The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (founded in 1645) is the first hospital established in North America, and the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). "Hôtel-dieu," literally "hostel of God," is an archaic French term for hospital, referring to the origins of hospitals as religious institutions.