Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-08-30
MORE FACTS ON
ORIGIN Of RED
CROSS NURSES

hepIOuuCeu III the CdInOl1C SId1lu-
ard and Times of June %, letter of
the writer, published in the New York
Evening Post" of June Is, telling of
the first Red Cross nurses founded
by st. Camillus de Lellis in 1886,
brought forth so many inquiries for
further facts on the subject that it
appears to be little bit of unfamiliar
history worth recounting at this time.
In 1850 there was published by the
Congregation of st. Philip Neri in
London a life of St. Camillus in two
volumes. These books were also sold
by Edward DUNCAN & Brother in the
United States that same year.
Father Cicatelli, one of the early Red
Cross nurses, wrote a life of St. Cam
illus a few years after the saints
death. This work went thru many
editions. AS st. Camillus was canon
lied by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746,
the edition revised by Father Dolera,
Rome, 1749, is the most complete
This year Benzizer Brothers brought
out another life of CamiIlus, "The
Hospital Saint"
Establishment of Order
The facts in reference to the estab-
lishment of the order of nurses with
the Red Cross as their distinguishing
marks are in brief thaSa.
Camille Compelio, of noble fam
lily in Abruzzo, married in Milan an
officer in the imperial army of Charles
" of Italy. A few days before a child
was born she dreamed that she had
given birth to son with a red cross
on his breast, who was followed by
other children with similar crosses.
This child was Camillus, born May 25,
1850. His mother died when he was
thirteen years old and his father when
he was nineteen. About this time a
scratch on his right leg above the an
kle turned into a running sore, which
never completely healed. 1t prevented
him from following the career of a SOL
der, which he had begun, and brought
him in touch with hospitals and the
need for nurses.
He was man of commanding pres
ence, tremendous zeal and unusual
piety He was elected superintendent
of the Hospital of St. Giacomo, in
Rome Here he brought about much
needed reforms In 1884 he received
an inspiration to form an order of
ministers of the Sick" At the age
of thirty-two he began his studies for
the priesthood and was ordained June
1O,1584. On March 10, 1886, Pope
Sixtus V. confirmed the congregation
of nurses that Camillus had gathered
and on June 26 of the same year in
another brief ordered that Camillus
and his companions should wear as
distinguishing mark of their order a
red cross on their habits and cloaks.
st. Camillus died in 1914, twenty
eight years after founding his order
of red cross nurses, which his mother
had seen in a dream before his birth.
He had established during his life six
teen houses Of his order in Italy and
had lost two hundred and twenty of
his nurses while attending the numer
Gus plaques and wars of that time
Philip ". introduced the order into
Spain. Father Andrea Sicli, of Pal
ermo, travelled to Mexico, Peru and
Brazil to introduce the order into
South America Father Perez of Cas-
tile, after being superior of the order
in Spain, brought the order to Lima,
where he died on August Is, ITO, at
the age of seventy-two.
Many societies of both SKIES under
taking the work of nursing get mem
Der of the order of st. Camillus to
bless the red cross they wear in order
to emulate the work of the founder Of
the red cross nurses. The nursing
order of Sisters of st. Francis wear
the red cross of Camillus on their
breast in hospitals everywhere.
And still there are writer's on the
"Origin of the Red Cross Nurses" who
never heard of st. Camillus de Lellis.