In a few days’ time the LVII General Chapter of the Order of the Ministers of the Sick will begin. Over 400 years of Camillian history will come together because the analyses and the debates which will follow one another during the course of the General Chapter that we will be celebrating will be, after a certain fashion, influenced by the previous 56 General Chapters.

How much water has passed under the bridges of the Tiber, how many developments, how many joyous and sad events, have taken place since the I General Chapter which was celebrated in 1595 and convoked by the Founder, St. Camillus! But also how many good works have been done by our brothers who preceded us! One need only think of how many sick people they cared for in body or comforted in spirit in the nearby hospitals of St. James and of the Holy Spirit, not to mention in Naples, Milan, Genoa and very many other parts of Italy, as well as abroad.

For every religious Institute a General Chapter is a very important event because it expresses in the highest way the value and the dignity of the members of the Order, as well as the spirituality and the rules that guide it. To give an idea of how much a General Chapter is important in our Order one need only think that in the General Statutes there are 32 articles (from number 108 to number 140) on how it should be prepared for and how it should function.

Personally, this will be the third General Chapter in which I have participated. The first was the General Chapter of 2001, then I took part in that of 2007 as a translator. Lastly, I will participate in the next one which will begin on 1 May 2013. It is very striking at the outset to go into the hall of the General Chapter and to think that one has the privilege – but above all the responsibility and the burden – of taking part in a General Chapter and of knowing that your contribution will help to determine – with others – the direction to impart to the Order for the years to come. An Order that works in over thirty nations that have horizons and criteria for assessment that are completely different from each other! We are fortunate because there is one thing that glues all this together: it is the spirit of St. Camillus which together with his charism and his spirituality go beyond geographical boundaries and irrupt into the souls of people of good will wherever they may be.

This General Chapter will go down in history as the General Chapter of the Fourth Centenary of the birth into heaven of St. Camillus, that is to say the Camillian Jubilee year, which will begin on 14 July next. It will have more visibility and more dissemination than the other General Chapter because it will be channelled by the Committee for the Fourth Centenary which will make available its staff  and its multimedia machinery. We hope, however, that the imminent General Chapter will be most remembered for what it will draw up in favour of the interior growth of its members and the service they will prepare to offer to the world of health and health care.