Saint Camillus of Lellis

 

 

Saint Camillus of Lellis (also known as Camillus de Lellis; Camillo de Lellis) was born in 1550 A.D. at Bocchiavico, Abruzzi, the kingdom of Naples, Italy. He was the son of a military officer who had served both Naples and France. His mother died when he was very young. Camillus spent his youth as a soldier, fighting for the Venetians against the Turks, and then for Naples. He was reported as a large individual, perhaps as tall as 6'6", and powerfully built, but suffered all his life from abscesses on his feet. A gambling addict, he lost so much he had to take a job working construction on a building belonging to the Capuchins. They converted him.

Camillus entered the Capuchin novitiate three times, but a nagging leg injury that he received while fighting the Turks, forced him to give up each time. He went to Rome for medical treatment where he met Saint Philip Neri who became his priest and confessor. He moved into San Giacomo Hospital for the incurable, and eventually became its administrator. Lacking an education, he began to study with children when he was 32 years old.

Camillus tried to found a lay order of hospital caregivers but failed. He decided to become a priest and was ordained in 1582. In 1584, Camillus founded the Congregation of the Servants of the Sick (the Camellians) who care for the sick in both hospitals and homes. It was approved by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 and erected into an order by Pope Gregory XIV in 1591. The order expanded with houses in several countries, and today it maintains a website, http://www.camillians.org/. Camillus honored the sick as living images of Christ, and hoped that the service he gave them did penance for his wayward youth. Camillus was reported to have the gifts of miraculous healing and prophecy.

Saint Camillus of Lellis died of natural causes on July 14, 1614 at Genoa, Italy. His relics are in the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen at Rome.

Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

Saint Boniface (also known as Winfrid; Wynfrith; Apostle of Germany) was born at Crediton, Devonshire, England in 675 A.D. He was educated at the Benedictine monastery at Exeter, England, and he joined the Benedictine Order at Nutshalling, and was ordained in 705.

In 716 he attempted a missionary journey to Friesland but had to abandon the effort due to political disturbances. He was offered the abbacy at Nutshalling, but declined and was sent to Germany east of the Rhine as missionary by Pope Gregory II in 719. There he was assisted by Saint Albinus, Saint Abel, and Saint Agatha. He destroyed pagan idols and temples and built churches on the temple sites. He was called to Rome by Gregory II who consecrated him regional bishop in 722. 

Upon returning Boniface encountered a group worshipping at the sacred oak of the Norse thunder god, Thor, at Geismar. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took up an axe, and he hacked down the six foot wide wooden god. Boniface stood on the trunk, and asked, "How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he."

In 732 Pope Gregory III made Boniface Archbishop with no definite province. He founded or restored the dioceses of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Franconia. In 741 he was commissioned by Pope Zacharias to reform the whole Frankish church, after which success he was made Archbishop of Mainz in 748.

In 754 Saint Boniface resigned his see to accomplish his dream of missionary work in Friesland. He built a number of churches there, but, he was attacked by pagans, and he along with 52 of his converts were martyred at Friesland, Holland. 

Saint Boniface is buried in the cathedral at Fulda.

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, Priest and Martyr

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, also known as Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, was born on January 6, 1802 at Le Puech, near Mongesty, Cahors diocese, southern France. He was the eldest son of Pierre Perboyre and his wife Marie. John’s parents were farmers, and had eight children, five of whom entered the religious life. Three sons became priests in the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), and two daughters entered the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

In 1816, John accompanied a younger brother, Louis, to a high school started by their uncle, Father Jacques Perboyre, C.M. (Congregation of the Mission; Fathers of the Company of Mary; Vincentians; Lazarists), to prepare young men for the seminary. John began to feel a call to the priesthood himself while there, and on June 16, 1817 he made the decision to prepare for the priesthood. Being an obedient son, he had written his parents to tell them of his decision, but told them he would return home to the farm if they objected. They did not, and on December 27, 1818, John entered the Vincentian community.

 On December 28, 1820, John took his vows and then went to Paris in January of 1821 to start his study of theology. In October 1823, he was sent to Montdidier, between Paris and Amiens. The Congregation had a boys' boarding school there, and John Gabriel was given charge of a class, with eight boys. In April 1824, he went back to Paris to be ordained sub-deacon, and returned to Montdidier to teach philosophy. In May 1825, he went back to Paris to be ordained deacon. On September 23, 1826, John was ordained a priest in the Rue de Bac by Bishop Louis Dubourg, the former Bishop of New Orleans, on the anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul’s priestly ordination date. In September of 1826 after his ordination, he was appointed professor at the major seminary of Saint Flour, and in September 1827, he was appointed superior at the minor seminary of Saint Flour.

John and his brother Louis exchanged many letters apparently, of which 13 survive today. In one of those, Louis told John that he wanted to go to China after ordination. Louis undertook the voyage to China, but never arrived there, dying at sea on May 2, 1831.  John began to seek permission to replace his brother on the mission to China but his Superior General and Council insisted that his health was not good enough. At John’s persistence, they finally asked the doctor, and he gave permission. In February 1835, he wrote to his uncle:

I’ve great news for you. God has just granted me a very precious favor which I certainly don't deserve. When he was pleased to give me a vocation to the priesthood the main reason which made me answer his call was the hope of being able to preach to pagans the good news of salvation. Since then I've never really lost sight of this target, and above all the idea of the Chinese mission always made my heart beat faster.

In March of 1835, John set sail from Le Havre with two confreres, Joseph Gabet and Joseph Perry, arriving at the Portuguese colony of Macao at the end of August. While at Macao, he became ill and while there he studied Chinese.

Just before Christmas, he began the journey to the interior of China, a distance of 600 miles by sea, and another equally great distance by land. He arrived at Ho-nan Province in mid-August of 1836. He wrote several letters upon his arrival there, among them one to his father, the first in over two years:

If we have to suffer martyrdom it would be a great grace given to us by God; it's something to be desired, not feared.

In December of 1836, John preached his first sermon in the Chinese language and then went on his first mission. After he had been in China for over a year he wrote that experienced confreres should be involved in the administration decisions from Macao and Paris, as those who had not experienced the life there, could not understand the problems faced by the missionary.

From September of 1838 until Pentecost of 1839, John gave 17 missions. He was then to go on a round of visits to the mission stations but was replaced by another confrere due to his having leg problems. This meant that John was in Kou-tchen when a band of soldiers arrived in September of 1839. He having breakfast with Giuseppe Rizzolati OFM and Jean-Henri Baldus CM. Rizzolati and Baldus ran off in one direction, John Gabriel in the opposite. John hid in a bamboo “forest“, where he was found the next day after being betrayed by a catechumen.

There are two conflicting stories on John’s being betrayed by the catechumen. One account says that the catechumen met the soldiers, who explained that they were looking for the priest. In that account  the catechumen was said to have asked what they would pay for information and they said "thirty taels". However, Baldus in letters he wrote in 1841 after the first account was published, disputes this. Baldus (who was there) said the man who had written the first account was no where near there, contained many errors, and "romantic and, at a minimum, very exaggerated". In a second letter written later by Baldus, he says:

Secondly, the handing over, or betrayal, was brought about not by money but by fear, for Father Perboyre's supposed guide had been beaten up, according to the messengers from Hou-pé.

Initially, during the early time of his imprisonment, John was treated fairly well by orders of the mandarin (former high ranking Chinese official). This changed however under a different mandarin, and John was beaten, hung by his thumbs, made to kneel on iron chains, on pieces of broken crockery, and flogged with bamboo rods. One account says that he was tortured so severely, that his flesh hung in strips.

André Yang C.M., successfully passed himself off as a merchant who was studying the prison system and was able to visit John, bringing him food and hearing his confession. Many of the prison guards assured Yang that John Gabriel would be well treated. However, John suffered his tortures for over a year.

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre was charged with the crimes that he had entered China illegally to preach Christianity "and to deceive and seduce the people". He was found guilty and on September 11, 1840, he was martyred by being strangled on a cross-shaped gibbet, the strangulation being carried out in three stages, and then a kick in the lower abdomen (or side, sources vary) that put an end to his sufferings.

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on November 10, 1889, and he was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 2, 1996. He is the first saint associated with China. His relics now rest in the chapel of the Vincentian Motherhouse in Paris, France.

Saint Phillip Neri, Priest

Saint Philip Neri (also known as Philip Romolo Neri; Apostle of Rome; Amabile Santo) was born in 1515 A.D. at Florence, Italy. Though related to nobility, Philip came from a poor family. His father, Francisco Neri, worked as a notary. Philip's brother died in childhood, but his two sisters, Caterina and Elisabetta survived. Philip was a pious youth, and the Dominicans taught him humanities.

In 1533, Philip moved to San Germano to help some family with their business, and while there would escape to a local Dominican chapel in the mountains. He received word in a vision that he had an apostolate in Rome. So, he cut himself off from his family and went there. Philip was befriended by Galeotto Caccia who took him in, and paid him to tutor his two sons. Philip wrote poetry in Latin and Italian, and as well, he studied philosophy and theology. When he tired of learning, he sold all his books and gave the money to the poor.

Philip began to visit and care for the sick and impoverished pilgrims. He founded a society of like-minded folk to do the same. He was a friend of Saint Ignatius Loyola. A layman, he lived in the city as a hermit. During Easter season of 1544, while praying in the catacomb of San Sebastiano, he received a vision of a globe of fire that entered his chest, and he experienced an ecstasy that physically enlarged his heart.

With Persiano Rose, he founded the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity. He began to preach, with many converts. In 1550, he considered retiring to the life of a solitary hermit, but received further visions that told him his mission was in Rome. Later he considered missionary work in India, but further visions convinced him to stay in Rome.

Philip entered the priesthood in 1551, where he heard confessions by the hour. He could tell penitents their sins before they confessed, and had the gift of conferring visions. He began working with youth, finding safe places for them to play, and becoming involved in their lives. Pope Gregory XIII tried to make him a cardinal, but Philip declined. He founded the Congregation of the Oratory, approval being granted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1575. It spread rapidly through Italy and Philip was elected superior general. His life was remarkable for his singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. In later years, he was beset by several illnesses, each of which was in turn cured through prayer.

Saint Philip Neri died of natural causes on May 27, 1595 at Rome, Italy. His body is at a shrine in Chiesa Nuova.

The Easter Paschal Homily of Saint John Chrysostom | Resurrection Sermon for Holy Pascha and Eastertide Octave -Welcome to The Crossroads Initiative

The Easter Paschal Homily of Saint John Chrysostom | Resurrection Sermon for Holy Pascha and Eastertide Octave -Welcome to The Crossroads Initiative