The Role of the Hospital Chaplain
Chaplains are specially trained ministers who work as part of a patient's health care team, believing that a person's spiritual and emotional well-being plays an important part in overall health.
At the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin, our chaplains extend caring and healing ministry to persons of every faith tradition - with or without congregational affiliation.
The word "chaplain" comes from cappella, or cape, referring to the cloak of St. Martin of Tours. As a young army conscript in the fourth century, Martin met a shivering beggar at the gates of the city of Amiens in Gaul. Having no money to offer, Martin divided his cloak in two, and gave half to the man. This act has come to symbolize the role of chaplains today as giving aid to those in need.