L’ospedale di Santa Giulia di Brescia: strutture della vita quotidiana e ospitalità nel Medioevo

Abstract

The monastic hospital of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia in Brescia was the expression of the Benedectine rule to welcome the other as if it were Christ, especially the poorest and pilgrims. It was part of the Lombard Royal foundations and through the early Middle Ages came till the Modern Age, managing hospitality and charity for the benefit of the community and for the salvation of one’s soul, tranforming from xenodochium into hospitale nobilium, therefore into hospitale pauperum et infirmorum, manteining representative functions at first and then welfare. It also provided an obligatory and anticipatory model for the foundation of hospitale magnum of lay matrix, working

tirelessly for eight centuries through a community of confreres led by a female administrator or minister. Key words: monastic hospital, benedectine rule, hospitality and charity, poors and pilgrims, female administrator.