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Church and Hospice or Hospital of St. James

Typology: church and charity institute
Chronology: XIII-XIX century
The building of the Hospital of St. James Church (institute of XIII-XIX century under the dependencies of the Hospital of the Star of Spoleto) has the following inscription on the lintel: "NON NOBIS D (o) M (in) (E) SED NOMINI TUO "(Lord, not in our names, but in Yours), which recalls the motto of the Templar Knights.
The seat of the hospice or the hospital attached to the church of San Giacomo di Monteleone di Spoleto is commonly identified in a hall of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. The architrave of the entrance portal bears the sixteenth-century inscription: "NON NOBIS D (o) M (in) (E) (sun with IHS) SED NOMINI TUO "(Lord, not in our names, but in Yours), motto already used in the twelfth century by the Templar Knights in the following version: "Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomine tuo da gloriam" (Not our name, Lord, not ours but your name gives glory; Salm 115, 1). The ancient institution, which controls several properties located in the new town, appears for the first time in 1291 and it is still active in the early nineteenth century. It is widely documented its dependencies to the Hospital of the Star of Spoleto (PG), whose foundation and naming is traditionally attributed to a miraculous event happened in the mid-thirteenth century (the appearance of a star on a well where "uncomfortable" babies were thrown into).

The seat of the hospice or hospital attached to the church of San Giacomo di Monteleone di Spoleto is commonly placed at number 25 in the hall of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, in San Giacomo district, not far from Porta della Fonte. The lintel (with rounded bottom corners inward) of the main entrance of the building bears the following sixteenth-century inscription: "NON NOBIS D (o) M (in) (E) (sun with IHS) SED NOMINI TUO "(Lord, not in our names, but in Yours). The relief of the epigraph consists of a radiant sun containing the monogram of Christ "IHS" with a cross on the "H", mainly used by the middle of the fifteenth century. The motto is already used in the twelfth century by the Templar Knights in the version: "Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomine tuo da gloriam" (Not our name, Lord, not ours but your name gives glory), taken from Salm 115, 1 (according to the Jewish numbering, or from the Salm 113, 9 of the Old Latin Vulgate). The ancient institution, which controls several properties located in the new town, appears for the first time in 1291 and, also, in a manuscript of late fourteenth century, that says: "S. James of Monteleone with a Hospital, together with the Hospital of Star of Spoleto". It is also reported among liturgical buildings visited by the Cardinal Eroli (1465): "S. Giacomo in Borgo. It has an annexed hospital and many homes subjected to the Hospital of The Star of Spoleto. In this church there are two altars." During the pastoral visit of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini in 1611, it is noticed the state of abandon of the building, considered uninhabitable and lacking in comfort and nurses. The institute nevertheless continues to operate in 1712, when Lascaris bishop visits it: "It is located in the Village and there is an adjoining house used as Hospital of the Virgin of the Star of Spoleto. The Monteleone hospital is obliged to welcome those who the hospital of Spoleto sends. But the hospital of Spoleto deducts from its income 10 shields without fulfilling other obligations." The last major renovation is made in 1755, as one can notice in the inscribed date affixed to the side door of the building. In 1774 it is agreed a lease of local lands of the "Nuns of the Star of Spoleto" to Filippo Cecchetti. It is therefore extensively documented the dependence of Monteleone Hospital to the Monastery of the Star of Spoleto (PG). The latter is linked to the tradition that it is founded and dedicated to a miraculous event: during the half of the thirteenth century, a star would appear at a suburban well, known for throwing away the tiny bodies of "uncomfortable" babies. For this reason the archbishop Bartolomeo Accoramboni (Bishop of Spoleto from 1250 to 1271) sets up at this place, in 1252, as a sign of expiation, a female monastery with an attached hospital which gives shelter to the sick, the poor, pilgrims and the exposed. The Chapel of St. James and the hospital are still present in Monteleone in the early nineteenth century. In the Gregorian Cadastre Plan (completed in 1835, under Pope Gregory XVI), the building (now private, in part used as dwelling and partly used as commercial space) appears in 1820 as a "house for rent of the Monastery of the Star of Spoleto ". The church is still functioning in 1834. A short distance away, at number 21, it is pointed out the characteristic "Bar del Borgo", furnished with an elegant Liberty balcony coming from a historic Roman pharmacy.