Robert Barron, bishop-elect of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, celebrated the feast day of St. Camillus de Lellis this week.

“St. Camillus de Lellis, pray for us!” Barron tweeted.

Born in Italy in 1550, St. Camillus de Lellis converted at the age of 25 and began working in a hospital for “incurables," a report from Britannica said. Nine years later he was ordained a priest. He focused on working with the sick and formed a group of priests to do just that. Soon afterward, Pope Gregory XIV approved creating the group as a fixture. The group became part of an order called Ministers of the Sick. It grew from its original 12 members to more than 300 members at the time of Camillus' death in 1614. 

For his dedication to the sick, Camillus is now recognized at the patron saint of sick people, hospitals nurses and health care workers; a report from Franciscan Media said. Catholics celebrate his feast day each year on July 18. 

Camillus' Ministers of the Sick first worked at Holy Ghost Hospital in Rome, but after several years they established a new location in Naples; a report on Catholic.org said. The group then went on to care for people suffering from the plague, and they later went out to care for injured soldiers in Croatia and Hungary.

Camillus was canonized in 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV, who had beatified him four years earlier.

In June, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Barron as the next bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, a news release from the diocese said.