Devotees venerate visiting 

heart relic of St. Camillus 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 8 (PIA)—Boholanos Catholics and devotees took the long queueing pious welcome to honor and venerate the heart relic of Saint Camillus de Lellis, the patron of the sick, hospitals, doctors nurses and caregivers which arrived in Tagbilaran Friday, March 8-9. 

The sacred relic, the incorrupt heart arrived in the country February 2 and goes on a journey across the country’s parishes and dioceses and some hospitals, until March 31 before it goes back to Rome. 

The relic arrived in a sunny Friday morning to the warm welcome to the Diocese of Tagbilaran by bishop Albert Uy, Mons. Jeffrey Malanog, bishop Leonardo Medroso, Fr. Harold Parilla, Frs. Sinforiano Monton and Ado Jubac, who also welcomed the hundreds of devotees already converging at the St. Joseph Cathedral and its grounds for the public veneration. 

Also helping facilitate the flow of the traffic were the Caballeros de San Jose, the Society of Ex Camillian Seminarians in Bohol, the local government unit’s traffic management office and the local police of the Diocese of Tagbilaran 

Since the arrival of the relic, different vicariates sponsored votive masses for St. Camillus, until the departure mass March 9, 5:30 AM Saturday. 

On Friday night, the long queue for the devotees wanting to have a few seconds to personally get close and touch the glass reliquary, which contains the glass enclosed heart relic. 

Stories of the miraculous powers of the relic have been told and retold, and Boholanos bringing white handkerchiefs wiped them in the reliquary to share of its sanctity for healing maladies. 

The heart relic of the Founder of the Ministers of the Infirm, also known as the Camillians, first visited the country in 2013. 

The son of a poor soldier mercenary who was always away fighting in the Turkish war, Camillo grew with his mother, who died when he was young. Taken to the care of his relatives, he grew and decided to take the way of his father as a soldier of fortune. From his pay, he gambled until he was enslaved by the vice as an inveterate gambler. 

From his war exploits, he got wounded, which got him into the hospital where he saw the deplorable condition of the health facilities then: inhuman treatment, filthy wards and abandoned patients of incurable illnesses. 

In between his treatments, he took a job as a laborer in the Capuchin friary but continued with his gambling, despite a would on his leg that continued to hound him. 

In the friary, the guardian never gave up on him, and in 1575, he was converted and became a servant and later an assistant at St. James’s Hospital for incurables in Rome, where he had been a patient. 

He was ordained as a priest in 1584, and in 1586 he obtained approval for the congregation of priests he had founded, devoted to hospital service. He instituted the fourth vow for his brothers: to serve the sick even in the prospect of death. 

There originally were 12 members, without vows, working in the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Naples, but in 1591 Pope Gregory XIV approved their becoming a religious order called Ministers of the Sick, wearing a red cross on the cassock. 

By the time of Camillo’s death there were nearly 300 members. 

The Camillians, or the original wearers of the red cross, are known for their dedication and commitment in serving and taking care of the sick particularly the poor. Likewise, they also care for the welfare of their partners and collaborators particularly healthcare workers and providers. The Camillians are active in ministries like hospitals and hospital chaplaincy, parishes, pastoral centers, homes for the aged, lepers, community-based health and rehabilitation centers, HIV/AIDS centers, and other healthcare centers or where the sick are present. 

“The visit of St. Camillus’ heart relic provides a perfect opportunity for all of us to give importance to the humanization of health care in the country, to place our sick brothers and sisters at the center of care and not leave them on the margins, and for all healthcare providers and carers of the sick to renew their dedication and commitment in loving and serving the sick,” said Fr. Dan Vicente Cancino Jr., MI, Chairman of the Journey of the Heart 2.0. 

In one of the votive mass homilies, Fr. Efren Dolauta, who completed his seminary days with the Camillians, urged the devotees who have been sick by any kind of affliction from addiction to physical and psychological debilities to turn to Camillus, who was able to conquer his gambling put his heart into the care and service to the sick, similar to caring and serving Christ himself. 

Cancino shares, “Like St. Camillus, we are encouraged to Himself. And in doing so, the sick will feel the presence of God, through us.” 

St. Camillus’ heart relic is contained in a crystal glass in the shape of a heart. 

The reliquary that holds the crystal glass evokes an old, classical style temple. Four Doric pillars are the base and support the dome on top of which stands the Cross, symbol of the Order of St. Camillus. In the inner part of the temple-like, two angels support the crystal glass with elegance and gentleness, leaning forward as if presenting the Relic to the faithful. 

Presently, the Camillians have their ministry in Luzon (Quezon City, Makati, Marikina, Pasig, Antipolo and Baguio City), in the Visayas (Calbayog and Balugo, Dumaguete), and in Mindanao (Davao City and Mati, Davao, Oriental). 

In Bohol, a group of ex Camillian seminarians have continued the vocation in doing community work, caring for the sick in hospital apostolates and disaster relief, further popularizing the devotion to the patron of the sick. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

HEALING HEART. Bohol devotees took long queues just be personally close to the incorrupt heart of the saint patron for the hospitals, the sick, doctors, nurses and caregivers. The heart relic has also been tagged to several healing miracles. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

Bohol bishop Albert Uy leads the veneration of the relic of the heart of Saint Camillus de Lellis, which arrived in Bohol March 8. Boholanos trooped to the Cathedral of Saint Joseph to be close to the miraculous relic of the patron saint of the sick. (PIABohol)