In spite of the terrible vicissitudes to which Europe and Asia were exposed for two centuries, the Order of St. Lazarus never lost, either in the West or in the East, its essentially hospitable character. This it preserved, notwithstanding the impediments placed in its way by the rivalry of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and the avowed preference of the Court of Rome for the latter—a preference which was due to the fact that the Popes, who had never given up all hope of recovering the Holy Land, were vexed to see the Lazarists renouncing altogether their military functions to devote themselves exclusively to the poor, the infirm, the sick, and the pilgrims. It was, however, their purely charitable mission which obtained for them the security, the protection, and the privileges which were everywhere accorded them.
Fig. 275.—The Great Hospital at Milan, founded in 1456 by Duke Francis Sforza and his Wife.
The chief authorities at Boigny, who had remained intact amidst the ruin of the Order of the Templars, acted with extreme prudence; the chapters were held very quietly, but always at fixed periods, and the nature of their decisions, their choice of persons to direct the branch establishments, their general administration of the property of the poor, were such as to give no handle to hostile criticism and malevolence. Moreover, it was the sole hospitable institution which was in proper and continuous working order. The spirit which animated King Louis and Queen Blanche had communicated itself to many of the lords and ladies of their Court, who, as volunteer or auxiliary Lazarists, devoted themselves to the service of the lepers and the sick. Such were Elzéar de Sabran, Count of Arian, and his wife. Not only did they assiduously frequent the lazarettos and do work as menial as it was revolting, but they collected alms in concert with the Lazarist brethren, and assisted them in the most painful of their duties.
Fig. 276.—Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost from pure intent.—“Ytem doyvent jeuner chascun jeudi de l’an si veullent ou ont le povoir, et se n’ont le povoir ou la volonté doyvent donner à mengier à trois poures en lonor du Pere, du Fils et du Saint-Esprit ou leur donner tant qu’il puissent avoir leur sustenance pour le jour” (old French).—From the Statutes of the Order of the Holy Ghost from pure intent, or of the Union, instituted at Naples in 1352, by Louis of Anjou, the first of that name, King of Jerusalem, Naples, and Sicily.—Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century, preserved in the Louvre (Musée des Souverains), now in the National Library, Paris.
St. Cajetan the Dominican, so celebrated in the fifteenth century for his controversy with Luther, his clerical institutions, and the energy of his proceedings with regard to teaching and benevolence, sowed the germs of the charitable congregations which, under various names, afterwards constituted a splendid body of religious and hospitable establishments. At Naples he founded the immense Hospital for Incurables, the Mount of Mercy for the poor belonging to the better classes, asylums for orphans, and houses of refuge for penitent women. Nor was this all,—with a view to suppressing usury, which had ruined so many families and prevented the unfortunate debtors from recovering themselves, he conceived the idea of founding pawn establishments, and a lady, the Contessa di Porto, procured him the sum of four million pounds (Italian) to establish the first house which lent money at the legal rate of interest (1469–1534).
Fig. 277.—Margaret of York, third wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, one of the most charitable princesses of her time, who died at Mechlin in 1503.—She is represented on her knees between the four Doctors of the Church, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose. In the background is the Church of St. Gudule, at Brussels.—From a Miniature in a “Traité sur la Miséricorde,” translated from Latin into French by Nicholas Finet, Canon of Cambrai and Almoner to Margaret. (Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the Burgundian Library, Brussels.)
The saddening spectacle of human misery excited the sympathy of Jean de Dieu, a Portuguese gentleman, who had successively fought against the French, the Turks, and the Hungarians; after having led a licentious life as a soldier, he devoted himself to healing the wounded and to the care of the sick (1540). The wounds inflicted by fire-arms required much more careful treatment than those caused by steel weapons, for they were followed by suppuration of a contagious character, and other dangerous consequences; they, moreover, entailed terrible operations, which made an increase in the number of surgeons a matter of absolute necessity. Jean de Dieu determined to make good this deficiency, and he was the originator of the corps of hospital attendants and sick-nurses. But the institution which he founded was not properly organized and put in working order until after his death (1550), in the midst of the Italian wars and the great struggles of France and Spain.