In the course of time the members of this military-religious community received the Augustinian Rule, but they retained much of their independence, the memories of their original order, and especially held to the traditions of hospitality and charitable succour to pilgrims and to those in distress. The Convent and its Hospital gradually acquired wide renown on account of the good works carried on by the Canons. Their house was on the main road between France and Spain. The military expeditions so frequently traversing the frontiers marched along the highway passing its doors, pilgrims visiting the shrine of St. James at Compostella must have halted there on their way to and from the south, and the road through the Pass was the chief highway for peaceful travellers of every kind. The community, therefore, increased in importance and in wealth by gifts from princes, nobles, knights, and the common folk, and came to possess property not only in Spain, but also in Portugal, Italy and in France, and, as the records show, in England and Wales, in Ireland, and in Scotland. It is stated that at the height of its prosperity the Convent distributed annually from 25,000 to 30,000 rations, each consisting of a loaf of 16 oz., half a pint of wine, with sufficient soup and meat, or fish on days of fast. Those who were infirm had chicken broth and mutton. The Hospital had a staff consisting of the physicians, with whom were associated surgeons and an apothecary, and one of the distinguishing features of the Order at a very early period was that it included sisters. In the case of patients dying while in hospital, free interment was given after the celebration of masses in due form. It is expressly stated that the daughter house in England, with its possessions in that country, in Ireland, and in Scotland, remitted annually the sum of 4,000 ducats for the support of the Mother House at Roncesvalles.[3] Footnote 3: Cf. Reseña histórica de la Real Casa de nuestra Señora de Roncesvalles; por D. Hilario Sarasa, Pamplona, 1878; a review was published by Wentworth Webster in the “Academy,” 1879, xvi, p. 135-6.