Blessed Guy of Montpellier

Guy was born in the second half of the twelfth century at Montpellier, into a well-off family. Before 1190 he began to serve the poor and the needy, founding for them a hospital house on the edge of the city, and from the beginning he entrusted this work of mercy to the Holy Spirit. He soon found many followers, men and women, lay and clerical, and a community grew around him. Lothar of Segni, the future Innocent III, learned of his works of mercy while studying in France, and after his election supported them. In the bull Hiis precipue of 22 April 1198, asking all bishops to sustain Guy's initiatives, the Pope wrote that the hospital of the Holy Spirit built at Montpellier shone among the newly founded hospitals for its religious spirit and its greater charity, where the hungry were refreshed, the poor clothed and the sick given what they needed, so that its master and brothers should be called not so much receivers of the needy as their servants.

On 23 April 1198 the hospital passed under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See and the Pope confirmed the rule Guy had written.