The Great St Bernard Hospice (french: Hospice du Grand St-Bernard; it, Ospizio del Gran San Bernardo; german: Hospiz auf dem Grossen St. Bernhard), named after
Bernard of Menthon
Bernard of Menthon ( it, San Bernardo di Mentone; la, Bernardus; german: Bernhard) was a canon regular and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard. ...
, is a
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
and
hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...
for travelers at the
Great St Bernard Pass
it, Colle del Gran San Bernardogerman: Grosser Sankt Bernhard
, photo = Great St Bernard Pass.jpg
, photo_caption = View of the pass and hospice from Great St Bernard Lake with Mont Vélan in background
, elevation_m = 2469
, elevation_ref = ...
in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. At an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
of in the
Pennine Alps
The Pennine Alps (german: Walliser Alpen, french: Alpes valaisannes, it, Alpi Pennine, la, Alpes Poeninae), also known as the Valais Alps, are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland (Valais) and Italy ( ...
, it is located a few hundred metres north from the
border with Italy. It is part of the municipality of
Bourg-Saint-Pierre
Bourg-Saint-Pierre (; frp, Lo Bôrg) is a municipality in the district of Entremont in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Bourg-Saint-Pierre is the highest inhabited locality of the valley and the last village when ascending the Great Saint B ...
in the
Swiss canton
The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Co ...
of
Valais
Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...
.
History
The first hospice or monastery was built in the 9th century at
Bourg-Saint-Pierre
Bourg-Saint-Pierre (; frp, Lo Bôrg) is a municipality in the district of Entremont in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Bourg-Saint-Pierre is the highest inhabited locality of the valley and the last village when ascending the Great Saint B ...
, which was mentioned for the first time around 812-820. This was destroyed by
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
incursions in the mid-10th century, probably in 940, the date at which they also occupied
Saint-Maurice. Around 1050, Saint
Bernard of Menthon
Bernard of Menthon ( it, San Bernardo di Mentone; la, Bernardus; german: Bernhard) was a canon regular and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard. ...
, archdeacon of Aosta, regularly saw travellers arriving terrorised and distressed, so he decided to put an end to mountain brigandage in the area. With this in mind, he founded the hospice at the pass which later bore his name (it was originally dedicated to St Nicholas). The church's first textual mention is in a document of 1125. The hospice was placed under the jurisdiction of the
bishop of Sion
The Diocese of Sion ( la, Dioecesis Sedunensis, french: Diocèse de Sion, german: Bistum Sitten) is a Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the oldest bishopric in the country and one of the oldest north of ...
, prefect and count of
Valais
Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...
, thus explaining why the whole pass is now in Swiss territory.
St. Bernard dog
The
St Bernard dog breed was created at the hospice from cross-breeding dogs, probably those offered by families in Valais in the 1660s and 1670s. The first definite mention of the breed is in 1709. The breed was originally raised to provide guard dogs for the hospice, before they became mountain rescue dogs. The St Bernards were specially bred and trained for the role of mountain rescue because they were sufficiently strong to cross deep snow drifts and had the capacity to track lost travellers by scent. The first evidence that the dogs were in use at the monastery is in two paintings dating to 1690 by
Salvator Rosa
Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...
.
![Edwin Landseer - Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Edwin_Landseer_-_Alpine_Mastiffs_Reanimating_a_Distressed_Traveler.jpg)
The dogs are often depicted as carrying a small flask of
brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
around their necks to revive travellers. While this appears to have generally been a 19th-century myth,
mentalfloss.com
/ref> there was apparently at least one dog that really did. In ''The Percy Anecdotes'', by Thomas Byerley, published in 1823, the following anecdote appears, and was often quoted in other books in the 19th century:
The breed of dogs kept by the monks to assist them ... has been long celebrated for its sagacity and fidelity. All the oldest and most tried of them were lately buried, along with some unfortunate travellers, under a valanche ic but three or four hopeful puppies were left at home in the convent, and still survive. The most celebrated of those who are no more, was a dog called Barry. This animal served the hospital for the space of twelve years, during which time he saved the lives of forty individuals. His zeal was indefatigable. Whenever the mountain was enveloped in fogs and snow, he set out in search of lost travellers. He was accustomed to run barking until he lost breath, and would frequently venture on the most perilous places. When he found his strength was insufficient to draw from the snow a traveller benumbed with cold, he would run back to the hospital in search of the monks….
When old age deprived him of strength, the Prior of the Convent pensioned him at Berney, by way of reward. After his death, his hide was stuffed and deposited in the museum of that town. The little phial, in which he carried a reviving liquor for the distressed travellers whom he found among the mountains, is still suspended from his neck.
The last recorded rescue by one of the dogs was in 1955, although as late as 2004 eighteen of the animals were still kept at the Hospice for reasons of sentiment and tradition. In 2004, the breeding of the dogs was undertaken by the Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
foundation at Martigny
Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octodurie ...
, and the remaining St Bernards were transferred there from the Hospice. They remain a tourist attraction, and a number of the animals are temporarily relocated from Martigny to the Hospice during the summer months.
Memorial
In June 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
ordered a monumental tomb to be built at the Hospice for Louis Desaix
Louis Charles Antoine Desaix () (17 August 176814 June 1800) was a French general and military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. According to the usage of the time, he took the name ''Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux''. He was co ...
(killed at the Battle of Marengo
The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mich ...
), even though Desaix had not crossed the Alps with the armée de réserve
A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...
. His body rested at Milan from 1800 to 1805, when it was buried at the hospice in the presence of Louis-Alexandre Berthier
Louis-Alexandre Berthier (20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815), Prince of Neuchâtel and Valangin, Prince of Wagram, was a French Marshal of the Empire who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister ...
representing the emperor. A commemorative monument set up there in a chapel was moved in 1829, so that Desaix now lies anonymous under an altar dedicated to Saint Faustina.
In popular culture
The monastery is the setting for one chapter in the 1857 Charles Dickens novel ''Little Dorrit
''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Cl ...
'', wherein some cold travellers and their mules spend the night, and are compared to some frozen unidentified dead bodies in the mortuary, which had been recovered from the mountain by the Fathers. The dogs and some outlying refuge shelters maintained by the monks are also mentioned. Dickens visited the place and saw the mortuary in 1846, and described it in a letter to his friend and biographer John Forster dated 6 September 1846. The Swedish writer and reformer Fredrika Bremer
Fredrika Bremer (17 August 1801 – 31 December 1865) was a Finnish-born Swedish writer and feminist reformer. Her ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' were wildly popular in Britain and the United States during the 1840s and 1850s and she is re ...
also visited the Hospice, and recorded her experience in vol. 1 of ''Life in the Old World'' (English trans. by Mary Howitt
Mary Howitt (12 March 1799-30 January 1888) was an English poet, the author of the famous poem '' The Spider and the Fly''. She translated several tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Some of her works were written in conjunction with her husband, ...
, 1860).
References
Sources
* Jean-Luc Rouiller, ''Le Valais par les dates : une chronologie des origines à nos jours'', dans ''Annales valaisannes'', 1999, p. 105, 106, 109.
* ''Le Grand-Saint-Bernard'' (collectif), dans ''Les chanoines réguliers de Saint-Augustin en Valais'', Bâle
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
, 1997 (''Helvetia sacra'', IV/1)
* Lucien Quaglia, ''La maison du Grand-Saint-Bernard des origines aux temps actuels'', Martigny
Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octodurie ...
, 1972.
External links
*
Congregation founded by St Bernard of Menthon
*
Congregation of Canons Regular at Grand-Saint-Bernard
{{Authority control
History of Valais
Augustinian monasteries in Switzerland
Buildings and structures in Valais
Christian monasteries established in the 11th century
11th-century establishments in Switzerland