Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony

The relics were housed in the church of Saint Anthony at La-Motte-Saint-Didier (the present Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, Isère), to which was attached a Benedictine priory, whose members tended the shrine.

Gaston and his community, which at this date was composed of laymen, set up a hospital nearby, where they cared for pilgrims to the shrine and for the sick, particularly those afflicted with Saint Anthony's fire,[1] a disease very common in the Middle Ages, particularly among the poor.

The members of the community wore a black habit with the Greek letter Tau (also known as Saint Anthony's cross) in blue.

Their beneficent activities attracted generous gifts and endowments, but their income declined significantly after the Reformation, and more particularly once the connection was finally made between Saint Anthony's Fire and the ergot fungus, and the incidence of the affliction fell sharply.

Only a tiny number of houses remained open, and the remnants of the order were finally suppressed in the French Revolution and the years immediately following.