Flanders in 1015; tlie Hospitallers of the Order ofP.eth- k'hemites (([.v.), in Kjau ; and a number of congregations of the third order of St. Francis, which arose in the Hth century, some are still in existence. The dress of the hospitalh rs was a black robe or cloak, on the breast of wbirh was worn a white cross, with eight points, wliich, according Id their statutes, is tlie true symbol of the vir- tues. Siv llcrzi.g. yA,//-/-;//r///;7ny»>W/r,"vi,2K5; Wttzer u. A\-cll<-, Kirrhui-I.:,: V. :; i:, : I!rly..t. Gesch. d.KlOst<r- u.J:il/,n,nl,„. ii, ■.'(HI M|. : iii, Ml s(i.,.|(;.S s(j. ; Yertot, ///«/. (A.s- finnili.rs ,1, ,s7../m/« ,/r Jerusalem (Amst. 1732,5 Vdls. Svoi ; S.linHkh. Kinlniigcsch. XXV, 93 sq.; Hard- wirk, y//.-,/. ,;/■///< .)//,/<//, .l/y-,s-, p. 255 sq. ; Kiddle, y/tV. of the Papaey, ii, 27G ; Milman's Gibbon, Roman Empire, V, 598 sq. ; Lea, Histor. Saccrdot. Celib. p. 3G5 sq., 475; New Englander, Aug. 1851, p. 388 sq. See Jerusalem ; Knights; Templars; etc. ' (J. ILAV.)
Hospitals, so called from the mediaeval hospitia, are now generally understood to be establishments intend- ed for the reception of the poor, the sick, or the infirm, where their spiritual and temporal wants are gratuitous- ly ministered to. Though various pro\isi<)ns were made for the poor among the Greeks and Pomans, and public largesses were distributed in many ways, hospitals were unknown. The true spirit of Christian charity, how- ever, considers the most useless and abandoned charac- ters as most in need of assistance, and imitates Christ in bestowing it upon them. The early Christians fed, not onl}' their own poor, but also those of the heathen. Even Julian the Apostate praised their example in this respect. As soon as the early Christians were free to practice their religion openly, they commenced build- ing charitable institutions, to which they gave \'ari- ous names, according to the character of their in- mates : thus they had the Brephotrophium, or infant asylum; the Orphanotrophium, or orphan asylum; the Nosocomium, or sick hospital ; the Xenodochium, or re- treat for strangers, more particularly pilgrim.s. The lat- ter was properly the hospital, or house of hos| itality ; and in monasteries, that part of them M-hich was re- served for the accommodation of visitors, and was di- vided into sections according to the classes ^of societj' to which the visitors belonged, was also so called (Du Cange, Gloss, s. v. Hospitale). These hospitals were soon found in all the large cities. Epiphanius says {Hwres. 75, No. 1) : "The bishops, in their charity to- wards strangers, are in the habit of establishing institu- tions wherein they receive the maimed and the sick, providing them with such accommodations as their means wiU allow." They were generally in charge of the clergy {Constit. Apostol. I, iii, c. 19), tliough rich lay- men would occasionally erect hospitals also, and wait on their inmates themselves, as did Pammachius of Por- to, and Galilean of Ostia. The bishops were careful to have the poor properly buried, ransomed tlie prisoners of war, and often emancipated slaves. They often went so far as to sell the communion service, or the altar or- naments, to raise the means of cccomplishhig these charitable objects {Maurs des Chretiens,^ 51). One of the most famous of these institutions was founded at Civsarea in the latter half of the 4th century. The next notable institution was that of St. Chrj-sostom, built at his own expense at Constantinople. There was also a verj' fine hospital at Pome, which was bmlt by Fabiola, a Koman lady and friend of St. Jerome, who himself likewise built one at Bethlehem. The inmates of the hospitals in the early Church, verj* much like the prac- tice of our own day, were divided according to sex. The male portion was placed under the charge of a deacon, and the women under the care of the deaconesses, Mhf), according to Epiphanius {Exposit.fd. c. xvii), rendered to persons of their sex whatever ser\-iees their infirmity required. It was a ride for the deacons and deacon- esses to seek for the unfortunate day by day, and to in- form the bishops, who in turn, accompanied by a priest, visited the sick and needy of all classes (Augustine, De civit. Dei, I, xxii, c. 8). The hospitals known as Noso-
HOSPITAL SISTERS
360
HOSSEIN