• St. Camillus de Lellis (1614). Founder or Foundress, Patron or Patroness, Priest. Patron of sick & nurses. (Current, Traditional)
• St. Frederick (838). Bishop, Martyr. (Historical)
• St. Synphorosa and her 7 Sons (120). Martyr. (Traditional)

THE early years of Camillus gave no sign of sanctity. At the age of nineteen, he took service with his father, an Italian noble, against the Turks, and after four years’ hard campaigning found himself, through his violent temper, reckless habits, and inveterate passion for gambling, a discharged soldier, and in such straitened circumstances that he was obliged to work as a laborer on a Capuchin convent which was then building. A few words from a Capuchin friar brought about his conversion, and he resolved to become a religious. Thrice he entered the Capuchin novitiate, but each time an obstinate wound in his leg forced him to leave. He repaired to Rome for medical treatment, and there took St. Philip as his confessor, and entered the hospital of St. Giacomo, of which he became in time the superintendent. The carelessness of the paid chaplains and nurses towards the suffering patients now inspired him with the thought of founding a congregation to minister to their wants. With this end he was ordained priest, and in 1586 his community of the Servants of the Sick was confirmed by the Pope. Its usefulness was soon felt, not only in hospitals, but in private houses. Summoned at every hour of the day and night, the devotion of Camillus never grew cold. With a woman’s tenderness, he attended to the needs of his patients. He wept with them, consoled them, and prayed with them. He knew miraculously the state of their souls; and St. Philip saw angels whispering to two Servants of the Sick who were consoling a dying person. One day, a sick man said to the Saint, “Father, may I beg you to make up my bed? it is very hard.” Camillus replied, “God forgive you, brother! You beg me! Don’t you know yet that you are to command me, for I am your servant and slave?” “Would to God,” he would cry, “that in the hour of my death one sigh or one blessing of these poor creatures might fall upon me!” prayer was heard. He was granted the same consolations in his last hour which he had so often procured for others. In the year 1614 he died with the full use of his faculties, after two weeks’ saintly preparation, as the priest was reciting the words of the ritual, “May Jesus Christ appear to thee with a mild and joyful countenance!”

REFLECTION: St. Camillus venerated the sick as living images of Christ, and by ministering to them in this spirit did penance for the sins of his youth, led a life precious in merit, and from a violent and quarrelsome soldier became a gentle and tender Saint.

WORD OF THE DAY

HABIT. A quality that is difficult to change and that disposes a person either well or badly, either in oneself or in relations with others. Natural habits are a partial realization of our potencies. They add to nature by giving it ease of performance, where the acts intensify a habit and the habit facilitates the acts. Habits of acting are acquired by constant repetition, and lost by disuse or contrary acts. Good moral habits are virtues; evil ones are vices. (Etym. Latin habitus, having, possession; condition, character, from habere, to have.)

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

July, Month of the Precious Blood

The Precious BIood of Jesus – Short Meditations for July. July 18th — The Precious Blood a Lesson of Sacrifice.