Het Groot Gasthuis: more than a hospital

When we hear the word 'guest house', we immediately connect it to a hospital. But in the 12th and 13th centuries, hospices arose to provide shelters for the night for travellers, pilgrims and the temporarily homeless. Pretty soon, sick and elderly people were also taken care of. In Diest, the guild of blacksmiths permanently paid for two beds to care for sick or bedridden members.

Guest houses were institutions with an extensive infrastructure. For Diest, there was already a guest house with chapel, the residence of the guest house master, an infirmary, the farm, barn, brewery and wash house with jetties along the river on this spot as early as 1250. There was also a vegetable garden and cemetery on the property. Through donations, the hospice owned property, meadows, woods and fields outside the city and became a wealthy institution.

For a long time, the administration was under the supervision of the city government. However, the care of the sick was done by the grey sisters, supported by a surgeon. The input of an expensive doctor was rather exceptional and often at the expense of the sick person himself.

When plague cases were detected in the hospital, the sick were taken to the plague house. The guest house was quarantined and the staff members were no longer allowed to leave the house. The staff was provided with food and drinks from the outside. This was done at city expense. The animals in the farm and the animals on the land were also cared for by the city.

During the war turmoil of the 16th century, care left much to be desired. The residents complained and abuses arose. Under pressure from Hovius, the archbishop of Mechelen, who was also guardian of all the hospices and due to the intervention of the archdukes, it was decided on 31 October 1619 to have the hospital administered by Augustinians or sisters of the hospice of Tienen. The name of the guesthouse changed to Sint-Elisabethgasthuis. These Augustinians were usually about 15 to 18. However, little is known about them.

During the French rule, the monastery was dissolved and came under the administration of the city again in 1798. The need for skilled personnel to care for the sick, including wounded soldiers, allowed the sisters to stay. They had to wear civilian clothes until they could resume their monastic activities in 1809.

After 1945, the sisters founded the Sint-Jozef hospital in the nearby Michel Theysstraat. The Sint-Elisabethgasthuis itself served until the 50s and 60s, although only as a retirement home.

Jan Rymenams