Giovanni Colonna in 1216 raised a charitable establishment, “the hospital buildings,” to the west of the Lateran. At the tail end of the 13th century, the Colonna established the confraternity to “man the church and hospital complex of St. Peter and…

The Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia, or the first monumental hospital built in Rome, was established under Pope Innocent III in the early 13th century CE. The complex got its name from its location at the site of the former Schola Saxonum, which…

The hospital of San Giacomo in Augusta was the third hospital built in Rome during the Middle Ages. According to Cardinal Pietro Colonna’s will, the initial structure of the hospital was erected in 1339 in honor of his uncle Giacomo Colonna, who had…

In the early 15th century, the Roman building that is now the Venerable English College was the Hospital of St. Thomas of Canterbury. This particular hospital was famous for housing Margery Kempe at the beginning and end of her stay in Rome, from…

Guy de Montpellier, a Templar Knight from France, founded the Order of the Holy Spirit in 1170 and the hospital Saint-Esprit in 1174. The Hospitallers (also known as the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) were a religious order that adopted a version…

During the period when the seat of the papacy was in Avignon, many of the municipal leaders in Rome began to gain more power over the urban institutions. Once the popes returned to the city they attempted to reestablish control of many of the…