The sick we are serving will one day cause us to see the face of God.
St. Camillus De Lellis
The Order, as its Constitution observed, dedicated itself ‘before anything else to the practice of works of mercy towards the sick’ and ensured that ‘man is placed at the centre of attention of the world of health’. The members of the Order professed the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and consecrated their lives ‘to service to the sick poor, including the plague-ridden, in their corporeal and spiritual needs, even at risk to their own life, having to do this out of sincere love for God’. ‘Our Institute…has, as its purpose, the complete service of the sick in the totality of their being’ and is ‘prepared to undertake every type of service in the health care world for the building up of the Kingdom and the advancement of man’ (C, n. 43). Faithful to this undertaking, hundreds of Camillians died serving people who had the plague.