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 HOSPITALS

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HOSPITALS

tury (c. 1145) Guy of Montpellier had opened in that city a hospital in honour of the Holy Ghost and pre- scribed the Rule of St. Augustine for the brothers in charge. Approved 23 April, 1198, by Innocent III, this institute spread rapidly throughout France. In 1204 the same pontiff built a hospital called S. Maria in Sassia, where King Ina, about 728, had founded the schola for English pilgrims. By the pope's com- mand, Guy de Montpellier came to Rome and took charge of this hospital, which was thenceforward called Santo Spirito in Sassia. (Cf. Morichini, "In- stituti di carita ... in Roma", Rome, 1870.) The pope's example was imitated all over Europe. Nearly every city had a hospital of the Holy Ghost, though not all the institutions bearing this name Ijelonged to the order which Guy of Montpellier had foimded. In Rome itself Cardinal Giovanni Colonna founded (1216) the hospital of S. Andrea, not far from the Lateran; and in accordance with the will of Cardinal Pietro Colonna the hospital of S. Giacomo in Augusta was founded in 1339. Querini (" La Beneficenza Ro- mana", Rome, 1892) gives the foundations in Rome as follows: eleventh century, four; twelfth, six; thir- teenth, ten; fourteenth, five; fifteenth, five, i. e. a total of thirty hospitals for the care of the sick and infirm founded in the city of the popes during the Middle Ages.

The Military Orders. — The Crusades (q. v.) gave rise to various orders of chivalry which combmed with military service the care of the sick. The earliest of these was the Order of St. John. Several hospitals had already been fovmded in Jerusalem to provide for pilgrims; the oldest was that connected with the Benedictine Abbey of S. Maria Latina, founded ac- cording to one account by Charlemagne in 800; whether the Order of St. John grew out of this or out of the hospital established (106.5-70) by Maurus, a wealthy merchant from Amalfi, is uncertain. At all events, when the First Crusade reached Jerusalem in 1099, Gerhard the superior of the latter hospital, gave the establishment a new building near the church of St. John the Baptist, whence apparently the order took its name. It also spread rapidly in the Holy Land and in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean ports which were crowded with crusaders. Its original purpose was hospital work and according to the description given (c. 1160) by John of Wisburg (Fez, "Anecdota", I, 3, 526) the hospital at Jerusa- lem cared for over 2000 patients. The military feature was introduced towards the middle of the twelfth century. In both respects the order for a time rendered excellent service, but during the thir- teenth century increasing wealth and laxity of morals brought about a decline in Christian charity and zeal and the care of the sick was in large measure abandoned.

The Teutonic Order developed out of the field hospital under the walls of Acre, in which Count Adolf of Holstein with other German citizens (from Bremen and Liibeck) ministered to the sick and wounded. Under the name of "domus hospitalis S. Mariae Teutonicorura in Jerusalem ", it was approved by Clement III in 1191. The members bound them- selves by vow to the service of the sick, and the rule prescribed that wherever the order was introduced it should build a hospital. The centre of its activity, however, was soon transferred from the Holy Land to Europe, especially to Germany where, owing to its strict organization and excellent administrative methods, it was given charge of many already existing hospitals. Among its numerous establishments those at Elbing and Nuremberg enjoyed the highest repute. In spite, however, of prudent management and of loyalty to its original purpose, the Teutonic Order suffered so severely through financial losses and war that by the end of the fifteenth century its pristine vigour was almost spent.

Cily Hospitals. — ^The Crusades, by opening up freer communication with the East, had quickened the spirit of commercial enterprise throughout Europe, and in consequence, the city, as distinct from the feudal estate and the village, came into existence. The resulting economic conditions affected the hos- pital development in two ways. The increasing population of the cities necessitated the construction of numerous hospitals; on the other hand, more abundant means were provided for charitable work. Foundations by the laity became more frequent. Public-spirited individuals, guilds, brotherhoods, and municipalities gave freely towards establishing and endowing hospitals. In this movement the Italian cities were foremost. Monza in the twelfth century had three; Milan eleven; Florence (four- teenth century) thirty. The most famous were: La Casa Santa di Santa Maria Annunziata at Naples, founded in 1304 by the brothers Niccolo and Giacomo Scondito; Santa Maria Nuova at Florence (1285) by Falco Portinari, the father of Dante's Beatrice; and the Ospedale Maggiore at Milan (1456) by Duke Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria. The German towns were no less active ; Stendal had seven hospitals; Quedlinburg, four; Halberstadt, eight; Magdeburg, five; Halle, four; Erfurt, nine; Cologne, sixteen (cf. Uhlhorn, II, 199 sq.).

As to the share which the municipalities took in this movement, opinions differ. Some authors (Uhl- horn, Ratzinger) hokl that in most cases the city hospital was founded and endowed by the city authori- ties; while others (Lallemand, II, 51) declare that between the twelfth and the sixteenth centiu'ies, comparatively few foundations were made by the municipality, though this often seconded private initiative with lands and subventions and willingly took over the direction of hospitals once they were established. It is however beyond question that the control of the hospitals passed quite generally into the hands of the municipality especially in Italy and Germany. As a rule the tran.sfcr was easily effected on the basis of an agreement between the superior and the civil authorities, e. g. Lindau, 1307; Lucerne, 1319; Frankfort, 1283; Cologne, 1321. In certain cases where dispute arose as to the observance of the agreement, the matter was referred to high ecclesiastical authority. Thus the Holy Ghost hos- pital at Gottingen was given over to the municipality by order of the Council of Basle in 1470 (LThlhorn, loc. cit.). Such transfers, it should be noted, implied no opposition to ecclesiastical authority; they simply resulted from the general development which obliged the authorities in each city to intervene in the manage- ment of institutions on which the public weal in large measure depended. There was no question of secu- larization in the modern sense of the term. Much less can it be shown that the Church forbade clerics any share in the control of hospitals, though some modern writers have thus interpreted the decree of the Council of Vienne in 1311. In reply to Frere Orban (pseud., Jean Vaudamme, "La mainmorte et la charit(S", Brussels, 1857), Lallemand points out (II, 106 sq.) that what the council did prohibit was the conferring of hospitals and their administration upon clerics as benefices ("nuUus ex locis ipsis saeculari- bus clericis in beneficium conferatur") . The decree was aimed at an abuse which diverted hospital funds from their original charitable purpose to the emolument of individuals. On the other hand, the Council of Ravenna in the same year (1311), considering the waste and malversation of hospital revenues, ordered that the management, supervision, and control of these institutions should be given exclusively to religious persons.

In France, the movement in favour of secular con- trol advanced much more slowly. King Philip Augustus in 1200 decreed that all hospitals and