The proceedings of the General Chapters of the Order of the Ministers of the Sick are kept with care in the General Archives (at the Generalate House  in Piazza della Maddalena in Rome). Especial attention, however, was paid to those of the first three General Chapters which took place while the Founder was Superior General, who had been elected to that position on 7 December 1591. They were seen not only as valuable and irreplaceable historical documents of the beginnings of the Institute but also as a valuable relic, containing the signed autographs of St. Camillus, which were affixed at the end of each session.

The first General Chapter was convoked in response to an explicit request of the community to decide on the so-called ‘question of the hospitals’ which for almost six years troubled the whole Order, to the point of provoking a split, and it was the fulcrum of the discussions and decisions of two General Chapters. On 13 February 1595 Camillus had, indeed, set in motion at the Major Hospital of Milan complete – spiritual and corporeal – service for the sick, with lodgings in the same place. This was, therefore, perpetual and continual assistance, which St. Camillus wanted to apply to all the institutes in which his companions provided service.

However, to the religious the decision of the Founder did not seem to match the nature and the obligations of the Institute and the fourth vow (assistance to the sick even when one’s own life was endangered). They believed, indeed, that this would have favoured the hospital administrations rather than the sick themselves and that it would have steadily weakened the strength and the spirit of their brothers, forcing them to engage in work that was excessively hard.

The question, obviously enough, revolved around the way in which service was exercised and not its substance. One was not dealing with the impeding or decline of the spirit of the religious but perhaps with a more realistic vision of the commitments of Camillian ministry.

Father Camillus was faced with the opposition of almost all of those taking part in the General Chapter: 30 religious, of whom 23 were priests and 7 were brothers, even though at that time there were more brothers than priests. We do not know the criteria for the decisions that were taken at the local General Chapters, nor how many were delegated in the individual houses of Rome, Naples, Milan and Genoa. Almost certainly the Superiors of the houses took part because of their positions. The most distinguished and representative figures of the Institute took part, amongst whom the three future successors of the Founder in the government of the Order: Fr. Biagio Oppertis, Fr.  Francesco Antonio Nigli and Fr. Sanzio Cicatelli. Almost a half of the members of the General Chapter belonged to the first group of religious who had professed on 8 December 1591. At that period the professed, priests and brothers (clerics and lay) in the Order numbered about a hundred. Those from the Kingdom of Naples made up the largest bloc. The General Chapter ended with nothing being decided on the hospitals question. However, the first General Consultors were elected and general norms were established for the governance and organisation of the Order.