Founders and patrons also had a voice in the matter, sometimes drawing up the rule and submitting it to their Father in God; thus the Ordinances of St. Mark’s, Bristol, made by the patron and “exhibited to the Bishop” (1268) are entered in the registers. Most hospitals followed a definite system, at least in theory, as to admission, observation of regulations and penalties for disobedience. 1. NOMINATION AND ADMISSION (_a_) Appointments to all offices were usually in the patron’s hands. In a few privileged houses (e.g. Dover, Gloucester, Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich) the staff brothers had licence to elect their superior from amongst themselves, and to nominate him to the patron. Officials and inmates alike were admitted by a religious ceremony, of which the vow formed a prominent part. At St. Katherine’s, Bedminster, the following oath was taken before induction by the master:— “I,——, promise perpetual observance of good morals, chastity, and denial of property . . . according to the rule of the Hospital St. Katherine, near Bristol, in the diocese of Bath and Wells, which I henceforth profess as ordained by the holy fathers . . . and I will lead my life according to regular discipline.” The selection of honorary workers on the hospital staff is dealt with in one of the deeds of St. Mary’s, Chichester (formerly preserved at University College, Oxford, but now in the Bodleian):— “If any one seeks the Hospital of St. Mary, at Chichester, let the Warden examine whether he is in sound or in infirm health. If in sound health, whether male or female, let the [p128] Warden consider whether he is a person of good conversation, of honest life and character, likely to be useful to the House, whether in serving or labouring for the poor. If he should be found such, the Warden shall first point out to him the poverty of the House, the poorness of the food, the gravity of the obedience, and the heavy duties, which may possibly deter him and induce him to recall his purpose. But if he perseveres in knocking, then with the counsel of the Lord Dean and the brethren of the House, he may be received in the name of the Lord, without the intervention of any money or any compact, unless he has any property of his own and is disposed to resign it into the hands of the Warden. But if the character of the man who seeks admission be insufficient he must be repelled entirely.”[84]