The New Student's Reference Work/St. Bernard

St. Bernard (sắnt bĕr′nȧrd), the name of two passes in the Alps. Great St. Bernard is 8,120 feet high. Almost on its crest stands the celebrated hospice founded in 962 by Bernard de Menthon, a neighboring nobleman, for the benefit of pilgrims journeying to Rome. It is the loftiest inhabited place in Europe. Now a telephone tells the monks when travelers are on their way up the mountain. These dozen monks, all young and strong, with the aid of large dogs — no longer the famous St. Bernard dogs, but Newfoundlands — rescue travelers who are in danger of perishing from the snow and cold. There is a botanical garden for Alpine plants on the northern slope of the pass. It was over this pass that Napoleon marched his army. Little St. Bernard is the pass used by Hannibal when he led his troops into Italy. It also has a hospice, 7,143 feet high.