Health Care and Poor Relief in 18th and 19th Century Southern Europe

In the 18th and 19th centuries what happened to the poor and the sick-poor in the north and south of Europe was different. In the north there occurred first the Reformation in the 16th century, which changed attitudes to the poor, and then the advent of industrialisation, with its far-reaching effects of pauperisation of people both in town and countryside. In the Catholic south, where industrialisation did not appear so soon, the Catholic Church introduced a programme of reform at all levels but along traditional lines. This included the founding of new orders dedicated to the care of the poor and sick, of new institutions within which to house and care for them.