War in Ukraine: Order of Malta continues to ensure humanitarian support

The Order has relations with the European Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of international organizations. While the International Telecommunication Union has granted radio identification prefixes to the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority, the Order has never received one. For awards purposes, amateur radio operators consider the Order a separate “entity”—but stations transmitting from there use an unofficial callsign, starting with the prefix “1A”.93 The Order has neither sought nor been granted a top-level domain for the Internet or an international dialing code for telephone purposes. The Treaty of Amiens (1802) obliged the United Kingdom to evacuate Malta, which was to be restored to a recreated Order of St. John, whose sovereignty was to be guaranteed by all of the major European powers, to be determined at the final peace.

The eight points represent the eight beatitudes that Jesus pronounced in his Sermon on the Mount. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorisation to build a church, convent, and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem – the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land – became independent under the guidance of its founder, the religious brother Gerard.

The constitution of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades obliged the order to take on the military defence of the sick, the pilgrims, and the captured territories. The order thus added the task of defending the faith to that of its hospitaller mission. The Order traces its institutional continuity with the Knights Hospitaller, a chivalric order that was founded about 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.5 The order is led by an elected prince and grand master.6 Its motto is Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum (“Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor”). Speaking to Vatican News, Josef D. Blotz spoke of his visit to many different humanitarian projects supported and promoted by the Order, made possible by the commitment of the staff and volunteers of the Malteser Relief Service of Ukraine, in collaboration with Malteser International.

The Order of Malta’s entities in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have also been actively involved in refugee assistance projects. The Order’s membership includes about 13,500 Knights, Dames and Chaplains.7 Thirty-three of these are professed religious Knights of Justice.2 Until the 1990s, the highest classes of membership, including officers, required proof of noble lineage. More recently, a path was created for Knights and Dames of the lowest class (of whom proof of aristocratic lineage is not required) to be specially elevated to the highest class, making them eligible for office in the order. The original hospitaller mission became the main activity of the order, growing ever stronger during the 20th century, most especially because of the contribution of the activities carried out by the Grand Priories and National Associations in many countries around the world. Large-scale hospitaller and charitable activities were carried out during World Wars I and II under Grand Master Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (1931–1951). Under the Grand Masters Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna (1962–1988) and Fra’ Andrew Bertie (1988–2008), the projects expanded.

Fra’ John T. Dunlap

Some 58 countries recognize the Order’s postage stamps for franking purposes, including several such as Canada and Mongolia that lack full diplomatic relations with the Order.118 In 2005, Poste italiane, the Italian postal service, agreed with the Order to deliver internationally most classes of mail other than registered, insured, and special-delivery mail. The Order began issuing euro-denominated postage stamps in 2005, although the scudo remains the official currency of the Order. From its beginning, independence from other nations granted by pontifical charter and the universally recognized right to maintain and deploy armed forces constituted grounds for the international sovereignty of the Order, which minted its own coins and maintained diplomatic relations with other states. The senior positions of the Order were given to representatives of different Langues. I believe that it is a unique case in the world that a unit of the army of one country is supervised by a body of another sovereign country. Just think that whenever our staff (medical officers mainly) is engaged in a military mission abroad, there is the flag of the Order flying below the Italian flag.

The Government Council is the advisory board to the Sovereign Council in charge of studying political, religious, humanitarian assistance and international issues. Since 2017, Pope Francis has appointed special delegates to fulfill the role that was previously assigned to the patron. With the Papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis dated 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II approved the foundation of the Hospital and placed it under the aegis of the Holy See, granting it the right to freely elect its superiors without interference from other secular or religious authorities.

Most of the 50 associations are national, but several countries (Brazil, Germany, the United States) have more than one association. The Order’s judicial powers are exercised by a group of Magistral Courts, whose judges are appointed by the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council. It includes a President elected among the seven Councillors, all elected by the Chapter General.

The government seat of the Sovereign Order of Malta

By virtue of the Papal Bull, the hospital became an order exempt from the control of the local church. All the Knights were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Diplomatic vehicles of the Order in Italy receive diplomatic license plates with the code “XA”. Within each class and category of knights there are ranks of Knight, Knight Grand Cross, and Bailiff Knight Grand Cross.

According to the Constitution, as the religious Superior and Sovereign, he must fully dedicate himself to the development of the works of the Order and to set an example of living by Christian principles, to all the members of the Order.

• For awards purposes, amateur radio operators consider the Order a separate “entity”—but stations transmitting from there use an unofficial callsign, starting with the prefix “1A”.93 The Order has neither sought nor been granted a top-level domain for the Internet or an international dialing code for telephone purposes.
• The Order of St. John of Jerusalem – the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land – became independent under the guidance of its founder, the religious brother Gerard.
• Large-scale hospitaller and charitable activities were carried out during World Wars I and II under Grand Master Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (1931–1951).
• The Order states that it was the hospitaller role that enabled the Order to survive the end of the crusading era; nonetheless, it retains its military title and traditions.
• The constitution of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades obliged the order to take on the military defence of the sick, the pilgrims, and the captured territories.

The Order states that it was the hospitaller role that enabled the Order to survive gullybet the end of the crusading era; nonetheless, it retains its military title and traditions. The knights were dispersed, though the Order continued to exist in a diminished form and negotiated with European governments for a return to power as part of the agreement between France and Holy Roman Empire during the German mediatisation. Grand Master Paul I created, in addition to the Catholic Grand Priory, a “Russian Grand Priory” of no fewer than 118 Commanderies, dwarfing the rest of the Order and open to all Christians. Paul’s election as Grand Master was, however, never ratified under Catholic canon law, and he was the de facto rather than de jure Grand Master of the Order.

Since February 2022 the  Sovereign Order Of Malta has stepped up its work in Ukraine, increasing coordination with all its Associations, relief corps, and around 1,000 volunteers (both foreign and Ukrainian) to provide medical, social and psychological assistance, as well as safe shelter for the some 4 million displaced. More than 10,000 tonnes of aid have been distributed in over 70 different locations; 300,000 people have been assisted at borders and over 60 shelters have been set up to accommodate the displaced. As well, in 2022 the Order contributed to the opening of a prosthetic clinic in Lviv to help victims of landmine explosions. With over 80 million euros mobilised, the Order of Malta’s commitment in Ukraine is the largest since its intervention in World War II.

On 21 May 1651 it acquired the islands of Saint Barthélemy, Saint Christopher, Saint Croix and Saint Martin. These were purchased from the French Compagnie des Îles de l’Amérique which had just been dissolved. In the early 14th century, the institutions of the Order and the knights who came to Rhodes from every corner of Europe were grouped according to the languages they spoke. The first seven such groups, or Langues (Tongues) – from Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (Navarre), England (with Scotland and Ireland), and Germany – became eight in 1492, when Castile and Portugal were separated from the Langue of Aragon. As time went on, the order adopted the white, eight-pointed Cross that is still its symbol today.