St. Camillus de Lellis was born at Bucchianico, Italy. He fought for the Venetians against the Turks, was addicted to gambling, and by 1574 was penniless in Naples. He became a Capuchin novice, but was unable to be professed because of a diseased leg he contracted while fighting the Turks. He devoted himself to caring for the sick, and became director of St. Giacomo Hospital in Rome. He received permission from his confessor (St. Philip Neri) to be ordained and decided, with two companions, to found his own congregation, the Ministers of the Sick (the Camillians), dedicated to the care of the sick. In 1591, the Congregation was made into an order to serve the sick by Pope Gregory XIV, and in 1591 and 1605, Camillus sent members of his order to minister to wounded troops in Hungary and Croatia, the first field medical unit. Some confreres were with troops fighting in Hungary and Croatia in 1595, forming the first recorded military field ambulance. Gravely ill for many years, he resigned as superior of the Order in 1607 and died in Rome on July 14, the year after he attended a General Chapter there. In his last illness, he left his own bed to see if other patients in the hospital needed help. Camillus was canonized in 1746, was declared patron of the sick, with St. John of God, by Pope Leo XIII, and patron of nurses and nursing groups by Pope Pius XI. His feast day is July 14. We, members of the order bound ourselves to serve prisoners and persons infected by sickness and plagues as well as those dying in private homes even at the risk of our own lives, which makes our fourth vow.