A special day for those called Camillo or Camilla. The day has been organised in Bucchianico (Cheiti) – the town where St. Camillus was born – for 25 April next, as a part of the initiatives for the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus.

The day will begin at 9.30 with the registering of the participants in the sanctuary dedicated to St. Camillus and will continue at 9.30 with a celebration of the Eucharist which will also involve the showing of the miraculous statue of the saint.

At 11.00 there will be a conference which will be followed by the greetings of the Town Council of Bucchianico and refreshments. To finish, at 15.00, there will be a guided visit to the places of St. Camillus.

A invitation to take part in this day (which has a participation fee of 15 euros, with no fee for children under the age of 8) is extended to all those people, of any age, who are called Camillo or Camilla (middle names as well), as well as to their family relatives and those who accompany them.

Enrolments should be made through the sanctuary of Bucchianico, the telephone numbers being 0871381121/0871446034, or at the e-mail address santuario.bucchianico@gmail.com

A similar initiative will take place in Rome on 5-6 July at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Campo Marzio.

On the occasion of the ‘Day of those Named Camillo or Camilla’ we communicate to you with joy the birth of two children in Bucchianico – a little girl and a little boy – who bear the name of the saint.

The first, who was born first, is Camillo Zappacosta, born on  23 March. ‘In our family there are two other relatives who are called Camillus’, we were told by  Silvio, the father, and Valentina, the mother, ‘a great grandfather and an uncle of the baby. Camillus is a child we greatly wanted, he was born three months after our wedding and after making a vow to the saint asking for his birth’. Indeed, his mother found out that she was expectant on 14 July 2013, the day of the liturgical memorial of St. Camillus. There is no point in observing that his parents were married in the sanctuary of Bucchianico and that they will baptise their child there.

On 9 April Camilla Di Luzio was born. In her case as well there are three other people called Camillus or Camilla in her family: her father, her grandfather on her mother’s side and her great grandfather on her father’s side. ‘We decided to call our second child Camilla’, we were told by her father Camillo and her mother Ilenia, ‘in order to renew our devotion to the saint of Bucchianico. We were also married in the sanctuary dedicated to him and we will baptise our daughter there’. To preside over the ceremony will be the new Camillian deacon, Germano Santone, the cousin of the father, Camillo.

And as regards the two newborn children who are called Camillo and Camilla, we would also like to mention the oldest person in Bucchianico with one of these names: Signor Camillo Malandra, who at the age of 94 is hale and hearty. Born on 9 November 1919, a pensioner after a lifetime’s work, he told us: ‘It is a very great honour for me to have the same name as our saint, I am devoted to him and I have always followed the feast of July. Just hearing people speak about St. Camillus moves me, as for that matter is the case with almost all of the inhabitants of this town who are linked to him in an indissoluble way’.

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