Hospital de San Pedro, Antigua Guatemala

San Pedro is a hospital and adjacent church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. It is dedicated to Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur. The hospital was founded in 1663 by Dominican friars. During the nineteenth century it started being managed by Capuchin nuns, who made some improvements to the building. In 1869, the Charity Sisters of San Vicente de Paul took charge of the building.

The hospital is rich in history. The first hospital in Antigua was founded by Hermano Pedro Betancourt, a Franciscan priest in the early 1600s in a small thatched hut near the present site of the Belen Convent. Brother Pedro became known for physically picking the sick and abandoned up in the streets and carrying them to his hospital in his arms or on his back. He often roamed the streets ringing a bell asking for donations to feed and clothe those in his care. He wore the rags and tattered clothing of those that he served. The selfless Franciscan is beloved by all Guatemalans. Over the next three hundred years the hospital was destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt many times. In 1984, the Franciscan priest Guillermo Bonilla, felt called to follow in Hermano Pedro's footsteps in ministering to the poor, sick and outcasts of society. He rented small homes to house the abandoned elderly and orphaned children and appealed to the citizens of Guatemala for help. Eventually he began rebuilding the ruins of the hospital destroyed by the 1974 earthquake and the present day hospital facility continues in the Franciscan tradition of taking in those who need help and care. The hospital receives no government support and relies solely on donations. It is operated by the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church and is directed by Padre Jose Contran.

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