MANY old and sick people came to look at a big man’s heart in the Mater Hospital in Dublin yesterday hoping to draw strength from it. The heart belongs to St Camillus, patron saint of the sick and those who care for them. It was taken from his body almost 400 years ago because people believed it was full of love.
Veneration of the relic, normally kept in Rome, is part of the celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the Camillian Order arriving in Ireland.
At lunchtime yesterday there was standing room only in the large chapel in the old part of the Mater Hospital when around 350 people attended con-celebrated Mass and venerated the heart.
Chief celebrant, Fr Arnaldo Pangrazzi, said St Camillus never performed miracles but everyone knew him as a holy man.
"‘More heart in those hands, brother’, he would say in urging his fellow Camillians in the care for the sick and dying."
Provincial of the Irish order of St Camillus, Fr Stephen Foster, said the Italian, born in 1550, was the most unlikely of saints.
"He was 6ft 6ins tall and had a bad temper. He was also addicted to gambling and once literally lost the shirt off his back," said Fr Foster.
He realised God was calling him to care for the sick while being treated for an incurable leg wound. The saint died on July 14, 1614, aged 64.
Ian Moran, 27, from Dublin, who attended the Mass with his girlfriend, Niamh Rathbone, had a cancerous tumour removed from his skull recently and is soon to have lesions on both his lungs investigated. "I think we drawing strength from being here. I think it is all about faith now."
Eugene and Sheila O’Boy travelled from Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Sheila suffers from motor neuron disease and cannot talk. "I think we have got a lot comfort from being here," said Mr O’Boy.
Ann Dillon said she had been ill 15 years ago and wanted to see the relic. "I have a great devotion to Our Lady and St Theresa, the Little Flower. I didn’t know about St Camillus but I will try everyone," she said, laughing.