Optional Memorial
Saint Camillus de Lellis
- Feast day
- July 18
- Origin
- Italian
Patron of
- hospitals
- nurses
- and the sick
Life
Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614) was an Italian soldier and gambler whose conversion led him to devote his life to the sick. He founded the Ministers of the Sick, known as the Camillians, whose members vow to serve patients even at risk of their own lives. He revolutionized hospital care by insisting on fresh air, proper diet, and isolation of contagious patients, and is a patron of hospitals, nurses, and the sick.
The saint of the day, every day
Bosko shows you the saint the Church honors today, every day — their story, today's feast, and where they fall in your tradition's liturgical calendar, so a feast that matters to you never quietly slips past.