The Mediæval Hospitals of England by Rotha Mary Clay
1. PIONEERS OF CHARITY
394 words | Chapter 54
One practical outcome of the religious revival of the twelfth century
was a movement of charity towards the outcast. The Lazarus whom Jesus
loved became linked in pious minds with that [p050] _Lazarus ulceribus
plenus_ neglected by men, but now “in Abraham’s bosom,” and the thought
took a firm hold of the heart and imagination. Abandoned by relatives,
loathed by neighbours, the famished leper was now literally fed with
crumbs of comfort from the rich man’s table.
The work of providing for “Christ’s poor,” begun by the great churchmen
Lanfranc and Gundulf, was carried into the realm of personal service by
Queen Maud (about 1101), the Abbot of Battle (before 1171) and Hugh,
Bishop of Lincoln (about 1186). Queen Maud is the brightest ornament
of the new movement. Like St. Francis of Assisi a century later,
she “adopted those means for grappling with the evil that none but
an enthusiast and a visionary would have taken.” Aelred of Rievaulx
relates how Prince David visited her and found the house full of
lepers, in the midst of whom stood the queen. She washed, dried and
even kissed their feet, telling her brother that in so doing she was
kissing the feet of the Eternal King. When she begged him to follow her
example, he withdrew smiling, afterwards confessing to Aelred:—“I was
sore afraid and answered that I could on no account endure it, for as
yet I did not know the Lord, nor had His spirit been revealed to me.”
Of Walter de Lucy, the chronicler of Battle Abbey writes:—
“He especially compassionated the forlorn condition of those
afflicted with leprosy and _elephantiasis_, whom he was so far from
shunning, that he frequently waited upon them in person, washing
their hands and feet, and, with the utmost cordiality, imprinting
upon them the soothing kisses of love and piety.”
St. Hugh used to visit in certain hospitals, possibly those at
Peterborough and Newark connected with the [p051] See or the Mallardry
at Lincoln.[33] He would even dwell among the lepers, eating with them
and ministering to them, saying that he was inspired by the example
of the Saviour and by His teaching concerning the beggar Lazarus. On
one occasion, in reply to a remonstrance from his Chancellor, he said
that these afflicted ones were the flowers of Paradise, pearls in the
coronet of the Eternal King.[34]
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