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During theMiddle Ages, among thehospitals established throughout the West (Maisons-Dieu orHôtels-Dieu), in which religious of both sexes lived under one roof, following theRule of St. Augustine, and vowed to perpetual chastity and the service of the sick and poor, the most famous was the Hôtel-Dieu ofParis, Early in the seventeenth century Mère Geneviève Bouquet established anovitiate to replace the system by which each religious trained a certain number ofpostulants, and introduced the custom of taking a saint's name. Up to theRevolution twelve resident canons recited thecanonical hours. The congregation survived both theRevolution and the disorders of 1830.
Themilitary orders organized at the time of theCrusades did not overlook the care of the sick, and found auxiliaries in the communities ofwomen instituted for this work, under the same rules and patronage. Thus the labours of theLazarists in tending those afflicted withleprosy were shared by theHospital Sisters of St. Lazarus.
The Hospitaller Sisters of St. John of Jerusalem, early in the twelfth century, were established in thehospital of St. Mary Magdalen,Jerusalem, for the care ofpilgrims. The year after the fall ofJerusalem (1188) a community was established at Sixena,Spain, by Sancha, wife of Alfonso II ofAragon, for the care of poor ladies of noblefamilies, and the rule was confirmed byCelestine III in 1193. Except from 1470 to 1569, when they were under the immediatejurisdiction of thepope, the sisters were subject to the Grand Master of the Hospitallers. Other communities were soon founded throughoutSpain,Italy,Portugal, andEngland. A reform was instituted in thehospital of Beaulieu in the first years of the seventeenth century; new constitutions were drawn up in 1636, and approved in 1644. After the fall ofRhodes the original habit of red, with a black mantle,embroidered with the cross ofSt. John of Jerusalem, was exchanged for one of black. On the suppression of theTemplars, the few houses of sisters of that order were united with those ofSt. John of Jerusalem.
The first house of theHospitaller Sisters of theTeutonic Order inGermany was founded in 1299 at Kunitz 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 filialconvents and 123sisters; Lana, 15 filialhouses, 89sisters; Freudenthal, 3 filialhouses, 67sisters; Friesach, 1 filial house, 29 sisters.
The Hospitallers of the Holy Ghost, were a branch of the male order of the same name, founded in 1180 atMontpellier; established at Neufchâteau, they were driven thence in 1842 to Rouceux, which was made the mother-house, under a superior-general. InGermany the houses at Memmingen and Wimpfen, in Swabia, survived until the secularization of 1803. There is still a house atCracow, founded in 1618, with 27sisters, conducting a boarding-school. Theconvent at Poligny was revived after theRevolution, the religious devoting themselves chiefly to children, especially foundlings.
Among the foundations of more recent times are the following:The Hospitallers of Loches, founded in 1621 by Susanne Dubois, a religious of the Hôtel-Dieu ofParis; some seventeenconvents were founded atClermont, Riom, and other cities ofFrance. TheHospitallers ofSt. Thomas of Villanova were instituted in 1660 by Ange Le Proust,prior of theHermits of St. Augustine at Lamballe. During theRevolution their house inParis was not closed. The congregation was re-established in 1804 and in 1903 had 100 institutions inFrance, under the mother-house atAix, having receivedpapalapprobation in 1878. TheHospitallers ofDijon and Langres were founded by Père Joly in 1685. TheHospitallers of Ste-Marthe, established in 1687 at Pontarlieu, for the care of the sick and poor and theeducation of girls, soon spread overFrance andSwitzerland. TheHospitallers of Ernemont, also known as Sisters of the Christian Schools and Bonnes Capotes, owed their foundation (1698) toArchbishop Jacques-Nicolas Colbert, their aim being gratuitous teaching and the care of the sick. The mother-house was reopened in 1803 after theRevolution. Since 1903 the sisters have confined themselves chiefly to the care of the sick inhospitals and their own homes.
TheHospitallers of St. Joseph were founded at Laflèche,France, in 1636, by Marie de la Ferre, under the direction of theBishop ofAngers. Convents were soon established at Laval, Baugé, and Beaufort, in all of which Mlle de Melun, Princesse de l'Epinoy, and a member of the order, took an important part. The religious were first bound by simplevows only, but the custom inaugurated at Laval in 1663 of taking solemnvows was soon followed atMoulins, Baugé, andMontreal. The congregation was approved byAlexander VII in 1666 and recognized by the Parlement ofParis in 1667. The constitutions were revised in 1685 by Henri Arnaud,Bishop ofAngers. In addition to the threevows, 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 fullobligations of the professed, desire to pass the rest of their life under simplevows. The Laval sisters survived theRevolution, and on the reorganization, regained theirconvent and boardingschool. The founders ofMontreal were accompanied to theNew World byMlle Mance, who after carrying on the work of caring for the sick for seventeen years in the Hôtel-Dieu, in 1659 brought over the Hospitallers of Laflèche, who in spite of three serious conflagrations and the deprivation of their income fromFrance after theRevolution have now 132 sisters caring annually for 3205 patients. In 1845 the first filial foundation was made atKingston, and now numbers 54 religious, 60 patients, and 32orphans. The Kingston house also openedconvents at Cornwall,Ontario, in 1897 (27sisters, 30 patients), and Englewood, a suburb ofChicago, in 1903 (11sisters, 300 patients); in connexion with the latter is a trainingschool for nurses. FromMontreal were founded in 1869 the Hôtel-Dieu atChatham, N. B. (44sisters, 25 patients, and an academy, with 42 pupils); that of St-Basile (1873), where there are also a boarding-school, academy, andorphanage (54sisters, 150 pupils, 50orphans); Windsor, in 1889 (20sisters, 35 patients); Tracadie, New Brunswick, 1868 (30sisters, 38orphans), where since 1820leprosy had been rampant, and where were later established a generalhospital, anorphanage, and a dispensary, treating 2000 patients annually; Athabaskaville, in 1881 (23sisters, 60 patients); Campbellton, in 1889 (14 sisters); Burlington,Vermont, in 1894 (28sisters, 45 patients).
HÉLYOT,Dict. des Ordres relig. (Paris, 1859); HEIMBUCHER,Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1908).
APA citation.Rudge, F.M.(1910).Hospitallers. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07476a.htm
MLA citation.Rudge, F.M."Hospitallers."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 7.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07476a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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