English

Noun

xenodochium ‎(plural xenodochia or xenodochiums)

1. A room (or separate guesthouse) in a monastery for the temporary accommodation of guests or pilgrims.
   • 1892, William Bright, The Canons of the First Four General Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon, 2nd edition, page 184

     Gregory the Great orders that the accounts of xenodochia should be audited by the bishop (Epist. iv. 27).

   • 1961, Michel Riquet, Christian Charity in Action, page 64

     There is, first, the xenodochium, to provide lodging for passing strangers, pilgrims, travellers, refugees, exiles of all kinds, like the one founded at Ostia by Pammachius and Fabiola for all who were embarking or landing.

   • 1986, Herbert Bloch, Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages, page 288

     His and his uncle Johannes de Curte's principal gift to Monte Cassino was a xenodochium or "hospitale" to house the pilgrims who, in great numbers, visited the famous shrine of the Archangel Michael.

Related terms

• xenodochial
• xenodochy

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