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Thus did the Order become known as the "Order of Malta." In deference
to its origins in the Holy City, it was known as the Hierosolymitan Order of
Malta well into the twentieth century. Adopting a new appellation was simple
enough; developing this harsh land would be more difficult. Despite its obvious
strategic importance, Malta was, for the most part, a hilly and deforested
island having few natural resources other than olive groves, wheat fields and
good fishing waters. It was, and is, similar to Pantelleria, Lampedusa and some
parts of Sicily. The knights set about developing the islands they had been
granted.
Not surprisingly, hospitals were among the first projects to be undertaken on
Malta, where French soon supplanted Italian as the official language (though the
native inhabitants continued to speak Maltese, a language related to Sicilian).
The knights also constructed fortresses, watch towers and, naturally, churches.
Its acquisition of Malta signalled the beginning of the Order's renewed naval
activity. Maritime trade greatly developed; indeed it became a primary means of
economic support.
Because such trade was increasingly hindered by marauding corsairs, the knights
were to become better known for bringing the sea crusade to the western
Mediterranean. In this they were supported by sympathetic sovereigns and new
orders of chivalry, most notably the Piedmontese Order of Saints Maurice and
Lazarus and, in 1561, the Tuscan Order of Saint Stephen. Since Malta occupied a
strategic position between the Christian and Muslim worlds, the Order of Malta
emerged as the most important obstacle to Islam's encroachment into the heart of
Christendom. It must be said, however, that the initial goals of the grand
masters and the Italian princes were more commercial than ideological, as the
pirates' activities seriously threatened trade.
Serious Ottoman assaults occurred between 1551 and 1644. The most famous, the
Great Siege, took place in 1565. An attacking Turkish force of 180 warships
carrying almost 30,000 men was repelled by 600 knights and some 6000 soldiers
and volunteers led by the intrepid Grand Master Jean de la Valette. Assistance
eventually arrived from Europe. Only about 15,000 attackers survived to return
to Turkey, while very few of the defenders went uninjured.
The Siege of Malta was, in the first instance, a defensive battle, and certainly
a bloody one. The knights would encounter Muslim forces again at the Battle of
Lepanto, in 1571. Knights of Malta fought at the Siege of Candia (in Crete) in
1668, and at the Conquest of Belgrade in 1689. With the defeat, at least for the
time being, of Christendom's most serious foes, the Order's attention began to
shift to the philosophical plain embodied by the Counter Reformation.
1600-1834
The expansion and fortification of Valletta, named for la Valette, was begun in
1566, soon becoming the home port of one of the Mediterranean's most powerful
navies. The island's hospitals were expanded as well. the main Hospital could
accommodate 500 patients and was renown as one of the finest in the world. At
the vanguard of medicine, the Hospital of Malta boasted Schools of Anatomy,
Surgery and Pharmacy. Valletta itself was renowned as a center of art and
culture. The Church of of St. John the Baptist, completed in 1577, boasted works
by Caravaggio and others.
The Grand Master was created a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, styled Serene
Highness, in 1607. He was confirmed as a Prince in both Austria and Italy. In
1630 he was granted ecclesiastical precedence equal to that of a Cardinal. To
this day, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta is styled His Most Eminent
Highness.
In Europe, most of the Order's hospitals and chapels survived the Reformation,
but not in Protestant countries. In Malta, meanwhile, the Public Library was
established in 1761. The University was founded seven years later, followed, in
1786, by a School of Mathematics and Nautical Sciences. Despite these
developments, some of the Maltese themselves grew to resent the Order, which
they viewed as a privileged caste. This even included some of the local
nobility, who were not admitted to the Order.
On 9 June 1798, on his way to Egypt, Napoleon Bonaparte's fleet attacked Malta.
It was immediately obvious that the Order's navy was no match for the mighty
French force of 29,000 men. Though officially neutral toward the Christian
powers, Malta was a military protectorate of the Kingdom of Naples, which was
obliged by treaty to defend the island. Unfortunately, the King of Naples and
Sicily (later the Two Sicilies) had departed Naples for Palermo six months
earlier as the French occupied southern Italy, and was in no position to meet
his obligation. What was worse, the Spanish brethren refused to fight (Spain
being allied with France) and the Maltese made it clear that their loyalty was
tenuous indeed. On 12 June, the 250 knights capitulated and departed their
island state.
Not all of the brethren were in agreement with the surrender of Malta, and it
was a decision which, several years later, prompted the removal of the Grand
Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim. This was an event virtually unknown in
the Hierosolymitan Order, whose Grand Masters, like Popes, usually served for
life once elected.
If he could not defend the knights, the King of Naples could at least grant them
refuge in his dominions. In the decades following their expulsion from Malta,
the knights' administrative offices were established in Sicily (at Catania and
Messina) until 1826. In 1834, following a sojourn at Ferrara, the Order
established itself in Rome. The Grand Magistry is still located in Palazzo di
Malta, in Via Condotti near the Piazza di Spagna, where it enjoys
extraterritorial sovereignty as one of the three sovereign governments within
Italian borders (the others being Vatican City and the Republic of San Marino).
1834-1999
The Order, which continues its mission of defending the poor and the sick, is a
sovereign entity enjoying diplomatic relations with eighty-one nations (though
not with the United Kingdom or the United States). It maintains national
associations (and in some cases also priories) in various countries, including
the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, the United States
and many others. Recently, the Order of Malta, which has observer status at the
United Nations General Assembly, signed an agreement with the Maltese government
for the use of Fort Sant'Angelo.
Since 1988, the Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta has been Frà.
Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie, born in London in 1929. He is the
seventy-eighth Grand Master, having succeeded Frà. Angelo de Mojana de
Cologna, born at Milan in 1905, who was elected in 1962. [A list of grand
masters appears on another page.]
The Grand Master, drawn from the knights of justice, who have taken the usual
religious vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, must have the nobiliary
requirements of a Knight of Honour and Devotion. Ranking as a Cardinal of the
Catholic Church, he is elected for life and is assisted by a Sovereign Council
on which sit, amongst others, the Great Officers who are: The Grand Commander,
the Grand Chancellor, the Hospitaller, and the Receiver of the Common Treasure.
The Sovereign Council is elected by the Chapter General, which usually meets
every five years, and which considers both general policy and such matters as
amendments to the Statutes of the Order. The Chapter General is composed of
representatives of the grand priories and the national associations together
with members of the Sovereign Council.
A grand priory consists of professed knights erected into a monastic body with
the approval of the Grand Master and the Holy See. Since grand priories usually
reflect national boundaries, the jurisdictions of some older ones coincide with
the territories of states or regions which no longer exist as distinct
countries. In Italy, for example, there are three grand priories that were
erected long before the nineteenth-century unification of that nation, namely
those of Naples and Sicily, Lombardy and Venice, and Rome. The Grand Priory of
England has recently been revived.
Associations are corporate charitable bodies which embrace all of the knights
and dames in a certain area. Such associations are usually, but not always,
chartered on a national level. That for the United Kingdom is the British
Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (BASMOM), formed in 1875.
In the United States, however, there are three distinct associations, namely the
American Association founded in New York in 1927, the Western Association
established in San Francisco in 1953, and the Federal Association formed in
Washington in 1974. The Order has associations in 37 nations.
Today, there are some 11,000 knights and dames of the Order of Malta worldwide,
240 of them in Britain, presided over by the Grand Master and Sovereign Council
based in Rome.
In the New World the majority are knights and dames "of magistral
grace," although not in Britain and European countries with a nobiliary
tradition where a large number belong to ranks traditionally reserved to members
of the aristocracy. Worldwide, about 50 are knights of justice who have taken
the full religious vow of profession. Others, the knights of obedience, have
taken a lesser promise of obedience to their religious superior, usually their
Grand Prior. There are also many clergy who serve as chaplains of the Order.
In addition to honours bestowed in these ranks, the Grand Master confers an
Order of Merit. Recipients of this Order "Pro Merito Melitensi" are
individuals who have rendered outstanding service to the Order of Malta or its
works; unlike knights and dames of the Order itself, those in the Order of Merit
need not profess the Catholic Faith. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta
observes as its feast day Saint John's Day, June 24th.
The Order of Malta has ambassadors or diplomatic representatives in more than
eighty nations, and enjoys Permanent Observer status at the United Nations
General Assembly.
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