The Constitution of the Order outlines the contents of the charism forming the identity card of the Institute, that is, the charism of mercy towards the sick. Christ is the model who spent much of his public ministry caring for the sick and who commanded his disciples to do the same and thus he united the announcing the Gospel with the duty to care for the sick, for what was done for the sick was done to Christ himself.

In the exercise of this very demanding and radical service to the sick, Camillus was guided by the Holy Spirit along the two fundamental lines of evangelical love: 1) recognizing that we are serving Christ in the person of the sick, and 2) being an expression of the merciful Christ who is serving the sick. Camillus really identified the suffering Christ in the sick to the point of calling them ‘my Lords and Masters’. Camillus brought about the complete service to the sick by concentrating on their spiritual and corporeal needs.

For the Order of the Ministers of the Infirm, the Fourth Vow, that is the vow along with the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, to serve the sick with total commitment at the risk of one’s life, represents the special feature of their particular style of consecrated religious life. For Camillians serving the sick is the ‘locus theologicus’ where it fulfils and expresses its identity as a community of men consecrated to God and entrusted with mission of establishing the Kingdom as a means of salvation for all the sick.