3050

March 11. Naples. Pope Alexander IV writes to the master and brothers [of the hospital of the Lepers of St Lazarus of Jerusalem of the Order of St Augustine], relating that in their hospital there used to reside, as they assert, a convent of noble, vigorous knights and others both healthy ones and lepers for driving out the enemies of the Christian name, but since their hospital has been reduced to extreme poverty by warfare, with most of their possessions occupied by pagans and those hostile to the Church, their poverty can scarcely be relieved except through aid from the Apostolic See. Responding to their prayers, the pope grants that they can make use of the church of Galby in the diocese of Lincoln (Lincolniensis), in which they have ius patronatus, they claim, when the rector retires or dies, as long as a permanent vicar serves in it.