, in that period much must have
been done to endow church and charitable institutions. In the same
period grew to its height the passion for monasticism. This affected the
parish and the endowed charity alike. Under its influence the deacon as
an almoner tends to disappear, except where, as in Rome, there is an
elaborate system of relief. Nor does it seem that deaconesses, widows,
and virgins continued to occupy their old position as church workers and
alms-receivers. Naturally when marriage was considered "in itself an
evil, perhaps to be tolerated, but still degrading to human nature," and
(A.D. 385) the marriage of the clergy was prohibited, men, except those
in charge of parishes, and women would join regular monastic bodies; the
deacon, as almoner, would disappear, and the "widows" and virgins would
become nuns. Thus there would grow up a large body of men and women
living segregated in institutions, and forming a leisured class able to
superintend institutional charities. And now two new officers appear,
the _eleemosynarius_ or almoner and the _oeconomus_ or steward (already
an assistant treasurer to the bishop), who superintend and distribute
the alms and manage the property of the institution. (In the first six
books of the _Apost. Constit._, A.D. 300, these officers are not
mentioned.) In these circumstances the _hospitium_ or hospital ([Greek:
xenon], [Greek: katagogion]) assumes a new character. It becomes in St
Basil's hands (A.D. 330-379) a resort not only for those who "visit it
from time to time as they pass by, but also for those who need some
treatment in illness." And round St Basil at Caesarea there springs up a
colony of institutions. Four kinds principally are mentioned in the
Theodosian code: (i) the guest-houses ([Greek: xenodocheia]); (2) the
poor-houses ([Greek: ptocheia]), where the poor (_mendici_) were housed
and maintained (the [Greek: ptocheion] was a general term also applied
to all houses for the poor, the aged, orphans and sick); (3) there were
orphanages ([Greek: orphanotropheia]) for orphans and wards; and (4)
there were houses for infant children ([Greek: brephotropheia]). Thus a
large number of endowed charities had grown up. This new movement it is
necessary to consider in connexion with the law relating to religious
property and bequests, in its bearing on the rule of the monasteries,
and in its effect on the family.

The sacred property (_res sacra_) of Roman law consisted of thi