The decadence of this magnificent hospital dates from Napoleon’s invasion of Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The hospital lost its rich revenues when the Peninsula was overrun by its enemies, and from being a national, it sank to the position of a provincial hospital. It was as recently as 29th July 1880 that the nuns of the Convent of St. Vincent de Paul took up their residence within its walls and became its nursing staff. The governor of the province, the archbishop, and many of the neighbouring prelates took part in the ceremony of their installation, and the event was a memorable one for the people of Galicia. Ever since then those gentle, self-forgetting, and self-sacrificing Sisters have shown themselves the guardian angels of the sick and the needy, as well as of the helpless foundlings who are reared within those charitable walls.
A hospital, with practically no revenues and built at the
ROYAL HOSPITAL, SANTIAGO
CONVENT OF SAN PAYO, SANTIAGO
WHERE EACH NUN HAD A SEPARATE KITCHEN AND A MAID TO WAIT ON HER
PHOTOS. BY AUTHOR