‘A miraculous image is venerated in our parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene under the caption Salus Infirmorum’. This is what Fr. Giuseppe Trambusti, a Camillian, wrote in 1868 in his report on the feast day in honour of Mary. We know that Signora Settimia De Nobili honoured this picture within her home and when she was gravely ill she gave it one day to Fr. Simonio who placed it above an altar. Because she recovered her health, it was wisely decided to give the image the title Salus Infirmorum. It is likely that – at some time – Camillus visited the image and prayed in front of it. However, it was taken to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene after the death of Signora Settimia (25 May 1616).

Full of fervour, Fr. Simonio strongly encouraged its veneration and sent copies of the painting to various houses of the Order, specifically where churches were dedicated to St. Mary of Health, for example in Messina, Gaeta, Sessa, and, in 1630 after the plague, Milan. Many people, however, made strong requests for it. Two sophisticated copies were commissioned by Cardinal Gaspare Borgia and Cardinal Sandova, both whom subsequently became Archbishop of Toledo.

The tenderness of the face of Mary and the calm face of Jesus certainly inspired popular devotion which increasingly abandoned itself to that tender image which was increasingly disseminated, albeit with different emphases. In every Camillian community there never fails to be a reference to Salus infirmorum.

Since then the image of Our Lady of Health and the churches that are dedicated to her have spread far and wide in Italy and the world, as is borne witness to by the photography exhibition…