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Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Information.
ORDER OF MALTA (The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, SMOM), is a Catholic lay religious order traditionally of military, chivalrous and noble nature, founded as the Knights Hospitaller circa 1099 in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, by Gerard Thom, as the world's oldest surviving order of chivalry. Headquartered in Palazzo Malta in Rome, widely considered a sovereign subject of international law. Area - 0,012 sq km. Population - 13000, Capital - Palazzo Malta (Rome). The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is the modern Rome-based continuation of the medieval Knights Hospitaller, with origins in the Fraternitas Hospitalaria hospital founded circa 1048 by Amalfitan merchants in the Muristan district of Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate, to provide medical care for pilgrims to the Holy Land. Following the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade and the loss of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to the Mamluk Sultanate, it became chartered as a military order to protect against Islamic persecution of Christians, recognised as sovereign in 1113 by Pope Paschal II. It operated from Cyprus (1291-1310), Rhodes (1310–1523), Malta (1530–1798), over which it was sovereign until its French occupation, and from Palazzo Malta in Rome from 1834 until present day, subsequently known under its current name. The order venerates as patroness Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of "Our Lady of Mount Philermos". The entity retains sovereignty under international law, including permanent observer status at the United Nations, issuing own passports, currency and postal stamps with its Maltese cross insignia. The order's military corps, three brigades, are stationed throughout Italy, liaisoned with the Italian Armed Forces. The order, with 13,500 Knights, Dames and auxiliary members, employs about 25,000 doctors, nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics assisted by 80,000 volunteers in more than 120 countries, assisting children, homeless, handicapped, refugeed, elders, terminally ill and lepers around the world without distinction of ethnicity or religion. Through its worldwide relief corps, Malteser International, the order aids victims of natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts. In several countries, including France, Germany and Ireland, local associations of the order are important providers of medical emergency services and training. In February 2013, the order celebrated its 900th anniversary as a sovereignty entity by recognition on 15 February 1113 of the Papal bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, issued by Pope Paschal II. The celebration included a general audience given by Pope Benedict XVI[13] and a Holy Mass celebrated by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone at Saint Peter's Basilica. With the Bull of 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. 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. When the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land fell after the Siege of Acre in 1291, the order settled first in Cyprus. In 1310, led by Grand Master Fra' Foulques de Villaret, it regrouped on the island of Rhodes. From there, defense of the Christian world required the organization of a naval force; so the Order built a powerful fleet and sailed the eastern Mediterranean, fighting many famous battles for the sake of Christendom, including Crusades in Syria and Egypt. 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 initial seven such groups, or Langues (Tongues) – Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (Navarre), England (with Scotland and Ireland), and Germany – became eight in 1492, when Castille and Portugal were separated from the Langue of Aragon. Each Langue included Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks, and Commanderies. The order was governed by its Grand Master (the Prince of Rhodes) and Council. From its beginning, independence from other nations granted by pontifical charter and the universally recognised 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. After six months of siege and fierce combat against the fleet and army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the Knights were forced to surrender in 1523 and left Rhodes with military honours. The order remained without a territory of its own until 1530, when Grand Master Fra' Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle Adam took possession of the island of Malta, granted to the order by Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and his mother Queen Joanna of Castile as monarchs of Sicily, with the approval of Pope Clement VII, for which the order had to honour the conditions of the Tribute of the Maltese Falcon. The Reformation which split Western Europe into Protestant and Roman Catholic states affected the knights as well. In several countries, including England, Scotland and Sweden, the order was disestablished. In others, including the Netherlands and Germany, entire bailiwicks or commanderies (administrative divisions of the order) experienced religious conversions. The "Johanniter orders" claim to be the modern Protestant continuations of these converted divisions in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and other countries, including the United States and South Africa. It was established that the order should remain neutral in any war between Christian nations. From 1651 to 1665, the Order of Saint John ruled four islands in the Caribbean. 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 1665 the four islands were sold to the French West India Company. In 1565 the Knights, led by Grand Master Fra' Jean de Vallette (after whom the capital of Malta, Valletta, was named), defended the island for more than three months during the Great Siege by the Turks. Two hundred years later, in 1798, the order surrendered the Maltese islands to the French First Republic. The knights were expelled from Malta. 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. However, this was not to be because objections to the treaty quickly grew in the UK. Bonaparte's rejection of a British offer involving a ten-year lease of Malta prompted the reactivation of the British blockade of the French coast; Britain declared war on France on 18 May. The 1802 treaty was never implemented. The UK gave its official reasons for resuming hostilities as France's imperialist policies in the West Indies, Italy and Switzerland. After having temporarily resided in Messina, Catania, and Ferrara, in 1834 the precursor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta settled definitively in Rome, where it owns, with extraterritorial status, the Magistral Palace in Via Condotti 68 and the Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill. The original hospitaller mission became the main activity of the order, growing ever stronger during the last century, most especially because of the contribution of the activities carried out by the Grand Priories and National Associations in so 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 (1962–88) and Fra’ Andrew Bertie (1988–2008), the projects expanded. Two bilateral treaties have been concluded with the Government of the Maltese State. The first treaty is dated 21 June 1991 and is now no longer in force. The second treaty was signed on 5 December 1998, but ratified on 1 November 2001. This agreement grants the Order the use with limited extraterritoriality of the upper portion of Fort St Angelo in the city of Birgu. Its stated purpose is "to give the Order the opportunity to be better enabled to carry out its humanitarian activities as Knights Hospitallers from Saint Angelo, as well as to better define the legal status of Saint Angelo subject to the sovereignty of Malta over it". The agreement has a duration of 99 years, but the document allows the Maltese Government to terminate it at any time after 50 years. Under the terms of the agreement, the flag of Malta is to be flown together with the flag of the Order in a prominent position over Saint Angelo. No asylum may be granted by the Order and generally the Maltese courts have full jurisdiction and Maltese law shall apply. The postal administration of the order, known as the Poste Magistrali, was instituted on 20 May 1966 under a Decree of the Grand Master of the order and the first stamps were issued on 15 November 1966. Until recently the stamps were denominated in the currency of the order which was Scudi, Grani and Tari, which roughly equated to the currency of Malta before it joined the Eurozone; 1 scudo = 12 tari = 240 grani = 12 Maltese cents. Since 1 January 2005 the stamps have been denominated in euros. The stamps are inscribed Poste Magistrali and bear one or more small Maltese Crosses. Early issues were printed by De La Rue, but today a variety of Maltese and Italian printers are used. As well as postage stamps, the Order has produced aerogrammes, maximum cards, first day covers, miniature sheets, postage due stamps and postcards with imprinted stamps. The stamps are issued for both postal and charitable reasons. Despite over 50 bi-lateral postal agreements the stamps are usually classed as cinderella stamps as they do not have postal validity throughout the world. Most postal agreements are with countries in which the order does charitable work. The SMOM is not a member of the Universal Postal Union. Currency : until 2002 : 1 scudo = 12 tari = 240 grani . after 2002: €.
