Who's your favorite saint? NCR writers share

A version of this story appeared in the Nov 21-Dec 4, 2014 print issue under the headline: Who's your favorite saint? NCR writers share.
A statue of St. Camillus de Lellis in a French church (Wikimedia Commons)
A statue of St. Camillus de Lellis in a French church (Wikimedia Commons)

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For this special section, NCR invited our columnists to tell us about their favorite saints: What saint do you pray to or have a particular devotion to, and why? Following are the responses we received.

Mercy Sr. Camille D'Arienzo

St. Camillus de Lellis, the saint whose name I requested at my reception into the Sisters of Mercy, was born in Italy in 1550. His birthplace, that of both my parents, is all I have in common with him. Had our lives crossed in the same time frame, we'd have had an adversarial relationship. Camillus was a soldier; I'm a pacifist. He was an out of control gambler; I play only penny machines in Atlantic City.

Records say he was 6 feet 6 inches tall when he went to fight with the Venetians against the Turks. While young, an incurable leg ailment changed the direction of his life. He was thrown out of the hospital for fighting, but he brought with him an awareness of the terrible state of medical care.

Camillus gambled his way into poverty and, at age 25, begged God's help. This led to a conversion and to several religious orders, which wouldn't accept him. So he founded one of his own, specifically to care for the sick.

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