Rome: Teatro Argentina was full last Saturday for the award of the ‘Good Samaritan’ Prize and a performance of the musical ‘Camillus Soldier of God’.

More than five hundred people were present at the evening organised by the Vicariate of Rome to honour those who have stood out in various forms of health care, and to commemorate the role of St. Camillus de Lellis in helping the sick, during the fourth centenary of his death.

The ‘Good Samaritan’ Prize which this year has reached its seventeenth edition seeks to appreciate examples of excellence in the health-care world and voluntary work in Rome, indicating as an example the Gospel ideal of the Good Samaritan.

Receiving the awards were: Prof. Maurizio Pompili, the head of the service for the prevention of suicide at the St. Andrew Polyclinic of the Sapienza University of Rome; the professional nurse, Mariarosa Martellini, the head of the guidance service for health care for foreigners at the St. John of Sorrows Hospital of Rome, which engages in particular in support activities for young migrant mothers and their children, preventing resort to abortion; and the ‘Gigi Ghirotti’ Foundation, which promotes the National Day of Relief, with activities involving sensitisation and research in the field of palliative care and the humanisation of hospital care.

The prizes were awarded respectively by Monsignor Lorenzo Leuzzi, Auxiliary Bishop and delegate for health care in Roman hospitals; Monsignor Andrea Manto, the director of the Diocesan Centre for Pastoral Care in Health; and Father Laurent Zoungrana, the newly elected Vicar General of the Camillians, who was making his first public appearance.

‘In this edition of the prize’, explained Msognor Manto, ‘the anniversary of the death of St. Camillus de Lellis leads us to exalt the extraordinary figure of this saint of charity and patron saint of the sick and of health-care workers, a model of life to be pointed out to the award-winners and, through them, to the whole of the health-care world in this capital city. St. Camillus, in various hospitals of Rome of the seventeenth century, bore practical witness to the Gospel and at the level of ideals bequeathed to all health-care workers his famous teaching: more heart in those hands’.

The prize-giving ceremony was opened with the testimony of Francesca Valletta, aged 89, a volunteer of Arvas at St. John’sHospital of Rome. In thanking her for her work, Monsignor Manto emphasised that ‘the city of Rome needs readiness to help and generous dedication in order to meet its needs which are undergoing a constant and dizzy expansion’.

The evening ended at 20.30 with a performance of the musical ‘Camillus Soldier of God’, produced by the Cambioscena company of Predappio with music, direction and texts by Renato Billi. The performance, which was open to everyone but addressed in particular to the health-care workers of the Vicariate of Rome, narrated the fascinating story of the patron saint of the sick, of nurses and of hospitals. At first a tearaway and a rough mercenary soldier, Camillus later became a tender and humble servant of the sick. Despite his low level of formal education and learning, it was this man who introduced important innovations into health care and became a teacher of charity, founding the Order of the Ministers of the Sick, which today is to be found in forty countries of the world.

Written in the year 2011, ‘Camillus Soldier of God’ has already received major applause during its performances in Italy. Now, during the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus, it has been performed in the city where this saint ended his earthly life on 14 July 1614.

Another appointment for this musical is envisaged for Saturday 28 June at 20.45 at the Teatro Fraschini of Pavia. This evening has been organised by the Order of the Ministers of the Sick with the patronage of the local diocese and the IRCSS Foundation of the St. Matthew Polyclinic of and the support of the social services department of the city council

Entrance is free. All donations will be given to Camillian missions.

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