But pilgrimage assumed a new phase when, in the eleventh century, the Turks became masters of Palestine. Their capture of Jerusalem was followed by a massacre of its inhabitants, and by most cruel tortures inflicted upon the Christian clergy; the pilgrims were ill-treated on their way, and if they reached Jerusalem alive, they were often mutilated, or murdered soon after. Those who survived returned to Europe, and spread far and wide the report of the miseries and indignities to which they had been subjected. Indignation spread and grew, and when Constantinople was threatened by the Turks, and the Emperor appealed to the Pope against these enemies of civilization and of Christ, Pope Gregory VII. bestirred himself to arouse the princes of Christendom to unite to defend their faith from the destruction that seemed to be imminent.

Then came the mission of Peter the Hermit, and the enthusiasm which his preaching excited, and finally at the Council of Clermont, 1095, the first Crusade was determined on, and its acceptance carried by the acclamations of the multitude, who cried, "God wills it!"

CHAPTER III.

Jerusalem in the hands of the Crusaders-St. John's Hospital-The Order of St. John-Its growth and increase-Gerard-Raymond Dupuy-The Order becomes military-Its constitution-Ceremony for the reception of a Knight.

"Parmi les contradictions qui entrent dans le governement de ce monde, ce n'en est pas une petite que cette institution de moines armées qui font vou de vivre là a fois en anchoretes et en soldats."-VOLTAIRE.

AFTER the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099, the work of the Hospitallers of St. John was greatly increased and developed. Many wounded soldiers were received and carefully tended, and the self-denying devotion of Gerard, who was then the administrator of the Hospital, and his brethren, excited the admiration of all who visited it. Several men of noble birth, who had joined the Crusade, laid aside their arms, and devoted themselves to the care of the sick and the pilgrims in the Hospital. Others endowed the Hospital with lands. Among the first of these was Godfrey de Bouillon himself, who gave his estates in Brabant.

The increase in the number of persons attached to the Hospital, and the acquisition of so much property, made it desirable that some corporate union should be formed for the better administration of the whole scheme. The members were therefore formed into a confraternity of brothers and sisters,

taking the usual three monastic vows, and assuming a black habit, with a white cross of eight points on the left breast.

The institution was subsequently confirmed by the Pope, Paschal II., who also exempted the Hospital from the payment of tithes, confirmed all the grants of property made to it, and gave the Hospitallers the power to elect their own superior after the death of Gerard.

Jerusalem being now in the hands of the Christians, the number of pilgrims largely increased; multitudes from every part of Christendom wended their way to visit the Holy City and its Sacred Places, and found in St. John's Hospital a welcome and a home. Gratitude followed charity, and benefactions were freely bestowed upon the brethren who had proved themselves such true friends of the stranger and the homeless. Larger buildings were erected, together with a magnificent church dedicated to St. John Baptist, who seems to have been gradually associated with St. John of Jerusalem as a patron of the Order.

The work was also extended to other places besides Jerusalem. Hospitals were founded in the principal seaports of Europe, where pilgrims were received on their way to Palestine, their passage secured in suitable vessels, and guides provided for them.

It was during the reign of Baldwin II., King of Jersualem, that Gerard, the father and virtual founder of the Order of the Hospitallers, died. He had attained a great age, and in spite of this and

his constant activity in carrying out the work of the Order, superintending all its details, and extending its sphere of usefulness, he enjoyed to the last the use of all his faculties, and exemption from most of the infirmities that befall the aged. There was scarcely any illness; the venerable man died peacefully and gently in the arms of his brethren, being gathered like some fruit fully ripe, A.D. 1118.

By a unanimous vote of the Knights and members of the Order, Raymond Dupuy was elected to succeed Gerard in the government of the Hospitallers. He was a member of a noble and ancient family in Dauphiny, and proved himself worthy of the dignity to which he was called. To him the Order owed its distinctly military character, and that wonderful organization, combining the care of the sick and poor with the profession of arms, which characterized the Knights of St. John during all their subsequent history.

Soon after his election he called the members of the Order together to deliberate with them on the schemes which had for some time been thought over in his own mind.

The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem at this time was but a small and isolated territory, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Constant attacks were made upon its towns and fortresses, either by the Turcomans or the Saracens, and the most horrible outrages and cruelties were committed. Bands of half savage men frequently surprised and entered the Christian strongholds, putting the men to death,

and carrying off women and children into miserable and shameful slavery.

Dupuy detailed to his assembled brethren the sad tale of all this misery and violence, and then proposed that they should resume the arms they had laid aside when they devoted themselves to the care of the inmates of their hospitals, and become soldiers of the Cross, and the champions of the poor and helpless.

The proposal filled the brethren with surprise. They alleged that they had put off their armour and sheathed their swords, with no intention of ever resuming them, that they had taken the monk's cowl, and vowed themselves to the perpetual service of the sick, the poor, and the pilgrim, and that they could not go back from their engagement.

In this difficulty recourse was had to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the scruples of the brethren were submitted to his judgment.

The Patriarch had no hesitation in dispensing the Hospitallers from their renunciation of the use of arms, and gave his sanction to the proposed extension of the plan and work of the Order.

A new and revised constitution was drawn up, by which it was provided that there should be three classes of members.

First, the Knights, wno should bear arms and form a military body for service in the field against the enemies of Christ in general, and of the kingdom of Jerusalem in particular. These were to be of necessity men of noble or gentle birth.