Camillus de lellis biography definition

Copatron with St. John of God of hospitals, nurses, and the sick, founder of the Order of camillians; b. Bucchianico (Abruzzo), Italy, May 25, 1550; d.

Rome, July 14, 1614. His mother, Camilla de Compellis, was nearly 60 years old at his birth and died when he was a child.

Camillus de lellis biography definition

His father, Giovanni, who served as a captain in both the French and Neapolitan armies, neglected the child's education. As a youth, his own inclinations were already strongly turned to the military life and to gambling. His enrollment in the army was delayed by the outbreak of an ulcer on his right foot; in 1571 it obliged him to seek medical care at the hospital of San Giacomo in Rome.

When he was sufficiently healed, he stayed on as a servant in the hospital, but was dismissed for card playing. From 1571 to 1574 he fought in various campaigns of the Venetian army against the Turks. After gambling away his possessions in the winter of 1574 and 1575, he accepted employment at the Capuchi