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 outcome of the (canonical) fraternal and pastoral visits that were made by the Superior General and the members of the General Consulta to the various geographical areas of the Order of Camillians during the course of the first three years (July 2014-July 2017) of the six-year period 2014-2020.

The messages, thoughts 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. These messages have already been published in the review Camilliani/Camillians and were addressed, first and foremost, to the nearly 1,070 Camillian religious who live in almost 300 communities in 41 countries in the world.

In this way, the duties envisaged in the General Statutes as regards pastoral visits and visitators were honoured – ‘The visitator listens to all the religious, individually. In this personal interview, he endeavours to ascertain whether, within the community, there exist 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, n. 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, n. 111).

This introduction is arranged around four sections: the Camillian project for the revitalisation of our consecrated lives and the current context of the Church; the meetings with Camillian religious in the geographical and existential fringes of the Order; the organisation and contents of this book and its aims; and some statistical data about the voyages and pastoral visits of these years.