RIVISTA 1999                                                 

 

 

Celebrations for the Order’s Ninth Centenary

WORLD  GATHERING IN MALTA

Spirituality, Charity, Service

Summing up the separate sessions of the Order’s national and international bodies,

said that a Knight of Malta’s life should be based on

the principles of spirituality, charity and service.

Malta Mediterranean Conference Center – 4 dicembre 1998

 

Spirituality, he said, must first of all be testified to in everyday life, in the family and in society. In union with the church, to which one must feel bound with absolute allegiance, in unison with one’s neighbour and, above all, with one’s Confrčres, with whom one must constitute a single body aimed at personal improvement and at enhancing the Order’s fundamental ideals of defending the Faith, also with works, against impiety, and helping the needy.

This last is a commitment which directly concerns the basic principle of charity and humility. That is, the virtue and performance of those humanitarian activities which no Knight can shirk, neither when he acts as an individual nor, even more, when he works within the Order’s bodies set up for these aims. Never holding back, bestowing the greatest possible charity in all circumstances, public and private, that he has to face, called to be bashful in his lookings, patient in listening, firm in his acting. In that spirit of service, the third basic principle, which means a Knight must always be ready to act, as his prayer says, for the greater glory of God and to help others, especially the poor and sick, generously doing all he can for their cause.

To this end, H.E. the Grand Chancellor stressed, it would be befitting that – in view of the Order’s Ninth Centenary and the Jubilee Year following it to celebrate the advent of the Third Christian Millennium – to promote in all Order’s bodies, spirituality meetings, possibly also with their own national pilgrimages, to prepare all the Knights for these extraordinary community events. It would, he reiterated, be the most suitable occasion for inducing all to meditate on the real significance of two such important events. And to extract from them, thanks also to prayer meetings, all the necessary enlightenment and stimulus. Without forgetting for a single moment that one cannot serve the Order and its aims of charity, solidarity and devotion without a strict spiritual formation. To which, concluded H.E. the Grand Chancellor, every Knight must feel duty bound to aspire without yielding or limitation.

 

  

 

A sinistra, Malta. La Valletta. Co-Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista. Oltre 1000 Membri dell’Ordine, provenienti da tutti i Continenti per il Raduno Mondiale a Malta per il Nono Centenario, assistono alla Santa Messa concelebrata dal Cardinalis Patronus, S.E. Rev.ma Pio Laghi, insieme con il Prelato dell’Ordine S.E. Rev.ma Mons. Donato de Bonis, l’Arcivescovo di Malta e da numerosi Cappellani dell’Ordine, presenti S.A.Em.ma il Principe e Gran Maestro, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, il Presidente della Repubblica di Malta con la consorte, le Alte Cariche e i Membri del Sovrano Consiglio e i Rappresentanti degli Organismi Nazionali ed Internazionali dell’Ordine, il  5 dicembre 1998.

A destra, Roma. Piazza San Pietro. S.A.Em.ma il Principe e Gran Maestro insieme con S.E. il Gran Cancelliere, Amb. Conte Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, all’incontro con gli oltre 2000 Membri dell’Ordine convenuti a Roma da tutti i Continenti per le celebrazioni del Nono Centenario, il 24 giugno 1999.

La Valletta. Malta. The solemn Mass concelebrated by the Cardinalis Patronus, His Eminence Rev.ma Pio Laghi, the Prelate of the Order, H.E. Msgr. Donato de Bonis, the Archbishop of Malta, and numerous Prelates and Chaplains of the Order, in the presence of H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, the President of the Republic, Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, the Sovereign Council and of the maximum authorities of the Maltese Government. About 900 Knights and Dames coming from all over the world participated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top, left: La Valletta. Malta. Presidential Palace. H.E. the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Conte Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, and the Prime Minister of the Maltese Republic, Fenech Adami, signing the agreement on Fort Sant’Angelo.

Top, right: Valletta. Malta. H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master announcing the opening of the year dedicated to the Nine Centuries of Life of the Order, present the maximum Government authorities of the Maltese Republic, and of the Sovereign Order, during the General Assembly at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

Bottom, left: H.E. the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Conte Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, with on his right, the Grand Commander, Ven. Bailiff Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein, and the Grand Hospitaller, H.E. Baron Albrecht von Boeselager, at the press conference held for the opening of the world gathering in Malta on 4 December 1998.

Bottom, right: Malta. La Valletta. The Order’s flag and the the flag of the Republic of Malta fly together on Fort St. Angel. The Fort was granted to the Sovereign Order under the agreement signed in 1998 andf is now the seat of the Accademia Internazionale Melitense.

 

  La Valletta. Malta. S.A. Em.ma il Principe e Gran Maestro insieme con le alte cariche dell’Ordine all’uscita dalla chiesa di Sant’Anna a Forte Sant’Angelo, dopo la Santa Messa celebrata dal Prelato dell’Ordine S.E. Mons. Donato de Bonis, alla presenza dei Presidenti e degli Ambasciatori dell’Ordine presenti al Raduno, il 4 e il 5 dicembre 1998.

Valletta. Malta. H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master together with authorities of the Order, exiting the church of Sant’Anna in Fort Sant’Angelo after the Holy Mass celebrated by the Prelate of the Order, Msgr. Donato de Bonis, in the presence of the Order’s Presidents and Ambassadors present to the gathering.