Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/95

79 Democratic and Secular Tendencies 79 capacities and training. This was so well under- stood by prominent women in mediaeval times that we find numerous instances of such women refusing to be bound by vows because they wished to con- trol their own wealth and be free to conduct nurs- ing work as they thought best. Many such women entered the hospitals which they endowed and spent their lives in service there. Among them may be mentioned EHsabeth, Queen of Portugal, in the early fourteenth century, and Mdlle. de Melun, daughter of the Prince of Epinay, as es- pecially distinguished for the practical character of their work. Whatever the religious belief of modern students may be, none need feel any unwilHngness to accept the title "saint" as conferred upon ^ The mortals, for in its symbolic sense it nursing is simply a recognition of a Hfe rich in ^^^^^^ beneficent service, given as orders of merit are given today. In the recent war many nurses have been decorated. So, in the Middle Ages, many canonical saints received their title, sometimes partly, sometimes wholly, for their eminence in the care of the sick, crippled, and blind. It is true that the most prominent nursing saints had often other distinguished deeds to their credit, — they organized, aroused public opinion, were teachers