Three very interesting saints or blesseds are remembered today on the calendar. There’s Kateri Tekakwitha, whose story we all know. (We visited her tomb, which is across the river from Montreal in a depressed little village mostly of “First Nations” people (what they call Native Americans up there).

Then there’s Francis Solano, (or Solanus) who has a great shipwreck story in his life and who also played the violin as part of his ministry to the peoples of South America. (Interestingly enough, Fr. Solanus Casey – the origins of whose religious name are obvious – also played the violin)

I’ve chosen to highlight Camillus de Lellis, not because the sister who taught me French in high school had the name, but because I find his story so interesting – a soldier of fortune who never made a fortune, a gambling addict…he turned to caring for the sick and became a saint.