The Camillians or Clerics Regular, Ministers to the Sick (Latin: Clerci Regulari Ministeri Infirmaribus) are a Catholic religious order founded in 1582 by St. Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614).

A large red cross was chosen by the founder as the distinguishing badge for the members of the Order to wear upon their black cassocks, which was later adopted as the international symbol of medical care.

He then moved to Rome, where he took up residence in a hospital dedicated to the care of the incurably ill, the San Giacomo degli Incurabili.

[1] De Lellis invited some young men he had come to know through his religious circles to care for the patients for a more concrete expression of their faith.

They began to work at the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome, and demonstrated a level of commitment, which caused him to consider forming a religious community to provide this care for the sick.

[1] His experience in wars led him to establish a group of health care workers who would assist soldiers on the battlefield.

In response to a request of the Pope, Camillus sent religious to Hungary to care for wounded or sick soldiers.

The large, red cross on their religious habits, which they adopted as a sign of their vocation to medical care, remains a symbol of the Order.

Everything in the tent was destroyed, except for the red cross of the habit belonging to one of the Camillians who was ministering to the wounded on the battlefield.

By the time of his death in 1614, Camillians served in eight hospitals, including ones in Naples, Genoa, Milan and Mantua.

[8] When flooding would periodically cause the Tiber River to top its banks, Camillus worked to bring the patients of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit to safety.

He was named by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as one of the papally-appointed, non-episcopal participants, representing the Church's religious orders, for the October 2012 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

Salvatore was arrested in November 2013 and charged with unlawfully detaining two priests to prevent them voting against him in the election for the Superior General.