The (Unwritten) Ten Commandments of Camillus de Lellis

11986522_10205118828586162_8779489063059199802_nFrom Alessandro Pronzato, Un cuore per il malato. Camillo de Lellis (Gribaudi, Sondalo (So), 1983), p. 391.

I am a sick man your master and lord:

  1. You will honour the dignity and the sacredness of my person, the image of Christ.
  2. You will serve me like an affectionate and very tender mother, with all your heart, all your intelligence, all your creativity, all your strength and all your time.
  3. Remember to forget yourself.
  4. Do not speak the name of charity in vain. You will prefer to speak with your feet, your knees and above all with your hands.
  5. Do not commit distractions.
  6. Do not kill my hope with hurry, a lack of preparation, indelicacy, irritation or impatience.
  7. You will see me as a whole and you will put the whole of yourself in what you do. Thus you will not close me up in a clinical file and you will not conceal yourself behind your professional role.
  8. You will not desecrate your heart with thoughts of money.
  9. You will strongly want my recovery. You will clearly grasp that I went to hospital to leave it healthy, as soon as possible.
  10. You will not hesitate to steal my burden, to take possession of my suffering. When you cannot remove my pain, at least share in it.

…and when you have done everything that you can do, when you have been what you must be, when you have not drawn back in front of any troublesome duty and any repugnant task…do not forget to thank me.