Room where the heart of San Camilo is preserved

In 1614, right in this room, Saint Camillus died, founder of the Order of Regular Clergymen, Ministers of the Sick, better known as Camillians.

Years later, the saint’s room was transformed into a chapel, also called a “cubiculum”. The relic of the heart of the saint who gave his life to care for the sick is preserved here.

GIANFRANCO LUNARDON
Religious Camiliano
“It is often said that when a person is good he has a big heart, and when a person is bad it is said that he does not have a heart. Here we keep the heart of San Camilo. For us it represents confronting everything that the heart of Saint Camillus beat and with everything that his heart loved, it is a great synthesis of our vocation ”.

On the sides there are two canvases. The most impressive is this one, which represents Saint Camillus, who used to dress very simply, dressed in solemn ornaments to receive his last communion.

GIANFRANCO LUNARDON
Religious Camillian
“We see that ancient figure of the cardinal protector bringing communion to Saint Camillus who was entering agony. This is his last Communion, the one that the Catechism reminds us of as the ‘viaticum’, the bread that the Church gives us, the Body of Christ, which will accompany us on the great journey. “

The room of Saint Camillus has witnessed countless episodes in the life of the order in Rome. And not only of masculine spirituality …

GIANFRANCO LUNARDON
Religious Camillian
“In this room, Saint Giuseppina Vallini, foundress of the daughters of Saint Camillus, canonized by Pope Francis, received, from the hands of Blessed Luigi Tezza, the symbol of the order, the red cross. It can be said that here there is a heart that continues to beat, that continues to generate life ”.

Next to the “cubiculum” other relics of San Camilo are sheltered; they are material testimonies of his charism that, more than 400 years after his death, continues to change the lives of millions of patients.

Daniel Diaz Vizzi/ Romereports.com