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 HOSPITALLERS

477

HOSPITALLERS

Crusades did not overlook the care of the sick, and found auxiliaries in the communities of women insti- tuted for this work, under the same rules and patronage. Thus the labours of the Lazarists in teiiding those afflicted with leprosy were shared by the Hospital Sisters of St. Lazarus. , „, , , , , „

The Hospitaller Sisters of St. John of Jerusalern., early in the twelfth century, were established in the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen Jerusalem for the care of pilgrims. The year after the fal of Jerusalem (1188) a community was established at Sixena, Spain, by Sancha, wife of Alfonso II ot Aragon, for the care of poor ladies of.noble famihes, and the rule was confirmed by Ce estine III m 1193. Except from 1470 to 1569, when they were under the immediate jurisdiction of the pope the sisters were subject to the Grand Master of the Hospitallers Other communities were soon founded throughout Spain Italy, Portugal, and England. A reform was instituted in the hospital of Beaulieu in the first years of the seventeenth century; "ew constitutions were drawn up in 1636, and approved in 1644. After the fall ot Rhodes the original habit of red with a black mantle, embroidered with the cross of St. John ot Jerusalem, was exchanged for one ot black. On the suppression of the Templars, the few houses of sisters of that order were united with those ot bt. Jonn oi

^The first house of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Teu- tonic Order in Germany was founded m 1299 at Kunit^ near Bern, soon followed by others, none of which survived the secularization of 1803 The order was revived in 1841 by Maximilian III Joseph Duke of Austria-Este. Besides the care of the sick, the sisters devote themselves to the work of teaching. There are four mother-houses: Troppau, with 2 filial convents and 123 sisters; Lana, 1.5 filial houses, 89 sisters; Freudenthal, 3 filial houses, 67 sisters; Friesach, 1 filial house, 29 sisters. ,

The Hospitallers of the Holy GJutst were a branch of the male order of the same name founded in 1180 at Montpellier; established at Neutchateau they were driven thence in 1842 to Rouceux, which was made the mother-house, under a superior-general. In Germany the houses at Memmingen and ^\ impfen, in Swabia, survived until the secularization of 1803 There is still a house at Cracow, founded in 1618, with 27 sisters, conducting a boarding-school. 1 he con- vent at Poligny was revived after the Revolution, the religious devoting themselves chiefly to children, espe- cially foundlings. ,

Among the foundations of more recent times are the following: The Hospitallers of Laches founded m 1621 by Susanne Dubois, a religious of the Hotel-iJieu of Paris- some seventeen convents were founded at Clermont, Riom, and other cities of France. _ The Hospitallers of St. Thomas of ViUanova were instituted in 1660 by Ange Le Proust, prior of the Hermits ot bt. Augustine at Lamballe. During the Revolution their house in Paris was not closed. The congregation was re-established in 1804 and in 1903 had 100 institutions in France, under the mother-house at Aix having received papal approbation in 1878. The Hospital- lers of Dijon and Lanqres were founded by Pere Joly m 1685 The Hospitallers of Ste-Marthe, established in 1687 at Pontarlieu, for the care of the sick and poor and the education of girls, soon spread over France and Switzerland. The Hospitallers of Ernemont, also known as Sisters of the Christian Schools and Bonnes Capotes, owed their foundation (1698) to Archbishop Jacques-Nicolas Colbert, their aim being gratuitous teaching and the care of the sick. The mother-house was reopened in 1803 after the Revolution bmce 1903 the sisters have confined themselves chiefly to the care of the sick in hospitals and their own homes. The Hospitallers of St. Joseph were founded at Lafl^che France, in 1636, by Marie de la Ferre, under

the direction of the Bishop of Angers. Convents were soon established at Laval, Bauge, and Beaufort, in all of which Mile de Melun, Princesse de 1 Epinoy, and a member of the order, took an important part. The religious were first bound by simple vow-s only, but the custom inaugurated at Laval in 1663 ot taking solemn vows was soon followed at Moulins, Bauge and Montreal. The congregation was approved by Alex- ander VII in 1666 and recognized by the Parlement ot Paris in 1667 The constitutions were revised m 16b£> bv Henri Arnaud, Bishop of Angers. In addition to the three vows, the sisters were bound by a fourth to the service of the poor. Besides the choir and lay sisters, associate sisters are received, who, through some cause unable to take upon themselves the lull obligations of the professed, desire to pass the rest of their life under simple vows. The Laval^ sisters survived the Revolution, and on the reorganization, regained their convent and boarding school, the founders of Montreal were accompanied to the JNew World by Mile Mance, who after carrying on the work of caring for the sick for seventeen years m the Hotel-Dieu in 1659 brought over the Hospitallers ol Laflwhe who in spite of three serious conflagrations and the deprivation ot their income from France alter the Revolution have now 132 sisters caring annually for 3205 patients. In 1845 the first filial foundation was made at Kingston, and now numbers 54 religious, 60 patients, and 32 orphans. The Kingston house also opened convents at Cornwall, Ontario, in 1897 (27 sisters, 30 patients), and Englewood, a suburb ot Chicago, in 1903 (11 sisters, 300 patients); in con- nexion with the latter is a training school for nurses. From Montreal were founded in 1869 the Hotel-Uieu at Chatham, N. B- (44 sisters, 2.5 patients and an academy, with 42 pupils); that of bt-Basile (1873), where there are also a boarding-school, academy, ana orphanage (54 sisters, 150 pupils, 50 orphans); Wind- sor in 1889 (20 sisters, 35 patients); Tracadie, New Brunswick, 1868 (30 sisters, 38 orphans), where since 18-^0 leprosy had been rampant, and where were later established a general hospital, an orphanage, and a dispensary, treating 2000 patients annually; Athabaskaville, in 1881 (23 sisters, 60 patients); Campbellton, in 1889 (14 sisters); Burlmgton, Ver- mont, in 1894 (28 sisters, 45 patients).

Heltot, Diet, des Ordres reUo. (Paris, 1859); Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregalionen (Paderbom, 1908).

F. M. RUDGE.

Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, the most important of all the military orders, both for the ex- tent of its area and for its duration. ^ It is said to have existed before the Crusades and is not extinct at the present time. During this long career it has not always borne the same name. Known as Hos- nitallers of Jerusalem until 1309, the members were called Knights of Rhodes from 1309 till 1522, and have been called Knights of Malta since 1530.

The origins of the order have given rise to learned discussions, to fictitious legends and hazardous con- jectures The unquestionable founder was one Ger- ald or Gerard, whose birth-place and family-name it has been vainly sought to ascertain. On the other hand his title as founder is attested by a contempo- rary official document, the Bull of Paschal II, dated 1113 addressed to "Geraudo instituton ac pra^posito Hierosolimitani Xenodochii ". This was certainly not the first establishment of the kind at Jerusalem. Even before the Crusades, hostelries were indispensable to shelter the pilgrims who flocked to the Holy Places, and in the beginning the hospitia or xenodochia were nothing more.' They belonged to different nations: a Frankish hospice is spoken of in the time of Charle- mao-ne- the Hungarian hospice is said to date from King St. Stephen (year 1000). But the most famous was an Italian hospice founded about the year 1050