On Thursday 10 July, shortly before the liturgical solemnity of St. Camillus de Lellis, the Patriarch of Venice, Monsignor Francesco Moraglia, presided over the solemn celebration of the Eucharist at the church of the Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (I.R.C.C.S) Ospedale San Camillo del Lido of Venice.

‘Holiness does not fear death’, emphasised Monsignor Moraglia in his homily, remembering the extraordinary story of the conversion of St. Camillus who was first a mercenary soldier addicted to gambling and the vices and then a ‘Giant of Charity’, the reformer of nursing care.

Immediately after the Holy Mass, Monsignor Moraglia blessed the ‘Access 303’ pleasure boat which has been made available by the local section of the Italian Naval League and  which will allow the patients of this hospital in Venice to engage in rehabilitation activity and physiotherapy in the lagoon area in a protected environment.

The Patriarch stayed some time with the patients of the hospital and their family relatives, receiving as a gift a small plant grown in the therapeutic garden of the institute which he inaugurated last year.

The sailing boat and the therapeutic garden are both part of the humanisation of care and treatment which seeks to create new forms of rehabilitation side by side with traditional ones.

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