The procession of San Camillo de Lellis, usually celebrated on the second Sunday of July, has exceptionally been moved to the last Sunday of September. An event that nevertheless retained its link with the community and with the traditions of the neighborhood, culminating with the exit of the simulacrum from the church in Viale Principe Umberto and the subsequent journey through the city streets. The celebration was opened by the Paternò flag-waving show, which served as a prelude to the release of the simulacrum. Then the procession set off, accompanied by the group of bearers (led by Franco Forami with the beater Gino Barbera) and by the Confraternity of San Camillo.
During the solemn mass presided over by the new Camillian priest Gianluca Spalice and animated by the choir accompanied by maestro Giuseppe Romeo, councilor Nino Carreri read the decree with which, in 1755, the Senate of Messina elected San Camillo as co-patron saint of the city; Also present was councilor Peppe Chiarella, a member, together with Giuseppe Lentini, of the Messina section of the Italian Referees Association, who maintain a special bond with the Camillian community. A document that restores the depth of a bond that has its roots in the history of Messina and which still today finds one of its most significant expressions in the Camillian community.
It is precisely in the church on Viale Principe Umberto that this story continues to be preserved. The building, inaugurated in 1932 next to the nursing home of the same name and which became a parish in 1965, preserves some important relics of the Saint. Among these is the heart of San Camillo, kept in a precious silver reliquary from the school of Filippo Juvara. Also preserved next to the reliquary is the cushion on which the heart was exposed immediately after the removal, on which some blood stains are still visible. In the church there are also bandages used to bandage a wound on the foot, parts of the trousers and the spur. It is a memory that also tells of the extraordinary transformation of Camillo de Lellis: from soldier of fortune to founder of the Ministers of the Sick, to becoming a symbol of dedication towards the sick and the least. “The poor and the sick will make us touch God’s sky with a finger” is the phrase that more than any other encapsulates the meaning of his vocation.