy gentleman gave him a job doing menial construction
work. But, Camillus began to acquire two
virtue he had never tried to cultivate before: self-discipline and
responsibility. When his construction
job was done he set out for Rome to work at the famous Hospital of San
Giacomo.
Camillus founded a religious order and was ordained a priest. The last thirty years of his life, Camillus
spent nursing the sick.
As he lay dying, he became anxious that his old sins might
outweigh his good works. He told a
Carmellite friar who visited him, “please pray for me, for I have been a great
sinner, a gambler, and a man of bad life.”
Yet, in his final hour, Camillus’ confidence in God’s mercy was
restored. He stretched his arms out so
his body took the form of a cross, and giving thanks for the Blood of Christ
that had washed away his sins, he died.
St. Camillus de Lellis lies buried in the little Church of
Santa Maria Maddalena in Rome. And in
1886 Pope Leo XII named him patron saint of nurses.
The lives of the saints are filled with beautiful stories of
conversion, of men and women surrendering to God’s grace and committing
themselves to his service. But their
stories show us that God’s grace does have power to convert even hardened
sinners, which gives us hope. Through
the Intercession of Saint Camillus de Lellis we pray that the spirit of God’s love may be
poured out upon us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment