“To have managed to preserve, over the centuries and throughout the vicissitudes of every epoch, the same spirit of solidarity, vocation and assistance to the most needy in society, evoking the heritage of the founder and patron of the nursing procession, St. John of God”. With these words, the National College of Nurses in Spain, meeting in Seville, awarded the sixteenth edition of the St. John of God prize to the Order of Malta’s Spanish Association.

“Andalusia is a good place in which to work, thanks to your generosity,” asserted the Count of Orgaz, President of the Order’s Association in Spain, receiving the award from Josè Maria Rueda, president of the National College of Nurses.

The Count of Orgaz then recalled some of the Order’s projects in Andalusia, including the restoration of an ancient monastery in Granada, its commitment to young disabled people and the social integration programme that assists disadvantaged women during childbirth.