HOSPITALS
480
HOSPITALS
and more perilous honour. Revolts were frequent.
In 1581 the grand master, Jean de la Cassiere, was
made prisoner by his own knights, whose principal griev-
ance was the expulsion from the city of lewd women.
The vow of obedience was little better observed than
that of celibacy. Once in possession of some com-
mandery situated on the Continent, a knight would
become indeed independent of the grantl master's
authority and maintain only the most remote rela-
tions with the order. As to the vow of poverty,
the knights were recruited solely from among the
nobility, proofs of noble descent being more severely
scrutinized than religious dispositions, and, naturally,
the wealth of the order formed the only motive of these
vocations. Its decay began, too, with the confisca-
tion of its possessions. One effect of Protestantism
was the alienation of a large group of commanderies,
to be thenceforward appropriated to the Protestant
nobility, as, for instance, the Bailiwick of Sonnen-
burg in Prussia. In other Protestant countries the
order was simply suppressed. In Catholic countries
the sovereigns themselves assumed more and more
the right to dispose of the commanderies ^\-ithin their
jurisdiction. At last Malta, the very centre of the
order, was treacherously surrendered under the grand
master, the Count von Hompesch, to General Bonaparte
when he made his expedition to Eg>-pt (12 June, 1798).
Present State of the Order. — The secularization of the property of the order in Protestant countries was ex- tended by the French Revolution to the greater num- ber of Catholic countries. On the other hand. Czar Paul of Russia assigned them considerable property in his domains (1797), and in return was elected grand master, but his election was not recognized by the pope. From that time forward the pope has named the grand master or the bailiff who takes his place. From 1805 to 1879 there was no grand master, but Leo XIII re-established the dignity, bestowing it on an Austrian, Geschi di Sancta Croce. It is now (1910) held by Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein. The actual conditions for admission to the order are: nobility of sixteen quarterings, the Catholic Faith, attainment of full legal age, integrity of character, and corresponding social position. There are now in existence only four great priories, one in Bohemia and three in Italy. There are still commanders and several classes of knights, with different insignia, but all wear the same eight-pointed Maltese cross (see Decorations, Pontifical).
To the Order of the Knights of Malta belong the Convent of S. Maria del Priorato on the Aventine in Rome, overlooking the Tiber, and commanding from its gardens one of the most delightful views of the city. The walls of the convent are adorned with portraits of the knights, and the archives are rich in records of the order. The tombs of the knights in the convent church are interesting. The order was summoned to attend the Convention of Geneva (1864), on the same footing as the great powers.
The Protestant Bailiwick of Sonnenburg in Prussia disappeared after the secularization of its property in 1810. Nevertheless Frederick William IV created a new confraternity of "Evangelical Johannites" (1852), under a master (Herrenmeister) always chosen from the royal family, and with a great number of other dignitaries. Admission to the order is subject to numerous conditions, ancient nobility, corresponding social position, an entrance fee of 900 marks, a proba- tion of at least four years as knight of honour before admission to the accolade which confers the title of Knight of Justice. Their first obligation is to collect contributions for the support of hospitals. Thus this Protestant branch of the order has returned to the ideal of its first founder in the time of the First Cru- sade. Moreover, in times of war, since 1870, the order has been devoted to ambulance service on the field of battle.
Hellwald, Biblioffrapkie melhodique de VOrdre de St-Jean de
JtTUsalem (Rome, 1885); Paoli. Codice diplomalico del S.
Ordine di S. Giovanni (Lucca, 1733); Bosio, Isloria delta S.
Religione di S. Giovanni Jerosolym. (Rome, 1594-1602), con-
tinued by Tozzo (Verona. 1705), also Fr. tr. by Battdoin (Paris,
1643): \'ertot, Histoire des c/ievaliers hospitallers de St-Jean
(Paris, 1727) ; de Salles, Annates de VOrdre de Matte (Vienna,
1889); Paoli, Dell' origine ed instituto delV Ordine Jerosolym.
(Rome, 1781): Delaville-Leroux, Cartulaire general dea
hospiUiliers de JiTuialem (UOO-ISIO) (Paris. 1894-97); Idem,
Les hospitaliers en terre-sainte el it Chypre {1100-1310) (Paris,
1904): Prutz, Die Anfdnge der Hospitaliter auf Rhodos (1310-
1355) (Munich. 1908): Caoursin. Desrriptin obsidionis Rhodits
1480 (Ulm, 1496): Delabre. Rhodes of the Knighls (Oxford,
1909); Prutz, Malteser L'rkunden und Refiesten (Munich, 1884):
DE LA Graviere, Les chevaliers de Matte (1537-1566) (Paris,
1887); Lane-Poole, The Barbary Corsairs (London, 1890).
Ch. Moeller.
Hospitals (Lat. hospes, a guest; hence hospitalis, hospitable; hosjntium, a guest-house or guest-room). Originally, hospital meant a place where strangers or visitors were received; in the course of time, its use was restricted to institutions for the care of the sick. This modification is incitlental to the long development through which the hospital itself has passed unfler the varying influences of religious, pohtical, and economic conditions, and of social and .scientific progress. Viewed in a large way the typical modern hospital represents natural human solici- tude for suffering, ennobled by Christian charity and made efficient by the abundant resources of medi- cal skill.
Pagan Antiquitt. — While among savage tribes, e. g. the ancient Germans, the sick and feeble were often put to death, more humane practices are found among civilized peoples. One of the earliest hospitals on record was founded in Ireland, 300 B. c, by Prin- cess Macha. It was called "Broin Bearg" (house of sorrow), and was used by the Red Branch Knights and served as the royal residence in Ulster until its destruc- tion in A. D. 332 ("Seanchus Mor ", 123 ; cf . Sir W. Wilde, " Notes on Ancient Ireland", pt. III). In India, the Buddhist King Azoka (252 B. c.) established a hospital for men and animals. The Mexicans in pre-Colum- bian times had various institutions in which the sick and poor were cared for (Bancroft, " Native Races", II, 596). In a general way the advance in medical knowledge implies that more was done to relieve suffering; but it does not necessarily prove the exist- ence of hospitals. From the Papyri (notably Ebers) we learn that the Egj-ptians employed a considerable number of remedies and that the physicians held clinics in the temples. Similar customs prevailed in Greece; the sick resorted to the temple of jEscu- lapius where they spent the night {incubatio) in the hope of receiving directions from the god through dreams which the priests interpreted. Lay physi- cians {.-Esculapiades) conducted dispensaries in which the poor received treatment. At Epidaurus the Roman senator Antoninus erected (a. d. 170) two estabhshments, one for the dying and the other for women lying-in; patients of these classes were not admitted" in the ^^sculapium.
The Romans in their treatment of the sick adopted many Greek usages, jEsculapius had a temple on the island in the Tiber (291 B. c), where now stand the church and monastery of St. Bartholomew, in which the same rites were observed as among the Greeks. Municipal physicians were appointed to treat various classes of citizens, and these practitioners usually en- joyed special pri\dleges and immunities. Provision was made in particular for the care of sick soldiers and slaves, the latter recei-\'ing attention in the raletudina- ria attached to the estates of the wealthier Romans. But there is no record of any institution corresponding to our modern hospital. It is noteworthy that among pagan peoples the care of the sick bears no proportion to the advance of civilization. Though (Sreece and Rome attained the highest degree of culture, their treatment of the sick was scarcely equal, certainly not
