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John of God was the epitome of hospitality and beneficent charity at that time. He practiced a humanistic Chistianity consolidated by his acts in hospital care, which he universalized with time. John Ciudad Duarte was the “seed” of what is now the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers, with 1.000 members of the religious order, 30.000 workers and 225 centres around the world. The material and methods which have been used include documents published from 1995 to 2013, thanks to an exhaustive bibliography of electronic resources and books. For this purpose, we have taken into account variable such as its opening, historical, context, the role of Juan Ciudad Duarte and the health system at that time. Among the results, we can mention that in the Hospital of San Juan de Dios, patients were put in a particular hospital according to their disease. Hygiene was of the utmost importance and patients´ urine and excrements were properly disposed of. The way mentally ill people were treated was new. The work was carried out by own bothers of the order.

The Saint Lazarus Hospital was founded. Poverty and diseases were seen as a problem of public and social order and medical assistance as a state’s task. However, the Church still kept an important role. The aim of this study is to present a general overview of the Saint Lazarus Hospital of Granada, from its beginning to its end, and to describe the lives of lepers in the hospital, the organization of health care as well as the role of nurses. The material and methods used in this study include an exhaustive bibliography of electronic resources and books. The method consists of gathering documents published from 1996 to 2010, taking into account variables such as the opening date, its demolition, social and historical context of leprosy, medical assistance and the lives of patients. The main conclusions are: - The hospital was the only hospital founded in Granada in the sixteenth century which took care of lepers and aimed at reducing the spread of the disease. - The main figure of the medical assistance was the permanent doctor and the nurses.