The original center from which the Hospitallers received their name was the hospital (Latin for “hospitality”) of St. John at the house of pilgrims in Jerusalem, created in the year by the Benedictine monk Gerard. The brotherhood's original purpose was to care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims in the Holy Land. After the entry of the Roman Catholics into Jerusalem during the First Crusade in 2007, the order took shape as a religious-military order, and its charter was approved.
After being expelled from Jerusalem, the order settled in Rhodes. After his fall in the year the order moved to Malta and the Hospitallers also became known as Knights of the Order of Malta.
Current state
At the beginning of the 2010s, the Hospitallers' holdings (about 2 sq. km) enjoyed the right of extraterritoriality. According to international law, the Order is a state-like entity and has diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with about 50 countries, its own constitution, government, national anthem, citizenship and even mints coins. The Order has considerable real estate: in Italy alone it is estimated at $450 million. The Order also owns about 200 hospitals in various countries around the world. The Order unites major political and public figures, representatives of big business and the aristocracy.
Device
According to the Constitution, members of the Order are divided into three classes:
- members of the first class - knights of justice, recognized monastic chaplains - take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and are monks;
- members of the II class - knights of obedience and donates of justice - take a vow of obedience. They are obliged to comply with the regulations for knights of obedience regarding prayers and duties towards the order and its members;
- Members of the III class - do not take vows, but undertake to lead a Christian lifestyle and take an active part in the nursing and social work carried out by the order.
Joannites - Hospitallers
The order of knighthood was founded in 1099, Jerusalem, at the hospital of Gregory the Great and the library of Charlemagne. WITH 1098 - Hospitallers of St. Lazarus at the leper hospital.
1. Heraldry
Colors- black mantle with a white cross, red mantle with a white cross.Hospitallers of Lazarus - white robe with an eight-pointed green cross. The basis of the order were knights who fell ill with leprosy.
Motto- Pro Fide, Pro Utilitate Hominum - For the faith, for the benefit of people!
Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum - Defending the Faith and helping the poor and suffering!
Motto of the Hospitallers of Lazarus: Atavis et armis - To the ancestors and weapons!
Patron - St. John the Baptist, Hospitallers of Lazarus - St. Lazarus
Control of the Mediterranean Sea - After the loss of the Holy Land, the Johannites set themselves a new goal: protecting Christian ships from Muslim pirates and freeing the slaves they had captured.
Hymn- Ave Crux Alba
Symbols and shrines of the Johannites
Owl - symbol of the wisdom of the order
The right hand (right hand) of St. John the Baptist. The palm is missing two fingers, the little finger and the middle one
2. Location of the Order and chronology
2.1. In the Holy Land
1098 - 1291, Jerusalem
1244, Battle of Forbia. The Order of St. Lazarus lost its master and all its knights, including lepers.
1255, the status of the Hospitallers of Lazarus is confirmed by a bull of Pope Alexander IV
1262, Pope Urban IV also confirms the Lazarite charter
2.2. On islands
1291 - 1310, Cyprus
1306 - 1522, Rhodes
1348, on the island of Lazaretto in the Venetian Lagoon, the Green Knights founded the Leper Infirmary
1523 - 1530, seven years of wandering
1530 - 1798, Malta
1789 - 1799, during the French Revolution, Louis XVIII, while in exile, as Grand Master of the Green Knights, called them to himself
2.3. Order in Russia
1798 - 1803, St. Petersburg
1798 - 1801, Paul becomes the 72nd Grand Master of the Order of Johannites I . He establishes, in addition to the Catholic one, an Orthodox Priory. 12 conspirators kill him in the Mikhailovsky Castle (St. Petersburg).
1928, in Paris, a complete list of Hereditary Commanders of the Russian Priory is provided, these are 23 names, 10 of which have already died. The living 12 commanders sign the Declaration on the re-establishment of the Orthodox Order of John. The Order of Malta does not recognize its Orthodox brethren, but their organization continues to exist as the Union of Descendants of Hereditary Commanders under the patronage of the House of Romanov.
2.4. Currently in Rome
1853, death of the last Lazarite knighted before the French Revolution
2008 - 2017, Matthew Festing - 79th Grand Master of the Hospitallers
2012, split of the Order and founding of Saint Lazare International in Jerusalem, with its own Grand Master
On April 16, 2012, the Vatican Secretariat of State published a statement on April 16 in response to frequent inquiries to the Holy See regarding its relationship to a particular order of knighthood. The Apostolic Capital explained that there are only 5 orders that are given the title of knighthood: the Supreme Order of Christ, the Order of the Golden Spur, the Order of Pius IX, the Order of St. Gregory the Great and the Order of St. Sylvester. The Holy See also recognizes the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem as knightly. Other orders - new institutions and everything connected with them - are not recognized by the Holy See, since it does not guarantee their historical and legal legitimacy, their goals and organizational systems. In this regard, the Secretariat of State warns that one must refrain from holding ceremonies in churches and places of worship for the presentation of knighthood diplomas or awards issued without the consent and recognition of the Holy See. Such events are said to be spiritually detrimental to many “people of good will.”
2013, Matthew Festing, who has been Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta since 2008, spoke about the current situation in the Order, which will celebrate the 900th anniversary of its founding on February 9, 2013. The Order currently numbers 13, 5 thousand knights and has diplomatic relations with 104 states, AP reports. “On the one hand we are a sovereign state, on the other hand we are a religious order, on the third hand we are a humanitarian organization. So we are a mixture of all of these,” said Master. Matthew Festing hopes that in the near future it will be possible to make it easier for people of non-aristocratic origin to join the order, especially in Europe. “Of course, this principle [the principle of recruiting new members of the order only from noble families] is not outdated - but we should not forget that we live in the 21st century. In order to become a knight of our order in Europe, indeed, belonging to noble blood is one of the conditions. But this is only one of the conditions - there are a number of other requirements. In other places - Australia, Central and North America, Southeast Asia - the requirements for new members are based on different principles,” said Matthew Festing.
2015, the official process of beatification of the deceased began Andrew Bertie '78 Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitality Order of Saint John, Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. Andrew Bertie became the head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1988 and served the order until his death in 2008. Under his leadership, the Knights of Malta provided aid to the poor and sick throughout the world. Andrew Bertie is the first Knights of Malta leader to be beatified. The inaugural mass for the beatification process, which was also attended by Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Knights of Malta, was officiated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar of the Diocese of Rome.
On December 10, 2016, the 50th Grand Master of the Green Knights - Jan, Count of Dobrzensky and Dobrzycki, was consecrated by Pope Francis as Commander of the Papal Equestrian Order
25 January 2017, Grand Master of the Order of Malta Matthew Festing (No. 79) resigned after conflict with the Vatican. This was reported by Reuters. This happened as a result of Festing’s personal meeting with Pope Francis. “The pope asked him to leave his post and he agreed,” an order spokesman said. Now the decision must be approved by the government of the order - the Sovereign Council. After Festing's final resignation and until the election of a new Grand Master, Grand Commander Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein will act as head of the order. This step came as a surprise to the knights - as a rule, the master holds his post for life. Festing's resignation was led to by a conflict with the Holy See after the overthrow of the Grand Hospitaller of the Order, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, due to his too liberal interpretation of the dogmas of Catholicism. When the pontiff created a commission to investigate the circumstances of the incident, the order issued a statement in which it asked the Vatican not to interfere in its internal affairs. The Order of Malta is a knightly religious order of the Catholic Church. It has observer status at the UN and the Council of Europe and maintains diplomatic relations with 105 states. The order itself considers itself a state, although this assertion is disputed by many international lawyers. At the same time, the order issues its own passports, prints stamps and currency. The Grand Master of the order is the papal viceroy.
Since 2017, Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein has been acting as Master until the elections.
May 2, 2018, b the former locum tenens of the Order of Malta, Giacomo Dalla Torre, was elected grand master. This was announced on Wednesday by the press service of the ancient religious order at the end of the meeting of the State Council, at which the vote took place.As locum tenens, 74-year-old Giacomo Dalla Torre, elected to this post a year ago after the resignation of Grand Master Matthew Festing, was supposed to reform the order's constitution. Dalla Torre became the 80th Grand Master and must take the oath before the Vatican Under-Secretary of State for General Affairs, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, who was appointed papal delegate to the order after Festing's resignation. The Grand Master is elected for life. Dalla Torre has been the head of the Grand Priory of Rome since 2008 (one of the 12 oldest associations of the order) and belongs to the upper class (first class) of knights, who represent the religious elite of the order and from which its head can be chosen. Dalla Torre joined the order in 1985, and in 1993 he took a vow of obedience. He had already been Grand Commander (second in command of the order) and then Locum Tenens (temporary head of the order) after the death of Grand Master Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie in 2008, before the election of Matthew Festing to the post.
3. Structure of the Order
Eight Languages of the Order
1. Provence, symbol - Archangel Michael, emblem - coat of arms of Jerusalem
2. Auvergne, symbol - St. Sebastian, emblem - Blue Dolphin
3. France, symbol - St. Paul, emblem - coat of arms of France
4. Castile and Leon, symbol - St. James the Lesser, emblem - coat of arms of Castile and Leon
5. Aragon, symbol - St. George the Victorious, emblem - Mother of God
6. Italy, symbol - Catherine of Bologna, emblem - blue inscription ITALIA
7. England, symbol - Flagellation of Christ, emblem - coat of arms of England
8. Germany, symbol - Epiphany, emblem - Black double-headed eagle
Management of the Order
At the head of the order was the Grand Master (Master). His rule was elective and usually lifelong, although there were cases of overthrow and even murder of Grand Masters. The master made decisions on all current affairs of the order. However, his power was not unlimited. He was subordinate to the General Chapter, which met at the headquarters of the order usually once a year at the proposal of the Grand Master and determined the policy of the order for the near future. The competence of the Chapter also included the election of the Master. The Pope and the kings of the Crusader states very rarely interfered in these elections; From the 15th century, however, the practice of transferring this position to his protégés began.
The Grand Master's closest associates were:
Grand Commander - Deputy Grand Master and administrative and economic head of the order
Seneschal - dealt with military issues, weapons and the construction of fortresses
Grand Hospitaller - was responsible for the charitable activities of the order, sanitary and medical issues
Great Sacristan - responsible for clothing and partly for military uniforms
Grand Treasurer - was responsible for the finances and treasures of the order.
4. Hospitaller buildings
Famous Hospitaller fortresses
Krak des Chevaliers (Syria)
Markab Fortress (Syria)
Fortress in Akko (Israel)
Rhodes Fortress (Greece)
Fortress in Kusadasi (Türkiye)
Fortress on the island of Halicarnassus (Türkiye)
Hospitaller Library
From the moment of its founding, the Order began diligently replenishing its Charlemagne library with ancient books on philosophy, medicine, including palmistry, shipbuilding and navigation... and now their collection of ancient works is very large.
The Order of the Hospitallers is the most famous and illustrious of the spiritual knightly orders. Its full name is the Sovereign Military Order of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta. The seat of the Order, since 1834, has been located in Rome on Via Condotti. The Order also owns the Palace of the Grand Masters on the Aventine Hill.
The history of the Jerusalem, Rhodes and Maltese sovereign military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John, also called the Order of the Johannites, or Hospitallers, has its roots in ancient times.
The famous historian G. Scicluna, who worked for a long time as the director of the National Library of Valletta, writes that the first mention of the monastic brotherhood of the Hospitallers dates back to the 4th century AD. e., when Christian pilgrims rushed to the Holy Places.
The brotherhood got its name from the hospital, or hospice, that he founded in Jerusalem. The hospital in Jerusalem continued to exist after the Muslims captured the Holy Places of Christianity. The monks provided shelter to pilgrims and treated the sick.
Between 1023 and 1040, several merchants from Amalfi, a city on the southern coast of Italy that was one of the centers of Levantine trade until the end of the 16th century, founded a new hospital or, more likely, restored the old one, destroyed by order of the Egyptian Caliph Hakim. The hospital was located in Jerusalem, not far from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and consisted of two separate buildings - for men and women. Under him, the Church of Mary the Latin was built, in which services were conducted by Benedictine monks. The day of remembrance of John the Baptist in the church calendar became the most solemn holiday of the Johannites.
Brotherhood and Crusades
The importance of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers especially increased during the era of the Crusades (1096-1291). When the crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon entered Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, during the First Crusade, they found the hospital in operation. As a sign of gratitude for their help in taking the city, Godfrey of Bouillon generously rewarded the Hospitallers. However, what exactly this assistance consisted of is not known for certain.
Only the legend has survived to this day that Gerard, the head of the monastic brotherhood, selflessly tried to help his co-religionists during the siege. Knowing that famine had begun in the camp of the besiegers, he threw not stones, but freshly baked bread from the city wall onto the heads of the soldiers of Godfrey of Bouillon. Gerard was captured and was threatened with death, from which he was miraculously spared: before the eyes of the judges before whom he appeared, the bread turned into stones. Many knights joined the brotherhood; it soon took upon itself the protection of pilgrims on their journeys to the Holy Places. The Hospitallers not only built hospitals, but also fortified fortresses along the pilgrim roads.
Brotherhood becomes an order
The head of the Brotherhood of Hospitallers (during the days of the first crusade he was called rector), Brother Gerard, came from Provence or Amalfi. Apparently, Gerard not only possessed remarkable piety, which allowed the Hospitallers to canonize him as a saint, but was, as often happened with saints, an efficient organizer. Through his efforts, the brotherhood was transformed into a monastic order. When its members came to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and, in the presence of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, pronounced three monastic vows - obedience, piety and non-covetousness, they could hardly imagine that the new Order was destined to outlive all other medieval knightly orders and exist until the end of the 20th century.
Order Of Malta
Posted by - Melfice K.
Posted by - Melfice K.
History is an unreliable science, and therefore you should not take everything you read below at face value. It should be understood that since the events of the last century give rise to numerous disputes and suggest different versions of what was happening, then it is not at all possible to establish historical accuracy in the presentation of events of a thousand years ago, at least using those tools and sources that are available to “mere mortals.”
At the same time, this is what creates an aura of mythical legend around centuries-old history, which makes the study of ancient history an incredibly entertaining process. And first of all, this applies to all kinds of sects, societies, cults and other organizations, the details of whose activities have not been widely publicized. And among others, religious orders of knighthood, subordinate directly to the Papal Throne, are of particular interest.
One of these orders is the Hospitallers, also known as the Ioannites, whose organization still exists today, bearing the name Sovereign Military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta. Or simply - the Order of Malta.
It is worth noting here that the Order did not arise in Malta, and even has a mediocre relation to the modern Republic of Malta, but the Knights Hospitallers achieved their highest military glory at a time when their main base was in Malta, the modern capital of which, the city of Valletta, is named in honor of Jean Parisot de la Valette, Master of the Order and founder of the city. It was under his leadership that the knights survived the battle, later called the Great Siege of Malta. However, first things first.
At the beginning of the 6th century, when Jerusalem was still in the possession of the Byzantine Empire, on the initiative of Pope Gregory the Great, a hospital was organized in this largest place of pilgrimage for Christian pilgrims, where they could receive treatment and rest. Two centuries later, the hospital will receive “investment” from Charlemagne, and another two centuries later it will be thoroughly destroyed by the “Egyptian” caliph Al-Hakim, who waged wars with Christian Byzantium.
However, already in 1023, Caliph Ali Al-Za'ir allowed the restoration of a Christian hospital in Jerusalem, entrusting this work to merchants from the wealthy Italian community of Amalfi. The hospital was located on the site of the former monastery of St. John the Baptist and continued its activities. Initially, monks from the Order of St. Benedict “worked” in it. But, immediately after the end of the First Crusade, as a result of which Jerusalem fell into the possession of the Christian army, the monastic order of the Hospitallers, also known as the Johannites, named after John the Baptist, the heavenly patron of the Order, was founded on the basis of the hospital.
The founder of the Order, Gerard the Blessed, began to actively buy land and establish order infirmaries-representatives in the cities of Asia Minor, which was continued by his follower, Raymond de Puy, by establishing a Hospitaller infirmary at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. However, the organization quickly acquired the characteristic features of a paramilitary formation, beginning not only to take care of Christian pilgrims, but also to provide them with armed escorts, and over time, to take part in hostilities between Christians and Muslims.
By the middle of the 12th century, the Johannites were finally divided into brother warriors and brother doctors. The Order enjoyed significant rights, reporting directly to the pope. At that time, within the Christian domains in Asia Minor, the Hospitallers owned 7 large fortresses and 140 other settlements.
But the heyday was not long. In less than two centuries, Christians lost all the conquered lands - the last major stronghold of the Crusaders, the city of Acre, was taken by the troops of the young Mamluk Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in 1291. The surviving knights were forced to leave the Holy Land.
Remaining a very significant military force and not wanting to take part in the internal politics of the Kingdom of Cyprus, which sheltered the Johannites, the knights captured the island of Rhodes, which formally belonged to Genoa, but a Byzantine garrison was stationed on it. Moreover, the knights bought the island from the Genoese, but the Byzantines, supported by the local population, resisted the Hospitallers for several more years. In 1309, Rhodes finally submitted to the knights and became their main base until 1522.
In 1312, the Order of the Templars was liquidated, the wealth of which was divided by the French king and the Pope, and the lands, for the most part, came into the possession of the Johannites. From these possessions eight langas (administrative units) were formed, but the main activity of the Order continued in the Mediterranean.
Over the course of two centuries, the Rhodes knights, having turned into a largely militarized structure, fought with varying success against African pirates and thwarted attempts by the Arabs and Ottomans to organize seaborne incursions into Europe. In 1453 Constantinople fell. The Johannites remained the only combat-ready force that regularly confronted the ever-growing power of the Muslim world.
The stay of the Hospitallers in Rhodes was put to an end by Suleiman the Magnificent, who organized a military campaign against the Order. In 1522, after a six-month siege, in conditions of total numerical superiority of the Ottomans, Rhodes was captured. The magnanimous Sultan allowed the surviving knights to leave the island.
Siege of Rhodes
In 1530, King Charles V of Spain gave the island of Malta to the Hospitallers. The knights continued their activities and in 1565, the already aged Suleiman again organized a campaign against the Order of St. John. However, in the heroic defense of Malta, the knights held out, and the Turkish army, due to a number of circumstances, was eventually forced to retreat, suffering heavy losses.
Siege of Malta
The victory in this confrontation, known today as the Great Siege of Malta, spread good news throughout Europe, which at that time regarded with horror the Ottoman Empire, whose troops had recently besieged Vienna. Almost immediately after the victory of the Maltese, the city of Valletta was founded. Thanks to generous donations from European sovereigns, which flowed in after the glorious victory, Valletta very quickly grew into a beautiful modern city.
Here you can notice that Valletta became the first European city built according to a pre-developed master plan in accordance with the norms and rules of architecture. The work was led by the Italian architect Francesco Laparelli. The city had a sewerage system, and the street layout was designed taking into account the flow of sea breezes, which freely penetrated everywhere, purifying the air and promoting the effect of air conditioning.
Valletta plan
Valletta was home to one of the best hospitals of that time, where not only treatment was carried out, but also research was carried out in the fields of anatomy, surgery and pharmaceuticals. At the beginning of the 18th century, a public library appeared in Malta, and then a University, Schools of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
One of the main architectural monuments of Valletta is the Church of St. John the Baptist, decorated with works by Caravaggio and many other prominent authors.
The City Planning Department, created together with Valletta itself, still operates, strictly regulating everything related to development, so that modern Valletta has preserved many elements of historical buildings, which are carefully restored and maintained, attracting many tourists to the island every year.
But the Hospitallers, having won their main battle, gradually began to degenerate. The main goals of their organization, for which it was created, were unattainable - they could not take care of pilgrims to the Holy Land. The monastic foundations on which the Order's charter was based began to be violated everywhere due to material well-being. Well, the gradually stopping donations forced the Maltese to earn money by controlling maritime transport in the Mediterranean.
Over time, privateering and sometimes outright piracy began to be practiced, especially in relation to Arab ships. The so-called “pravo whista” - the authority to board any ship suspected of transporting Turkish goods, with the subsequent confiscation of these goods, which were resold in Valletta, where, quietly, the slave market operated quite quietly.
The moral decay of most of the Order led to the inglorious capitulation of Malta in 1798 to the troops of Napoleon, who, through a simple trick, occupied Valletta and dispersed the Order. However, not all members of the Order completely fell morally, having come to terms with such an inglorious end, and the organization, although finding itself in exile, continued to exist. For some time they were sheltered in St. Petersburg by Paul I, who was eventually awarded the title of Grand Master. However, after the assassination of the emperor, the activities of the Order in the Russian Empire were quickly curtailed.
The Order inexorably became poor and fell into decay, having no permanent base. Thus, for most of the 19th century, the Order did not even have grand masters, and lieutenants were in charge of management. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII restored the position of Grand Master, which was evidence of a partial revival of the Order. Medical, humanitarian and religious activities became the main areas of work of the renewed organization.
During the 20th century, members of the Order helped the civilian population during the world wars, but their activities were not large-scale, which, however, did not prevent them from establishing themselves as a sovereign state, like the Vatican, by the end of the century. And although disputes over the legal status of the Order of Malta continue, its diplomatic contacts still give the right to talk about it as a dwarf state, but still a state.
Today, the leadership of the Italian Republic treats the Order of Malta as a sovereign state on its territory and recognizes the extraterritoriality of its residence in Rome. And since 1998, the government of Malta transferred the ownership of Fort Sant'Angelo to the Order for a period of 99 years. It was this fort that once played a decisive role in the Great Siege of Malta.
As a result, the Order of Malta cannot be called a secret organization. At first sight. Because if you look more closely, it will become obvious that nothing is known for certain about the type of activity of the members of the order, of whom there are about 13.5 thousand (not counting the whole army of volunteers and doctors), as well as about the reasons why every third country in the world maintains official diplomatic relations with this organization.
One can only assume that the occult mysteries, practiced in all knightly orders, despite all their external “religiosity,” did not disappear anywhere - their adherents carefully passed on their secret knowledge from generation to generation, diligently protecting them from wicked representatives of the human race, even were members of the same order. Well, the wisdom and knowledge accumulated over centuries, almost a thousand years of history is the very tool that allows such a small, on the scale of the whole world, organization to force even the mightiest of this world to take their opinions into account.
