Beginnings

Charity in the Time of the Crusades

The word "hospice" originated in medieval times, a derivative of the Latin "hospes" meaning host or guest.

Travel-weary crusaders on their way to the Holy Land found places of refuge in monasteries.

Eventually these places of rest came to be called hospices. They were a safe haven for both the poor and the sick.

Because great numbers of the pilgrims were in ill health, many probably spent their last days there.

The Drive for Collective Responsibility

In tribal and the pre-Christian era (PreHistory-500AD) when there was a life threatening illness, people responded as a group because death often posed a direct threat to entire community.

As individuals worked for the common good of the group when an individual was sick or had sustained an injury requiring care then their family and the group would support the individual.

By the 4th century, Monks offered hospice care to the poor and elderly. During the Crusades, in 1099, a small hospital was reorganized to care for the many sick and wounded after the fall of Jerusalem. Knights that contracted leprosy were sent to a hospice outside the city.

No longer able to remain within their own Orders, they attached themselves to the hospice and its patron St. Lazarus. King Louis VII of France was so impressed with the Order of St. Lazarus, that he brought 12 of them back to France where leprosy was rife. In 1159, King Henry II of England became interested in the Order.

Over the next four centuries, the Knights of St. Lazarus spread across Europe and by the 1500's leprosy was dying out likely due to the men and women who wore the Order's green cross. The Order continues to this day, supporting hospice care in many parts of Canada.

 

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