(Rivista Internazionale - December 1998: SOLEMN ANNOUNCEMENT IN MALTA FOR SMOM’S NINE CENTURIES - 3/3)

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.

At the same time, mass was also celebrated in the church of St. Lorenzo a Vittoriosa for the other participants in the gathering. One of the most significant moments of the gathering, after the visit to Fort St. Angelo in the morning, was the lecture given by Prof. Giovanni Morello of the Vatican Apostolic Library on the Order’s origins. After careful research, it has been possible to give the date of 1099 to the first welfare and charitable activities of the Knights gathered around Blessed Gerar "Both the most reliable researchers into the Order’s history and modern historians of the crusades", pointed out Prof. Morello, "agree in considering that the Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem was born in the Holy City as a charitable foundation to assist the pilgrims who came to pray in the places of the life and passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A donation of Godfrey of Bouillon to Gerard really existed and is documented, albeit it has not come down to us. It is mentioned in a document of Baldwin I, his brother and successor.

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.

This document, dated 28th September 1110, the original of which is preserved in the Order’s Archive in Malta, confirms an earlier donation of lands and farmhouses, which Godfrey of Bouillon must have made between the taking of Jerusalem (15th July 1099) and his death (18th July 1100). It constitutes the first historically accepted document on the Order of Malta’s origins." In the afternoon the meeting continued in three separate sessions, followed by the solemn

La Valletta. Malta. 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.

conclusion, during which H.M.E.H. distributed the commemorative medal of the ninth centenary to all the Knights present. In the evening, the Grand Master offered a reception in the Order’s embassy in honour of participants in the gathering, attended by the President of the Republic of Malta, numerous personalities of the religious, political and cultural spheres, and members of the diplomatic corps. H.M.E.H. delivered a cooling system for the hospital to the President of the Republic, a donation to the Maltese Government. Meetings continued on 7th December with a mass concelebrated in St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina by the Archbishop of Atlanta, H.E. Msgr. Donoghue and H.E. Msgr. Vernel, in the presence of the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council, and with the meeting of the Presidents of the National Associations at Casa Lanfreducci, headquarters of the Maltese Association. In the evening, the President of the Maltese Association, H.E. Roger De Giorgio, together with the confreres who have co-ordinated the gathering in Malta offered all participants a farewell reception.
Because the gathering coincided with the publishing of the Rivista Internazionale, the texts of the speeches and the results of the separate sessions of the gathering will be highlighted in the next edition of the Rivista Internazionale.

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