Camillus de Lellis
Italian priest, nurse and saint
Camillus de Lellis, M.I., (25 May 1550 – 14 July 1614) was an Italian Catholic priest who founded the Camillians, a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in the year 1742, and canonized by him four years later in 1746. De Lellis is the patron saint of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians. His assistance is also invoked against gambling.
Early life
Camillus de Lellis was born on 25 May 1550 at Bucchianico (now in Abruzzo, then part of the Kingdom of Naples). His mother, Camilla Compelli de Laureto, was nearly sixty when she gave birth to him. His father was an officer in both the Neapolitan and French royal armies and was seldom home. De Lellis had his father's temper and, due to his mother's age and retiring nature, she felt unable to control him as he grew up. She died in 1562. As a consequence he grew up neglected by the family members who took him in after her death.
The public source identifies “Camillus de Lellis” as italian priest, nurse and saint. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Camillus, Lellis and Italian.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q332656. VIAF identifies the subject as 35768234. The Library of Congress control number is n81008206. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1550, 1614, 1742 and 1746.
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This entry incorporates text from “Camillus de Lellis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.