The Martyrs of Charity (25 May – the Birth of St. Camillus)
But it was a most just thing that the ‘Ministers of the Sick’ also won on the field of their labours the palm of martyrdom in self-sacrifice, providing care to their sick neighbours. By divine testimony: ‘there is no greater love – in fact – than this, laying down one’s own life for the health of our brethren’. The fourth solemn vow by which the Sons of St. Camillus pledge themselves to care for the sick, even the plague-stricken, has asked and continually asks for victims so as to crown them with glory. To die, or even only to expose oneself to the risk of dying, by caring for the plague-stricken is – St. Charles Borromeo argued – to be martyrs. And we have, I would say, almost official proof of this in the Church which on 26 February in the Roman roll of martyrs indicates that in Alexandria in Egypt there is a memorial on that day of those many saints – priests and deacons – who between 249 and 262 died caring for the plague-stricken, thereby receiving the honour from Christians of the glorious title of martyrs.
TAIWAN
On 27 March to 7 April of this year a pilgrimage lasting twelve days took place in the Holy Land with the Christian faithful of the community of Lotung. The group was made up of twenty-three people and was accompanied by their chaplain Fr. Giuseppe Didonè. The Via Crucis with handicapped children and elderly people was one of the most moving moments of this pilgrimage.
On Sunday 16 April the Easter of the Resurrection was celebrated in the church dedicated to St. Camillus in Lotung. Fr. Angelo Brusco was also present at the liturgy. During the period of Easter he was a guest of the Camillian community, to which he ‘preached’ the spiritual exercises. Amongst those taking part there was also Fr. Ivo Anselmi of the Philippines.
On 23-26 April a series of papers was given on the various Camillian institutions of Taiwan (the centre in Taipei, the college for nurses, the centre for handicapped people, and the two hospitals) on the subject: humanisation in service to the sick.
THE MEETING OF CAMILLIAN PARISH PRIESTS AND RECTORS
On April 19, 2017, in the afternoon, at the Santa Fe Center – Sao Paulo (Brazil) – 48 participants, from the Camillian religious and lay collaborators, met for the 3rd International Meeting of Camillian parish priests and rectors, representing fifteen nations and different provinces and delegations of the Order.
Moments of analysis and the sharing of views on the identity of a parish with a ‘Camillian’ profile followed one another: the Camillian parish as an ‘open hospital’, knowing, loving and serving above all the poorest sick people, between kononia (a setting of communion), kerigma (proclaiming the Word of salvation), and diakonia (mission and the service of charity).
The goal of the meeting was to draw up guidelines – STATUTES – that could accompany the mission of those Camillians to whom is entrusted responsibility for the pastoral care of a parish, so that, in continuing to live fully the Camillian charism, they help to form ‘Camillian’ Christian communities, being sensitive to people who suffer and to their members who are most in need. The activities engaged in by Camillian religious must have their specificity because – as Pope Francis says – a shepherd must give off the ‘smell’ of his sheep, but the sheep must also breathe in the ‘smell’ of their shepherd.
Here are the reports on the first, second and third days of the meeting.
The ‘Camillian’ Parish: an Open Hospital and a House of Hope and Mercy.
STATUTE OF THE PARISHES AND RECTORIES ENTRUSTED TO THE CAMILLIANS
The religious assigned in the parishes and rectories entrusted to the Camillians, who have met in S. Paulo of Brazil from April 19-23, 2017, offer a common framework for the development, promotion and harmonization of this ministry entrusted to them with particular attention to draw out a missionary and Camillian physiognomy having in their hearts the charism of the Order of “reliving the ever-present merciful love of Christ for the sick” (Const. 1) which “is expressed and realized in our ministry, in the world of health, illness and suffering”. (Const. 10).
In a particular manner, the Provinces, Vice-Provinces and Delegations of the Order are called to respond to “the more urgent needs of the Church and the neighbor”, with openness “to other forms of ministry, especially on behalf of those in need”. (Const. 10 ).
The clear goal of the participants during this meeting in Sao Paolo was to identify appropriate guidelines for the parishes and rectories in order to realize, in addition to the healthcare facilities, the necessity of responding to our classical ministry of home care assistance (mare magnum) and to the appeal of Pope Francis to build “field hospitals”.
The Camillian parish carries out its ministry in full harmony with the universal and the local church. In visits to the sick in health facilities, in silently being with the sick person, kind treatment, sensitive care for the requirements of the disease, the motherhood of the church is expressed through the professionals and volunteers, disciples of the Lord. The church enfolds them with its kindness, strengthens the heart, and for the dying, accompanies them in the final passage. The sick person lovingly receives the Word, forgiveness, the sacrament of Anointing, and gestures of charity from brothers and sisters. (Document of Aparecida, 420).
BEING A CAMILLIAN AND A SAMARITAN TODAY
This book, entitled ‘Being a Camillian and Samaritan Today, with your Heart in your Hands, in the Existential and Geographical Fringes of the World of Health’, is the result of the (canonical) fraternal and pastoral visits of the Superior General and the members of the General Consulta to various geographical areas of the Order of Camilians during the course of the first three years (July 2014 to July 2017) of the six-year period 2014-2020.
The messages, reflections and recommendations of the Superior General and the members of the General Consulta have been brought together in a single volume and arranged in chronological order according to the dates of these visits. These messages have already been published in the review Camilliani/Camillians and were addressed first and foremost to the about 1,070 Camillian religious who live in almost 300 communities in 41 countries of the world.
In this way, the duty laid down in the General Statutes of the Order about pastoral visits and visitators was complied with: ‘The visitator listens to all the religious, individually. In this personal interview, he endeavours to ascertain whether, within the community, there exists the common life, the spirit of fraternal charity, and the commitment to our Order, for the purpose of promoting the religious and apostolic life’ (GS, 110); ‘After mature reflection, the visitator gives a report of the recommendations he considers opportune. With exactness, he informs the general consulta of the visitation, and transmits the relative documents to it. He should avoid exceeding the limits of his ordinary or delegated authority’ (GS, 111).
This preface is organised into four parts: the Camillian project for the revitalisation of our consecrated lives and the current ecclesial context; the meetings with our religious in the geographical and existential fringes of the Order; the structure and contents of this book and its objectives; and some statistical data on the journeys and pastoral visits that were engaged in.
THE DELEGATION OF VIETNAM
From the Delegation of Vietnam some photographs of our young Camillians: new novices, novices, those preparing for profession, and temporary professed clerics.
THE PROVINCE OF SICILY AND NAPLES
The Camillian religious of this Province have been involved for the whole year in meetings for the clergy and pastoral workers of the diocese of Tricarico. Our religious Fr. Rosario Messina, for the clergy, and Fr Antonio Marzano, Fr. Adriano Moro and Brother Carlo Mangione, for diocesan meetings with pastoral workers, were involved in this initiative. At the centre of their concerns and analysis was the subject ‘The Sick Person as a Subject of Evangelisation and the Object of the Attention of the Whole of the Christian Community’. The sacrament of the anointing of the sick was presented as a sacrament of healing and comfort.
MANFREDONIA – VALLE DELL’INFERNO
The first of May, as is known, is a day of festivities that is much followed: the spring with its fine weather, the initiatives promoted by institutions and city councils, and the opportunity for a further ‘bridge’ at work or school lead a large number of people to satisfy their wish ‘to go out’ and enjoy some of the beauty of our Beautiful Country, beauty that is both cultural and natural.
THE LAY CAMILLIAN FAMILY
The Central Committee of the Lay Camillian Family met in Ireland on 27 April to 2 May 2017. Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, the assistant general of the LCF, was also present at this meeting.
THE PROVINCE OF NORTH ITALY
The priestly ordination of Fr. Nicola Docimo will take place on 27 May 2017 at 16.00 at the Basilica of St. Anastasia in Verona. The celebration will be presided over by His Excellency Msgr. Giuseppe Zenti, the Bishop of Verona, and will be broadcast live on Telepace. Fr. Nicola will preside over his first Holy Masses on Sunday 28 May at 10.30 at the Parish of SS. Nazaro e Celso (Verona), and on Sunday 4 June at 10.30 at the Parish of S. Vincenzo Martire (San Vincenzo La Costa CS).
Download here the invitation and the poster
BOLOGNA
On 10 May of this year, the Archbishop of Bologna, Msgr. Matteo Zuppi, in the cathedral church, during the Holy Mass which ended the second day of the nineteenth national conference on pastoral care in health, quoted passages from Evangelii gaudium and gave the example of St. Camillus de Lellis, our Founder: ‘How can we bear witness to the joy of being saved in the shipwreck of illness, in the shadows of suffering that conceal hope, when pain leads us to prefer the end? This is the question that unites us and today troubles us’. This is how the Archbishop of Bologna, Matteo Zuppi, began his homily yesterday afternoon in St. Peter’s Cathedral during the Holy Mass that ended the second day of the nineteenth national conference on pastoral care in Health. Zuppi quoted passages from Evangelii gaudium and gave the example of St. Camillus de Lellis, the founder of the Ministers of the Sick. ‘The Church’, he said, ‘is a mother who runs near to the bed of pain of her children. We can be that ray of light, which Pope Francis talks to us about, ‘that is born from the personal certainty of being infinitely loved’. To us is entrusted that light and that infinite love of God. Yet, it is not enough to speak. We have to be there, to help remove causes, to give certain answers. We have to ally ourselves with inns where we want man to be healed; we have to want them to be operational, efficient and excellent. What a sadness it is to see hospitals or institutes that waste resources or even make money through illness! We can never get used to the scandal of waste or economics taking the place of defence of the person! What a responsibility this is for everyone! St. Camillus personally attended to the rite of admission to a hospital: each sick person was received, embraced, his feet were washed and kissed, his rags were removed from him, he was dressed in clean underwear and put into a bed that had been well made. He wanted people ‘not for gain but for love of God who would serve them with that lovingness that mothers usually have for their sick children’.
Read here the article from Avvenire
THE APPOINTMENT OF PROVINCIAL AND VICE PROVINCIAL COUNCILORS – 2017/2020
Leocir Pessini, the Superior General, with the agreement of the members of the General Consulta, after consulting the religious of the Provinces and Vice-Provinces of the Order, on 17-18 May 2017, appointed (Cost. 109), for the three-year period 2017-2020, the following Provincial Councilors.
Province of Poland
fr. Arkadiusz Novak – I° Consigliere
fr. Ireneus Sajewicz
fr. Wojciech Weglicki
br. Bronislaw Malicki
Province of Thailand
fr. Thaisonthi Chaisak – I° Consigliere
fr. Sengcharoen Phakhawi
br. Suchiranutham Chirawat Nicolas
fr. Contarin Giovanni
Province of the Philippines
fr. Rodel Enriquez – I° Consigliere
fr. Gabriel Garcia
fr. Rodolfo Cancino
fr. Renato Maliwat
Province of India
fr. Pattathil Lijo, Mathew – I° Consigliere
fr. Kuliraniyil Bijoy, Joseph
fr. Narikuzhy Jaison, Emmanuel
fr. Kizhakkarakkatt Biju, Peter
Province of North Italy
fr. Giuseppe Rigamonti – I° Consigliere
fr. Joaquim Paulo Cipriano
fr. Umberto Andreetto
fr. Edoardo Gavotti
Province of Rome
fr. Agasantis Mario – I° Consigliere
fr. Blasi Emilio
fr. Palumbo Sergio
fr. Santone Germano
Province of Sicily and Naples
br. Carlo Mangione – I° Consigliere
fr. Luigi Maglione
br. Leonardo Grasso
fr. Medard Aboué
Province of Brazil
fr. Mario Luis Kozik – I° Consigliere
fr. Mateus Locatelli
fr. Olacir Geraldo Agnolin
fr. Francisco Gomes da Silva
Vice-Province of Benin-Togo
fr. Hounliho Magloire – I° Consigliere
fr. Allognon Valentin
br. Agbeka Olivier
br. Akoue Antoine
Vice-Province of Perù
fr. Scapin Camillo – I° Consigliere
fr. Ballena Rios Alex Spencer
fr. Herrera Tapia Ever
fr. Angeles Cervantes Antonio Omar
Province of Spain
fr. Jesús María Zurbano – I° Consigliere
fr. Juan Antonio Amado
fr. Luis Armando De Jesús Leite Dos Santos
Province of Austria
fr. Kovács Levente – I° Consigliere
fr. Gregotsch Leonhard
fr. Gruber Stefan (consigliere sostituto a norma di DG 103)
Province of France
fr. Alexandre Balma – I° Consigliere
br. Michel Mathieu
fr. Bernard Moegle (consigliere sostituto a norma di DG 103)
Province of Germany
p. Paul Schreur – I° Consigliere
p. Arno Geiger
p. Norbert Riebartsch
p. Manuel Tamayo
Province of Burkina Faso
fr. Francois Edgar YAMEOGO – I° Consigliere
fr.Wendbenedo Justin Barnabe BERE
fr.Albert Theophane YONLI
fr.Georges NABOLE
THE APPOINTMENT OF DELEGATE GENERAL FOR THE ANGLO-IRISH PROVINCE – 2017/2020
Leocir PESSINI, the Superior General, with the agreement of the members of the General Consulta, after consulting the religious of the Province, on 18 May 2017, appointed, for the three-year period 2017-2020: fr. Stephen FOSTER – Delegate General for the Anglo-Irish Province.
“May mercy guide our steps, inspire our reforms and enlighten our decisions. May it be the basis of all our efforts. May it teach us when to move forward and when to step back. May it also enable us to understand the littleness of all that we do in God’s greater plan of salvation and his majestic and mysterious working”.
Pope Francis, Presentation of the Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia (21december 2015)
THE DIARY OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL
On 10 May 2017, in Bologna, Fr. Leocir Pessini, the Superior General, took part in the nineteenth national conference of directors of diocesan offices for pastoral care and for associations concerned with such pastoral care and people who provide it. This conference had been organised by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI). The subject of the conference was ‘Proclaiming and Caring for the Sick: which Prophecy for Pastoral Care in Health?’
Read here the article by Agensir
‘Vocational Discernment in an Intercultural World’ is the subject of the eighty-ninth six-monthly assembly of the Union of Superior Generals (USG) which will be held in 24-26 May of this year in Rome at the Salesianum. This subject ‘is closely bound up with that of the next Synod of Bishops’. On Wednesday 24 May Fr. Arturo Sosa, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, will give a paper on ‘Consecrated Life in an Intercultural World Today’. The next day Fr. Mark Weber, the Secretary for Formation of the Society of the Divine Word, will give a paper on ‘Vocational Discernment in an Intercultural World: an Overall Vision’. The second part of the subject will be addressed by three Superior generals from Africa, Asia and Latin America who will narrate the experiences of their Institutes. Fr. Leocir Pessini will be one of these.
Cf.Programme
MEETING OF THE MAJOR SUPERIORS
This meeting – a short course of formation – of the Major Superiors of the Order in Rome, at the generalate house of the Brothers of Christian Schools (Rome), will be held on 24 June to 2 July 2017.
DECISIONS OF THE GENERAL CONSULTA
GUIDELINES OF INTERPROVINCIAL COLLABORATION
The exchange of religious between different Provinces has by now become a phenomenon that involves all the Provinces of our Order. The direction, above all, is from the ‘youngest’ and most numerous Camillian entities to those which are more ‘elderly’ and lacking in religious. These new and absolutely unprecedented – as regards our recent history as well – equilibriums within the geography of the Order of Camillians can no longer be reduced to mere episodes or temporary support for a Province that is in difficulty.
Starting with this general observation, we believe that it is necessary to define guidelines that can accompany and assure the transparency of institutional and fraternal relationships in this exchange of religious who live in a Camillian entity that is different to the one they come from.
The Constitution of the Order, at n. 58, reads: ‘Thus, we promote, within the Order, community reflection, discernment, cooperation among the confreres, the communities and the Provinces’. This approach finds its concrete application in the Camillian Project which invites us ‘to set in motion processes of restructuring and inter-Provincial cooperation’ and subsequently specifies a whole series of initiatives that are to be promoted with a view to achieving effective cooperation between Provinces (cf. Camillian Project 3.4.): ‘The point of departure for every kind of cooperation, above all of an international character, is a solid formation in welcome which creates fraternity. To this end, meetings at every level are needed between religious – and between religious and lay people – on the subjects of evangelisation in multi-ethnic contexts and contexts where religious pluralism prevails; on inculturation and the capacity for integration; on the exchange of life experiences…
Any exchange of confreres between the various continents…must be based upon a shared project of activities and initiatives that respond to the problems that are most urgent from a charismatic point of view, assuring a continuity of commitment to witness through spirituality and fraternity, offering, at the same time, specific opportunities for formation…
The maximisation of human and economic resources must privilege a global outlook on the Order and cannot be determined by the interests of individual Provinces or mere agreements between Provinces: constant connection is needed with the mediation that is offered by the planning of the central government of the Order’.
So that these inter-relationships of religious from different Provinces can be really a source of renewed impetus and fruitful growth at a personal, community, and ministerial level, we here propose some basic criteria that should be respected.
Read here: Relationships with Religious from other Provinces
DECEASED RELIGIOUS
‘See, now they vanish, the faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them. To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern’ (T.S. Eliot).
The Camillian religious of the Province of Sicily and Naples have announced the death on 25 April 2017 of Fr. VINCENZO DI BLASI at the age of 86. His death took place at the community of the ‘Casa Sollievo San Camillo’ of Acireale (Catania).
Fr. LINO BAGGIO was born in Rossano Veneto on 30 January1931 to Ettore Baggio and Rosa Civiero. He was the third of eight children. Inside his family, which was rich in faith and industrious, was expressed and grew that vocation that would lead him at the age of twelve to the postulancy of Villa Visconta in Besana Brianza (MI) (29.09.43) and from there to the subsequent steps of his formation for Camillian religious life in the priesthood: his novitiate in Verona S. Giuliano (07.08.1948), his temporary profession (08.09.1949), and his perpetual profession (08.09.1952).
During the years of his formation, the young cleric Baggio stood out for the sincerity of his character, the simplicity of his style of life, and his passion in applying himself to his studies, in reading, and in historical research – aptitudes that would accompany him on his journey throughout his life.
His theology studies took him to Mottinello di Rossano Veneto (VI) where he was ordained a deacon (17.12.1955) and a presbyter (17.06.1956) by the Bishop of Padua, Msgr. Girolamo Bortignon. On the little picture that records this event, Father Lino, a newly-ordained priest, expressed his great esteem for the dignity to which the Lord had called him, entrusting it to the words of St. Augustine: ‘O priest! Who are you? It is not you because you are the servant of everyone. It is not you because you are of God’. READ HERE
‘Now they live in Christ whom they met in the Church, followed in our vocation, and served in the sick and the suffering. Trusting that the Lord, the Holy Virgin our Queen, St. Camillus, the Blessed Luigi Tezza, the Blessed Giuseppina Vannini, and our deceased religious brothers and sisters, will welcome them in their midst, we commend them in our prayers, remembering them with affection, esteem and gratitude’.
