Commandery of Belgium The Blessed Virgin Mary

                                                        
                       H.E. Conte Eric van Oppen Guinigi di Vestone & di Gerasa, OSJ.

                                                                 Hereditary Knight Commander of Justice,

                                                                                         Grand Commander of Europe. 

                              Will you become a Monk?                                                                       The Czar-Martyr

                                                                                                The Order of Saint John and Canon Law

                                                                 The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knight Hospitallers              

                                                                          A Brief History of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem

The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as Brothers of the Hospital, Hospitallers of Jerusalem, Knights of Saint John, The Sovereign Order, The Religion, Knights of Jerusalem, Knights of Cyprus, Knights of Rhodes, Knights of Malta, Order of Malta and the Knights of Russia, is the only surviving military-religious order of the Catholic Church. All other similar orders were casualties of the Crusades or otherwise passed into oblivion by the early 15th Century.

However, the Order of Saint John, with God's blessing and sustenance and with His divine assistance in battle, has continued on from its humble beginning in the Holy Land in 1048 AD where it started as the Hospitallers of St. John, or the Brothers of the Hospital; through becoming the Knights who were the last defenders of the Holy Land at the fall of Acre in 1291; through its brief tenure on Cyprus from 1291 to 1310; through its glorious years on the beautiful and fertile island of Rhodes as the Knights of Rhodes from 1310 to 1523; followed by its majestic two and one half centuries on Malta ss the Knights of Malta  from 1530 until the fall of that island to Napoleon in 1798; and finally in St. Petersburg, Russia from 1798 to 1917 when the Communist revolution ravaged that Christian nation. The Order is now headquartered in the United States.

 

Since 1799, the duty and responsibility for the preservation of the Order has been vested primarily in its Hereditary Knights; and these Knights, who are the guardians of the Order and the foundation of its government, have faithfully continued the historic, valid Sovereign Order to this day. This noble, sovereign, religious-military Order of the Church, the Order of Saint John, has prevailed for 950 years against all enemies and adversaries, even the scourge of time itself, and is now in its greatest resurgence in 200 years.

There is no organization in existence today, and indeed none in all of history, comparable to the Order of Saint John. Its character is profound and unique. It is a venerable order of knighthood.  It is an ancient military order of chivalry. It is a noble and aristocratic class. It is a charitable and hospitaller organization.  It is an exempt religious order of the Catholic Church. It is an hereditary association of men and women under godly vows.  It is a sovereign Christian state (such as France or Spain in the Middle Ages). It is a republic, the oldest republic now in existence and a monarchy in which the knights elect a Prince Grand Master from among their most distinguished brother knights, so that he becomes the first among equals and the head of the Order, a position he holds for life. The present Grand Master of the Order was elected at a Chapter General, or world wide assembly of the order, held in September of 1991.

The Knights of Saint John were the most capable statesmen, governors, administrators, engineers and builders in Christendom.  They were frequently called upon to manage estates and resolve territorial problems and disputes.  People traveled from throughout all of Europe and Asia Minor to be treated at the magnificent Hospital of the Knights.  The military academy of the Order, the Corps de Pages, was universally acknowledged to be the finest in the world. The Order and its Knights were revered throughout Christendom for their sacrificial works of mercy and charity, for their great devotion to the Faith and for their astonishing military exploits in defense of Catholic Europe.

For more than six centuries this magnificent Order defended the Holy Faith and Christendom, often with only a few hundred Knights standing almost alone against the entire massed forces of Islam.  It can be demonstrated from history that this order of brothers under vows, these noble sons of the leading families of Europe, these knights who swore allegiance to Christ and His Vicar on earth, were more responsible than any other entity for the survival of the Church and Christendom.  Because of the heroic performance of these intrepid Knights, the Papacy granted the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem many unique privileges, sacred rights and special immunities.  These were formally granted by Papal Bull, and are irrevocable because they are, in effect, treaties between nations, the Sovereign Papacy and the Sovereign Order, the Order having been recognized as a sovereign nation since 1191. King Richard I of England, Richard the Lion Hearted, leader of the Third Crusade, was the first to confer that  recognition.                              

Thus the Sovereign Order of Saint John is unique among all orders of the Church, not only because of its remarkable history and singular achievements, but because of its special relationship with the Papacy and because of the Order's sovereign status. As a result of the Order's recognition by 91 Popes and specifically because of the Papal Bulls issued by Pascal II in 1113, Innocent II in 1130, and Anastasius IV in 1154, the Order has the right to have its own churches, chapels, oratories, schools and cemeteries; to establish its own convents, monasteries and seminaries; to educate its own religious brothers and religious sisters; to select and or ordain its own priests; to have consecrated its own bishops; to remain free from interdiction and general excommunication; to be forever exempt from the jurisdiction of all ordinaries, extraordinaries, cardinals and ecclesiastical courts.  These sacred rights, privileges and immunities and the Papal Bulls which conferred them have never been rescinded; and, indeed, could not be lawfully abrogated except by mutual consent.

Today, the Order professes the same two-fold mission.   1. To defend and preserve the Holy Faith in all its truth and ancient splendor. This is a monumental task in our time when Christ's Church reels under under external assault from all sides and suffers from subversion of Liberals, Marxists and Freemasons within.   2. To defend and restore Christendom as it was when Christianity was the foundation of all society.  The odds and the risks in this mission are high, but we are justified in expecting that the Divine Assistance which our Holy Order has received so many times in the past, will be with us in the future, because our cause is holy and just.   

The Holy BIBLE