Saint Camillus De Lellis
Priest, Memorial
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A, B, C | Lectionary Cycle: I, II
Introduction
After a rather turbulent youth and a military career, Camillus of Lellis had to stay in a Roman hospital for a prolonged treatment. There, he discovered for himself the incompetence and lack of dedication of the nurses of his time. He became a priest and founded a congregation of helpers of the sick, especially the incurable. One of his companions wrote his biography and describes there how he treated the sick as other Christs, even asking their forgiveness.
Opening Prayer
God, loving Father,
We thank you today for St. Camillus,
who visited your Son in the sick?
He would have loved to take upon himself
their illness and afflictions,
Could he but ease their pain
and relieve their weaknesses.
This is the kind of love we pray for
and of which we are not capable.
But let Jesus, your Son, appear
behind the faces of people who suffer
And perhaps we too will be touched
by his self-forgetting love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Prayers of the Faithful
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
we join our hearts and voices
to share in the sacrifice of your Son.
Let his dispositions become ours,
that with him we may love you
and serve you in our brothers and sisters.
Grant us this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
in your Son and in the saints
you show us how far love can go.
By the strength of this eucharist
help us to place no limits or conditions
to our affection and generosity
and to take with your Son the risk
of committing ourselves into the hands
of our brothers and sisters.
Let no abuse of trust discourage us,
let no indifference rebuff us,
for you have loved us to the end
in Jesus Christ our Lord.