A Camillian's Career of Charitable Devotion

Br. Davide Luigi Giordan was born on August 6, 1924, in Vicenza, Italy. At age 12, he resolved to become an evangelist and care for the sick with the Catholic Order of the Ministers of the Infirm, otherwise known as the Camillians. He joined the order officially when he reached 20, whereafter he went to study medicine in Rome and graduated to practice as a Camillian physician.

Giordan arrived in Yunnan, China, in 1947 for the leprosy patients there. When the Chinese Communists came to power two years later, he was arrested and imprisoned on charges of being a foreign spy. Deported in 1950, Giordan first came to Taiwan in 1953, joining other Camillians who had begun serving the poor in transport-lacking Ilan County the previous year. At one point, Giordan presided over the Wanshan Sanatorium, a branch of the Camillian St. Mary's Hospital in Lotung.

By his own volition, Giordan moved to the outlying islands of Penghu to work for the St. Camillus Hospital in 1958, joking that Lotung was not out-of-the-way enough. Erected in May the previous year, St. Camillus was popular among the locals for its low fees. Giordan was reassigned to Sanchung, Taipei, in 1973, but returned to head St. Camillus a decade later.

On a personal level, Giordan's move to Penghu was a reflection of his experience with the lepers in China, whose welfare he supported throughout his life. In Penghu, where there was a significant number of lepers, the eradication of the disease would be credited to both Ms. Marjorie Ingeleiv Bly, the Lutheran missionary from America, and Giordan and other Camillians.

On August 15, 1999, Giordan retired around noon to his dormitory upstairs at St. Camillus after attending Mass celebrating the Assumption of Mary. As he pondered the future of the hospital as well as that of the leprosaria in Yunnan, 76-year-old Giordan passed to the Heavenly Mansions in his sleep. He had spent 46 winters serving in Taiwan, of which 31 were in Penghu.

 

Charity as Making Sacrifices for Patient Care

In addition to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, Giordan introduced charity to his conduct as a Catholic brother. "To have a meaningful life is to live up to God's teaching, 'love others as you love yourself,' within the time and place given us," he said. "In other words, we should serve by sacrificing some of our own pleasure while deriving happiness and freedom from that sacrifice."

In practicing charity, Giordan was willing to sacrifice everything for the patients, giving it all even in situations that threatened his own life. He charged the poor nothing and never rejected or turned away those who were highly contagious.

 

There were small acts that exemplified how Giordan loved others. During his 46 years in Taiwan, he donated blood over 150 times. That was 37.5 liters of blood up for transfusion, a record among fellow physicians based in Taiwan. He had also chaired the relevant association's board of directors.

Most of Penghu's residents made their living in fishing, farming, and livestock. The fishermen were the most numerous and the most prone to tuberculosis and liver diseases due to lack of education and awareness in sanitation and healthcare. Giordan was kind to the patients and the medical staff, and enjoyed chatting during consultations, using the opportunity to relay to the public the correct approach to take medicine and to look after one's body.

Penghu was a region with unique religious beliefs and folk traditions. The residents sought divine guidance at temples for domestic matters big and small. When they fell ill, their first course of action would be visiting a temple to make offerings and drink talisman water as a remedy. Even when that did not work, they drew fortune sticks at the temple to decide which hospital to go to and which doctor to see. Giordan took such customs with an attitude of acceptance and never mocked the patients. Gradually, he gained the trust of the residents.

Giordan was well aware of the Taiwanese preference for loved ones to die at home rather than in a hospital. Thus, he always did his best to time the release of moribund patients so they could be taken home to finally rest. There was a case where Giordan took such thoughtfulness to another level. An old man had passed away in the hospital, but his family was in denial. Giordan took this man home in a car and personally 'walked' him into the house. Giordan waited until the family members had gathered around and spoke to the old man to announce the time of expiration.

 

On the Frontline of Rural Healthcare

Giordan knew how geography affected Penghu. The weather was unpredictable, and the movement of goods and people was costly. As the population aged and more suffered from chronic diseases, there was, in contrast, a lack of input to the region's medical resources. Giordan foresaw the healthcare needs of the residents of Penghu, who treated him like kin. "I'm getting old," he often said. "My wish is that more Taiwanese doctors may come to Penghu and look after the grandmas and grandpas whose children have to make a living elsewhere."

"Taiwan is getting rich, with a vibrant society and great industrial power," Giordan also observed. "There are still, however, dark alleys around the corner that could use more public attention and more concrete acts of love and care." The needs of disadvantaged patients were on his mind right until the last moment of his life.

Br. Davide Luigi Giordan devoted his best years to the residents of Penghu. He came as a young man and stayed to the end while his black beard grew all white. A memorial bronze statue of him, commissioned by the Penghu County Government, was erected in Ta-ai Park, Makung, before being moved to its present location across from St. Camillus Hospital. It portrayed Giordan standing next to the bicycle he used to ride with a  full beard and short sleeves, smiling and raising his hand to greet everyone.

 

．Our gratitude goes to the Camillians and Dr. Chen Zen-Yong for providing the photos and source verification.