Hospital of the Holy Spirit

Given the many points of contact between the Byzantine Empire and Western Christendom, especially in the area of social welfare, one would expect that medieval Greek and Latin societies would also have shared many approaches to the problem of proper care for orphans. As a result, social historians should not be surprised that orphanages in Italy such as the Innocent in Florence, the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome, or the Pieta in Venice resembled earlier Byzantine institutions. These Western orphanages did not emerge ex nihilo as both... 

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