What is "hotel-dieu"

Hotel-Dieu \H[^o]tel`-Dieu"\, n. [F.] A hospital.

In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ("hostel of God") was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris being the oldest and most renowned, or have been converted into hotels, museums, or general purpose buildings (for instance housing a préfecture, the administrative head office of a French department).

Therefore, as a secondary meaning, the term hôtel-Dieu can also refer to the building itself, even if it no longer houses a hospital.

Examples include:

• Hôtel-Dieu d'Angers, founded in 1153, one of the oldest in France
• Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune, founded in 1443
• Hôtel-Dieu of Carpentras, built in 1754
• Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, created in 1478
• Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, founded in 660
• Hôtel-Dieu de Tonnerre, founded in 1293 and still preserved as part of the chief hospital of the town

• Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, Montreal
• Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Quebec City
• Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre, formerly the Hotel Dieu Hospital in St. Catharines, Ontario
• Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital, Windsor, Ontario
• Hotel Dieu Hospital (Kingston, Ontario), Kingston, Ontario

• University Hospital, New Orleans, previously known as Hôtel-Dieu
• Hôtel-Dieu de France, Beirut, Lebanon, a private hospital owned by the French state