A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Camillus of Lellis

Saint Camillus was born in the kingdom of Naples in the year 1549. His early years gave noindication of his future sanctity. At the age of nineteen he entered into military service with hisfather, an Italian noble, against the Turks. After four years of hard campaigning he foundhimself, through his violent temper, reckless habits, and inveterate passion for gambling, adischarged soldier in bad health, and in such straitened circumstances that he was obliged to begin the streets. Finally he found work as a laborer for a Capuchin convent which was being built. A few words from a Capuchin Friar brought about his conversion; the following day he casthimself on his knees, seeing himself clearly by a divine illumination. He prayed, “Forgive, Lord,this wretched sinner! and give him time to do penance!” And he resolved to become a religious.

He served the Capuchin Fathers, working in the garden, sweeping the convent, washing thedishes, until he could be received as an aspirant. Thrice he begin his novitiate with them, but eachtime an obstinate ulcer on his leg forced him to leave. God had other designs for him. He went toRome for medical treatment, and there took Saint Philip Neri as his confessor. He entered, as aservant, the hospital of San Giacomo. The carelessness of the paid personnel and nurses towardsthe suffering patients inspired him with the thought of founding a Congregation of voluntaryservants of the sick, to minister to their wants without thought of remuneration. He recalled theCross of Our Lord, thinking, “If they wore it on their breast, the sight of it would sustain them,encourage them, reward them.” He spoke of this intention to the most pious ones among hiscompanions, who joined him with enthusiasm. They set up an oratory in a little room where theyretired to read and pray. They met great obstacles; their oratory was closed when they weresuspected of wanting to control the hospital. But eventually Saint Camillus was ordained priest in1584 and founded his Congregation with only two co-workers, at the chapel of Our Lady ofMiracles. They continued to serve in the large Holy Spirit Hospital, and in 1586 his community,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 an inexhaustible tendernesshe attended to the needs of his patients. He wept with them, consoled them, and prayed withthem. During a famine in 1590, the poor were reduced to eating dead animals and often rawherbs; about sixty thousand died during that winter, which was exceptionally cold. Saint Camillusprocured bread and clothing and went out to distribute them in Rome to all who needed them. Never did he refuse what was asked, giving away his cloak more than once, and the last sack offlour in the storeroom. But God always provided for the Brothers when they had nothing more to give.

Saint Camillus knew miraculously the state of the souls of his patients; and Saint Philip sawAngels whispering to two Servants of the Sick who were consoling a dying person. One day asick man said to the Saint, “Father, may I beg you to make up my bed? it is very hard.” Camillusreplied, “God forgive you, brother! You beg me? Don’t you know yet that you should commandme, for I am your servant and slave!” The Saint founded houses of what had become his Order inseveral cities — Milan, Bologna, Genoa, Florence, Ferrare and others, and sent out his religiouswhen a pestilence afflicted Hungary and surrounding regions. Several of his religious died on thatoccasion.

In his hospital he was heard to say, “Would to God that in the hour of my death one sigh or one blessing of these poor sick creatures might fall upon me!” His prayer was answered. He wasgranted the same consolations in his last hour, which he had so often procured for others. It wasin the year 1614, and on the feast of Saint Bonaventure, to whom he had a great devotion, that hedied as he had foretold, having the full use of his faculties, as the priest was reciting the words ofthe ritual, “May Jesus Christ appear to thee with a mild and joyful countenance!”

St. Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent was born in 1576 near Dax, south of Bordeaux, of a poor family which survived by means of their labor. It seemed that “mercy was born with him.” When sent by his father to the mill to procure flour, if he met a poor man coming home, he would open the sack and give himhandfuls of flour when he had nothing else. His Christian father was not angry; seeing his gooddispositions, he was sure his son should become a priest, and placed him as a boarding studentwith a group of religious priests in Dax. Vincent made rapid progress, and after seven years ofstudying theology at Toulouse and in Saragossa, Spain, was ordained a priest in 1600. Healways concealed his learning and followed the counsel of Saint Paul who said, “I have wanted toknow nothing in your midst but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified.”

Soon after his ordination, he was captured by corsairs and sold as a slave in Tunisia. Heconverted his renegade master, and escaped with him to France. Then, after a time of study inRome, he returned to Paris and took for his spiritual director Abbé de Berulle, a famous directorof souls. This servant of God saw in him a priest called to render outstanding service to theChurch, and to found a community of priests who would labor for its benefit. He told SaintVincent this, that he might prepare himself insofar as was humanly possible. When Saint Vincentwas appointed chaplain-general of the galleys of France, his tender charity brought hope intothose prisons where hitherto despair had reigned. When a mother mourned her imprisoned son,Vincent put on his chains and took his place at the oar, and gave him to his mother.

His charity embraced the poor, the young and the aged, the provinces desolated by civil war,Christians enslaved by the infidels. The poor man, ignorant and degraded, was to him the imageof Him who became as “a leper and no man.” “Turn the medal,” he said, “and you will see Jesus Christ.” He went through the streets of Paris at night, seeking the infants and children left there to die — three or four hundred every year. Once robbers rushed upon him, thinking he carried a treasure, but when he opened his cloak, they recognized him and his burden, an abandoned infant,and fell at his feet. Not only was Saint Vincent the providence of the poor, but also of the rich,for he taught them to undertake works of mercy. When in 1648 the work of the foundlings was indanger of failure for want of funds, he assembled the ladies of the Association of Charity, andsaid, “Compassion and charity have made you adopt these little creatures as your children. Youhave been their mothers according to grace, when their own mothers abandoned them. Will younow cease to be their mothers? Their life and death are in your hands. I shall take your votes; itis time to pronounce sentence.” The tears of the assembly were his only answer, and the workwas continued.

The Priests of the Mission or Lazarists, as they are called, and thousands of the Daughters of Charity still comfort the afflicted with the charity of their holy Founder. It has been said of himthat no one has ever verified more perfectly than Saint Vincent, the words of Our Lord: “He whohumbles himself shall be exalted...” The more he strove to abase himself in the eyes of all, themore God took pleasure in elevating him and bestowing His blessings on him and on all hisworks. He died in 1660, in an old age made truly golden by his unceasing good works.

St. Jerome Emilian

Saint Jerome Emiliani, born in 1481, was a member of one of the Christian patrician families of Venice, and in early life a soldier. Showing in his youth much inclination to virtue, he studied thehumanities with success until the age of fifteen, when the clash of arms interrupted his peacefulpursuits and his practice of virtue. And then, only his ambition for honors placed limits to hisdisorders; it was necessary to live honorably in order to receive promotions. He was appointedgovernor of a fortress in the mountains of Treviso, and while defending his post with outstandingbravery, was made prisoner by the enemy. In the misery of his dungeon he invoked amid tears thegreat Mother of God, recognizing that his chastisement was just. He promised, nonetheless, ifShe would set him free, to lead a new and better life, more worthy of his Christian heritage, and tomake known Her benefits in every possible way. Our Lady appeared to him at once, gave him thekeys he needed, and commanded him to fulfill faithfully what he had promised. She led him outthrough the ranks of his enemies to the gate of the city. He went to Her church at Treviso anddedicated himself to the service of the One who had delivered him, proclaiming Her mercies to alllisteners. He consigned to writing, and had notarized, an account of his deliverance.

On reaching his home in Venice he undertook a life of active charity, causing admiration in all who had known him as a worldling. His special love was for the deserted orphan children whomhe found wandering in the streets during a famine and an epidemic in 1528. Already he hadconverted his house into a hospital, selling even its furnishings to clothe and feed the poor folkwho came in great numbers to him, when they heard he had procured wheat from other regions. He acquired a house for the children, and after recovering miraculously from the illness which hehad contracted during the epidemic, he himself taught them the Christian truths. Soon theaccounts of his pious orphanage brought visitors, and financial aid sufficient to sustain theenterprise. He was then entrusted with the Venitian Hospital for the Incurables. When he neededsome particular grace, he had four orphans under eight years of age pray with him, and the gracenever failed to arrive. In Venice he was aided in his Hospital by his friends, Saint Cajetan ofThienna and Saint Peter Caraffa of Naples.

He founded a hospital in Verona and an orphanage in Padua. At Bergamo, which had been struckby a pestilence and famine, he went out with the reapers he could assemble, and cut wheat in thehottest season of the Italian summer. At their head, he sang Christian hymns in his rich voice,engaging the others to follow his example. There he founded two orphanages and succeeded inclosing a number of houses of ill repute; he gave their inhabitants whom he converted a rule of lifeand procured a residence for them. The bishop was aiding him constantly; and he sent him out toother villages and hamlets to teach the children Christian doctrine. Multiple conversions resultedin all directions. Two holy priests joined him in Bergamo, soon followed by other noblegentlemen. This was the origin of the Congregation of Regular Clerics, called the Somascansbecause of their residence at Somasca, situated between Milan and Bergamo. The Congregationwas approved in 1540 by Pope Paul III, and the Order spread in Italy. Saint Jerome died in 1537at the age of 56, from the illness he contracted while caring for the sick during an epidemic in theregion of Bergamo.

St. Margaret of Antioch

Saint Margaret was born in the third century at Antioch of Pisidia in southern Asia Minor. Her mother died while she was an infant, and she was instructed in the Christian faith by a virtuousnurse. When her father, a pagan priest named Aedesius, learned she was a Christian, he drove herout of the house. She became a shepherdess to earn her living.

When a Roman prefect arrived in the region to persecute the Christians, Margaret wasimprisoned. The prefect, fascinated by her beauty, desired to save her life and add her to thealready considerable number of his wives and concubines. He decided to attempt to overcome herresistance by questioning her before an assembly consisting of virtually the entire city. Her replyto his ultimatum, offering her a choice between joy and torments, was recorded and becamerenowned. She said: “The true life and true joy, thanks be to God, I have already found, andhave placed them in the stronghold of my heart that they may never be removed. I mean that Iadore and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that I venerate Him with confidence and will never ceaseto honor Him with my whole soul. Know that no human power, no torture will be able to extractfrom my heart so great a treasure.” When the prefect replied that someone had certainly put suchideas into her very young and inexperienced head, a long dialogue ensued, Margaret striving tomake him understand the reason for her confidence, and that God Himself gives replies to thosewho believe in Him when they are questioned, according to His own promise.

Hearing her say that her Lord was not merely a man, but very genuinely God and Man at onesame time, whose power was far above that of emperors, he became furious and sent her to bescourged, suspended in the air by her hands. Many spectators wept and begged her to have pityon herself. She replied: “Illustrious gentlemen and noble ladies, do not weaken my courage, for asthe Apostle said, bad conversation corrupts good habits. But I forgive you, because you act thisway out of sympathy, and do not possess the true light...” Cast into prison still alive, she wasvisited by a demon whom she put to flight by a sign of the cross; there followed a vision of thecross of salvation, accompanied by a voice exhorting her to persevere. When on the followingday she was subjected to the torment of burning torches, she felt no pain. She continued underother ineffectual torments to exhort the spectators to understand who it was she adored, andfinally was beheaded with a large number of those whom her words had caused to believe as shedid.

Bl. Francis de Montmorency Laval

Blessed François de Laval was born at St. Martin de Montigny-sur-Avre, Normandy,France. He wanted to become a priest from his earliest childhood. When he was eight years old,his father placed him with the Jesuits, where he lived for fourteen years far from his family.

François lost his father in 1636. His uncle, a bishop, appointed him a canon of Evreux toassist his family. He was ordained a priest on May 1, 1647. King Louis XIV chose him as thefirst Bishop of New France. On December 8, 1658, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, thethirty-eight year old prelate was consecrated a bishop. He left for Quebec on June 16, 1659, andimmediately began making pastoral visits throughout his immense diocese.

Upon his arrival, he won everyone’s confidence with his charity, piety, discernment andimpartiality. His first concern consisted in advancing the organization of the Church in Canada. He contributed greatly towards both the civil and religious formation of the country. Even thoughhe had to face many difficulties, with his wise, firm action, he succeeded in implanting the Faith allover North America.

Bishop de Laval first founded the Seminary of Quebec which gathered together acommunity of priests; in 1663 he entrusted the formation of his clergy to this seminary. Fiveyears later, a Minor Seminary was opened for the recruitment of his clergy. In conformity withholy practice in the early centuries of the Church, all the clerics and churchmen lived out of acommon fund.

Blessed François de Laval had to fight with all his might against disorders that had beenintroduced into the country at the beginning of its colonization, chiefly the traffic of intoxicatingliquor. Saint Mary of the Incarnation wrote, “The bishop has had many conflicts in New Franceconcerning liquor given to the natives which almost led to the total ruin of this new Church.” Thanks to his apostolic zeal, this shameful commerce was absolutely forbidden.

The secular powers raised serious opposition to his evangelizing activities, but Bishop deLaval never capitulated in the face of his adversaries’ odious proceedings. With firmness andperseverance, the holy bishop resisted all encroachments of civil authorities in Churchgovernment. He rose up with authority against anyone who wanted to hinder the implantation ofChristianity in the blessed land of New France. With supreme patience, he endured all the wickedactions that earthly magnates wrought against him, as well as two major fires that demolished hisseminary, for which he had labored so hard.

This holy bishop, a pioneer of the Church in New France, lived in constant, heroicrenouncement. He wore a hair shirt and slept very little, so as to be able to pray all his offices androsaries. As for the brief rest he granted himself, he took it on a wretched mat laid on a bed ofboards, without even a sheet to cover himself. His great evangelical simplicity was also verypraiseworthy, for never did any man have a greater horror of showmanship and vanity, especiallywhen it presented itself under a cover of religion.

This worthy, virtuous prelate wore old, patched garments. For twenty years he owned only twowinter cassocks. At his death one of them was still good; the other, threadbare and patched,attested to his wonderful spirit of poverty. Hard on himself, this admirable man of God wasprodigal to excess towards Christ’s poor. Every year he never failed to give the needy 1,500 to2,000 pounds.

Blessed François de Laval endured the sufferings of his last years with great serenity andresignation to God’s will. During Holy Week in 1708 he contracted the illness that was to takehim to the grave. On May 6, 1708, he died in the company of his priests, reciting the Rosary andthe Litany of the Holy Family, which devotion he had propagated throughout Canada.

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