From troublemaker to saint

One of the most extraordinary in our Church’s calendar of saints was a near contemporary of St Teresa, an Italian named Camillus of Lellis (1550-1614), whose feast day is today.  He was the founder of the Camillians, a religious order dedicated to care of the sick.  After serving in the military and sustaining a troublesome leg wound, Camillus was a patient in Rome’s San Giacomo Hospital, but he was actually expelled from there because of his quarrelsome attitude.  (Trouble makers in hospitals are clearly not a specifically modern phenomenon.)  He then gambled away all his possessions and had to take work as a labourer at the Capuchin friary in Manfredonia.   He was constantly plagued by his wound received while in the army, which would not heal. Despite his aggressive nature and excessive gambling, the guardian of the friary saw a better side to his nature, and continually tried to bring that out in him.  Eventually the friar’s exhortations produced a result and he experienced a complete conversion of heart in 1575.  He was eventually ordained aged 34 to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Goldwell of St Asaph, the last surviving British Catholic Bishop.  I find this life story of Camillus really encouraging, firstly since it gives us the example of the really profound conversion of a person who was frankly quite an unpleasant character, but secondly because of the role played by the guardian of the friary ‘who saw a better side to his nature’.  That could be a motto for us as Seculars in our apostolic mission – always to see the better side of those we meet. We have our special guide in this undertaking - St Therese.

Intercessions:

Brian Davis – cancer

Cancer: Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Sue B, Theresa K

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)