Sovereign Order of Malta

Order of Malta

Sovereign Military Hospitaller
Order of St John of Jerusalem of
Rhodes and of Malta
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The Grand Masters

1100

First Grand Master

The Blessed Gerard

Circa 1040 - 1120

The founder and first Grand Master of the Order was born around 1040 in Scala, a village a few kilometres from Amalfi in southern Italy. In the second half of the 11th century he went to Jerusalem where he began to work in the hospital next to the church of St. Mary Latin, built by Amalfi merchants to receive pilgrims and tend the sick.

Legend has it that in 1099, during the Siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Blessed Gerard threw bread to them from the walls but when he was arrested the bread had miraculously turned into stones.

To build up the institution he ran, Blessed Gerard transformed it into a religious order dedicated to St. John Baptist. On 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II officially recognised the monastic community of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The pope’s document gives an indication of the role and importance of the Order’s founder and demonstrates the significance of the service offered to the pilgrims and the poor in the Jerusalem hospital. It also gives a list of its hospitals and hospices in France and Italy, proving that the order established by Blessed Gerard – a few decades after its foundation – was not limited to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem but already had a European dimension.

Blessed Gerard died in Jerusalem on 3 September 1120. His directions and his example constitutes the basis for the Order’s first written Rule issued by Fra’ Raymond de Puy – second Grand Master – between 1145 and 1153.
The Catholic Church venerates him as blessed and remembers him on 13 October.

The Grand Masters
2 Fra’ Raymond du Puy 1120 – c. 1158/60
3 Fra’ Auger de Balben c. 1158/60 – 1162/3
4 Fra’ Arnaud de Comps 1162 – 1163
5 Fra’ Gilbert de Aissailly 1163 – c.1169/70
6 Fra’ Gastone de Murols c. 1170 – c. 1172
7 Fra’ Joubert de Syrie c. 1172 – 1177
8 Fra’ Roger de Moulins 1177 – c. 1187
9 Fra’ Ermengard d’Aps 1188 – c. 1190
10 Fra’ Garnier de Naplous 1189/90 – 1192
11 Fra’ Godefroy de Donion 1193 – 1202

1048 Jerusalem

The birth of the Order of St. John dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorisation to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race.
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem – the monastic community which ran the hospital – became independent under the guidance of its founder, Blessed Gérard.

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1200
12 Fra’ Alfonso of Portugal 1203 – 1206
13 Fra’ Geoffrey Le Rat 1206 – 1207
14 Fra’ Guérin de Montaigu 1207 – c. 1227/8
15 Fra’ Bertrand de Thexis c. 1228 – 1231
16 Fra‘ Guerin 1236 – c. 1239/40
17 Fra’ Bertrand de Comps 1239/40 – 1242
18 Fra’ Pierre de Viellebride 1239/40 – 1242
19 Fra’ Guillaume de Chateauneuf 1242 – 1258
20 Fra’ Hugues de Revel 1258 – 1277
21 Fra’ Nicolas de Lorgue 1277 – 1284
22 Fra’ Jean de Villiers 1284/5 – c. 1293/4
23 Fra’ Odon de Pins 1294 – 1296
24 Fra’ Guillaume de Villaret 1296 – 1305
1300
25 Fra’ Foulques de Villaret 1305 – 1319
26 Fra’ Helion de Villeneuve 1319 – 1346
27 Fra’ Dieudonné de Gozon 1346 – 1353
28 Fra’ Pierre de Corneillan 1353 – 1355
29 Fra’ Roger de Pins 1355 – 1365
30 Fra’ Raymond Berenger 1365 – 1374
31 Fra’ Robert de Juliac 1374 – 1376
32 Fra’ Jean Fernandez de Heredia 1376 – 1396
33 Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo 1383 – 1395
34 Fra’ Philibert de Naillac 1396 – 1421
1400
35 Fra’ Antonio Fluvian de Riviere 1421 – 1437
36 Fra‘ Jean de Lastin 1437-1454
37 Fra’ Jacques de Milly 1454 – 1461
38 Fra’ Piero Raimondo Zacosta 1461 – 1467
39 Fra’ Giovanni Battista Orsini 1467 – 1476
40 Fra’ Pierre d’Aubusson 1476 – 1503
1500
41 Fra’ Emery d’Amboise 1503 – 1512
42 Fra’ Guy de Blanchefort 1512 – 1513
43 Fra’ Fabrizio del Carretto 1513 – 1521
44 Fra’ Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam 1521 – 1534
45 Fra’ Pierino del Ponte 1534 – 1535
46 Fra’ Didier de Saint-Jaille 1535 – 1536
47 Fra’ Jean de Homedes 1536 – 1553
48 Fra’ Claude de la Sengle 1553 – 1557
49 Fra’ Jean de La Vallette-Parisot 1557 – 1568
50 Fra’ Pierre de Monte 1568 – 1572
51 Fra’ Jean l’Evesque de La Cassière 1572 – 1581
52 Fra’ Hugues Loubenx de Verdala 1581 – 1595
53 Fra’ Martin Garzez 1595 – 1601
1600
54 Fra’ Alof de Wignacourt 1601 – 1622
55 Fra’ Luis Mendez de Vasconcellos 1622 – 1623
56 Fra’ Antoine de Paule 1623 – 1636
57 Fra’ Jean-Paul de Lascaris-Castellar 1636 – 1657
58 Fra’ Martín de Redín 1657 – 1660
59 Fra’ Annet de Clermont-Gessant 1660
60 Fra’ Raphael Cotoner 1660 – 1663
61 Fra’ Nicolas Cotoner 1663 – 1680
62 Fra’ Gregorio Carafa 1680 – 1690
63 Fra’ Adrien de Wignacourt 1690 – 1697
64 Fra’ Ramon Perellos y Roccaful 1697 – 1720
1700
65 Fra’ Marc’Antonio Zondadari 1720 – 1722
66 Fra’ Antonio Manoel de Vilhena 1722 – 1736
67 Fra’ Raymond Despuig 1736 – 1741
68 Fra’ Manuel Pinto de Fonseca 1741 – 1773
69 Fra’ Francisco Ximenes de Texada 1773 – 1775
70 Fra’ Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc 1775 – 1797
71 Fra’ Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim 1797 – 1802
1800
72 Emperor Paul I of Russia 1799 – 1801 (de facto)
73 Fra’ Giovanni Battista Tommasi 1803 – 1805
74 Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce 1879 – 1905
1900
75 Fra’ Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein 1905 – 1931
76 Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere 1931 – 1951
77 Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna 1962 – 1988
78 Fra’ Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie 1988 – 2008
2000
79 Fra’ Matthew Festing 2008 – 2017
80 Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto 2018 - 2020
81 Fra' John Dunlap 2023 -

Lieutenants of the Grand Magistry

1 Fra’ Innico Maria Guevara-Suardo 1805-1814
2 Fra’ André Di Giovanni 1814-1821
3 Fra’ Antoine Busca 1821-1834
4 Fra’ Carlo Candida 1834-1845
5 Fra’ Philippe di Colloredo-Mels 1845-1864
6 Fra’ Alessandro Borgia 1865-1872
7 Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce 1872-1879
8 Fra’ Antoine Hercolani Fava Simonetti 1951-1955

Lieutenants of the Grand Master

1 Fra’ Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri (during 75th Grand Master’s illness) 1929-1931
2 Fra’ Ernesto Paternò Castello di Carcaci 1955-1962
3 Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto 2017-2018
4 Fra’ Marco Luzzago 2020-2022
5 Fra’ John T. Dunlap 2022-2023

Lieutenants ad interim

1 Fra’ Jean Charles Pallavicini 1988 (gen-apr)
2 Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto 2008 (feb-mar)
3 Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein 2017 (gen-apr)
4 Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas-Boas 2020 (apr-nov )
5 Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas-Boas 2022 (june-june)