The inscription on the large stone monument reads:
Whatever you do to the least of my
brothers and sisters you do to me.
It is a loose translation of verse 25:40, from the Book of Matthew, from the new testament of the bible. The complete verse, from the New International Version of the bible, reads:
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
The
Bible Hub lists twenty one separate English translations of the verse, each one different. Without context, some are sufficiently different from others as to have almost completely opposite meanings. As a result, what the verse is actually saying, the writer has no idea.
The hospital, constructed in 1950, was built as a residence for ageing and needy pioneers of the Kootenay Boundary area. It was opened and/or operated by the Sisters of St. Ann who arrived in Nelson in 1947. The Sisters of St. Ann was a pioneering order formed in 1858 which opened more than 35 schools and hospitals in the early and remote communities of B.C.