On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the Order of Malta celebrates its anniversary. On that date, in 1113, Pope Paschal II promulgated the bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis officially recognizing the monastic community founded in the Holy Land to look after poor pilgrims as a full religious order of the Church.
This document set the legal basis for the sovereignty and independence of the order, originally called the Brotherhood of the Hospital of St. John, now known as the Order of Malta.
After the Roman Emperor Constantine made Catholicism the official religion of the empire in 313, pilgrimages to the Holy Land became popular. Unfortunately, pilgrimage at that time was dangerous. Going to Jerusalem meant walking, riding on horseback or sailing by ship for many weeks.
Also, by the 700s, the rise of Islam made travel less secure. Most pilgrims arrived in Jerusalem sick, injured or exhausted. There was an urgent need to create a hospital to nurse them.
The founding of the religious community of the “Hospitallers” of St. John dates to 1048. Merchants from the maritime republic of Amalfi in Italy obtained authorization from the caliph of Egypt to build a hospital in Jerusalem to assist pilgrims.
Then in 1095 at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II preached a call for a Crusade. He said, “Christians should not rest comfortably in their beds when the holy places associated with the life of Christ were being held by those who did not believe in his divinity.”
In 1097, the First Crusade was launched, and in 1099, Jerusalem was taken by the crusaders. Their leader, Godfrey of Bouillon, was offered the kingship of Jerusalem. He refused, saying, “No man should wear a crown of gold in the city where our Lord wore a crown of thorns.”
After the siege, the Crusaders founded a hospital in Jerusalem, and its director was Brother Gerard. The Crusaders went to the hospital to receive care for their wounds, and some were so taken by this care that they joined the monks there.
Led by Brother Gerard, the religious community became a full religious order. In his bull, Pope Paschal II recognized the order, placing it under the protection of the Church and granting it the right to elect its superiors, without interference from other lay or religious authorities. While the fourth-oldest religious order, it is the first modern religious order, where all houses answered to the master of the order instead of a collection of autonomous houses.
The order was independent, subject only to the papacy, free to elect Gerard’s successor and to receive and own property. All the confreres were religious, bound by the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and dedicated to assisting the poor and sick.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem obliged the order to assume the military defense of the pilgrims and to protect the main roads. Defense of the faith was then added to the hospitaller mission, and the order adopted the eight-pointed cross as its symbol.
Throughout this 900-year history, the Order of Malta has continued and expanded its service to the vulnerable and the sick. After Jerusalem, it spent time headquartered on both the islands of Rhodes and Malta. Since 1834, the order’s government seat has been in Rome, where it is guaranteed extraterritorial rights.
Today, the Order of Malta is active in 120 countries caring for people in need through its medical and humanitarian works. It is a sovereign subject of international law, has diplomatic relations with more than 100 nations and the European Union and permanent observer status at the United Nations.
It is neutral, impartial and apolitical. It supports forgotten or excluded members of society. It helps people living amid armed conflicts and natural disasters by providing medical assistance and care for refugees.
The Order of Malta is dedicated to the preservation of human dignity and the care of those in need, regardless of origin or religion. The order operates through 11 priories, 48 national associations, 133 diplomatic missions, one worldwide relief agency and 33 national volunteer corps as well as numerous hospitals and medical centers.
To learn more about the Order of Malta, contact [email protected], visit www.orderofmaltafederal.org or find them on Facebook. More important, pray that the Order of Malta can continue its mission to help the sick and poor in Columbus.
Charles Mifsud, KM is an attorney and 3rd Class Lay Member of the Order of Malta who lives in Dublin.
