In recognition of the Year of Consecrated Life, here’s a look at six not-so-well-known saints that started religious orders.
Ignatius. Francis. Elizabeth Ann. Do you know the religious order each one established? In order, the Jesuits, the Franciscans, and the Sisters of Charity are well-known among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Not every holy man and woman who founded a religious community, however, enjoys such popularity. The following six saints founded and developed a community of religious still actively ministering throughout the world today. While you may not be able to quickly recall their names or the communities, chances are they have touched you.
St. Camillus de Lellis and the Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm
He stood 6-foot-6, was hot-tempered, an excessive gambler, and a decorated soldier. Camillus de Lellis (1550–1614) was born in the Abruzzo region of Italy. After completing military service, he went to work as a laborer in a Capuchin friary. It was there that one of the superiors recognized de Lellis’ potential as a religious, convincing him to enter the Franciscan novitiate. However, the congregation turned him away because of a bad leg wound received in battle.
Camillus moved to Rome, where he worked at St. James Hospital. He continued a deep spiritual life guided by the local parish priest—and future saint—Fr. Philip Neri. Shortly after his ordination, de Lellis was made director of the hospital. Dismayed by the poor attention the sick received, he formed a group of faith-filled men who were eager to care for the patients.
The official name of the community founded by de Lellis is the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm, abbreviated MI, though some texts abbreviate it as OSCam for the Order of St. Camillus, Order of Servants of the Sic. Popularly known as the Camillians, they vow “to serve the sick, even with danger to one’s own life.” In addition to working in hospitals, they assisted fallen soldiers on the battlefield and ministered to victims of plagues. The large red cross emblazoned on their habits became the universal symbol for medical care. The International Red Cross would later adopt it.
Camillus’ concern for the proper care of the sick included a mandate that members of his order wait fifteen minutes past the declaration of death before they removed the body. This was to ensure that no one was buried while still alive, something he had seen frequently in hospitals eager to clear their beds of the incurably ill. Camillus taught his volunteers that the “hospital was a house of God, a garden where the voices of the sick were music from heaven.”
Today there are more than 1,200 Camillian priests and brothers serving in thirty-five countries. The feast of St. Camillus is July 18; he is patron of the sick, hospitals, nurses, and physicians. His assistance is also invoked against gambling.
St. Marguerite d’Youville and the Grey Nuns
The first native-born Canadian to be elevated to sainthood, Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais was born in 1701 in Quebec. She married Francois d’Youville in 1722 and endured a series of severe trials. Four of the couple’s six children died in infancy. Her husband proved unfaithful, drank too much, gambled, and engaged in the illegal trade of alcohol. After a yearlong illness eight years into their marriage, Francois died, leaving St. Marguerite and their two surviving sons destitute.
Through all her suffering, Marguerite clung to her belief that God was always present in her life. She wanted to make known his love and compassion to all people. When her two sons were grown and left for school (both eventually entered the priesthood) she turned her home into a shelter for the poor and elderly, especially those who were sick or disabled. Three local women joined her in this mission, and on December 31, 1737, the women consecrated themselves to God, promising to serve him by serving the poor.