o have been necessary to inform the superior; and
the statutes of the French Hospital at Angers say, that the prioress
is to go herself without delay to receive patients or to send one of
the Sisters for that purpose, "not severe or hard, but kind of
countenance." At the same place the statutes say, "the number of the
sick is not to be defined, for the house is theirs, and so all
indifferently shall be received as far as the resources of the house
allow."

From many of the hospitals members of the community were sent out from
day to day to find out if there {260} were any lying sick who needed
care and who should be sent to the hospital. They were expected also
to pick up any of the infirm whom they might find along the streets
and bring them to the hospital. The attitude which the religious
attendants at the hospitals were to assume toward the patients upon
whom they wait is clearly stated. In nearly all of the French
hospitals of the thirteenth century, at least, the statutes in this
matter do not differ much from this specimen:

"When the patient arrives he shall be received thus: First, having
confessed his sins to the priest, he shall be communicated religiously
and afterward be carried to bed and treated there as our Lord,
according to the resources of the house; each day, before the repast
of the brethren, he shall be given food with charity, and each Sunday
the epistle and gospel shall be read and aspersion with holy water
made with procession."

As is noted by Miss Speakman, all through the hospital statutes of
these times the name of Masters or Lords is applied to the patients.
The expression in Old French is Les Seignors Malades. The ordinary
name for hospital was Maison Dieu, which has been well translated
"God's Hostelry." It is evident, then, though the origin of the phrase
"Our Lords the Poor," as applied to hospital patients, has been said
to be obscure, that it is only a re-echo of the scriptural expression,
"Whatsoever ye shall do, even to the least of these, behold ye do it
unto Me." A quotation which was emphasized in the old rule of St.
Benedict, promulgated for the treatment of those received into the
hospitality of the Benedictine monasteries, "All guests shall be
received as Christ, who Himself has said, 'I was a stranger and ye
took Me in.'"

{261}

In modern times, the necessity for providing for patients whatever
within reason they may long for has often been insisted on. It is
curious