The jurisdiction of this commendator extended over the hospital of the Holy Spirit. Traces of this commendatory office and of the abbacy dignity are still found in the formula of the celebrant used by the Holy Father when investing the newly elected commendator with the mantelletta: *Esto praeceptor generalis Ordinis S. Spiritus*. As with the major offices of other hospitaller orders, so too was that of commendator of S. Spirito granted in commendam, until Leo X made this commendam permanent by creating the prelature, which entailed the duty for the prelate to oversee the hospital. The popes of the Counter-Reformation took care to confer it upon persons capable of attending to their duties. The fine palace which Gregory XIII had built between 1572 and 1585 beside the beautiful church of S. Spirito is proof of the importance assumed by the commendator in the Roman Curia.
This prelature for several centuries retained its supremacy over all the hospices of the Order, until Benedict XIV with the constitution *Saepse Romanorum* of 5 April 1741, considering the great distance of some of these hospices from Rome, decreed that the jurisdiction of the commendator over them should cease and that they should be placed under the authority of the local ordinaries.
After the Napoleonic occupation, the office of the commendator of S. S. was reconstituted, with the appointment of the president of the Deputazione, established by Pius VII on 13 November 1821, to administer and govern the hospitals of Rome. When this Deputazione was dissolved by Pius VIII in 1829, the commendator of S. S. continued in office with regard to the hospital in Sassia.
With the capture of Rome, the commendator of S. S., deprived of any activity, was reduced to the enjoyment of the privileges pertaining to the prelature.