Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem

                Knights Of Malta

 

Gerard, the first rector of the hospital of St john of Jerusalem, was born, according to some, in the city of Amalfi or, as others believe, in Province. While Godfrey [de Bouillon] was besieging Jerusalem, Gerard, a man of great valour and wisdom, was imprisoned, suspected of scheming secretly to let the Christian army into the city. He was immediately freed when the victorious Christians took the city. He served the sick with the utmost compassion in the hospital of St john and the fame of his charity and his noble profession as Hospitaller soon spread, causing Godfrey and his captains to bestow generous donations upon him. The hospital’s income was thereby augmented and it became possible for it to expand in different provinces of Europe. The supreme Pontiff Paschal II, in a Bull addressed to Gerard, refers to him as the founder and superior of the hospital of Jerusalem . Exhausted  by the exercise of charity he died, an old man, in 1118. It is believed that he started to govern the hospital using the title of rector in c. 1099. Gerard led a simple and holy life and is counted amongst the Blesseds of the order.

                      The Hospitallers were a religious order, founded in Jerusalem in 1099, devoted to nursing and to fighting the Infidel. With their fellow knights, the Templars, they played a heroic part in the defence of the Holy Land, manning great castles while at the same time providing exemplary nursing care for the poor. After the fall of the Holy Land, the knights retreated first to Cyprus and then to Rhodes, which was massively fortified to defy the Turks. Finally expelled from Rhodes in 1523, they were given Malta by Charles V, where they survived the Great Siege of 1565, an epic of heroism that enthralled Europe. Driven from Malta by Napoleon in 1804, they have survived into modern times as a unique charitable order, still running a hospital in Jerusalem and providing first-aid for millions. Hospitallers is an illustrated history of this remarkable order. ‘Like true Israelites and warriors most versed in holy battle, on fire with the flame of true love, you carry out in your deeds the words of the Gospel

FRA GERARD FIRST RECTOR OF THE HOSPITAL OF

JERUSALEM

Grand Prior HE Sydney James Phillip Borg    KC OSJ