By Fr. Alfredo M. Tortorella MI

On 10-17 December, at the ‘S. Maria Stella del Mare’ Parish of Manfredonia, a parish mission took place for sick people that was animated by Camillian religious, Daughters of St. Camillus, and women Ministers of St. Camillus, accompanied by a number of young people from Rome and Sicily who work with them. This was a very intense and beautiful week, strongly wished for by the parish priest, Don Alessandro Gambuto, together with his team of extraordinary ministers of communion and pastoral workers. The Archbishop, Msgr. Michele Castoro, sent a message of blessing and gratitude to the missionaries, to the parish priest and to the whole community of the ‘Star’ Parish.

During the period of Advent, the Word of God that announces the ‘Coming One’, the Saviour Jesus, was taken not only to the 35 brothers and sisters of the parish who are by now bedridden or impeded because of their advanced age, but also to the children of the elementary schools and catechism and to the children of the secondary school. In addition, the mission was ‘extended’ from the ‘Star’ to the ‘St. Camillus de Lellis’ Hospital and to the parish of the same name where a vigil was held for young people – in agreement with the section for pastoral care for young people and the parish priest Don Carmine Rinaldi – almost as a continuation of the diocesan pilgrimage of Bucchianico of last October. Lastly, there were two moments of prayer that were very intense and strongly attended: the veneration of the Cross in the evening of Friday 15 December, and the moment of adoration of the Eucharist on Saturday 16 December with the evangelisation of the streets, following the style of the ‘Lights in the Night’ experience for young people who spend time in the Corso Manfredi. This was a week of grace not only for the parishioners of the ‘Star’ but also for the missionaries themselves – including the lay faithful of the parish – who, like the seventy-two, ‘returned full of joy’  (Lk 10:17).

    The Camillians were engaging in their fourth parish mission for the sick in the Archdiocese of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo. They began in 2013 with a mission to the ‘S. Giuseppe Artigiano’ Parish of San Giovanni Rotondo where they were welcomed by Don Vincenzo D’Arenzo. Shortly afterwards they went to the ‘St. Camillus de Lellis’ Parish, where they were welcomed by the then parish priest, Don Franco De Finis. In April this mission was to the ‘S. Lorenzo Maiorano’ Cathedral Parish where they were welcomed by Don Fernando Piccoli. Lastly, they went to the ‘S. Maria Stella Maris’ Parish with its parish priest, Don Gambuto.

The attention that the Camillians pay to this archdiocese and the offering of the Camillian mission for the sick to these parish priests derives from their strong ‘debt’ towards this local Church. Here, between 1574 and 1575, Camillus de Lellis was welcomed, understood and urged on in particular by two sons of this land: a citizen of the principal town, Antonio di Nicastro, and the friar who was the custodian of San Giovanni Rotondo, Father Angelo.  They made themselves some of the leading figures of a human event (that of the conversion of St. Camillus) that was strongly infused with the Spirit of God. Without the sensitivity of these men of that region, a lost young man – perhaps – would not have become an apostle of the suffering and a saint of the Church! Thus it is that the Camillians, happy and proud to be in the region of the Gargano, continue to offer to the local communities and their pastors sensitisation to home visits and care for all infirmities, whether they are physical or moral. The hope is that it will be possible to engage in this mission in all parishes!