Religious institution founded at Granada, Spain, 1537, by Saint John of God, for the care of the sick and other works of charity. They follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, and to the three solemn vows of religion they add a fourth, of serving the sick for life in their hospitals. The first hospital of the order was built at Granada, 1540, and the society soon spread to England, Ireland, and the other countries of Europe, and even into distant colonies. In 1584Pope Gregory XIII called some of the Brothers to Rome and gave them the Hospital of Saint John Calybita which then became the mother-house of the whole order. During the French Revolution the Brothers were expelled from their 40 establishments in France but they have since returned and erected new hospitals. The members of this institution are not in Holy Orders, but priests wishing to devote their sacred ministry to the Brothers and patients are received. They have charge of a mental hospital for gentlemen at Stillorgan, near Dublin, Ireland, and a hospital for incurables at Scorton near Darlington, Yorkshire, England.
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