Hospitallers

I was doing something or other and it struck me, with a kind of fascination, that there is a fair chance that the Hospitallers will reach their 1000-year mark in my lifetime -- an excellent chance, actually, if I'm not taken out by accident or serious disease. The usual date for the birth of the Hospitallers is 1048; there's some uncertainty about that, but it would be about that time that the Blessed Gerard founded the monastic community that began running a hospital for pilgrims. This was solidified into a formal religious order in 1113; after which the Order began to take on its military duties -- i.e., protection of the sick, of pilgrims, and of the Crusader territories. In 1530, the Hospital was granted the island of Malta, whence they take their modern name, the Knights of Malta. (The full name of the Order is the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. That's a name!) Unlike the Templars, the other famous military order, they were never dissolved. They no longer control Malta, having been driven off by Napoleon, but they still exist, and in the past century have begun massively expanding their original Hospitaller mission. According to the Order's website,

The Order relies on the involvement of its 12,500 members, as well as approximately 80,000 trained volunteers and 15,000 employees, the majority of whom are medical personnel. The Order's organisations worldwide (Grand Priories, National Associations, relief organisations and foundations) are responsible for carrying out its activities, both in its the permanent institutions - such as hospitals, outpatient medical centres and old peoples' homes - and with its socio-medical and humanitarian programmes.

It runs a number of hospitals in Germany, France, England, and Italy, including one in Rome that specializes in neurology; it also has 11 medical centers in Lebanon, leprosy hospitals in Senegal and Cambodia, and the only hospital in northern Haiti. It has a maternity hospital in Bethlehem (the Bethlehem), which has delivered more than 40,000 babies. Its relief service, Malteser International, operates throughout the world. (One of the advantages the Order of Malta has over most other humanitarian agencies is that it is a distinct diplomatic and international entity. It has its own government, issues its own internationally recognized stamps and coins, and is a Permanent Observer in the United Nations; it operates a diplomatic corps and has official diplomatic relations with over half the nations of the world. In this day and age it is also rigorously neutral. The combination of the two means that the Order can often operate its relief services where where others would have difficulty doing so.) And all of this only scratches the surface.

Those who want to do so can support Malteser International through its online donation page.