St. John of God, a 16th-century Portuguese-born convert who in later life founded a hospital in Granada and gave himself entirely to the care of the sick, poor, and mentally ill, is the principal patron of the sick. Pope Leo XIII designated him patron of the sick, nurses, and hospitals. His feast day is March 8.
St. Camillus de Lellis, founder of the Ministers of the Sick whose red cross became an emblem of hospital care, is likewise patron of the sick, nurses, and hospitals — also declared by Pope Leo XIII. The Anointing of the Sick, one of the seven sacraments, is the Church's primary sacramental response to human illness.
Formally proclaimed patronage — sourced from canonized saints in the Roman Calendar.
Our Lady of Lourdes is invoked as patron of the sick. The Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes commemorates the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) at the grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, in the diocese of Tarbes, France, between February 11 and July 16, 1858. There were eighteen apparitions in all.Bernadette, the fourteen-year-old eldest daughter of an impoverished miller, recounted seeing on February 11, 1858, while gathering firewood with her sister and a friend, "a Lady" in white with a blue sash, holding a rosary, in the niche above the grotto. Sources: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1992/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_19920513_world-day-of-the-sick.html.
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Saint John of God is invoked as patron of the sick. Joao Cidade was born on March 8, 1495, in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal. After serving as a soldier in the armies of Charles V in campaigns against the French and the Turks, he worked as a shepherd, then as a bookseller in Granada, Spain.In 1539, after hearing a sermon by Saint John of Avila on the feast of Saint Sebastian, he was so moved to repentance that he was committed for a time to the Royal Hospital of Granada, where the harsh treatment of the mentally ill convinced him to dedicate his life to the care of the sick and poor.Upon his release, he rented a house in Granada and began gathering the sick from the streets, establishing what became one of the first organized hospitals dedicated to systematic care of patients. Sources: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/la/apost_letters/documents/hf_l-xiii_apl_18860622_inter-coelites.html.
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