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.
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. |