House of The Holy Ghost, Copenhagen - History - Reformation

Reformation

In 1527 the city fathers read a publication by Povl Helgesen which decried the conditions at the hospitals and outlined the view that the hospital should be broken up so that the poor were not mixed in with those who had contagious diseases. The sick should be divided into those who had non-contagious diseases and those who has contagious diseases. His views were accepted by those charged with administration of the hospital. A new hospital was planned along those lines.

The plans came to naught because of the catastrohpic fall of the Catholic Church in the 1530s. Even before Denmark became officially Lutheran, the city fathers petitioned the king to separate the hospital form the monaster;, in so many words asking that the Augustinian monks be expelled from their combined hospital-priory. They went further to propose that the hospital be given the properties and incomes that had belonged to St Gertrude's Hospital and St Jørgen's Leper Hospital be turned over to Holy Ghost House. A governor was to be appointed by the city fathers. In 1530 the Augustines were sent packing and the hospital became a city institution. Holy Ghost Church became a parish church. Holy Ghost Church was built around the old Hospital Church and contains what is left of the old priory church. The tower of the church gives a magnificent view of Copenhagen.