2013 Australian Hospitaller - Web Edition

HOSPITALLER 2013 Australian

900

The Annual Review of the Australian Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Pie Postulatio Voluntatis

YEARS OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

LOURDES HOME & AWAY

A Short History of Blessed Gerard

REVIEW OF THE MELBOURNE

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Welcome

W

e hope you enjoy this special, commemorative edition of the Australian Hospitaller celebrating the 900th anniversary of papal recognistion of our Order.

It was on 15 February, 1113, that Pope Paschal II issued the Bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, by which he placed the newly created “hospitaller fraternity” of Jerusalem under the protection of the Church and gave it sovereign status, constituting it as an Order in church law, with the faculty freely to elect its superiors without interference from other lay or religious authorities.

In his address on the 10th of February before approximately 4,500 Knights and Dames of Malta who had gathered together in St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI praised the Order for its nine centuries’ history of faithfulness to the Church.

“Continue to walk along this path,” he said, “bearing concrete witness to the transforming power of faith.” Since its founding, the Order of Malta has been dedicated to the care of the sick, to solidarity and to human promotion, all inspired by Christian commitment to living the Gospel.

The Pope called on the Knights and Dames of today and tomorrow to preserve and cultivate this qualifying characteristic and work with renewed apostolic ardour, maintaining an attitude of profound harmony with the Magisterium of the Church.

“Dear friends,” said Pope Benedict, “Continue working in society and in the world along the elevated paths indicated by the Gospel – faith and charity, for the renewal of hope.”

Throughout the following pages and reports, the work of the Australian Association continues the original mission and vision commenced over 900 years ago.

The Order

The Order of Malta’s arms display the eight-pointed Latin cross on a red oval field surrounded by a rosary and surmounted by the princely mantle and crown (as described in Article 6 of the Order’s Constitutional Charter).

It is the emblem of the Sovereign Order’s Grand Magistry and its Institutions: the Grand Priories, SubPriories, National Associations and Diplomatic Missions.

The Grand Master

A well researched article placing Pie postulatio voluntatis, in its historial context.

PAGE 28

The start of our special commemorative collection of news and articles celebrating the 900 years of the Order of Malta.

PAGE 23

News on our Lourdes activities in the 900th year of the Order.

PAGE 34

Report on this year’s successful National Assembly in Melbourne.

PAGE 36 A short biograph of our Order’s founder, Blessed Frà Gerard.

PAGE 32

The arms of Grand Master Frà Matthew Festing are quartered with those of the Order. At 1 and 4 gules (red) a cross argent; at 2 and 3 azure an eagle displayed erminois between three castles argent. The arms are surrounded by the Collar, symbol of the Grand Master, within a princely mantle and surmounted by a closed crown.

The Emblem The emblem is the symbol of the Order of Malta’s medical and humanitarian activities worldwide. It is a red shield with a white, eight-pointed cross (as described in Article 242 of the Order’s Code).

THE ARMS AND EMBLEMS OF THE ORDER 3

Contents 2013 FEATURES 24 The Order in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI addressed 4,500 members and volunteers who attended fthe 900th anniversary from all over the world.

26 Crusader Hospital Unearthed in Israel

Israeli archaeologists have restored a 2,000 bed Crusader-era hospital in the Old City of Jerusalem.

ANNUAL REPORTS 6 The President 9 The Subpriory 10 The National Hospitaller 13 15 17 17 18 19 20 22

Australian Capital Territory New South Wales New Zealand Queensland South Australia Thailand Victoria Western Australia

36 2013 Annual Assembly

28 900 Years of Faith in Action: 1113-2013 The Bull of Pascal II

Putting Pope Pascal II’s Bull, Pie postulatio voluntatis, in its historial context.

32 Blessed Gerard

A short biography of the founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

34 Australians on Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Fifty-four pilgrims joined the Australian contingent to the great Annual Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes this year.

2013 National Assembly Report

42 Books

Four exiciting books on the history and unique mission of the Order of Malta throughout different periods of the Order’s 900 years,

46 Historical Notes: Rhodes

The Australian Association gathered in Melbourne this year between 21-23 June for our biannual National Assembly.

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Cover Image: Grandmaster Pierre d’Aubusson tours the city of Rhodes, from the De obsidione urbis Rhodia.

National Executive T

his year saw the retirement of a number of long serving members of the National Executive Council of the Australian Association of the Order of Malta. Following the election held during the National Assembly, the Grand Magistracy has advised that the Sovereign Council has approved the appointment of new members of the National Executive Council. The following Knights and Dames were confirmed as elected: PRESIDENT Dr Ian Marshall AM EA KC*SG VICE PRESIDENTS Mr David Hall (NSW) The Hon Justice Martin Daubney (Queensland) The Hon Gregory Crafter AO (South Australia) Dr Damian Benson (Victoria) CHANCELLOR Mr Paul Hoy TREASURER Mr David Hall HOSPITALLER Dr Ian Leitch RFD MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Mrs Christine Pringle Mr Andrew Evans HE David Scarf AM Mr Sean Farrell Mr James Varghese AM Mr Robert Kirby Mr Peter Little Mr Frank Zipfinger Prof Gabrielle McMullen AM

Vale 2013 T

o you, O God, the dead do not die, and in death life is changed, not ended. Hear our prayers and command the souls of your servant Knights and Dames of the Order of St John of Jeruslamen of Rhodes and of Malta to dwell with all the saints, and be raised at last on the great day of judgment.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and ket perpetual light shine upon them, may they rest in peace. Amen We remember:

Dr John Gallagher OAM, KCSG Knight of Magistral Grace Mr James Sutherland Knight of Magistral Grace

Dame Monica Gallagher DBE, DCSG, CEP Dame of Magistral Grace

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MESSAGE FROM THE

PRESIDENT

Tony Macken AM

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he members of the Order of Malta throughout the world are organised into some 50 National Associations.

The Australian Association has been allocated particular responsibility to assist groups of Members in Australasia into progressing from Sub-Organisations to Delegations to Associations, with each stage required to demonstrate viability of numbers and works.

The historic meeting in Korea of 19 aspirants to membership held on 19 January 2013 was described as “a huge success” by Confrere Matthew D. Lee, who with Dr James Kim acted as Convenor and Facilitator, with materials supplied by the Australian Association.

His Grace the Archbishop of Seoul Most Rev Andrew Yeom Soo-

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Juug, who had given his permission for the meeting to be held, celebrated the Mass which opened the meeting which was concelebrated by Rev Father Johan Pahk SSD, President of the Catholic University of Korea.

While in the very early stages of development in Korea, the Australian Association will initially be responsible for liaison with the Grand Magistry for the Korean grouping and for submission of proposals for an appropriate structure.

Ambrose Galvin KM

On 25 January 2013 Confrere Ambrose Galvin, Knight Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience, celebrated being a member of the Order of Malta for 40 years.

He was admitted as a Knight of Honour and Devotion by the then Grand Master in Rome on

25 January 1973. Ambrose is the brother of the late Sir John Galvin, sometime Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta.

Confrere Ambrose’s admission, with the earlier admission of Confrere Dr Ernest Kirby AM (RIP), preceded by two years but represented the first step towards the eventual creation of an Australian Association of the Order of Malta by decree of the Grand Magistry on 28 September 1974.

900th Anniversary

Twenty members of the Australian Association were present for the historic events held in Rome between 6-9 February 2013 to celebrate the 900 Year Anniversary of the recognition of the Order of Malta through the Papal Bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI delivered

an address on 9 February 2013 in the presence of 4,500 Knights, Dames, Volunteers and Helpers.

The address of His Holiness was delivered with vigour and emphasis and without faltering despite the obvious physical disability of this faithful servant of the Church who was to announce his resignation on the grounds of ill-health two days later.

The Anniversary was also commemorated by members in Australia. On Friday 15 February 2013 the Chief Chaplain Most Rev Philip Wilson presided at a concelebrated Mass at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide with Msgr. Robert Aitken (Adelaide), Rev Fathers Morgan Batt (Qld) and Peter L’Estrange SJ AO (NSW).

Members attending from interstate included the President of the

Australian Association HE Tony Macken AM, Daniel and Loretta Higgins (Queensland), Dr Frances Booth AM (Northern Territory), Alastair Furnival (NSW), HE Sir James Gobbo AC CVO KSG and Lady Gobbo and FrĂĄ Richard Divall AO OBE (Victoria).

Lourdes Pilgrimage

The Australian component of the Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes in May 2013 was not only the largest to date held but was also a multinational event unique even in the world wide Order of Malta.

The Australian party included pilgrims from Hong Kong/China, Thailand, three from South Africa, our first member from Timor Leste, members from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia, members resident in the United Kingdom and Rome and many enthusiastic family and friends of the Delegates.

Warm thanks to Rev Father Anthony Robbie, Magistral Chaplain of the Order who celebrated the Opening Mass of the Pilgrimage in the Upper Basilica on the evening of arrival.

The Pilgrims of 2013 were most grateful to our Hospitaller and Pilgrimage Leader Confrere Dr Ian Marshall AM KCSG, ably assisted by Mrs Judith Marshall, whose planning friendliness and good fellowship made the 2013 Lourdes Pilgrimage a delight for all participants.

Biennial National Assembly

The Biennial National Assembly is one of the

HONOURS AND AWARDS

The following honours were awarded by the Grand Magistry in 2013: Knight Grand Cross of Magistral Grace in Obedience

Confrere Dr Ian Marshall AM AE KC*SG, for services as Hospitaller of the Australian Association.

Knight Grand Cross of Magistral Grace Confrere Brian Wilson, for services as Chancellor of the Australian Association for 10 years.

Grand Officer pro Merito Melitensi

HE David Scarf AM, for services as Ambassador to the Republic of Timor Leste;

most important events in the Order’s programme drawing all our Members together in prayer, reporting, planning for the future and giving witness to the investiture of our new Knights, Dames and Donats.

The successful 2013 General Assembly of the Australian Association, hosted by Victoria in Melbourne on June 21-23 June 2013 and reported elsewhere, saw the Investiture of 45 new Members (31 KMG, 10 DMG and 4 Donats) drawn from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, New Zealand and Timor Leste, in the presence of over 150 delegates and their families and friends.

Warm appreciation to Sir James Gobbo, Vice

HE Michael Mann, for services as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand; Confrere Paul Grew OAM, for services as Treasurer of the Australian Association for 15 years.

Silver Medal pro Merito Melitensi Consoeur Dr Jennifer Dunlop, for her personal contribution to the organisation of the visit of the Grand Master to the Australian Capital Territory.

Commander pro Merito Melitensi Confrere David Hall, Vice-President and NSW Branch Chair for his outstanding contribution to the success of the visit of the Grand Master to Australia in May 2012 and his contribution to the success of the Third Asia Pacific Regional Conference.

President Victoria, and the Organising Committee, in particular Confrere Fergus Ryan AO. The new admissions took the numbers associated with the Australian Association to 339, many with distinguished prior records of service to the Poor and Sick and to the Catholic Faith.

New President

On October 9-10 2013 Sovereign Council approved the election of incoming members of Executive Council, including the new President of the Australian Association, HE Dr Ian Marshall KC*SG, Knight Grand Cross in Obedience, who was elected unopposed to that high office.

Confrere Ian had

already given almost unparalleled service to the Australian Association as Vice-President Queensland for 15 years and then as National Hospitaller and Leader of the largest multinational Lourdes Pilgrimages in our history, strongly supported by members in Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong/ China, South Africa and Timor Leste.

Thanks to Outgoing Officers

The retirement of many of those in office on Executive Council in 2013 and the services they rendered together with continuing office bearers deserve the thanks of all Members and on behalf of all I gratefully record the appreciation of the Australian Association for their work in 2013.

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REPORT OF THE

Image: Caoursin presenting his work to GrandMaster d’Aubusson

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his Australian Sub-Priory of the Immaculate Conception formed in 2008 is one of only six Sub-Priories of the Order of Malta in the world. The other Sub-Priories are in Germany, Ireland, Spain, San Francisco and New York.

The main event of the Sub-Priory during 2013 was the Annual Retreat which took place in February 2013 under the leadership of our Principal Chaplain Rev Professor Gerald O’Collins SJ, AC. The Principal Chaplain of the SubPriory, Rev Professor Gerald O’Collins S.J. gave particular attention to the Commentary on Membership in preparations for the Annual Retreat of the Sub-Priory in February-March 2013.

This Retreat followed the customary practice in Victoria of inviting all members and their families to participate in the third day of the Retreat, which took place at the Carmelite Monastery.

During 2013 the Members of the SubPriory again benefited from a steady stream of Reflections and papers prepared by our Principal Chaplain. I set out the most recent of these felicitous messages which Father Gerald provided for us for

Advent 2013.

“Advent has started on Sunday 1 December.

On 9 December we will celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which recalls how, through a unique privilege and in view of her Son’s merits, Mary was free from all sin, even original sin, from her very conception. Long before he was born, Jesus was always present in the story of his all-holy mother, Mary.

An anonymous medieval poem, ‘I sing of a maiden’, in a courtly and charming manner honours Mary, and does so precisely because of her Son. The opening verse declares: ‘I sing of a maiden that is makeless [= matchless], king of all kings to her Son she ches [= chose]’. The poem describes Christ being conceived as silently as the dew falling on the grass in April, and ends: ‘Mother and maiden was never none but she; well may such a lady Godes mother be.

During Advent members of the Order may hear this beautiful poem sung in church services. Or they may google it and quietly pray over it for themselves.

Either way, it can speak to them of that ‘matchless’ and sinless lady, the Mother of Jesus. Her Son is the divine King of kings.

Her unique beauty has

The Hon Sir James Gobbo AC CVO always won the hearts of Christians.”

Colonel Anthony Heath joined the ranks of the Members in Obedience when he took his Promise of Obedience during the Mass of Recollection in the Chapel of the Carmelite Monastery on 10th November 2013.

Professor David Kissane’s application

Members of the Sub-Priory

SUB-PRIORY

to make his Promise of Obedience was approved by the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council on the 9th October 2013.

He will make his Promise during the Retreat of the Sub-Priory on Saturday 1st March 2014.

Regent

Sir James Gobbo AC CVO

Vice-Regent

Frà Prof Richard Divall AO OBE

Chaplain

Rev Prof Gerald O’Collins

Knights and Dames in Obedience

Dr Damian Benson Dr George Boffa OAM Adrian Borg-Cardona Kevin Croagh AO James Thomas Dominguez AM CBE KCSG Dr Jennifer Dunlop Ralph Gordon Edwards Prof Mary Galea Leonie Gallagher Ambrose Galvin Simon Grenfell Paul Francis Grew OAM Col Anthony Heath Anthony Macken AM Dr Ian Marshall AM KC*SG Lady Murray Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini

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REPORT OF THE NATIONAL

HOSPITALLER A

s always, thanks are due to all the members who have supported the many and diverse activities of the Australian Association of the Order of Malta.

Our activiies are essentially driven by the members themselves, sometimes as individuals, sometimes in small groups, but most often through the projects of the various Australian States and Territories.

The branch and regional reports will record there various local activities. It goes without saying that without the tireless support, constant

drive and enthusiasm of the Branch Chairmen and Regional Co-ordinators. the Order simply could not function in a country as large as Australia, let alone engage in activities in our close Asia Pacific Region I acknowledge and thank them for their dedicated support.

Coats for the Homeless

The major national project of the Order is the provision of warm coats to the homeless in winter.

Several years ago the homeless themselves were consulted to see what they wanted. The result was

Dr Ian Marshall

a warm, quilted, hooded, shower resistant, black, inconspicuous garment that was functional and portable.

In 2013, some 2500 coats were distributed in five States and New Zealand, to the cold and needy.

The project offers donors, members and general public alike, the opportunity to participate in the personal distribution of the cots; as much or as little as they choose.

I have to publically acknowledge the efforts of our Fundraising Office for reaching out beyond our own members to the wider public, not only to lighten the financial burden on our own members, but also to increase the awareness of the Order in the wider community.

The areas of distribution are now moving well outside our original metropolitan boundaries.

Most pleasing of all is the request to continue the project from year to year from our past distributors.

Disaster Relief: Philippines

Once again, members (and nonmembers) responded with extraordinary generosity to the appeal for financial support to our fellow members delivering humanitarian relief in the

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Philippines, following the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan.

One month after the start of its relief efforts in the Philippines, Malteser International was able to deliver aid to thousands of survivors on the islands of Samar and Bantayan.

In the first four weeks, the Philippine Association of the Order of Malta and Malteser International provided affected families with 4,000 packages of food, household items and hygiene kits.

On Samar, the organization distributed 800 tarpaulins for emergency shelters. Ten large-capacity tents were set up on both islands to house emergency health care and psychosocial support units.

Just as importantly, following the emergency relief, which included the distribution of food, medical care and drinking water supply, long-term recovery efforts and planning against future disaster were started.

The Australian funds will certainly make a significant contribution to the Order’s efforts.

Medicine for Timor

This is a project of long standing organized by our South Australian Confreres, firstly Confreres Bob Britten-Jones and Greg

Crafter and more recently

by Confreres Dr Ian Leitch RFD, our new Hospitaller and Alick Haddad (and his son) who for many years have supplied medications to several missions conducted by the Spanish Carmelites (Hermilites Carmelites), Sisters of Charity, Canossians, Salesians and Mary Knoll Sisters.

This project has been considerably strengthened by the willing cooperation of our members in the Northern Territory and our member in Tmor Leste providing storage facilities and freight in both Darwin and Dili with the indispensable help of the Order’s Embassy in Timor Leste and its Ambassador, HE Confrere David Scarf AM and staff.

Hands-On Projects

One of the highlights of the June General Assembly was the eagerness and enthusiasm expressed by the majority of members for the need for more hands on projects and the willingness and desire of the members to participate.

Of the various themes that emerged from the Assembly two are preeminently involved with our core business of obsequium pauperum.

1. Development of a national project: whilst we have many admirable local projects we have really only one truly national project, the Coats for the Homeless project but this is seasonal

- limited to distribution during the winter months, and the involvement of the membership is very variable.

The Assembly clearly articulated the need for a national project which could be delivered locally but has global implications.

It seems logical any expanded national project would also involve the homeless.

the Grand Master and the other high charges.

I sincerely thank the very many who have been so helpful and supportive during my tenure as Hospitaller of the Australian Association and wish my successor, Confrere Dr Ian Leitch RFD a successful and equally satisfying role as Hospitaller.

2. Youth engagement: facilitation of volunteering, including longer term international projects.

Expanding our involvement with the Catholic youth of Australia is not really optional – it is the declared priority and a clear directive of the Grand Magistry, articulated publicly and privately by

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Australian Association Branch & Delegation Reports

REPORT

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Dr Jennifer Dunlop

T

he strong, viable and sustainable group of confreres and consoeurs in the Australian Capital Territory is active in our nation’s capital to stand witness to the 900 year old work of our Order in aiding our Lords the Sick and the Poor.

Each member is committed to maintain an active and visible presence at our many SMOM gatherings in the ACT as well as participating in some interstate SMOM events, such as the recent National Assembly in Melbourne and annual retreats for those in the Sub-Priory and Days of Recollection in Victoria.

We record our gratitude to the Victorian Branch for the loan of vestments for the use of our newly resident Magistral Chaplain, Fr Peter L’Estrange S.J., and for tabards to assist our visibility when distributing Coats for the Homeless in Canberra.

To enable the purchase of Coats to distribute to the homeless of Canberra we

held a Charity Film fund raising event in May 2013 and another is planned for May 2014.

Every Friday night local confreres and consoeurs, together with our postulant and university student volunteers, went out into the cold, dark winter nights giving out Coats for the Homeless. Some of this activity was in conjunction with the St Vincent de Paul Night Patrol, and some was directly to those at St Columba’s Safe Shelter Braddon, St. John’s Care Reid, Karinya House for Mothers and Babies, the Early Morning Centre Civic, St Paul’s Manuka, St Benedict’s Queanbeyan, and through St Vincent de Paul’s in the nearby rural town of Cooma.

We also maintained a presence at the Canberra Connect day when local NGO’s came together to demonstrate their practical support for the Homeless of the Canberra Region.

In the neighbouring town of Queanbeyan, Fr Peter Day has established a residential home for

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people who need support to live independently, despite their intellectual disabilities. This is a safe and sheltered environment where loving care is given to those who would otherwise be homeless or institutionalised. This year we raised money through fundraising to donate to Home in Queanbeyan to purchase equipment for the upkeep of their outdoor environment.

The confreres and consoeurs in the ACT have solidly supported our monthly First Friday Masses that are celebrated at the monastery of the local Carmelite Sisters or at Xavier House, the Jesuit residence in Canberra.

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We are grateful for the assistance of our local Magistral Chaplain, Fr Peter L’Estrange S.J.; Monsignor John Woods, Administrator of the Archdiocese; and the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

We are strengthened by the interest and support the Nuncio has shown to the Order of Malta here in the National Capital.

Each year we have a local Day of Recollection in the Carmelite Monastery, and members also attend similar spiritually nourishing gatherings in Victoria, as well as making and directing private retreats.

Local members also support the Cathedral

choir’s Sung Vespers with a visible presence and choral participation.

Members are active in volunteer work with the local Hospice , hospital chaplaincy programmes, acolyte duties, foster care, Ministers of the Eucharist and first aid services.

We are also invited to accompany the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre at its national gathering and Cathedral procession for Palm Sunday Mass. We reciprocate this honour by inviting these fellow Knights and Dames, Papal Knights, and diplomats to join us for our Patronal Feast of the Birth of St John in the

Cathedral, thereby making our gathering a truly international event.

The Confreres and Consoeurs in the ACT are grateful for the support shown by all those in other states who have a evinced a keen interest in seeing us grow from strength to strength as we live the ideals of the Order of Malta in helping Our Lords the Poor and the Sick.

We are a cohesive group of active confreres and consoeurs and each member earns respect for their dedication to the work of the Order of Malta in Australia.

New South Wales David Hall

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013 was an active and successful year for the NSW Branch.

Defence of the Faith The Defence of the Faith Working Group, lead

by Confrere Peter van de Velde, has been actively meeting and progressing various aspects including the Adult Education Program; following our meeting with HE George Cardinal Pell and his private secretary Confrere Michael Casey to discuss the NSW Branch pursuing the challenge issued by His Eminence in his Homily at the Sydney Assembly. His Eminence is the Patron of our Lecture Series.

The first lecture “The Three Theological Virtues: Why do faith, hope and love matter in the 21st Century” delivered by Consoeur Prof. Tracey Rowland was held on 27th August, 2013 at the University of Notre Dame with more than 90 nonmember attendees.

The second lecture delivered by Anna Krohn was successfully held at St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt

REPORT on 27th November, 2013 with the subject being “The Hour of Woman is Approaching....Is the Church Ahead or Behind that Moment?”

We extend our appreciation and gratitude to our lecturers.

Regulations & Commentary The Membership in the Order of Malta REGULATIONS and COMMENTARY, Rome 2011 were issued at the Sydney 2011 Assembly and their adoption was addressed during the Grand Masters visit, the subsequent Visitation Report and by the Grand Master’s December 2012 letter. Since the 2011 Assembly the NSW Branch Executive Committee have implemented these Regulations, which has, inter alia, resulted in the

procedures followed for the admission to the Order of members, and their commitment, to be significantly changed and new Guidelines adopted.

Included amongst the changes is the excellent booklet “Drinking from the Waters of Faith” designed to assist postulants in their Preparatory Year.

Gorman House The Gorman House St Vincent’s Hospital/ NSW Branch Partnership is progressing well in its excellent independent premises within the St Vincent’s O’Brien Building.

As at 31st December, 2013 the total Branch fundraising donations to Gorman house over the past 6 years reached $1.13 million. The NSW Branch financial and volunteer commitments (managed by our generous friend Mr

Roger McGrath) enable this critical residential drug and alcohol detoxification centre to continue a 7 day-a-week facility. Our members and volunteers conduct barbecues for residents 3 times a week and attend their Christmas lunch with appropriate presents for all residents.

During 2013 the NSW Branch initiated a library of non returnable books for Gorman House residents with books provided by Branch members. This initiative has been an outstanding success with residents.

St Joseph’s Hospital Palliative Care Unit The NSW Branch ongoing relationship with this important Western Suburbs non denominational Palliative Care Unit continues with the Branch working on

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projects to improve the facilities and operations of this Unit.

Lourdes Day Mass Bishop Comonsoli, celebrated, at St Mary’s Cathedral, an excellent Mass and blessing of good health on 7th December, 2013. The Mass was well attended by members, postulants, candidates, YOOM, the sick, members of the Venerable Order of St. John and the general

public. The contribution of the YOOM members, as volunteers was again appreciated.

All malades were offered and received a personal blessing, ministered by each of the celebrants, and were presented with Lourdes Water kindly bottled by our volunteers.

We thank Bishop Comonsoli, the Concelebrants and all at St Mary’s Cathedral for

making this Mass such a memorable occasion. We also thank His Eminence George Cardinal Pell AC whose late call to Rome prevented him being the Principal Celebrant Award for Excllence in Palliative Care The University of Notre Dame, Australia, award sponsored by the NSW Branch, to reward a student in the School of Nursing, Sydney who has demonstrated outstanding knowledge and interest in the area of Palliative Care was awarded to the author of an excellent Palliative Care paper.

YOOM Mentoring NSW Branch members volunteered as mentors to a Young Order of Malta Mentoring evening being for careers in Business, Law and Medicine. The evening was well attended by the young and branch members attending as mentors.

Deceased Members Deceased members and their families are always in the prayers and memories of members.

During the year a bronze plaque in honour and memory of NSW Branch deceased members was blessed and installed in the Sacred Heart Hospice Chapel that is also the Chapel of NSW Branch members.

Spiritual Activities Established Branch spiritual activities continued as monthly First Friday

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Choral Vigils at St Mary’s Cathedral, Holy Mass before each of our quarterly Branch members meetings, Holy Mass on the Feast Days of both of our Order’s Patrons, Holy Mass in Memory of Deceased Members and their families and the Lourdes Day Mass.

The NSW Branch Day of Reflection was excellently led and inspired

by Fr David Ranson and attended by more than 30 members and guests.

General Other Branch activities during 2013 also included: - Clothing the homeless of Sydney and a wider NSW geographic area with 1000 specially designed and manufactured allweather coats for sleeping rough; - Assisting the executives of the Young Order of Malta who we thank for their support of our Branch activities; - Advancing our Admissions Programme to enhance Branch membership.

The success of 2013 is attributable to the significant contributions of the NSW Branch Chaplains, Members (including NSW provincial and country cities and towns and especially our Confreres in the ACT), Postulants, YOOM, Volunteers, Friends and all with whom our Branch has worked to advance the Missions of our Order.

REPORT

New Zealand Peter Wood

W

e are now two years in to the Order’s International ‘Coats for the Homeless’ project and the Delegation in New Zealand has fully embraced the opportunities it provides our Members to live out our mission to Our Lords the Sick and the Poor in Wellington.

We raised sufficient funds in just four weeks to purchase fifty coats

and supplied these to the Suzanne Aubert Compassion Centre.

The Compassion Centre is operated by the Sisters of Compassion who work with vulnerable people on the margins. The Sisters have said the coats have provided comfort for not just people sleeping rough, but many of the men living in the Night Shelter dormitory have benefitted also, considering

they are on the streets from 7.30 am until 5 pm.

Similar to our committmemt last year, the Delegation continues to support the Sisters of Compassion soup kitchen by sponsoring and serving meals during major feast days.

Members and aspirants were again invited to attended the annual World Day of the Sick Pilgrimage to the Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes which overlooks

Paraparaumu, a coastal town one hour’s drive north-west of Wellington.

Members assisted pilgrims climb to the summit and down again and as in previous years found the day spiritually most beneficial.

Every member continues with their personal development of spirituality and care of the sick and the poor.

Queensland The Hon Justice Martin Daubney

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013 was a fulfilling and particularly busy and year for the members of the Queensland Branch, Coats for the Homeless Program The Queensland Branch has again provided the national administration of the Coats for the Homeless Project in 2013, with Confrere Derek Pingel and Confrere Judge Michael Rackemann ensured that the distribution and deliveries to our other branches was expedited smoothly and efficiently.

The Branch held our second Coats for the Homeless Breakfast, now an annual event in the

Queensland Branch’s calender.

The 2013 Breakfast was a very successful function held at the Brisbane Club with 150 in attendance – this was a “sell-out” event.

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Rt Hon Graham Quirk, was special guest and speaker.

Importantly, the Lord Mayor indorsed the practical value of the Coats for the Homeless program.

The Queensland Master Builders Association were again very generous and presented the Queensland Branch with a donation to continue their support for program throughout this year.

In addition, further

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South Australia

The Hon Gregory Crafter AO

O

finaincal support was was raised from donations by attendees.

All in all, a very successful function, which attracted very favourable and prominent coverage in The Catholic Leader.

Lourdes Healing Mass This year’s Lourdes Healing Mass, held on the first Saturday in May to coincide specifically with the Order’s Annual Pilgrimage to Lourdes, attracted more than 400 attendees to St Pachal’s Church.

The Mass, celebrated

by Magistral Chaplain Fr Ken Howell, with numerous concelebrants (including Fr Bill McCarthy, who is himself confined to a wheelchair) was followed by morning tea generously provided by the Parish.

We are indebited to Rev Fr Gerard McMorrow for his generous support through his parish, St Paschal’s.

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Other activities The Queensland Branch in 2013 has continued its sponsorship, as it has for many years, of the Order of Malta Prize awarded in the ACU School of Nursing for Palliative Care studies.

These activities are in addition to our committments to supporting relief and medical care activities in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, as well as our financial support of local and regional seminaries and the Australian Military Vicariate.

The Branch is grateful to His Grace Archbishop Coleridge for his support of the works of our Branch, and our Magistral Chaplains, Very Rev Ken Howell and Rev Fr Morgan Batt, for their devoted ministry to our Branch and their spiritual and practical assistance for the work of the Order.

n the weekend of 15-17th November 2013 ten members of the Order attended the annual retreat at the Jesuit Retreat House La Storta at Sevenhill in the beautiful Clare Valley.

We were delighted that the Chancellor Paul Hoy could join us. This is the second occasion that Paul has travelled to Adelaide for the retreat.

On Sunday 10th November 20, 2013 a fundraiser was held to assist the Mercy Sisters garden at the old Adelaide Gaol and the support of the pharmaceutical program and the four medical clinics conducted by religious congregations in Timor Leste. Some 520 people attended to see the movie “The Butler”.

The Lourdes Day Mass was be celebrated at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on Monday 11th February.

Members of the Order attended robed and

assisted those seeking care and also participated in the liturgy.

A committee has been formed and met to begin the planning process for the 2015 National Assembly of the Order.

A group of the younger members of the Order have for many years as rostered volunteers have assisted in providing the evening meal to homeless people through Fred’s Van a work of the St Vincent de Paul Society.

The success of our winter luncheon enabled us to increase the purchase of coats for the homeless this year. The coats were distributed through three charities providing care for the homeless.

The SA Branch has provided support for the religion in the pub program which attracts young people to discuss topics of interest in a religious context.

Thailand Adrian Borg Cardona

O

n the 27th February the 8+2 group members of the Order of Malta in Thailand, celebrated their first mass of the new year at St. Louis Church, Sathorn Road. This was followed by a meeting and a special dinner to welcome H.E. Bishop Paul Tschang InNam the new Apostolic Nuncio to Bangkok.

H.E. Dr. Michael Mann Ambassador to the Order in Thailand welcomes the Nuncio at the dinner and introduced him to the members.

The evening also welcome Fr. Pairat Sriprasert representing Bishop Pibul who received 50 emergency bags donated by members of the Order to be used by doctors and nurses in remote regions of Thailand.

Proverty Avoidance Project On 17th and 18th of April at the Head Office of the Thailand Red Cross, Bangkok the members Order of Malta organized under the umbrella of Poverty Avoidance Project a two day First Aid seminar where 90 participants were taught first aid by professional instructors. Each participant received a First Aid Certificate at the conclusion of the two day course after passing their oral and written exams.

Lourdes Pilgrimage In the Spirit of Lourdes the members of the Order in Thailand joined the Australian and other Associations from all over

8+2

Group

the world to visit Lourdes from the 3rd to the 6th of May. The week end of spiritual guidance and participation in helping the maladies during their stay in Lourdes made this event the highlight of the year.

Austrian Dinner On Thursday 23rd May, the members of the Order of Malta in Thailand hosted a dinner to honor the Austrian Ambassador to Thailand Mr. Johannas Peterlik who was awarded the Cross of Grand Officer pro Merito Melitensi.

H.E. Dr. Michael Mann presented the award on

REPORT behalf of HMEH The Prince and Grand Master and the Sovereign Council.

First Aid Courses During the year several First Aid Courses were organized by the members of the Order to educate members of the public the importance of First Aid. This program will continue next year with the first seminar for the year taking place in January 2014.

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines early November 2013 leaving behind over 10,000 dead, hundreds of thousands homeless with infrastructure of the towns and villages reduced to rubble.

The Thai members of the Order offered assistance and prayers to the Philippine Association of The Order of Malta.

The members also donated funds and were represented by Khun Prachuab who presented the cheque for 140,000 baht (approx AUS$5,000) to the President of the Philippine Association of the Order of Malta, Confrere Ernest Rufino and to the Hon. Treasurer Consoeur Delza Lazatin.

CIOMAL The year concluded with members of the Order of Malta welcoming the Secretary General of CIOMAL a world leader in leprosy treatment and rehabilitation at the Chatrium Hotel on Sunday 15th December.

Ms Chrystel Dayer explained the role of CIOMAL in Cambodia and also her recent visit to a remote village in Rompibul, Nakorn SrithammaratThailand.

Although there are no cases of leprosy recorded in Thailand, some Cambodian suffers have moved in the area.

Ms Dayer also explain the stigma the children of the suffers carry with them, as they usually not accepted into public schools nor in the community.

The members of the Order will continue to study and explore the possibility of helping the leprosy suffers in the region.

2013 has been an eventful year and we now look forward to the next year were we will continue to serve the sick and poor like our forebears have done for over 900 years.

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Victoria

The Hon Sir James Gobbo AC CVO

I

n this our 900th Anniversary of the recognition of our Order, it is appropriate to revisit the sober words of our Founder Blessed Frà Gerard: “Our Brotherhood will be an everlasting one, for the soil in which it is rooted is the misery of the world, and God willing, there will always be people who seek to reduce this misery and make distress easier to bear.”

What then has the Victorian Branch of that great Brotherhood done in 2013 to reduce misery in our part of the world and to make distress easier to bear?

Between April and September 2013, the Order of Malta in Victoria, through its Members and its Volunteers, directly and personally gave nearly

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400 coats to homeless individuals in Melbourne CBD and its outer suburbs.

The emphasis is put on ‘personally’ because this involves actually travelling with soup vans or otherwise meeting the homeless. I say nearly 400 coats because we began 2013 with a stock of 100 coats and purchased a further 300 coats. We have now less than 20 coats in stock.

Each week members, including one of our chaplains and some 40 volunteers participated.

Our volunteers were drawn mainly from Newman College but each Monday night there was a group of law students from the Australian Catholic University (ACU). There was also a group from Mannix College which attended the Cornerstone

Centre at Dandenong.

We have always followed the practice of having our volunteers accompanied by a Member of the Order experienced in the campaign.

Palliative Care The Order, through its legal vehicle, Order of Malta Hospice Home Care (VIC) Inc. is one of the three partners in Eastern Palliative Care (EPC). EPC is one of the largest Home Palliative Care providers in Australia.

It serves the Eastern Corridor of Melbourne. Its catchment area contains 1.2. million people. It currently provides home care services to some 600 terminally ill persons.

Confrere Damian Benson is Chairman of the Board.

It operates out of two

Campuses, namely Caritas Christi Hospice, Kew and at Mitcham.

The core of EPC is the original Service – formed in 1991 – which was a partnership of the Order of Malta in Victoria and Caritas Christi, conducted by the Sisters of Charity. The Order has a Boardroom and Offices at Caritas in Kew, alongside the E.P.C Campus.

Members are active in the governance of EPC and some 20 Members and spouses are trained Volunteers in EPC’s work. Because of this participation, the Order of Malta was the most active of the three partners in EPC’s important work.

Lourdes Masses This year 2013 ended with a stirring success, namely the Annual Lourdes

REPORT Mass for the Sick and Infirm at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

Once again Australia’s largest Cathedral was filled as the Principal Celebrant Archbishop Denis Hart blessed the large Congregation of over 2,000 with Holy Water brought from the famous Grotto at Lourdes.

His Grace moved along the aisles blessing the Sick and Infirm and the Poor with copious quantities of Lourdes Water. Our Order’s Chaplains namely Msgr. Terry Curtin and Dr. Brian Boyle con-celebrated the Mass.

We again arranged Lourdes Day Masses at a number of Catholic Nursing Homes during the year, bringing Lourdes to the sick, usually on weekdays.

There were fewer such Masses in 2013 because of the heavy commitments in the organisation of the National Assembly in Melbourne but there will be a considerable growth in these Masses in 2014.

Spiritual Activities The first of our major Spiritual Activities was our Annual Retreat on Saturday 1 February 2013 at the Carmelite Monastery in Kew. We were led in this Retreat by the Principal Chaplain of the Sub-Priory, Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ. The second major spiritual occasion for the Order was the Philerme Mass at Newman College Chapel where Victorian Members and their families were again joined b y leaders and members of the Maltese Community in Melbourne.

The third was the Mass for the Deceased Members of the Order and their families on Sunday

10 November, again celebrated by Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ. Support Activities Another successful Film Premiere supported by members and friends resulted in funds being raised for EPC snd support for charitable works in Timor Leste.

This year the Order in Victoria was able to secure another magnificent image for its Christmas Cards, always an image of Our Lady, the infant Jesus and his cousin, our Patron Saint John the Baptist.

Thanks The National Biennial Assembly took place in Melbourne on 21-23 June 2013. It is the subject of a separate report in this Journal. Particular thanks are due to Confrere Fergus Ryan AO the Chairman of the Organising Committee.

It was a resounding success. One very pleasing feature was the fact that a record number of new Victorians were invested as Members.

I also thank Confrere Scott Samson and his wife Alisia for the outstanding design and presentation of the Hospitaller Review of 2012. It has drawn much favourable comment including from the Order’s Librarian in Rome where the Australian Hospitaller stands out amongst other Annual Reviews of the Order.

I thank too our Chaplains Msgr. Terry Curtin, Fr. Gerald O’Collins SJ, AC and Fr. Brian Boyle and I thank Mother Prioress and the Carmelite Sisters at Kew for their warm hospitality and prayerful support. Their friendship is a precious

inspiration to us all.

Finally, as my time as Vice President of the Order of Malta in Victoria has come to an end, I welcome Confrere Damian Benson to this office and congratulate him and wish him well.

I take this opportunity in my last report as Vice President and Chairman to thank my wife for the quite outstanding Christmas Cards she has arranged, always based on famous images of Our Lady with the two cousins, Jesus and John the Baptist, Patron Saint of the Order.

I also thank her for her artistic commitment in the editing design and publication of the Hospitaller Review between 1993 and 2012.

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Western Australia Dr Michael Shanahan

W

e have had a busy period over the year for our small band of dedicated Members of the Order here in Western Australia.

Our small group, together with our volunteers, has been able to maintain a healthy level of activity for the Order.

The Coats for the Homeless program continues to be generously supported by the Western Australia members with 130 coats bought for distribution. The coats have been warmly accepted and know they are well worn.

Our Members of the Western Australian delegation will again be supporting the Coats program in 2014, again commencing our distribution with an earlier start as soon as the cooler weather sets in.

The Mass for the Sick,

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which again co-sponsored with the Catholic Doctors Association of Western Australia, was celebrated for the third time in St Mary’s Cathedral.

This year Archbishop Timothy Costello and the Cathedral clergy on 25 May. The Mass was very well attended and included the anointing the sick and distributing bottles of Lourdes Water to the members of the congregation. With an increase in the numbers now attending the Mass, this year we actually ran out of bottled Lourdes water.

The Western Australia delegation continues its support of the Philosophy and Ethics prizes to medical students of Notre Dame University, Fremantle.

The prizes are provided to encourage a greater appreciation of the principles and enthusiasm for which those in the medical profession require to conduct their public and private lives.

In our current secular world, it is so important that the graduates of the Notre Dame School of Medicine

be distinguished by their compassion and support for the dignity and respect for all human life.

Alexandra Wilson was awarded ‘Best Student in Philosophical Studies in Medicine” and Arman Ahmadi was awarded the prize for ‘Best Student in Ethical Studies in Medicine’. His Honour Kevin Hammond AO, who is a Member of the Order in WA presented these awards at a ceremony earlier this year.

900

YEARS OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

THE ORDER IN ROME WITH POPE BENEDICT XVI

F

ebruary 2013 marks an important anniversary for the Order of Malta.

Exactly 900 years ago Pope Paschal II promulgated the Solemn Privilege that officially recognised the community of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem and placed it under the protection of the Apostolic See with the right to elect freely its heads.

It is thanks to this document, conserved in the national archives of Malta, that the Sovereign Order of Malta has been a lay-religious order for over 900 years.

Throughout 2013, the

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Order of Malta’s institutions in the five continents celebrated this special anniversary with a series of initiatives.

The most significant commemoration took place on 9 February 2013 in Rome: in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Benedict XVI addressed 4,500 members and volunteers who attended from all over the world, after the celebration of the Holy Mass by Cardinal Secretary of State, His Eminence Tarciso Bertone.

Authorities of the Italian Government, of the Holy See, the European Union, including 10

cardinals, and over 170 diplomatic representatives participated in the Mass.

The Solemn Privilege, identified with the opening words of Pope Pascal II’s Bull, Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, sets the legal basis for the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, known today as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

The Order was founded in the Holy Land over half a century earlier as a monastic community looking after poor pilgrims in a hospital in Jerusalem.

Thanks to this document, the Hospitallers of St. John became aan

exempt religious order.

This document has a great institutional significance: with this Bull the Pope established that the Order had the absolute right to ensure the continuation of its work by electing, in due time, a successor to the Order’s founder, brother Gerard, with the right to freely elect its heads, without interference from other lay or religious authorities.

As far as its historical significance is concerned, this Bull gives posterity an idea of the role and importance of Blessed Gerard, of his personal sanctity and that of the group of professed

900thANNIVERSARY

of Pie Postulatio Voluntatis is not only a reverential acknowledgement of our past but is also a prospect for the future.

I am certain that this solemn commemoration will strengthen not only the sense of belonging to our Order of all of the Order’s members and volunteers scattered throughout the world, but also the quality and intensity of the service performed today under its banner.

Photos courtesy of Marco Merlini and Remo Casilli, Rome 2013.

I

n February, a number of Australians attended the celebrations in Rome.

These included the President of the Australian Association Confrere Tony Macken AM with Confrere Antony Macken and Consoeur Venetia Macken.

The Australian Hospitaller Confrere Dr Ian Marshall AM AE KCSG and Mrs Judith Marshall; HE Confrere Michael Mann AM, Ambassador of the Order, and Mrs Monique Mann and Miss Alexandra Mann; HE James Dominguez CBE AM KCSG, Ambassador of the Order; HE David Scarf AM, Ambassador of the Order.

Rev Father Anthony Robbie, Magistral Chaplain of the Order; Confrere Richard Palk CSM and Helen, all attended from their bases in ROome and in Brussels.

Confrere Frank Testa with Mrs Mary Testa Frank’s mother; and Confreres Damian Benson, Colonel Anthony Heath, Josh Puls and Gregory Pang, together with Confrere Simon Grenfell who is a member of Government Council, also attended.

CNS photo/Yoli Shwartz, courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority

religious people who worked with him.

It also highlights the importance of the services provided to pilgrims and the poor in Jerusalem.

A list of hospitals and hospices in France and Italy compiled some decades after the foundation of the Order illustrates how the institution established by Brother Gerard was not limited to the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem but had already branched out into Europe.

As the Order of Malta’s 79th Grand Master Frà Matthew Festing explains: “Celebrating the 900 years of the promulgation

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News

SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA

FROM 2013

Crusader Hospital Unearthed in Israel Israeli archaeologists have restored a 2,000 bed Crusader-era hospital in the Old City of Jerusalem. Dating to the 11th century, the hospital was operated

by Members of the Order of St John to treat pilgrims of all faiths making their way to Jerusalem,

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An eleven-century hospital structure dating to the Crusader era (1099–1291 CE) has been unearthed in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The excavated site, which will be opened to the public later in 2014 is located in a region known as Muristan (the Persian word for hospital) in the Christian Quarter near David Street in the Old City.

A 13-year excavation at the site, initiated by the Grand Bazaar Company and Israel Antiquities

Authority (IAA), exposed a small part of the structure that is said to be the largest hospital of crusader period ever found in the region, archaeologists revealed on 5 August 2013.

The part of the building excavated so far includes a large hall composed of more than six metres high massive pillars, rooms and smaller halls, and is supposed to extend across an area of what served as the region’s largest hospital in that era.

“We’ve learned about the hospital from

ARCHAEOLOGY large enough to admit accept as many as 2,000 patients in an emergency situation.

The hospital was constructed by the Order of St John to provide medical treatment to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem.

The crusader doctors treated sick men and women regardless of religion.

Following the fall of Jerusalem, Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid

dynasty, was instrumental in restoring the hospital and he maintained the structure and allowed ten members of the Order to serve the population of Jerusalem.

An earthquake in 1457 CE likely buried the crusaders’ hospital until a part of it was opened as a market some time in the 19th century under Ottoman Empire.

The site continued to function as a fruit and

vegetable market until excavation began in 2000.

Earlier, excavations have also shown that the hospital was used as a stable in the Middle Ages.

Current plans for the hospital structure suggest it will be used as a restaurant attracting tourists, pilgrims and the locals in the coming years.

Photos courtesy of Yoli Shwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority, 2013

contemporary historical documents, most of which are written in Latin. These mention a sophisticated hospital that is as large and as organized as a modern hospital,” IAA’s excavation directors Renee Forestany and Amit Re’em said in a statement.

The documents indicated that just like modern-day hospitals, the crusaders’ hospital consisted of different wings and departments and was

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900 Years of Faith in Action: 1113-2013 The Bull of Pascal II By the Malta Study Center, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library 2013 commemorates the 900th anniversary of Pope Pascal II’s Bull, Pie postulatio voluntatis, and provides us with an opportunity to focus on the document itself, which still exists as on the most important articfacts in the history of the Order. The following article, published by the Malta Study Center at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, puts the document in its historial context in Jerusalem in 1113, the importance of hospital, and the reasons why hospital needed papal protection.

O

n 15 February 1113, Pope Pascal II sent a letter to Gerard, who operated a hospital for pilgrims near the Chuirch of St John the Baptist in Jerusalem.

In this letter, Pascal gave Gerard and his hospital numerous privileges.

He placed Gerard and the hospital under the direct protection of the papacy.

He promised that Herard, his successors, and his hospital would always be exempt from any lay or ecclesiastical interference, whether in Europe or in Asia.

He confirmed that Gerard also has authority over other hospitals in Grance and Italy.

Furthermore, when Gerald died, his hospitallers could choose his successor without interference from any king or bishop.

Pascal’s letter entitled Pie postulatio voluntatis, (latter called a bull, for the lead seal or bulla once appended to it) was the

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first legal document that recognised the Hospitallers in Jerusalem as an organisation within the Roman Catholic Church.

It enabled Gerald and his successors to raise money in Jerusalem and Europe to continue working on behalf of the pilgrims to the Holy Land. Within 100 years, his hospital would be the headquarters of the Order fo the Hospital, an international religious military order that cared for the sick and assumed military obligations to defend the Latin Kingdoms in the East.

The Order of the Hospital continued to protect Christains and operate hospitals even after it relocated its headquarters to Cyprus (1291), Rhodes (1310), and Malta (1530). The Order abandoned its military responsibilities in the 19th century, but as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta it still serves the sick and victims of disaster around the world.

Crusade Kingdoms in the East

T

he Crusader Kingdoms in the East were shortlived European outposts located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. They’re called Crusader Kingdoms because they were established by the leasers of the first Crusade (109599).

They’re also known as the Latin Kingdoms

(because the ruling elite worshiped in the Latinspeaking western Church) or the Frankish Kingdoms (because most of the crusaders came from France).

The city of Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Jeruslaem, which at its greatest extent stretched from Kerak and Hebron in the South to Sidon and Beirut in the

900thANNIVERSARY

A view of Jerusalem by Conrad von Grünenberg, c. 1487. The Muristan (from Persian Bimarestan meaning “Hospital”) is a complex of streets and shops in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site was the location of the Hospital of the Order. (Left) The Bull of Pascall II, Pie postulatio voluntatis, kept in the Order’s archives, later to become part of the national Library of Malta in Valetta. north. It was established in 1099, when the armies of the first Crusade captured Jerusalem and selected Godfrey of Bouillon to be the protector of the Holy Sepulchre. Godfrey died within a year and was succeeded by his younger brother, Baldwin, who became King Baldwin I (1100-18). It was Baldwin who left us a record of all the donations Gerard received for the Hospital between 1099 and 1110.

Less than 100 years later, Saladin defeated the armies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its allies at the battle of Hattin in 1187. All the cities of the Kingdom, including Jerusalem, fell except

Tyre. Saladin permitted the Order of the Hospital to continue operating the Hospital in Jerusalem for another year.

The Latin Kingdom of Cyprus came into existence in 1192 when Richard the Lionheart captured the island and traded it to Guy of Lusignan in return for the title King of Jerusalem.

Richard also recaptured the city of Acre in 1191.

Jerusalem briefly returned to Christian hands between 1228 and 1244, but Acre became the new capital of the much-reduced Kingdom of Jerusalem. After Acre fell in 1291, the refugees fled to the Kingdom of Cyprus.

The Pilgrimage to Jerusalem

T

he holy city of Jerusalem was the focal point of the medieval Christain imagination.

Pilgrims came from every part of the known world to gain spiritual benefits by visiting the sites associated with the life and Passion of Jesus.

With notable exceptions, many of the buildings they saw had been built by the Christian Byzantine emperors.

Helena, the Christian mother of Emperor Constantine I, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 326.

She identified the sites

of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, and found the True Cross and many other relics associated with the crucifixion.

Her son built large churches marking the sites of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection.

Christian pilgrims came from around the known world to visit these holy places.

Christian pilgrimage became an important part of Jerusalem’s economy, and it continued after Muslims captured the city in 638.

Muslim rulers tolerated Christian and Jewish religious practices, with

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the exception of the years 1004-1012 when the Christians were persecuted. Otherwise, Christian and Jewish pilgrims were welcomed in the city.

During the 11th century, western Europe became more prosperous and more European could afford to go on pilgrimage.

Also during this time, the reform papacy conceived the idea that their mission was to recue Christians living under Muslim rule.

They needed an army to fulfil this mission. The

papacy began developing spiritual inducements, or indulgences, to encourage knights to fight military campaigns against the Muslims ruling in the Holy Land church leaders had tried.

Historians have called these campaigns “armed pilgrimages”, but this is a simplistic way to explain the complext spiritual landscape of the European knighly class in the 11th century.

Starting in the tenth century, church leaders tried to decrease violence by instituting the “Peace

and Truth of God”.

This discouraged knights from attacking noncombatants and church property, and preventing them from fighting on Sundays and holy days.

Knights began to have a spiritual crises, because the culture expected their class to fight, but the act of fighting endangered their souls.

Thus when Pope Urban II preached an expedition in 1095 to aid the Byzantine emperor, rescue Christians in the East, and free the holy placed in Jerusalem from

the Muslims, he found a ready reception not only from the knightly classes or Europe but also the average person.

Several expeditions (only later were these known as the “First Crusade”) set forth for Jerusalem, accompanied by the Pope’s representative and scores of Latin clergy.

After four years, the knights of the first Crusade captured the city of Jerusalem in 1099.

Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. Urban II died on july 29 1099, fourteen days after the fall of Jerusalem to the Crusaders, but before news of the event had reached Italy;

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900thANNIVERSARY

First Crusade

T

he knights of the first Crusade found that the Holy Land of their imagination was, in reality, a place of multifacedted politics and religions.

They were astonished that the Byzantine emperor seemed to cooperate with local Muslim rulers; they called the local Christians, who worshiped in Greek, Syriac and Armenian, schismatics because they did not acknowledge the univeral authority of the Roman Pontif; and they did not understand the tensions between local Muslim rulers and the rulers of Egypt.

The European knights thought they could remake Jerusalem as a wholly Christian city.

They expelled any Jew or Musllim who had survived

the capture of the city.

They confiscated and repurposed Muslim and Jewish places of worship.

They forbade any Muslim or Jew to enter the city.

They made the Church of the Holy Sepulchre the seat of the Latin patriarch.

The Temple Mount became the seat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Most of the crusaders returned to Europe after they captured Jerusalem.

Those that remained to rule found themselves a religious and ethnic minority in the East. They relaxed the laws against Muslims and Jews.

By the 1120s, Muslim traders lived in the city, and Muslim pilgrims visited Jerusalem. The Jewish community did not return.

The city was underpopulayed, so King Baldwin I encouraged local Christians to resettle there.

Origins of the Hospital in Jerusalem

P

ascal’s bull did not establish a hospital for pilgrims in Jerusalem. Even before the first Crusade, large numbers of foreign visitrs came on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and they needed a place to stay.

It is not known, however, just when a pilgrims’ hospice was established close to the Church of Holy Sepulchre.

Pope Gregory I intended to endow a hospital for western pilgrims near the Church in 603, but it is not certain if this hospice ever existed.

Later, Charlemagne (742-814) founded the Church of St Mary of the Latins and a pilgrims’ hospice near the Church of Holy Sepulchre, which he entrusted to Benedictine

monks.

Ninth-century pilgrims left written accounts describing the wealth of this institution and their reception at the hospice.

Archeological evidence supports the existence of a ninth-century Frankish foundation on the site (which is now the Church of the Redeemer).

The hospice, however, declined without Charlemagne’s continued patronage. It would have been destroyed in 1009, when the Caliph a-Hakim ordered all the Christian buildings in Jerusalem demolished, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

According to William of Tyre (ca. 1130-90), the Latin Archbishop of Jerusalem and author

He also sought the help of the Hospital of St John to repopulate Jerusalem. In 1110, Baldwin confirmed the donations that Gerard and the Hospital received of lands and revenues in the Kingdom since 1099. It is possible that Gerard sought the King’s confirmation beacuse the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the Latin canons of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre disputed the gifts.

The legal formulas in some of the documents do not clearly state the intents of the donor. It is fortunate that we have Baldwin’s confirmation, because many of the original documents have not survived in the Order’s archives.

Gradually the city became properous again.

But the armies of the

Kingdom always depended on the influx of men from western Europe.

The survival of the crusader kingdoms depended upon an entirely new concept: religious military orders.

These were monastic orders for knights, which recognised their needs for spiritual fulfillment while permitting them to fight on behalf of the Christian Church.

Exempt from local authority, they could develop international networks to supply the crusader kingdoms with men and materials from western Europe.

The first such Orders that came into existence in Jerusalem: the Order of the Temple and the Order of the Hospital.

of A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, Italian merchants from Amalfi acquired the site of St Mary of the Latins from the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir (1036-94) to build themselves a hostel.

They also established a monastery for Italian Benedictine monks. The exact year is unknown, but the traditional foundation date is 1048, the same year the Byzantines finished rebuilding the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Al-Mustansir’s reign also coincided with the increased numbers of western pilgrims in the Holy Land.

So many pilgrims sought hospitality at the monastery that the merchants built a separate hospice and church dedicated to St John the

Baptist.

They also built a hospice dedicated to St Mary Magdalene for female pilgrims.

This was the hospital that the Crusaders found when they arrived in Jerusalem.

It is not clear what its relationship to the monastery was at this time.

But the new circumstances in Jerusalem brought changes to the hospital.

The Hospital and its Hospitallers became famous, and they attracted donations from the crusades and from western Europe.

The Hospital of St John became an important institution and a major landholder in crusader Jerusalem.

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B

lessed Frà’ Gerard (c. 1040 – September 3, 1120), variously surnamed Tum, Tune, Tenque or Thom, is recognised as the founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

Gerard most likely was a Benedictine lay brother or frates conversi who came to the Holy Land to serve at the Church of St. Mary of the Latins.

He may have been from Amalfi or another region of Italy or from southern France. He may have been born in Amalfi, in Southern Italy, and may have had some connection to the convent of Saint Lawrence in Amalfi. Other accounts hold he was born in Martigues, Provence, while one authority even names the Chateau d’Avesnes in Hainaut as his birthplace.

During the First Crusade (1099), although the Christian population had been expelled from Jerusalem, Gerard was able to remain behind with some fellow serving brothers to tend to the sick in the hospital.

During the thirteenth century, the Hospitallers would retell the story of how he was able to hide bread within the folds of his cloak to feed the hungry Crusaders outside the city walls.

When the Muslim rulers discovered Gerard they miraculously only found stones within his cloak.

However, other accounts tell how the Muslims believed that Gerard was hoarding money and not paying the proper taxes, and he was tortured so badly that he was slightly disabled for the rest of his life.

After the Crusade, Gerard was able to

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continue his work at the hospital. Now, pilgrims were not his only patients, but also wounded knights who had fought in the Crusade.

Among these sick was Raymond du Puy, who would later become his successor as head of the Order. The European noblemen were inspired by Gerard’s compassion and attentive care, and so they donated both money and land.

As the hospital’s success and size grew, Gerard, with several knights, broke away from the Benedictines and founded a new religious order dedicated to the sick and poor. The Order adopted a rule that included components from the Rule of St. Benedict and the Rule of St. Augustine.

The new Order’s members wore a black habit with a white, eightpointed cross. By 1113 by decree of Pope Paschal II’s papal bull Pie postulation voluntatis, the Order of St. John gained independence and was established as a religious order dedicated to serving Christ through serving the sick and poor.

Because of this papal bull, the Order was able to elect its own superiors without interference from bishops or other religious authorities and secular authorities, except the pope.

The Order was also able to own property.

Despite the Order’s rapid growth, Gerard remained a humble servant. He encouraged Members of the Order to consider the poor “as our lords whose servants we acknowledge ourselves to be.”

Engraving of Blessed Gerard, by Laurent Cars, c. 1725 (Right) 16th century engraving of the Sacra Infermeria.

In a feudal world governed by strict hierarchy and familial ties, this was exceptional. This service to the sick and poor would influence the spirituality of the Order, for by welcoming the sick, the Order welcomed and cared for Christ.

Following the creation of the Order, Gerard continued to serve the sick and poor and his brethren for another twenty-four years. He died in his seventies on September 3, between 1118 and 1121.

His epitaph on his tomb at the Hospital of St. John reads: Here lies Gerard, the humblest man in the East, the slave (servus) of the poor, hospitable to strangers, meek of countenance but with a noble heart. One can see in these walls how good he was. He was provident and

active. Exerting himself in all sorts of ways, he stretched forth his arms into many lands to obtain what he needed to feed his own. On the seventeenth day of the passage of the sun under the sign of Virgo (September 3, 1120) he was carried into heaven by the hands of angels.

After his death, the Hospitallers tried to preserve Gerard’s body and it was kept in the monastery in Jerusalem and later moved to Acre after the fall of the city.

When the situation in the Holy Land became precarious, his body was moved to the West.

However, his skeleton was destroyed during the French Revolution.

Gerard’s relics can be found in several Provençal churches. His skull can be found in the Church of Santa Ursula in Valletta,

900thANNIVERSARY

A Day in the Hospital of St John

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he pilgrimage to Jerusalem was long, dangerous and exhausting. Pilgrims could stay at the Hospital to rest and restore their health. Most pilgrims who stayed in the Hospital were poor. Some nobles, who wanted to save money, also stayed there during their pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre.

In this way the Hospital was more like a modern hostel or hospice. But by the mid-12th century, it appears that many of the inhabitants were both poor and infirm.

Medieval pilgrims went to Jerusalem to die a “good death,” meaning they had atoned for the sins they committed.

For them, the Hospital took care of their spiritual and physical needs. We can recreate what life was like in the Hospital from the accounts of pilgrims and from the Rules and statutes of the Order.

The Hospital offered a bed to all pilgrims, whether they were paupers or they wealthy nobles. The Rules and statutes of the Order called the Hospital patients “Our Lords the Sick.”

Anyone who was sick, with the exception of lepers who had their own hospital outside the walls of the city, was admitted.

Pilgrims’ reports tell us that the Hospital admitted men and women, Jews and Muslims.

The statutes provide indirect evidence of this by stipulating that those who could not eat pork should be given chicken. Men and women had separate hospitals, which the Order called “palaces.” There were 11 wards for men and

at least two for women.

We don’t know if wards were segregated according to age or illness.

Based upon reports from pilgrims, it seems that on an average day the Hospital took care of 1,000 male patients. This number could swell to 2,000 after a military campaign.

When that happened, all the members of the Order gave up their beds to accommodate the additional patients.

The Hospital was run by the Hospitaller, a ranking official in the Order. Each ward had one magister and 12 sarjeants, or orderlies, to look after the physical needs of the sick. There were four physicians for the entire hospital, who made their rounds twice a day.

The Order spent 1500 bezants a year to hire physicians to treat their patients.

A patient admitted to the Hospital first made a confession to the chaplain, then was placed in the care of a sarjeant, who fed him and took him to the lockers to secure his clothes and valuables. There the patient received his bed clothes and utensils for eating and drinking. Then he was taken to a ward and given his own bed.

A patient participated in the spiritual life of the Hospitallers. His daily routine would start with a morning Mass in the ward. The Hospitallers and brothers served the best food to the weakest patients. The sarjeants then helped the other patients wash their hands and fed them white bread and meat.

The members of the

Order held their evening prayers in the Hospital and made a religious procession through the Hospital every night.

The Order provided field medical care during the military campaigns of the Crusader States.

They set up a tent to perform triage, and transported the seriously wounded back to the Hospital in Jerusalem.

The Order kept donkeys and camels for transport, but when these ran out the knights of the Order surrended their war horses.

The Hospital of St John in Jerusalem also cared for all infants who were abandoned by their mothers. The Order hired nurses to raise the children and monitored their health and well-being.

When these children, who were known as the “Children of St John,” came of age they were given the choice of serving St John or going out into the world.

We don’t have any treatises describing the types of medical care performed in the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem.

Scholars have debated if the proximity to Byzantine

and Islamic medical practices influenced the Hospitallers.

The Hospital in Jerusalem was larger in scale and offered far more services than contemporary western European institutions. But it was overcrowded and understaffed in comparison with eastern hospitals, which divided the sick into wards based upon illness.

There is evidence that the Hospital in Jerusalem, like the hospitals in the east, paid attention to the diet of the patients. Their diet was both healthy and luxurious, according to the notions of the time. It included white bread, a luxury item usually eaten by the elites in medieval society, wine, and meat and fish.

The patients of the Hospital in Jerusalem had their own eating utensils, which cut down on infection, and their own beds.

But it is unclear if this was for health reasons or because the statutes of the Order stipulated that all the patients, “Our Lords the Sick,” had to be treated as nobles.

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Lourdes 2013 Dr Ian Marshall

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ifty-four pilgrims joined the Australian contingent to the great Annual Order of Malta Pilgrimage to Lourdes this year, including the National President Confrere Tony Macken as well as Confrere Simon Grenfell, Member of Government Council from London.

We are grateful to Father Anthony Robbie attending from Rome as our Magistral Chaplain and Spiritual Director.

As well as members and volunteers from Australia itself, the group well represented the regional members of the Order currently under the umbrella of the Australian Association: Thailand, Hong Kong/China and South Africa.

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As always, we are grateful to the Irish Association for the privilege of involving us with their malades, some of whom are now well known to us, indeed almost friends.

Thanks have been extended to their High Charges, Confreres President Sir Adrian FitzGerald BT, Chancellor Joe Smyth and Hospitaller Brendan Lawlor.

It is fair to say that our group played a vital and much appreciated role in the activities of the Irish; without our help, for example, some of the Irish malades simply could not have participated in various activities, especially the Marial Procession.

I pay special thanks to Clare O’Donovan , our young volunteer who was

of tremendous help as our Administrative Assistant, assuming much of the routine organisational load.

I am sure she came away with life long impressions of the Lourdes experience, with the privilege of being one of the four torch bearers guarding the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Marial Procession.

Clare is the second of our assisted young

volunteers to Lourdes, both of whom have been exemplary reasons to continue the policy of subsidising a young pilgrim to Lourdes each year.

I record my thanks to all the pilgrims who participated and also the tremendous organisational help from Michelle Rees in the Communications Office and especially Consoeur Venetia Macken.

REPORT

Lourdes Masses Around Australia

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ourdes Day Mass celebrations are hosted by the Branches across Australia and are elebrated for those who are in need of comfort, care, healing and hope, and for their carers.

It is an expression of the Order’s mission to defend the Faith and give comfort to the sick and the poor.

Due to the large umber of pilgrims unable to make the long journey to France, every year Members of the Order of Malta, with the generous support of the Archbishops and Diocesan staff, arrange Lourdes Day Mass celebrations in their state capitals.

Those who attend the Mass receive special blessings and bottles of Lourdes water. Volunteers are also on hand to assist the frail and aged who attend.

On Saturday 7th December over 2,000 people attended the Lourdes Day Mass,

which was celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

In Melbourne, in the great Cathedral, there was standing room only and our Conventual Chaplain ad honorum Dr Denis Hart concelebrated the Mass with the Dean and two of our Magistral Chaplains.

Volunteers from Newman College, in their Order of Malta tabards, and students from Xavier, Genazzano and Loreto Mandeville Hall, in their school uniforms, assisted on the day.

On the same Saturday at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, the NSW branch celebrated its fourth annual Lourdes Day Mass.

The South Australian Branch held its Mass at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Adelaide on 11th February and the Queensland Branch celebrated its Healing Mass at St Paschal’s Church, Wavell Heights, on 4th May.

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2013 National Assembly Report Sir James Gobbo AC CVO and Fergus Ryan AO

he Australian Association of the Order of Malta gathered in Melbourne this year between 21-23 June for our biannual National Assembly, The assembly comprised addresses and discussions led by guest speakers including Rev Professor Gerald O’Collins SJ and Professor Greg Craven, breakout sessions, an election for our new national office bearers, a gala dinner and three beautiful liturgical services.

A record number of new knights and dames, 45, were invested into the order during the assembly.

Former ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer AC, was the keynote speaker at the formal gala dinner, held at the Park Hyatt, with 320 guests in attendance.

A formal solemn Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart at St Patrick’s Cathedral to close the assembly.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Mission

The Mission of the Order, that we seek always to ‘bear witness to the Catholic Faith’ and stand ever ready to ‘care for our lords, the sick and the poor’, provided the context for each part of the 2013 National Assembly’s program.

These commitments, made by new Members as they are invested, provided the basis for the Assembly’s theme.

Theme

In his Easter message the Chief Chaplin of the Order in Australia, His Grace Archbishop Philip Wilson DD JCL, wrote that in the time that ‘Pope Francis has been our Universal Pastor…he has spoken constantly about the fact that we are on a journey with Jesus as we live in the world today. In fact he has characterized it several times as “The Way”.’

It is fitting that “The Way” became the theme for the 2013 National Assembly, reflecting the Order’s pilgrim history and the opportunities that are present at this time in the Church’s history.

Indeed, gathering on the 900th Anniversary of the Papal Recognition of our Order provided an opportunity to consider the way that has led from the founding charism of Blessed Gerard.

This charism provides the spiritual nourishment for us as individuals and as an Order.

Archbishop Wilson wrote in his Easter message that we are led to Christ who is ‘present in our lives as members of the Order challenging us at

every moment to deepen our faith and to deepen our witness to his presence among us in those who suffer.’

Program

The Assembly’s Program included three Liturgical events, eight Assembly sessions and the opportunity to gather for several meals.

There were 160 Member registrants for the Assembly. During the Assembly sessions on Friday and Saturday at Australian Catholic University (ACU), 157 and 167 Members and guests attended respectively.

The use of the space at ACU was provided without charge and offered an excellent setting for us to meet.

The facilities reflected the extraordinary work of Catholic education and provided a place of both material comfort and spiritual nourishment, with the presence of the University’s beautiful Chapel.

This theme of Catholic education was furthered with our first dinner held at the Catholic Leadership Centre, with 142 people in attendance.

This facility offers many opportunities for education of adult Catholics.

At the Park Hyatt the Formal Gala Dinner, at which The Hon. Tim Fischer AC delivered the keynote address, and at the Sunday Lunch there were 320 and 130 attendees respectively.

Coats for the Homeless volunteers from Newman College, University of Melbourne, gave their time to assist us throughout the program.

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Liturgy

2013 National Assembly Report

The three liturgical celebrations provided the focal points for the Assembly’s celebration, and were the nourishment upon which the Assembly proceeded.

The Vigil Ceremony was celebrated at St John the Evangelist, East Melbourne with 180 Members and guests registered.

“Our Way to Christ”, commissioned for the Assembly and the 900th Anniversary of the Papal Bull of the Order and written by Fr. Christopher Wilcox SJ, was sung for the first time at the Ceremony.

Rev. Dr. Brian Boyle MSC was the Celebrant, and the Homily was given by Rev. Dr. Peter L’Estrange SJ. The Investiture Mass was celebrated by the Chief Chaplin of the Order in Australia, His Grace Archbishop Philip Wilson DD JCL, at St Mary Star of the Sea, West Melbourne.

This was the occasion of the investing of 46 new Members of the Order.

As at the Vigil Ceremony, the organist was Mr Anthony Halliday and the Soprano was Ms Hannah Dahlenburg.

There were some 250 Members and guests in

attendance for the Mass.

The Formal Solemn Mass, celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral by the Archbishop of Melbourne His Grace Archbishop Dennis Hart DD, was the final Eucharistic celebration of the Assembly.

In his homily Archbishop Hart, with 215 of the Order’s Members and guests in attendance, preached on the history of the Order and its place within the Church in Australia and around the world.

Assembly Sessions

The Members and guests were welcomed to the Assembly by Conf. Sir James Gobbo AC CVO, Vice-President of the Victorian Branch and the Assembly was officially opened by Conf. Tony Macken AM, President of the Australian Association.

Reports were delivered by the Australian Association’s President, Chancellor, Hospitaller and Treasurer.

The Opening Address was delivered by His Grace Archbishop Wilson DD JCL, entitled ‘Our Way to Christ: Challenges and Opportunities for the Order’.

Archbishop Wilson reflected on the history of the Order and the charism

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY that had illuminated its history.

The Assembly was challenged to think about the way in which this spirituality would guide the work of the Australian Association as it continued the work of caring for the poor and vulnerable and met new challenges.

Rev. Prof. Gerald O’Collins SJ AC delivered a lecture, ‘Vatican II and the Order of Malta’, in which he drew seven invitations from the Second Vatican Council for the Order to reflect on.

They were to be: Jesus-centred; biblical; priestly, prophetic, and kingly; liturgical; committed to those in need; in dialogue; and attentive to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

In her response to Fr. O’Collins, Sr. Mary Wright IBVM reflected that the invitations are to be

met and responded to in a community of distinct Catholic identity.

This identity is to be formed, according to the Council, by understanding the Order’s origins, responding to current realities, involving participants and focusing on the Order’s fundamental purpose.

Rev. Prof. James Haire AC and Mr. Steve Howard were in conversation on a range of issues important to the Order.

This discussion drew on Rev. Haire’s vast experience in ecumism, the ‘Arc of Instability’, as well as broader international relations, and the nature of the relationship between the Church and the State.

With Mr. Howard, Rev. Haire placed the future of the Order in the context of the broader challenges associated with Christianity, our region and

the globe.

Prof. Greg Craven, Ms. Patricia Faulkner AO and Mr. Martin Laverty were in discussion on ‘The nature of Catholic leadership in a secular world’.

This was a discussion from a ‘practitioner’s’ view, in that it drew on the knowledge of people engaged in the delivery of Catholic services.

The discussion considered the manner in which Catholics and Catholic groups can work strategically with other, non-Catholic, individuals and groups to achieve shared outcomes.

It also engaged the manner in which Catholic imperatives can be expressed and realized in secular language.

The speakers reflected on the need to do this with a strong Catholic identity, ensuring that the means by which solutions are

reached are consistent with the practice of our faith.

Breakout Sessions

The Breakout sessions offered Members the opportunity to reflect on what they had drawn out of the Assembly and how they might be given life in the activities of the Order.

The facilitators allowed discussion to unfold according to the desires of Members, though there were a number of starting points for discussion that were used.

These included the: spiritual life of the Order; focus on the poor and the sick; capacity to assist in Catholic education; looking beyond Australia; nature of membership of the Order.

In each of the Breakout groups a desire was expressed for practical action predicated on the Hospitaller charism of the Order. A number of

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groups expressed a strong desire to ensure that these activities remained anchored in the spiritual life of the Order.

It was suggested in some groups that a new national program that could be delivered by each state group would assist in extending the positive ‘branding’ of the Order.

This was linked by some to the need to engage young people in the work of the Order.

2013 National Assembly Report

Further work in Catholic adult education and international outreach were considered extensively by some groups as areas where the Order in Australia had significant capacity to contribute.

It was also felt in some groups that any action required a more networked approach to engaging Members, depending on their interests and professional capacities.

Others suggested that a

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY more networked approach, based on a database of Members, would allow Members to support one another in the work that they do in support of the Order’s Mission in their professional lives.

Matters for Consideration

The facilitators from each Breakout group and the Assembly organizers drew together the most commonly expressed ideas and issues from the sessions.

This process yielded six areas, which were identified as enumerating the breadth of material raised. These matters were then presented to the final session of the Assembly.

The six matters need to be considered within the context of the revitalizing ministry of Pope Francis, calling Catholics to humility in a “poor Church for the poor”.

The pastoral mission of the Pope reflects the mission of our Order and has special resonance for us.

This mission gives the context to the Assembly’s theme and the contributions to the Assembly Sessions, each of which gives life to these matters to be considered.

These six matters are submitted, on behalf of the Assembly, to the incoming National Executive for its consideration as a basis for certain activity through its

coming term.

They are: 1. Spiritual Formation • through structured group meetings to pursue ongoing formation, with enrichment through the Order’s Chaplains.

2. Communications Network • a database based upon internal groupings of profession and interest.

3. National Project • delivered locally, but globally minded with an international committee.

4. Youth Engagement • facilitation of volunteering; including longer term international projects.

5. Educational Support • that the Order can provide for Church leaders and laity, particularly through Catholic institutions.

6. Resourcing the Australian Association • based on the extent to which Members are willing to support further resources.

One critical question was the spirituality and formation of our Members including how this spirituality enhanced or enriched by Membership of the Order of Malta: • The principal theme of the Assembly was the Way – the

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Journey. It was a very appropriate in our 900th Anniversary year to reflect on the Order’s journey and in particular where the journey began.

It began in about 1050 when a group of Benedictine monks led by one Gerard started a hostel to care for the poor and the sick most of these being pilgrims to the Holy Places – the holiest of all being of course Jerusalem. Gerard and his followers worked at an exciting time as the pilgrims came from all over Europe and Africa and the lands of the East. It must have been a truly multicultural scene rivalling the cultural diversity of modern Fitzroy and the ACU, the main venue of the Assembly.

It is necessary to understand the crux of our Mission. It was not a military one. It was fundamentally a spiritual one – to live out the Gospel by assisting the poor and the sick.

Blessed Gerard in his prayer spoke of “an everlasting brotherhood rooted in the misery of the world”.

The study of our history should primarily endow us with an

•

•

appreciation of our true Mission and its everlasting spiritual dimension. This will enrich our lives spiritually and is more enduring and valuable than stories of military valour, however brave and exciting they may have been.

The Order is at the junction of two great Anniversaries – the celebration of formal recognition of our Order 900th years ago and the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. We should pause in our journey to let these two great events inspire us and aid us as we go forward in the coming years.

Very recently, his Holiness Pope Francis has re-iterated the importance of the Second Vatican Council so there is a certain prescience about the importance given to the Second Vatican Council at the National Assembly.

This was evident not only in the paper delivered by Professor Gerald O’Collins SJ but also in the fact that every delegate received a book containing the Second Vatican Council documents.

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Books

Recent books on the history, art and archietecture on the Order of Malta available for you to look out for.

The Grand Bailiff of Germany in the Gozo Cathedral on August 15, 1783.

From Bailiff to Herrenmeister The Brandenburg bailiwick, or Balley Brandenburg, which is first mentioned in records dating from 1351, is the nucleus from which today’s Protestant Johanniterorden and the Order of Malta’s Grand Priories of Austria and of Bohemia and the German Subpriory of St Michael continues.

The German Langue of the Order of Malta

by Thomas Freller 288 pages, $26.30

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he presence and history of the Order of St John in various regions of the lands of Germany and East Europe has been researched in several aspects but a comphrensive work on the langue of Germany as such has never been

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written.

This book presents an overview of the 800 years of the history of the Hospitallers in Germany and in the lands of the former ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’. Because of the vastness of the subject, the book does not pretend to be an in-depth study of this subject but is a basic outline of the development of the institution and of

the most important events connected with it.

The book captures the activities of the Order soon after the formation of the Order in Jerusalem, when supporters in Western Europe began to donate farmland and other assets for the objectives of the order; the military protection and medical aid of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land.

In time, these

BOOKS landholdings were gathered into regional administrative divisions known as commanderies, each headed by a senior knight, or knight commander of the Order.

The first commandery in the Germanies was founded in the mid-twelfth century.

By 1318, the Bailiwick of Brandenburg had been established in the northeastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire, an aggregation of commanderies of the Order under a bailiff, a high officer of the Order.

The riches and influence of the Bailiwick (especially after augmentation by properties of the suppressed Order of the Temple) were so sizeable that, in 1382, the Prior of the German Langue (one of the eight territorial “Tongues” of the Order of Saint John) reached a level of self determination.

Under the Accord of Heimbach the Order recognized the right of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg to choose its own governor (the Bailiff of Brandenburg, more commonly called the Herrenmeister) and preceptors (the commanders of the commanderies constituting the Bailiwick).

The book is aimed at the general reader as well as at the specialist, who will find indications for further reading on single aspects and events.

Commissioned in 1572 by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the conventual church of the Order and designed by the celebrated Maltese military architect Gerolamo Cassar, St John’s Cathedral stands as a unique monument of international importance.

The Designer Knights In the period after 1530, the Knights of St John constructed buildings that came to symbolize the Order’s external authority in Malta and represented a period of development that was pivotal to the creation of the Maltese capital and a unique sovereign state.

Architects and Knights: Italian Influence in Malta during the Late Renaissance

by Francesco Menchetti 260 pages, $77.55

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he history and evolution of Malta’s unique systems of fortifications have so far generally been researched in Maltese archives.

Francesco Menchetti explores the subject from a wholly different and novel perspective: what non-Maltese archives, mostly untapped, have to say about the determining influence of Renaissance Italian architects and military engineers in the progressive shaping of one of the most formidable schemes of defence in the whole world.

His contribution is conclusive for a new understanding of the

creators’ work and for the appreciation of their creations.

Up to the time of Grand Master Ramon Perellos, when the trend shifted from the dominant Italian tradition to the innovative breakthroughs of French military architecture, the transformation of Malta from defenceless island to impregnable fortress bore the stamp of Italian Renaissance genius.

The author traces the input of many of the greatest Italian figures in the science of fortification and hydraulics, as well as gardens and landscapes into the Malta concept, and dedicates a whole chapter to the problematic defence of Gozo.

Very aptly the book rounds off with an analysis of the contribution of Italian creativity to the Maltese architectural panorama of the twenty-first century.

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Images of St John’s Priory and Gate in Clerkenwell, England.

Medieval English Priors From King’s men to physical embodiments of the Church of Rome present in the English realm, the Priors and Grand Priors of the English Langue have featured centre stage in an important period in English history.

The Prior of the Knights Hospitaller in Late Medieval England

by Simon Phillips 210 pages, $77.55

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imon Phillips’ study of the Hospitaller priors in England represents an ambitious enterprise, not least because of his prioritization of the un-indexed English governmental records over the more easily accessible (but less extensive) calendared material and the Order’s central archives on Malta.

Phillips’ stated aim is to understand the relationship between the priors of the English Langue of the Order of St John and the English crown, rather than that between the provincial priors and the central hierarchy of the Order in the eastern Mediterranean, and thus to oppose the

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contention that the priors found themselves caught in an essentially antagonistic relationship between the Order and the English royal court.

He successfully demonstrates that this view is too narrow, and shows instead that the priors – at least in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries – acquired the status of senior lay barons with important roles in the provision of military, diplomatic, and governmental service to the crown.

With the Order’s headquarters in Rhodes at such a distance from any of the Order’s priories, priors thoughout the Order’s eight Langues enjoyed an autonomy rare in a religious order to shape their own roles.

In this study, the priors’ individuality is tested against idea that a prior saw his duty towards his

order as being ‘to govern his priory well and to maximise its income’; a statement that may be true in the broadest terms, but which fails to allow for the different stamp which a given prior could put on his exercise of that duty.

In the aspect with which Phillips begins his study – the provision of finance – the priors’ roles, however, were actually very limited.

By far the most interesting figure in this respect is Joseph Chauncy, the long-serving treasurer of the Order of St John while in Acre who had in large part arranged the finance for the crusade of the future King Edward I in 1271-72, and who returned to England in 1273 to become English prior and royal treasurer.

This is a very worthy book that contributes to the wealth of knowledge of the Order in England.

BOOKS

Comparing the Role of Women There is a popular misconception that the role of women in the numerous Military Religious Orders thoughout history has been limited to offering up prayers for the more numerous monks of war.

This book breaks down the myths and sets the record straight.

Women in the Military Orders of the Crusades

by Myra Mirand Bom 230 pages, $87.12

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he topic of women’s participation in the military orders is one which has not had nearly as much attention as it warrants.

For that reason alone, Myra Miranda Bom’s book is a welcome addition to the literature. Potential readers should be aware from the outset, however, that the book delivers both more and less than the title suggests.

The book is divided into several distinct sections. The first discusses medieval attitudes to women in religious life in general.

Central to Bom’s thesis is the notion that the military orders’ attitudes to female membership derived from the monastic tradition from which these orders developed.

She concurs with earlier suggestions that the Hospitallers were more open to women membership because their order emerged out of the Augustinian

canonical tradition which valued good works in the community and expressed its vocation through care for the sick.

From this perspective, the order’s military role was simply an extension of this expression of service.

In contrast to this, she suggests, the Order of the Temple had its roots in the monastic Cistercian tradition and had a far more cautious attitude to women membership.

The bulk of the book is devoted to an in-depth analysis of the development of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and its attitude to the membership of women, focusing on the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

An account of the development of the Order reiterates the importance of its Augustinian roots and traces its development and gradual militarization alongside the changes in attitudes to women in religious orders.

Women were associated with the order since the early twelfth century, although the first sister in the order is not documented until 1146.

According to Bom’s research, a variety of forms of membership were open to women who wished to share in the merit of the Hospitaller order, and the author analyses

these in detail.

In particular Bom discusses forms of lay association and the distinction between the terms “donat” and “consour,” concluding that while the specific term used might vary locally, the type of affiliation these implied remained constant: the “consoror” relationship allowed associates to share in the spiritual benefits brought by the order in return for taking a vow and making a donation in money or in kind, while the “donat” type of affiliation represented the first step towards full professed membership.

This book is a timely and interestiing appraisal of the contribution of women to a variety of roles within the Order.

Book prices are based on prices sourced by onine book price comparitor Booko. For more info visit: www.booko.com.au

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Reliving History Rhodes

Contained within the Fortifications of Rhodes is the largest active Medieval town in Europe, with over 6,000 inhabitants. The Medieval town, as well as being part of the UNESCO world heritage site, is also a major tourism attraction.

The Medievel town contains a number of sites, including the clock-tower, Socrates Square, the Jewish Square, the old Haman, Suleiman Mosque Socrates Street, the Street of the Knights, and the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

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or the casual visitor to Rhodes who looks upon the Order’s first state’s fortifications might think there is much in common with the great strongholds of the Order in the former Latin East and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

You may be surprised to learn that there is little similarity between Krak des Chevaliers and the forts of Rhodes.

The situation in Rhodes presented the Order with existing fortifications, unlike in the Crusader States where the Order, its fellow military regious orders and other defenders of the Latin East were required to build from the ground up.

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For a number of years the Order was content to use the existing fortifications of the Byzantine city.

The Order undertook a few modifications to the walls and the fort repelled two attempted invasions

by Ottoman forces in 131012 and 131819 which was followed by a period of more than a century of relative peace.

The old Byzantine city occupied a

small section of the earlier greek settlement and was in seen to be lacking by the Order’s engineers as lacking any natural protective features.

Over the first half of the 14th century the Order spent time restoring and extending the Byzantine fortifications to the south and east, completely enclosing the city.

Grand Master Jacques de Milly (1454-61) was the first to start building

polygonal bulwarks in front of the old Byzantine towers of the city walls.

His coat of arms stand witness to his contribution in constructing the triangular bulwark in the Post of Provence.

Fortifications in the Post of Provence, extending from the Grand Masters’ Palace to the harbour, were built under Grand Master Piero Raimundo Zacosta (1461-67).

To the north of the Post of Provence, Grand Master Zacosta commissioned the St Nicholas tower.

To this tower the Grand Master added the pentagon bulwark-barbicans in front of the towers of St John

HISTORY

and St George.

Grand Master Giovanni Battista Orsini (1467-76) modernized the wall along the harbour, widening the ditch in front of the wlls on the mainland side and built short cross-walls to connect the free-standing towers with the main curtain wall of the city.

Grand Master Pierra d’Aubusson (1476-1503), hero of the first siege of Rhodes (1480) and himself a tallented military engineer, undertook the most substaintial changes to the city’s fotifications.

Grand Master d’Aubusson was sensed to take action in preparation of a siege, and later by

the reconstruction needs following the siege of 1480 and a subsequent earthquake in the following year.

It was during the siege of 1480, then Rhodes was subject to Ottoman artillery bombardment for the first time, were the imperfections in the city’s defences exposed.

As soon as the siege was lifted d’Aubusson undertook to restore and strengthen the city’s fortifications.

His coat of arms can be seen in more than 50 places throughout the defences and are evidence of his foresight and planning.

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School of Domenico Ghirlandaio , attributed to Jacopo del Sellaio (1441-1493) and Sebastiano Mainardi (1466-1513), Madonna col Bambino e San Giovannino - The Madonna and Child with the infant Saint John, Firemze, Palazzo Vecchio Museum, Sala d’Ercole.

ORDER OF MALTA AUSTRALIA

The Order’s website in Australia: www.orderofmalta.org.au The Order’s international website: www.orderofmalta.int The Malteser International website: www.malteser-international.org