St. Camillus de Lellis COLLECTION (M 020)

According to his biographer, St. Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614) was devoted to Christ crucified. Twice Christ appeared to him—once in a dream and once in a vision—at a time when St. Camillus was facing opposition to his plans to found his Order. In this image, St. Camillus, already dressed in what would become the ‘uniform’ of his Congregation—a black cassock and cape with a large red cross respectively on the chest and on the right shoulder—kneels before an altar surmounted by a cross. But, as in his vision, Christ comes free from the cross and gestures towards him. “Why are you troubled, you coward?” said Jesus. “Go on with the work. I will help you. For this is My work not yours!” Encouraged, St. Camillus went on to establish the Clerics Regular, Ministers to the Sick, today known as the Camilians. And, thereafter, St. Camillus carried that crucifix with him everywhere he went until 1586 when his fledgling Congregation was allocated the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rome by Pope Sixtus V where it was then installed. + Today, the crucifix remains on display in ‘La Maddalena’ in a side chapel at the back of the church on the right side. The Church also houses numerous other Camillian relics. And, the Saint himself is interred beneath its High altar. St. Camillus is patron saint of nurses, hospitals, and the sick. + Feast: July 18 (in the United States); July 14 elsewhere