The word hospital comes from the Latin word HOSPITALIA, which was used in the early Christian days to denote an apartment for strangers and guests.
The practice of hospitality was enjoined as a virtue upon the early Christians. In the early Christian times, hospitalia was a place where strangers and pilgrims were received and cared for. At that time, it was more a place of hospitality than of medical treatment.
In the early Christian times, Christians were encouraged to make pilgrimages to the many holy places of the Middle East. For several centuries, travellers from Western Europe made their way into this part of the world. Many of these pilgrims travelled without money, believing that they would receive assistance on their way from other accommodating Christians. Many hospitals were established, particularly in remote and dangerous places. These services were extended as tangible gifts in the spirit of Jesus Christ.
Many of the great hospitals can be traced to the period directly following the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, when the bishops of the Church were instructed to go out into every cathedral city and start a hospital. There is documentary proof that the first hospital was built by Saint Basil in AD 369.
As time went by, medical treatment gradually played a bigger and bigger role in hospitals. From the 16th century onwards, hospitals began to take on its modern meaning as we know it today.
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