Brother Carlo Mangione, the coordinator of the central initiatives for the fourth centenary, sends to the whole Camillian community his message on the occasion of the feast day of St. Camillus which this year coincides with the inauguration of the jubilee year.

This is a year of great joy for the whole of the Camillian Order and for the great family of St. Camillus. To celebrate the fourth hundred centenary of his birth to heaven means for us to remember all the teachings that St. Camillus left us.

Four centuries of history, four centuries of charity, and four centuries of proclaiming the Gospel, of mercy, and in a particular way to the poor and the suffering.

The life of St. Camillus was a very rich life; he was a man who underwent the experience of sin, of frailty, and who, despite this, managed to consecrate himself to God, to consecrate himself to the poor and to the sick. Here there is a great message of hope for us; the Lord does not want perfect people: He wants people who want to improve themselves.

To celebrate this Camillian jubilee year means to rediscover this figure of St. Camillus, it means to propose it anew to the very many people who are near to us, to propose it anew to the Church, and to propose it anew, as well, in a secular world. Yes: specifically a secular world,  because the language of charity, the language of solidarity, is a language shared by everyone. I would also venture to say that it is also an example for atheists, because there is also a philanthropic, deep, total and radical love. The great family of St. Camillus, which is made up of Camillian men religious, of the sisters Daughters of the St. Camillus, of the Women Ministers of the Sick of St. Camillus, volunteers, and the employees of our works: a whole world that this year wants to sing and wants to renew this message that St. Camillus left to us.

I believe that the most beautiful celebration is that of exerting ourselves in a more generous way, in a more heroic way; exerting ourselves for our sick and suffering brethren.

We are called to do this every year, we are called to do it for the whole of our lives, but this jubilee year wants to be precisely this transmission to so many brothers of ours, to many sisters of ours.

The hope that I express to the Camillian communities and to the great family of St. Camillus is that they may have great enthusiasm, great joy and great conviction in transmitting these message.

You see: the Camillian vocation is a great vocation, great because it grasps the heart of the Gospel: ‘I was sick and you visited me’.

If we think that every sick person represents Jesus and if we think that we are Jesus for every sick person, then certainly our service will be generous and joyous