The Hospitallers and the Order of Santo Spirito
Title
Subject
Description
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 of the Augustinian rule and arrived in Rome during the pontificate of Innocent III. The Hospitallers were headquartered in the Roman Forums; they ran the hospital of Sant'Urbano in the Forums and took over the former monastery of San Basilio in the early 13th century.
Pope Innocent III was instrumental in establishing Guy’s Order in Rome; after having visited the houses in France, he saw that "the hungry were fed, the poor clothed, and the sick ministered to..." and officially recognized the Order in 1198, including the privilege to request from bishops the right to ask for alms “among ordinary Christians." Innocent was so impressed by the charitable Rule of the Order that he "modeled rule of Santo Spirito in Sassia, his hospital in the Borgo, on the Hospitaller Rule" (Keyvanian 149) before gifting them the hospital in another bull from June 19, 1204. This bull also permitted the Order to preach, confer the sacraments, provide burial for their supporters during time of interdict, be exempted from tithes on lands used for the support of the poor, and to receive grants of the tithe revenues of others. Both of these actions emphasize Innocent’s admiration of the Rule of the Order of Santo Spirito, as well as the power the Order had gained by being in a favorable position with the papacy.
The mission of the Hospitallers under Guy de Montpellier was to give charity to "newborns, orphans, children, old people, abandoned girls, pregnant women, 'sinful' women, and traveling religious" (Brodman 145). As Brodman also points out, the Order of the Holy Spirit recruited from among the ranks of the female orphans and the abandoned children it raised. The Rule "provided that young girls in these circumstances would have the option of becoming a professed member of the community or else leaving it for matrimony; presumably the order had far less need for adolescent boys" (Brodman 144). Like other Orders and Confraternities of the era, Montpellier’s Order focused on marginalized groups of society, and strove to make sure that poor girls could grow up to have respectable places in society.
Creator
Source
Brodman, James William. "The Hospitaller Orders." Chapter 4 of his Charity and Religion in Medieval Europe, 137-49. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009.
Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1500. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
Identifier
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Description
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 of the Augustinian rule and arrived in Rome during the pontificate of Innocent III. The Hospitallers were headquartered in the Roman Forums; they ran the hospital of Sant'Urbano in the Forums and took over the former monastery of San Basilio in the early 13th century.
Pope Innocent III was instrumental in establishing Guy’s Order in Rome; after having visited the houses in France, he saw that "the hungry were fed, the poor clothed, and the sick ministered to..." and officially recognized the Order in 1198, including the privilege to request from bishops the right to ask for alms “among ordinary Christians." Innocent was so impressed by the charitable Rule of the Order that he "modeled rule of Santo Spirito in Sassia, his hospital in the Borgo, on the Hospitaller Rule" (Keyvanian 149) before gifting them the hospital in another bull from June 19, 1204. This bull also permitted the Order to preach, confer the sacraments, provide burial for their supporters during time of interdict, be exempted from tithes on lands used for the support of the poor, and to receive grants of the tithe revenues of others. Both of these actions emphasize Innocent’s admiration of the Rule of the Order of Santo Spirito, as well as the power the Order had gained by being in a favorable position with the papacy.
The mission of the Hospitallers under Guy de Montpellier was to give charity to "newborns, orphans, children, old people, abandoned girls, pregnant women, 'sinful' women, and traveling religious" (Brodman 145). As Brodman also points out, the Order of the Holy Spirit recruited from among the ranks of the female orphans and the abandoned children it raised. The Rule "provided that young girls in these circumstances would have the option of becoming a professed member of the community or else leaving it for matrimony; presumably the order had far less need for adolescent boys" (Brodman 144). Like other Orders and Confraternities of the era, Montpellier’s Order focused on marginalized groups of society, and strove to make sure that poor girls could grow up to have respectable places in society.
Creator
Rachel Cruz (2019)Coverage
1100sSource
Brodman, James William. "The Hospitaller Orders." Chapter 4 of his Charity and Religion in Medieval Europe, 137-49. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2009.
Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1500. Leiden: Brill, 2016.