On 23 January 1829, Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini founded the first community of the “Oblate nursing sisters”. Poor and in frail health, but rich in zeal and love for Christ, the Foundress and the first sisters performed wonders of charity at the bedside of sick and dying women, in poor dwellings where even those close to death lay alone and abandoned.
The Sisters Ministers of the Sick of Saint Camillus are women consecrated to God who, following the charism of Maria Domenica, devote themselves entirely to serving those who suffer, the sick and the dying, in whom they see the face of Jesus: “I was sick and you visited me…you did it to me” (Mt 25:36,40), according to the foundress’s instruction: “to visit, assist and serve God made man, agonizing in the garden or dying on the cross”. Following the example of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross, through their lives and their works they bear witness to the world of the Father’s merciful charity, compassion and tenderness towards each of his creatures.
The mission of the Ministers of the Sick is expressed principally:
- in practising healthcare and social healthcare professions in people’s homes, where the need is real and urgent, and in public and private facilities, caring for the person as a whole;
- in providing spiritual and pastoral assistance to the sick and their families;
- in training healthcare and pastoral workers and volunteers;
- in humanizing the world of healthcare.
They work in collaboration with lay people to defend the dignity and sacredness of every person and to promote and protect life from birth to death, according to the principles of Christian bioethics.
“United in charity”, they live in community, building communion in harmony, peace, joy and mutual love, helping to build a sense of belonging.
For a long time, the daughters of Maria Domenica carried out their ministry in the city and province of Lucca, but with Pontifical approval, obtained on 1 December 1929, they were able to expand in Italy and abroad. In Italy, the religious sisters are present in various regions and exercise their ministry in the different fields of healthcare: in people’s homes, in retirement homes, in nursing homes, in hospitals, in healthcare ministry and in religious assistance within the “chaplaincy”. The Institute’s first mission began in 1948 in CHINA, in collaboration with their Camillian confrères. This mission experienced the Maoist Revolution and the martyrdom through persecution and hardship of Sr Claudia Martinelli and Father Celestino Rizzi. After this difficult and heroic beginning, the missionaries, expelled from Communist China, arrived in Taiwan, where the religious sisters are now actively engaged in healthcare and healthcare ministry. In 1949, the Institute put down roots in the great South American country of Brazil.
In the post-conciliar period, in response to the needs of the Church, the Institute opened itself to the “ad gentes” missions: Thailand, Kenya, the Philippines, Chile, Haiti, India, Peru, Vietnam, Indonesia and Ivory Coast.
Charism
Maria Domenica entrusted her congregation to the protection of Our Lady of Sorrows and presented her to her daughters as the fundamental inspiration of the charism and the contemplative and apostolic icon of the ministry. Just as the Virgin, at the foot of the cross, attends to her crucified son and shares his passion, pain, contempt and abandonment, so the Ministers of the Sick must live out compassion beside the sick.