BLESSED GERARD TONQUE AND HIS "EVERLASTING BROTHERHOOD": THE ORDER
OF ST. JOHN.

The foundation and spiritual roots of the Hospital Order of St.
John of Jerusalem.

For "the holy sick, our blessed Lords" and for all, who continue
the spiritual tradition of the Order of St. John at present in
living deeds serving under the Maltese Cross.

LIST OF CONTENTS

�  Prologue to this English version electronically published in
the Internet

�  Prologue to the revised printed version

�  Prologue to the original version as typescript

�  Introduction

PART I: Historical Remarks

1.Circumstances

2.Historical developments until the foundation of the Order of St.
John

3.The Foundation of the Order of St. John through Blessed Gerard

4.The second director of the Hospital Community: Raymond du Puy

5.The further development in Jerusalem

PART II

A. The spirituality of the Order of St. John

1.Sources: The Order's Rule and its Statutes 2.The Spirituality of
the Order of St. John - its practise and philosophy

�  a. The Conception of God

�  b. The Liturgy

�  c. The Sacraments

�  d. The Conception of Man

�  e. The Asceticism

�  f. The Veneration of the Saints

�  g. The Works of Charity =>The Hospitality

B. Sources of the Spiritual Heritage

C. The Innovation in the Spiritual Heritage

�  1. The vow of chastity

�  2. The Poor of Christ

�  3. The Hospitality

�  4. The Genesis of the Rule of the Order of St. John

D. The Influence of the Order

Conclusion and Prospect

Part III: The Text of the Rule and first Statutes

A. The Rule of Blessed Raymond du Puy

B. Statutes of Fr. Jobert

�  1. The Chapter General of 1176

�  2. The Chapter General of 1177

C. The Hospital Regulations of Roger de Moulins

Epilogue

Bibliography

PROLOGUE to this English version electronically published in the
Internet

Since I founded the South African Relief Organisation of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Brotherhood of Blessed
Gerard, in 1992, it had been my desire to give profound background
information on the person of Blessed Gerard, in whose honour our
organisation was named the Brotherhood of Blessed Gerard. It has
been a long process to plan, translate and prepare this edition
and it has actually become an entirely revised and augmented
version. First I had planned to publish it as printed media, but
the times have changed and electronic media are taking over from
libraries. I must admit, that this is an experiment and very much
a Beta-Version. If you find any mistakes (English is not my mother
tongue), or have any other comments and suggestions, please
contact me at [email protected]. This Beta-Version does not include
all pictures yet and is missing several chapters, which are still
in preparation. Please be patient.

Yours sincerely

Father Gerard Tonque Lagleder O.S.B.

PROLOGUE to the German revised printed version:

Gerhard Tonque Lagleder: Die Ordensregel der Johanniter/Malteser.
Die geistlichen Grundlagen des Johanniter-/Malteserordens, mit
einer Edition und �bersetzung der drei altesten
Regelhandschriften. EOS Verlag der Erzabtei St. Ottilien. 1983
(ISBN 3-88096-151-4) - (The Rule of the Order of St. John / Malta.
The spiritual foundations of the Order of St. John / Malta, with a
publication and translation of the Rule's three oldest
manuscripts. EOS Publishing House of St. Ottilien Archabbey. 1983)

Moved by immense personal joy I submit to the reader this work on
the spiritual foundations of the Order of St. John / Malta. It is
based on my theological dissertation which I submitted on
September 1, 1980, to the Catholic Theological Faculty of the
University of Regensburg (Germany) as a typescript under the
title:

"DAS NEUE IN DER GEISTLICHEN TRADITION DES JOHANNITERORDENS. Eine
Untersuchung und Darstellung der geistlichen Grundlagen des
Johanniterordens, ihrer Tradition und eigenstandigen Elemente." -
(The innovation in the spiritual heritage of the Order of St.
John. A survey and description of the spiritual foundations of the
Order of St. John, their tradition and independent elements).

In the meantime I was asked by various people for one or several
copies of the work or to publish it. This may be done herewith.
The study does neither claim scientific meticulousness nor
completeness. It rather aims mainly at the interested member of
every organisation serving under the Maltese cross, to introduce
them to the foundations of the service which they render. This
study originally served scientific purposes as a dissertation, but
this version wants to reach a wider group of interested people.
Therefore I revised it entirely and simplified it linguistically
(especially in Part I), I added new scientific findings and
totally restructured Part III. My brother Johannes Lagleder,
Neuburg/Donau (Germany) and especially my father emeritus vice
principal Hans Lagleder, Alt�tting (Germany), both university
graduates in history , German and geography, who contributed the
essential part of the transcription and translation of the
medieval German manuscript, assisted me greatly.

The printing would not have been possible without somebody taking
its financial risk, which was taken over in the friendly
generosity, which is typical of the personality of Grand Cross of
Obedience, Valentin Count of Ballestrem KM, Straubing (Germany). I
would hereby also like to express my special gratitude to him. My
gratitude is due to the EOS Publishing house, St. Ottilien
(Germany), and its director Fr. Dr. Bernhard Sirch O.S.B. and his
staff, especially Bro. Otto Steidle O.S.B. and last but not least,
my venerable religious superior, His Grace, the Right Reverend
Archabbot Notker Wolf O.S.B. and Rev Fr. Ansgar Schmid O.S.B., who
gracefully relieved me from other duties for the revision and
printing of this study. I wish all readers may benefit richly
through this reading and be caught by that spirit, which is not
only the basis, but - because it is Holy Spirit - the source of
strength and the aim of the service under the Maltese cross.

St. Ottilien, on the memorial of the founder of the Order, Blessed
Gerard Tonque, September 3, 1983

Fr. Gerard Tonque Lagleder O.S.B.

PROLOGUE to the original version as typescript

There is a multitude of surveys and descriptions of the history of
the Order of St. John. They extensively describe its political
development, its juridical history and its hospitality; but it is
appropriate, to acknowledge the spiritual tradition of the Order
in a more apt degree. But it cannot and will not be the aim of
this work, to elaborate a compendium of its religious and
spiritual history, but rather to make a modest contribution to
illuminate its development of ideas and the innovation which the
order of St. John represented through its foundation for the
history of religious orders.

The inner motivation to deal with this theme lies in the fact that
I have found myself in the service under the Maltese cross a field
of activity where I want to strive to exercise Christian charity
effectively; moreover I found in the spiritual foundation of the
Order of Malta a spiritual home, which moulded my inner yearning
for personal imitation of Christ. Therefore dealing with the
spiritual heritage of the order is a personal matter of concern to
me, not without the intention, to pass on my enthusiasm to others.

I want to express my gratitude to all those, who accompanied and
supported the development of this work.

First and foremost my deep gratitude is owed to Professor DDr. Fr.
Gerhard Bernhard Winkler O.Cist., the professor of medieval and
modern church history of the University of Regensburg (Germany),
who I submitted this work to as a dissertation. He gave me great
freedom in the choosing and elaboration of this theme, the
decisive impulse and several precious hints. I owe immense
gratitude to the Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Order of the
Knights of Malta, Rome (Italy), namely his excellency, the Ven.
Bailli Fra Oberto Pallavicini KM., for his generous friendly
permission to use the Biblioteca Magistrale there and for the
support of my work by numerous reproductions of sources and rare
literature. I also thank the former counsellor of the Government
of the Order, grand cross of obedience Hans Ludolf von Kotze KM,
Munich (Germany), and the librarian of the Biblioteca Magistrale,
Signora Irene Topai, for her very friendly and patient assistance.
I owe special thanks the direction of the Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana, Vatican City, namely its prefect, His Excellency
Archbishop Dr. Stickler, in whose manuscripts' department I was
able to study the basic sources, and to the director of the German
College in the Vatican, Professor Dr. Erwin Gatz. I also thank the
State Archives of the Canton of Aargau, Aarau (Switzerland), The
Bavarian Main State Archives and the Bavarian State Library,
Munich (Germany), and the Library of the University of Regensburg
(Germany), especially its department for ordering books from other
libraries.

The emeritus Hospitaller of the Order of the Knights of Malta, his
Excellency, the Honourable Bailli grand cross of obedience Dr.
jur. Carl Wolfgang Count of Ballestrem KM, Hardheim (Germany),
sponsored my work with great personal interest and very precious
hints and help, which I am especially grateful for. My further
thanks are due to the Secretariate General of Malteser-
Hilfsdienst, Cologne (Germany), namely its Deputy Secretary
General, Mr. Heinz Himmels, who provided me with several books out
of his library, the emeritus Commander of Malteser-Hospitaldienst
Austria, grand cross of obedience Counsellor Dr. Berthold Count of
Waldstein-Wartenberg KM, Vienna (Austria), Fr. DDr. Adolar
Zumkeller O.S.A., W�rzburg (Germany), Fr. Stephan Senft O.S.A.,
Regensburg (Germany), the Superior General of the Malteser-
Schwesternhelferinnen, Rose baroness of Oer, Legden (Germany), the
Malteser-Hilfsdienst in the Diocese of Regensburg (Germany) and
its Director, grand cross of obedience Valentin Count of
Ballestrem KM, Fr. Dominik Conrad O.H., Frankfurt am Main
(Germany), Rev. Sr. M. Theresa Brenninkmeijer O.Cist., Sostrup
(Denmark), Rev Arnold Pirner, Neustadt/WN (Germany) and my father
emeritus deputy principal Hans Lagleder, Alt�tting (Germany), and
my brother Johannes Lagleder, Neuburg/Donau (Germany) for numerous
hints and help.

INTRODUCTION

There are many religious orders of chivalry recorded in the books
of church history - more and less important ones, older and
younger ones, still active ones and those whose fame is known
through books of history only. I am going to tell you now about
the oldest one of those religious orders of chivalry which still
gives us a testimony of its great history by continued service to
those who it was founded for. It is the Order of St. John. It is
officially called "The Sovereign Military Order of St. John of
Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta." In the course of history, we
find many different abbreviated names for the Order, namely the
Order of the Hospital, the Order of Rhodes, the Order of St. John,
the Order of Malta. All those names were used for the whole Order
until the time of the Reformation. Since the Reformation the
catholic root of the order is usually called Order of Malta or The
Knights of Malta, whereas the Lutheran and Anglican offspring of
it use the name "Order of St. John". The (hi)story I am telling
you is more than 600 years older than the Reformation. Therefore I
use the original name for the whole order, being "Order of St.
John" not meaning its Lutheran or Anglican offspring only. This
Order of St. John played an important role in the history of the
Religious Orders of the Church and in world history. It was
founded as "The brotherhood of the Hospital at Jerusalem". Later
on it became a religious Order, then a Religious Military Order ,
later it even became a Sovereign Subject, but then it lost its
territory, but remained sovereign and today it still acts
according to its motto "tuition of faith and obsequiousness to the
poor" as a religious Order and also as a subject of sovereignty.
It is important to know the historical situation and development
and the facts and circumstances of spiritual life before, during
and after its foundation, in order to properly understand the
character and activities of the Order in the course of its
history. This is what this book is all about. This historical
research is limited to the first main phase of the history of the
Order of St. John. This is the time from its origins until its
expulsion from Jerusalem in 1187. First I want to tell you about
the historical facts which were partly the reason for the
foundation of the Order, partly the circumstances of its
foundation and development and partly the result of those.

PART I   Historical Remarks

1. Circumstances

The historical events of the 11th century have largely influenced
and partly caused the origin of the Order of St. John. Many
faithful from the Christian Occident used to make pilgrimages to
Jerusalem since Helena, the mother of the Roman Caesar
Constantine, had found the grave of Christ - which is commonly
referred to as "The Holy Sepulchre" - again, had it restored and
had a church built at its site.

The Church was persecuted all during the first centuries of its
existence by the Roman Empire and its Emperors, the Caesars. It
was Caesar Constantine who was attracted by Jesus Christ and his
Church so that he converted himself and he was so much convinced
that the Christian religion is the right way, that he even made it
the official religion of his empire. Constantine's mother Helena
wanted to find out more about the origins of Christianity. That is
why she initiated archaeological research in Israel, the country
where Jesus Christ was born and lived, preached, healed, suffered,
died and rose from the dead. As a result of that the grave in
which Jesus' body was laid after his death on the cross and which
he left alive after his resurrection, was found. This tomb of
Jesus is commonly referred to as "The Holy Sepulchre". Helena had
it restored and she had a church built at its site. As the
Christians were not persecuted any longer, soon many faithful came
to Jerusalem as pilgrims to see and to literally get into touch
with those places where Jesus redeemed us, to pray there and to
celebrate the memory of Christ's death and resurrection in the
Holy Eucharist together. These pilgrimages continued during many
hundreds of years. Pope St. Leo IX. granted the "Indulgence of the
Cross" for those who undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre
in AD. 1053. When people went to confession in those olden times
the penance they were given by the priest was not only some short
prayers, but sometimes a real hard exercise for maybe many months
or even years. To shorten this time of penance the Pope could
grant an indulgence taking off part of the penance or all the rest
of it. Such an indulgence was granted to those who made a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Other priests used to directly give grave
sinners, e.g. murderers, the penance to make a pilgrimage to the
Holy Sepulchre. But we must be aware that in those times there
were no aeroplanes and no cars. Going to Jerusalem meant therefore
to ride on horseback for many weeks facing all the dangers of a
long tour as a stranger through foreign countries without regular
supplies and security. No wonder, that most of those pilgrims
arrived in Jerusalem being sick and exhausted. Therefore there was
an urgent necessity to create an institution to accommodate and
nurse those pilgrims. Next to the Holy Sepulchre there was a
Benedictine Monastery called St. Maria Latina. Like all
Benedictine monasteries it also had a house for the guests and
visitors. This guest house became more and more a hospital because
of the above mentioned reasons. It was a French monk called
Brother Gerard Tonque who was given the responsibility to look
after the guests by his monastic superior.

The early history and development of the Order of St. John was
largely influenced by the crusades, but they were not the cause of
its origin. Or in other words: If there would not have been
crusades the Order of St. John would still have existed but surely
it would have developed quite differently. The cause for the
crusades was that the Ottoman Empire occupied the Holy Land and
that the Christian Occident wanted to get it back out of the hands
of who they called infidels. It came like that: AD 637/638 the
Saracens took over Jerusalem and impeded the Christians to
celebrate their cult. From AD 969 the Christians were oppressed,
ill-treated and taxed by the Fatimid Rulers. The assault of the
Seljuks in AD 1071 demolished nearly the whole Christian
Jerusalem. Therefore Pope Blessed Urban II. proclaimed in Clermont
(in France) a "Holy War" against the oppressors of the Holy Land.
Later on St. Bernard of Clairvaux became one of the most important
promoters of the idea of the crusades. Even if most civilised
nations think differently in our days, in those times people felt,
that a "Holy War" would be justified being the fight against
infidels and heretics serving the pope. Already St. Augustine of
Hippo used the expression "bellum iustum" (justified war) and St.
Thomas Aquinas calls the conditions of its justification to be
"iusta causa" (just cause), "recta intentio" (right intention),
"legitima potestas" (legitimate power), "debitus modus" (right
mode) and the principle of discerning the goods. The chivalry of
the Occident went off into a strange remote country claiming to
free the Holy Sepulchre and to restore the Honour of God. That is
how they understood what they were doing. The occidental chivalry
actually had the ideal precondition for the realisation of the
idea of the crusades: The philosophy of chivalry was the ideal of
service for the church and Christianity, for the Lord and for the
women (i.e. to be a gentleman).

2. Historical developments up to the foundation of the Order of
St. John.

The year AD 1099 is nowadays commonly agreed upon to be the year
of the foundation of the Order of St. John. I'll tell you later on
in detail about it. There are many legendary stories and reports
about the origin, because there are only few written sources of
evidence which could proof what the historical facts really are.
The spectrum of traditions stretches from dating back the origins
into times before Christ, in order to show off with a history as
long as possible, to the hypothesis of a totally independent
spontaneous foundation in AD 1099.

William of St. Stephen (a French historian) tells the legend, the
Jewish high priest Melchior would have dishonoured the grave of
King David, what King Antiochus wanted to punish him for. Divine
inspiration would have influenced Antiochus to spare Melchior and
to change the deserved sentence into making Melchior build a
hospice by means of the stolen treasure right at that place which
was destined to be sanctified later on by being the site of
Christ's crucifixion. Judas Maccabeus would have supported the new
foundation considerably. Later on Zacharia, the father of John the
Baptist - who is the patron saint of the Order of St. John and
whom it is named after - would have taken over the management of
that hospital. When Julian the Roman succeeded Zacharia in
managing the hospital Christ himself would have visited the
hospital. Even St. Stephen - predestined for this task by being
the first deacon of the church - is said to have been the superior
of the order. This legend seems to come from the 12th century, as
in AD 1291 people in Rome were convinced, the hospital of
Jerusalem would have been the scene of many events of the New
Testament, and in AD 1260 the Master of the Hospital himself
assumed, Stephen would have been one of his predecessors. William
of St. Stephen could not verify the authenticity of that legend
and thought, the hospital would have seized when Jerusalem was
deleted by Titus.

Louis Beurrier, an old French writer, claims the hospital was
founded by John Hircanus, of the family of the Maccabees, to
receive the pilgrims coming to Solomon's Temple one hundred and
fifty years before the birth of Christ.

William Caoursin published in 1496 that the hospital would have
been founded by Judas Maccabeus himself, the apostle St. Peter
would have been given the keys of heaven by Jesus right in that
hospital, the first council of the church would have taken place
there, St. Stephen would have been its manager and he would have
nominated St. John the Baptist to be the patron saint of the
hospital.

A. v. Winterfeld (a German historian) wrote in 1859, that Caesar
Constantine and his mother Helena would already have instituted
hospitals to accommodate and nurse pilgrims in the Holy Land and
on the routes leading to Jerusalem.

Masson claims: "Their (the Hospitallers') birthplace was the
celebrated hospital built by Justinian (he headed the Byzantine
Realm from AD 527 to 565) in Jerusalem."

Historically proven is the fact that Pope Gregory the Great sent
Abbot Probus to Jerusalem at the end of the 6th century to erect a
xenodocheum (the Greek word xenodokeo means verbally translated:
to render hospitality) there. Breycha-Vauthier de Baillamont even
talks about a hospital, a hospice and a church whose patron saint
was Mary. It was called St. Maria Latina in order to distinguish
it from the Greek church of St. Mary. This hospital was finished
in 603 and was probably destroyed in 614 by the Persians.

Charles the Great (Charlemagne) renewed Gregory's institution
towards the end of the 8th century with the permission of Haroun
al Raschid, the famous caliph of the Arabian Nights and put it
under the supervision of the Benedictine monastery at the church
of St. Maria Latina. The pilgrim's report of the monk Bernard
reports about this hospital about AD 870. It was destroyed by the
fanatical caliph Hakem Biamrillah alias El-Hakim probably about AD
1010 together with the church of the Holy Sepulchre and many other
Christian buildings, in spite of the fact that his mother was a
Christian.

Merchants from Amalfi in the Realm of Naples (Italy) rebuilt the
church and monastery of St. Maria Latina in AD 1023 after tough
negotiations with Mustesaph, caliph of Egypt, under the leadership
of Pantaleon Mauro. Once again Benedictine monks took charge of it
and they accommodated male pilgrims in the monastery. For female
pilgrims a hospice on its own was erected, whose chapel was
dedicated to St. Maria Magdalene. Another hospice for male
pilgrims was built too, whose chapel was dedicated to St. John the
Almoner.

Directors were in charge of these branch hospices, who initially
either were Benedictine monks or who were nominated by the
Benedictine order. Historical sources name a master Anzelinus and
later a superior Geraldus to be directors of the hospice of St.
John. The hospice of St. Maria Magdalene is said to have been
directed by a noble roman lady with the name of Agnes.
Archaeological evidence proofs the early existence of these three
institutions.

It is uncertain, but not impossible, that there is a continuity
between the Gregorian, the Carolinian and the Amalfitan
institutions in the course of history.

Some historians report, that Godfrey of Bouillon had found the
hospital being running after having taken Jerusalem on July 15,
1099 ( which event and date represent the goal and end of the
First Crusade ) and the sick and hurt crusaders would have been
nursed therein. Being taken with the magnanimity of the
Brotherhood Godfrey would have made rich donations to the
hospital, which enabled it to become independent. Gerard, its
director, therefore would have terminated the connection to the
mother hospital of St. Maria Latina and would have gone his own
ways. However, the hospital next to the monastery of St. Maria
Latina received its own donations already in AD 1099.

Another group of historians states, the hospital would have been
founded before AD 1099 and would not have any direct or indirect
connections to the Amalfitan institutions. According to these
hypothesises Gerard is now called the first director or founder of
either the Amalfitan hospital or of the hospital erected after the
conquest of Jerusalem. In the same way as the exact origins of the
hospital are not totally known, the origins / descent of Gerard
himself are not clear.

There are two opposite opinions: One of them is in going with the
hypothesis of the independent foundation of the Hospital and
considers Gerard to come from the Provence (in Southern France,
i.e. the area round Marseilles), namely from the island of
Martigue and gives him the surname "Tonque" (or Tum, Tom, Tenc,
Tunc, Tonc, Tanque, Tenque). The other opinion is in going with
the hypothesis of the continuity of the Hospital's tradition and
considers Gerard's home to be Amalfi or Scala in Southern Italy
and gives him the surname "del Sasso".

It should not be my task, to discuss these hypothesises or to
report on further variations thereof. I am moreover convinced that
neither the latter hypothesis would be a condition to demonstrate
the exceptional importance of the foundation, nor that the first
hypothesis would diminish the said importance:

The hospice of St. John is the historical cradle of the
contemporary Order of the Knights of Malta.

3. The Foundation of the Order of St. John through Blessed Gerard

Concerning what I call in a particular sense the foundation of the
Order of St. John, the opinions of the scientists differ
considerably according to their intention, either to proof the
independence of the foundation, or to proof a long tradition. The
one group of historians states, the hospital would have been
destroyed in the Seljuks' Raid AD 1070 - 1078 and would have been
rebuilt soon afterwards. Other historians think, the hospital
would have withstood the Seljuks' Raid and its director would also
have been in Jerusalem during the siege in 1099.

A fresco in the Chapel of the contemporary Grand Magistry in the
Via Condotti in Rome depicts Blessed Gerard (Beato Gherardo)
chained with a loaf of bread in the left hand. This reminds us of
the legend which tells us, Blessed Gerard would have thrown loaves
of bread over the walls of Jerusalem to the hungry crusaders
during the siege of six weeks preceding the conquest. He would
have been caught and brought before the Ottoman defenders to be
charged for supporting the enemy. When evidence was to be produced
the loaves of bread in his coat had miraculously changed into
stones and Blessed Gerard was acquitted.

Blessed Gerard reorganised the former guest house, which was then
the hospice or hospital of Jerusalem totally in AD 1099, the year
of the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders. Of course, he had
to do so, because there was a vast increase of patients admitted
to the hospital from among the crusaders themselves and all those
who followed their trail as pilgrims again into the freed Holy
City. This reorganisation is considered the foundation of the
Order of St. John.

For this work it is irrelevant if that reorganisation now means
either the detachment from the maybe still existing mother
monastery of St. Maria Latina and the modification of the Rule of
St. Benedict, or the gradual change of the Brotherhood of the
hospital, which was presided over by Gerard, into a religious
order in the sense of a daughter foundation, which now took on a
mother's role for the Brotherhood which continued to exist. It is
certain, that from this time on the Brothers of the Order , which
since then is called the Order of St. John, vow to live a life
according to the Evangelical Counsels - poverty, chastity and
obedience -, wear their own religious vestments ( a black habit
with a white beam cross at the left side) and live according to
their own regulations. Unfortunately these original regulations
got lost, but we may assume, that is was - like the first
preserved Rule of Gerard's successor, Raymond du Puy - a
conglomerate consisting of Augustinian and Benedictine ingredients
with own additions. Therefore I cannot second the opinion , that
the Community under Gerard's leadership would have been nothing
more than a group of people of similar interests loosely joined
together. This is not in contradiction to the fact that in the
particular sense of Canon Law we can call the Community an
independent order only since the time between 1135 and 1153.

Many pilgrims joined the newly founded order (when it was first
founded) as helpers and brothers already in Gerard's times. Rich
donations, e.g. by Godfrey of Bouillon and King Baldwin I (1108)
enabled Gerard amongst other things to erect branch hospitals in
European Mediterranean harbours. Already before 1113 there were
branch hospices at the castle of St. Egid, in Asti, Pisa, Bari,
Ydrontum, Tarent and Messina. Pilgrims, who got sick, should be
treated there at an early stage, because otherwise the influx of
sick pilgrims into the Hospital of Jerusalem would have become too
big, especially as the passage to Jerusalem was free again in
these times and therefore big amounts of pilgrims came to
Jerusalem again.

Pope Paschal II. confirmed on February 15, 1113 through the bull
"Pie postulatio voluntatis" the hospital community as a religious
order, he took on the protectorate of the hospital and confirmed
the acquisitions and donations of the order in Europe and Asia.
The text (in English translation) is as follows:

PAPAL BULL CONFIRMING THE FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER dated 15th
February 1113

�  Paschal the Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his
venerable son Gerard, founder and Provost (prepositus) of the
Xenodocheum of Jerusalem, and to his lawful successors forever.

�  A pious request and desire should meet with satisfaction and
fulfilment. For as much as of your affection you have requested
that the Xenodocheum, which you have founded in the City of
Jerusalem, near to the Church of the Blessed John Baptist, should
be supported by the Apostolic See, and fostered by the patronage
of the Blessed Apostle Peter. We therefore, Being much pleased
with the piety and earnestness of your Hospital work
(Hospitalitas), do receive your petition with paternal kindness,
and do ordain by virtue of the present decree that the House of
God the Xenodocheum shall always be under the guardianship of the
Apostolic See, and the protection of the Blessed Peter.

�  All things therefore that have been acquired for the said
Xenodocheum by your solicitude and perseverance, for the support
of pilgrims, and for the needs of the poor, whether in the Church
in Jerusalem or in the parishes of churches in the territory of
other cities, or have been presented by faithful men, no matter
who, or may be presented in the future by the Grace of God, or may
happen to be acquired by other lawful means, and whatsoever things
have been granted, by our venerable brethren the Bishops of the
Church in Jerusalem, either to you or to your successors and to
the brethren there occupied in the care of the pilgrims, we decree
shall be held forever in peace and undiminished.

�  Moreover we ordain that the Tithes of your produce. where so
ever collected at your charge and by your labour, shall be held
and possessed by your Xenodocheum, notwithstanding the opposition
of the Bishops and of the episcopal officers.

�  The donations also, which pious Princes have made to the said
Xenodocheum from taxes and other imposts, we decree shall be held
confirmed.

�  And at your death, who art now the overseer (provisor) and
Provost of that place, no one shall be appointed there by subtlety
or intrigue or violence, but only he whom the professed brethren
there shall provide and elect in accordance with God's will.

�  Moreover all honours or possessions, which the said Xenodocheum
at present holds either beyond or on this side the sea, that is to
say in Asia or in Europe, or those which in the future by the
bounty of God it shall obtain, we confirm them to you and to your
successors, who shall be devoting themselves to hospital work with
piety and earnestness, and through you to the said Xenodocheum
forever.

�  To this we further decree that it shall be lawful for no man
whatsoever rashly to disturb the said Xenodocheum, or to carry off
its possessions, or to retain those carried off, or to lesson
them, or to harass it with vexatious annoyances. But let all its
possessions be preserved undiminished for the sole use and
enjoyment of those for whose maintenance and support they have
been granted.

�  Moreover we decree that the Xenodochea or Ptochea in the
western parts at Bourg St. Gilles, Asti, Pisa, Bari, Otranto,
Tarento, and Messina, known by the name and style of Jerusalem
shall remain as they are today under your rule and disposition and
those of your successors forever.

�  If therefore in the future any person, either ecclesiastic or
secular, knowing this chapter of our ordinances should rashly
attempt to contravene them, and if after a second or third warning
he shall not make satisfactory and suitable amends, let him be
deprived of his dignity, power and honour, and let him know he
stand accused before the tribunal of God for iniquity that he has
perpetrated, and let him be kept from the most Sacred Body and
Blood of our God and Redeemer our Lord Jesus Christ, and at the
Last Judgement let him undergo the severest punishment. But upon
all those dealing justly towards the said place may the peace of
our Lord Jesus Christ rest, and here they may receive the reward
of good conduct, and before the universal Judge may enjoy the
blessings of everlasting peace. Amen. Amen.

�  I Paschal Bishop of the Catholic Church have signed.

�  I Richard Bishop of Albano have signed.

�  I Landulf Archbishop of Benevento have read and signed.

�  I Conan Bishop of the Church of Praeneste have read and signed.

�  I Anastasius Cardinal Priest of San Clemente have signed.

�  I John Bishop of Malta have read and signed.

�  I Romoald Cardinal Deacon of the Church of Rome have signed.

�  I Gregory Cardinal Priest of San Crisogono have read and
signed.

�  Given at Benevento by the hand of John, Cardinal of the Holy
Roman Church and Librarian , on the 15th day before the Calends of
March, in the 6th Indiction, in the year 1113 of the Incarnation
of Our Lord, and in the 14th year of the Pontificate of our Lord
Pope Paschal II. Fare you well.

(End of the text of Pope Paschal II's bull "Pie postulatio
voluntatis")

Already at that early stage (before 1113) the Order had spread to
Europe. The above bull quotes a xenodocheum in St. Gilles, which
lies in the Provence in France and xenodochea in Asti, Bari, Pisa,
Otranto, Tarent and Messina (all in Italy).

Pope Calixtus II. confirmed the privileges and possessions of the
hospital and especially Pope Paschal II's bull "Pie postulatio
voluntatis" through his bull "Ad hoc nos" dated June 19, 1119. The
order started to become exempt gradually already at Gerard's
times, but initially - except the exemption from tithes - not yet
from the episcopal jurisdiction. Papal bulls from this and the
following times proof that.

Gerard died on September 3, 1120. The French historian of the
Order of St. John, the Abbot of Vert�t, mourns: "The Hospitallers
lost the Blessed Gerard, the father of the poor and of the
pilgrims; that virtuous man, having arrived at an exceeding old
age, expired in the arms of his brethren, almost without any
sickness, and fell, as we may say, like a fruit ripe for
eternity."

4. The second director of the Hospital Community: Raymond du Puy

Grandmaster from AD 1125 - 1158

The Hospitallers elected Raymond du Puy as the successor of
Blessed Gerard. It is Raymond's lasting merit to have codified the
Order's Rule, which is being used here as the main source for
elaborating the theme. The Hospitaller Order was being transformed
under his direction into a Military Order, following the example
of the Knights Templars and so it took on military tasks besides
the charitable ones. This is no surprise, because there were many
knights members of the Order already. Providing security to the
pilgrims on their way from and to Jerusalem and in the hospitals
was just a consequence of their aim to ca for their Lords totally.
The King of Jerusalem Fulko III. entrusted Raymond du Puy with the
defence of the town of Beerseba in AD 1131, the border castle of
Beit Dschibrin in AD 1136 and the castle Crac des Chevaliers in AD
1142. The double role of the Order of St. John as a military and a
hospital Order is first reflected in a

papal fund-raising appeal from 20 February 1131, the circular
letter "Quam amabilis Deo" of Pope Innocent II.:

�  "Innocent bishop, to the reverend brothers, the Archbishops,
Bishops etc. salutation and apostolic blessing. How pleasing to
God and highly revered the Xenodocheum of Jerusalem is, what
pleasant and valuable accommodation it offers to the poor
pilgrims, those have experienced sufficiently, who driven by
internal piety, visit the Holy City Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of
the Lord enduring the dangers at sea and the dangers at land... .
There (in the hospital of Jerusalem) the poor and miserable are
being convalesced. The Sick are being administered a thousand
kinds of services of charity. Those who are harmed by manifold
constrains and dangers are getting back there their old vigour and
in order to enable them to visit the places, which were sanctified
by the life of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the brethren of
this house always prepared to risk their life for their brothers
(the pilgrims) undertake to protect the pilgrims from the attacks
of the infidels on their way to and fro through squires and
animals used for riding which are very specially selected for this
purpose... . These are the people who God uses to cleanse the
Oriental Church from the dirt of the infidels and to fight the
enemies of the Christian name. Because their own funds are not
sufficient for a work so pious and pleasing to God, we appeal by
means of this bull to your charity, that you may remedy the need
of those by means of your abundance and emphatically urge the
flock entrusted to you , to join their Brotherhood and to
undertake collections for the upkeep of the pilgrims and the
needy, which results at the same time in the forgiveness of
sins... . To increase their (the brothers commissioned to raise
funds) income we order you, that you make known this statute to
your parishioners by special letters; we further prescribe, that,
if some of your clergy want to serve the brethren of the named
hospital with the permission of their spiritual superior willingly
and voluntarily for a period of one or two years, that they must
not be prevented to do so and they must not forfeit their feoffs
and income.

Given at Chalons on this 20th day of February, in the eighth
Indiction, in the first year of the pontificate of Pope Innocent
II."

The Pope's appeal to join the Brotherhood does not refer to the
order itself or to the Brotherhood of St. John which the order
developed from, but a new institute, similar to the contemporary
Third Order of St. Francis or the Benedictine Oblates. This
Brotherhood is a confraternity of all who want to support the
Order through their prayers and financial offerings. Shortly after
his election to the Grand Magistry Raymond du Puy writes about AD
1121 to the bishops and Prelates about this Brotherhood: "As I
have become the Servant of the Poor of Christ after the death of
Lord Gerard", he asks to continue their almsgiving, "that they
might participate in the benefits and prayers, which originate in
Jerusalem ... but those who joined our Brotherhood or who will
join it in future, are as certain of God's mercy as if they fought
themselves in Jerusalem. They will receive the crown of
justification."

Pope Innocent II. confirmed in AD 1135 the privileges granted to
the Order by his predecessors.

On 7 February 1137 Innocent II. encourages the Master of the
Hospital Raymond for his tasks, puts the Order under his
protection and grants it further privileges.

About AD 1140 Innocent II. made an appeal to the whole Church, to
support the Order in its tasks.

King (an English historian of the Order) reports that "long before
the death of Raymond du Puy, the Knights of the Hospital had
become firmly established in England, and Shingay in
Cambridgeshire is said to have been granted to them in 1140... .
During the middle of the twelfth century ... the gift of land at
Clerkenwell was made on which the great Priory was built, the
headquarters of the Order in England."

It was Pope Anastasius IV. (1153-1154) who granted the Order in
his bull "Christianae fidei religio" the right to receive priests
and to be totally independent from the episcopal jurisdiction,
i.e. the Order was ever since directly subject to the Pope.

Thus the members of the Order started to be divided into three
classes, being the Priests, the Knights and the "Serving
Brothers".

In AD 1154 the first German community of the Order is documented
to be in Duisburg, in AD 1156 the first community in Austria in
Mailberg. AD 1159 follows the first community in Bohemia (now
Czech Republic) in Prague. Between 1158 and 1177 the Order came to
Antworskov in Dacia (now Romania). At the same time the
communities of Esztergom (Hungary) and Poznan (Poland) are
mentioned.

Raymond du Puy died in AD 1160, over eighty years of age. Vert�t
again sings his praises stating that "the Hospitallers and indeed
all the Latin Christians of the East, who had been witnesses of
his virtues, anticipating his canonisation, revered him as of the
number of the Blessed, a title which posterity confirmed to him."

5. The further development in Jerusalem

After Raymond's death the Order was headed by Fra Auger de Balben
(AD 1160-1162), like his successor an elderly Frenchman from the
Dauphin.

Under his and his successors' Fra Arnold de Comps (---) and Fra
Gilbert d'Assaily (AD 1163-1170) period of leadership (between AD
1160 and 1170) falls the establishment of the Order in Spain. Fra
Gilbert, an Anglo-Norman Soldier, reports King, "had been one of
the Bailiffs of Syria since 1146. He probably derived his origin
from the family of Assalit, a name well known in Languedoc. He was
the first of the great military Masters of the Hospital, and under
his rule its militarisation proceeded so rapidly, that within a
few years we find the Hospitallers seriously rivalling the
Templars in military strength. The failure of an expedition
against Egypt and failing support from within the Order made Fra
Gilbert resign his office in AD 1170.

Fra Gaston de Murols, previously the treasurer, followed as Grand
Master in AD 1170-1172.

Raymond's fifth successor, Master Gerard Jobert (1173-1177) and
the General Chapter issued the Statutes "The Privilege of the Sick
to have white bread" (Chapter General of 1176) and "The Customs of
the Church of the Hospital of Jerusalem" (Chapter General of
1177), which are relevant for our reflection.

Jobert's successor was another Anglo-Norman soldier: Fra Roger de
Moulins (1177-1187). Under his leadership the Order was already
predominantly involved in military tasks. This urged Pope
Alexander III. (1159-1181) to issue the bull "Piam admodum" (dated
between 1178 and 1180) to admonish Fra Roger "to vigorously adhere
to the sanctified customs and good consuetude of his deceased
predecessor... . The brethren should only touch their weapons when
there is a general call up to defend the country or to besiege a
castle of the infidel under the sign of the cross. By doing so the
care for the poor must not be decreased in any way." This
exhortation was not disregarded at all and the Chapter General of
1181 gives new Hospital Regulations in their decisions.

In AD 1178 the Grand Priory of France emerged through a division
of the province of the Provence, which had grown too big.

On 4 July 1187 the Christian Army including the Hospitallers was
completely destroyed in the disastrous Battle of Hattin by
Saladin. "Among the prisoners", King reports, "were 230 Knights of
the Hospital and the Temple. Every knight was given the chance of
saving his life by renouncing Christianity and becoming a Moslem.
Not a single man of them flinched before the ordeal, and two days
after the battle the glorious crown of martyrdom was their
reward."

The period of time of our reflection is being concluded by
Saladin's entry into Jerusalem on October 2nd, 1187. The Order of
St. John had to give way and changed it's centre to Margat.
Although sultan Saladin had given his permission to the hospital
to continue its operation for another year. This date terminates
the history of the Hospital of Jerusalem, which was in closest
connection with the origin, the foundation and the first glorious
history of the Order of St. John.

Part II

A. The spirituality of the Order of St. John

Let's reflect on the spirituality of the Order of St. John, the
theme, which this work mainly wants to deal with. Besides all
other elements the spiritual one is the main pillar of the Order
of St. John ever since its foundation until today.

1. Sources: The Order's Rule and its Statutes

The spiritual element in the early time of the order is to be
described here according to the evidence given by the Order's Rule
and those Statutes, which were added to the rule in that time,
when the Order's Centre was in Jerusalem. Unfortunately the
originals of these sources got lost. The oldest preserved versions
of the Rule are a manuscript copy from October 7th, 1253 in Latin
language and a Code from the late 13th Century (after AD 1288),
which contains amongst others also Jobert's and Roger de Moulins'
Statutes in medieval French language. The latter is the Code
membr. in the Vatican Library n  4852, which is called "Regulae
Hospitalis S. Joannis Hierosolymitani in Lingua Gallica" in the
index of the Vat. lat. Codes of the Library. It starts with the
French translation of the bull "Quanto per gratiam Dei" of Pope
Lucius III. from November 4th, 1184 or 1185, which quotes
Raymond's Rule on sheets 1 to 18R. It is followed by the two
Statutes of Jobert (sheet 18V to 24R), the Statutes of Roger de
Moulins (sheet 24R to 32V), Alphonse of Portugal (sheet 32V to
49V), the four statutes of Hughes de Revel (sheet 49R to 79R), the
statutes of Nicholas Lorgne (sheet 79V to 83R), Jean de Villiers
(sheet 83R to 122V) and the code is being completed by the
"Esgarts" and "Usances" from the time about 1239 (sheet 122V to
140V). Historical Science used and still uses this Code as the
most renown source for its research. The older versions of the
Rule in German language (late medieval German) are a manuscript in
the Cologne City Archives (HAStH, Geistl. Abt. 129 a) from about
AD 1380 and another manuscript from the 14th century in the
Bavarian State Library (Clm 4620). The text of the Rule from the
Aargau State Archives and from the Vatican Library are edited in
Delaville's Cartulaire (No. 70), the medieval German manuscript
from the Bavarian State Library in my dissertation "Die
Ordensregel der Johanniter/Malteser. St. Ottilien 1983"

Waldstein-Wartenberg concludes that Raymond would have adopted the
Rule of St. Augustine and elucidated and augmented it by a
statute, which would represent the decisions of the chapters
general. Though this seems quite plausible, as the Rule of the
Order of John appears like a trunk in comparison to the contents
and structure of the Rule of St. Augustine and the Rule of St.
Benedict, it is uncertain and there is no documentary proof for
this hypothesis. As I will elaborate later on, the Rule of the
Order of St. John contains considerable l quotes from the Rule of
St. Augustine, what would not have been necessary, if it were just
an explanation on how to implement the Rule of St. Augustine. At
the beginning of the 13th century - according to Waldstein-
Wartenberg - the dependency on the Rule of St. Augustine would
have been forgotten about and this statute therefore would be
considered the Rule. It is being called "Rule" already on November
4th, 1184(5) in the Bull "Quanto per gratiam Dei" and on October
7th, 1253 by Master Guillaume de Chateauneuf.

There are also a dispute on when the Rule is to be dated. On the
one hand it is being dated between AD 1155 and 1160, because the
Rule is repeatedly dealing with clerics and priests of the Order
and Pope Anastasius IV. gave permission to the Order to receive
priests only on October 21st, 1154 through the Bull "Christianae
fidei religio" and Raymond died at the latest in AD 1160; on the
other hand the Bull "Quanto per gratiam Dei" of Pope Lucius III.
deals with the confirmation of the Rule by Pope Eugene III. on
July 7th, 1153, which means that the Rule must have been given
before AD 1153. Waldstein-Wartenberg adds, that the origin of the
Rule could be presumed considerably earlier, because such papal
approbation would have been usual only from the middle of the 12th
century, as it were a legalisation of the existing facts.

Raymond's Rule was and remained a definitive authority for the
development of the Order until today. Later versions of the Rule
were always preceded by the first chapter of Raymond's Rule,
because it stipulates Christian charity as the principle of its
spirituality and its activities.

Delaville divides the text of the Rule in 19 chapters, according
to the structure of the Vatican Lat. Code No 4852.

Preamble Authorisation of the Rule by the whole chapter (general)

Chapter 1 How the Brethren should make their profession.

Chapter 2 What the Brethren should claim as their due.

Chapter 3 concerning the conduct of the Brethren and the service
of the churches and the reception of the sick.

Chapter 4 How the Brethren should go abroad and behave.

Chapter 5 By whom and how alms should be sought.

Chapter 6 concerning the alms obtained and concerning the produce
of the houses.

Chapter 7 Who and in what manner they should go abroad to preach.

Chapter 8 Concerning the clothing and food of the Brethren.

Chapter 9 Concerning Brethren guilty of fornication.

Chapter 10 Concerning Brethren quarrelling and striking one
another.

Chapter 11 Concerning the Silence of the Brethren.

Chapter 12 Concerning Brethren misbehaving.

Chapter 13 Concerning Brethren found with private property.

Chapter 14 What office should be celebrated for the deceased
Brethren.

Chapter 15 How the things here detailed are to be firmly
maintained.

Chapter 16 How our Lords the Sick should be received and served.

Chapter 17 In what manner Brethren may correct Brethren.

Chapter 18 How one brother should accuse another brother.

Chapter 19 That the Brethren bear an their breasts the sign of the
Cross.

Jobert's two statutes, "The Privilege of the Sick to have white
bread" of 1176 and "The Customs of the Church of the Hospital of
Jerusalem" from the time between 1177 and 1181, may be called the
first (regulations on how to execute) the Rule.

"The Privilege of the Sick to have white bread" states that the
income from the casales of St. Mary and Caphaer should be used for
baking white bread for the sick and if that income would be
insufficient, good wheat should be taken from the granary of the
Hospital. Even the weight of a loaf was prescribed to be 16 ounces
and one such loaf should be given to two poor persons.

"The customs of the Church of the Hospital of Jerusalem"
prescribes in

chapter 1 the time for beginning the morning mass, forbids saying
Mass more than once a day and regulates the church ceremonies in
case of somebody dying.

Chapter 2 prescribes the stipends and stole fees for priests with
particular regulations in case of the commemoration of a deceased.

Chapter 3 states that there must be always light in the church and
what liturgical instruments have to be prepared.

Chapter 4 prescribes what to do if a stranger died and

chapter 5 if the deceased was one of the Brethren.

Chapter 6 and 7 are regulations on how to use the stole fees and

chapter 8 finally deals with the procedures to follow when a will
was left to the hospital.

The statutes of Master Roger de Moulins given by the chapter
general on March 3rd, 1181 "That the Churches should be regulated
with the knowledge of the Prior" may be considered further
regulations on how to execute Raymond's Rule, especially its
chapter 16. These regulations are divided into two parts. The
second part being the augmented consuetude (customary) facts on
how part one was implemented. Part one starts with a regulation
that priests and clerics and the equipment of the church are under
the supervision of the Prior. From the second regulation onwards
it solely deals with nursing regulations: Four doctors should be
engaged for the hospital. Furthermore it deals with the size and
equipment of the beds, the clothing for the sick when going to the
latrines, the making of cradles for new-born babies and the way
how to prepare the bears of the dead. Thereafter it deals with the
conduct of the nursing staff and the procedures in the case of bad
conduct of a nurse. Then it lists the responsions, i.e.
contributions, which the mother hospital demanded from the
overseas branches of its community. Part one is concluded with the
norm for the Brethren to look after the sick as if they were their
lords, to give them servants as assistants and what their duties
are. Part two describes the reception, nursing care and feeding of
the sick and their clothing when going to the latrines in more
detail. We also come to know that the hospital used to accommodate
abandoned children and that poor couples received food to
celebrate their wedding. The house used to repair and pass on
second hand clothes and shoes and gave financial support to
released prisoners. Five clerics used to pray the Psalter every
night for the benefactors of the house. The community invited
daily 30 poor people for a meal. Three days a week all the poor
who came were given alms and food. At Lenten time every Saturday
thirteen poor people were invited for a meal, their feet were
washed, they got new clothes and an alms.

2. The spirituality of the Order of St. John - its practise and
philosophy

a. The Conception of God

Joining the Order meant dedication in the sense of offering or
sacrificing themselves to God. In the name of Almighty God the
Rule is ordained and he requires of the Brethren at the Last
Judgement that they had kept what they had had to promise, i.e. to
live according to the Evangelical Counsels. But God helps them to
succeed, he dwells in his Saints (cf. Rom 8.27, where "saints"
means the faithful) and keeps guard over them. Their service, thus
also the work of the chapter General, is done for the honour of
God. Therefore and for the honour of the Cross itself, they wear
the cross on their vestments, that God may protect and defend them
through this banner on account of their faith. The second and the
third divine person are quite seldom expressively named in the
documents which this publication is dealing with - except in the
formulas "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit" and "Anno Domini". But even when at the above places the
Rule refers just to the Lord God, the theological content of those
predications proofs that God is meant either as Trinity (chapter
15) or particularly Jesus Christ (chapter 1, verse 2 and chapter
4, verse 7) or the Holy Spirit (chapter 1, verse 1 and chapter 4,
verse 7). Jesus Christ as such is being expressively referred to
only in to cases, i.e. in the Rule, chapter 14, verse 8, which
says "let the brother priests, who shall sing the Masses (for a
deceased brother), pray for his soul to Our Lord Jesus Christ", or
in the Latin version of the "Privilege of the Sick to have white
Bread", where the brother who contravenes the prescriptions is
being considered as equivalent to the traitor of Jesus Christ.

b. The Liturgy

A dignified liturgy was an important element of the service of the
Order of St. John as the whole service was to glorify God. The
Chapter General even enacted separate "Church Regulations" under
Master Jobert, which laid down exact rules for these services. One
had to behave properly in church and there should be eternal light
burning in it. The church had to provide liturgical equipment. The
order of celebrations provided that the morning mass must not
begin before dawn and that no priest was allowed to say Mass more
than once a day. The priest should be served by clerics (which
according to contemporary Canon Law meant anybody having started
the candidacy for the priesthood by receiving the tonsure) in albs
on the altar. Readings of the Holy Scripture and Sprinkling with
Holy Water should take place in the hospital itself on Sundays.
The memorial of the deceased played a big role among the
liturgical celebrations. These ceremonies were prescribed through
extensive regulations in chapter 14 of the Rule and chapters 1, 4
and 5 of the "Church Regulations".

c. The Sacraments

The conception of the Sacraments - as far as it can be deducted
from the Rule and the Statutes which this work is based on -
provides essential information about the Order's spiritual
Foundation (basis).

The Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession) is the very
instrument of repentance in order to totally focus on the
imitation of Christ again, when one strayed away from the right
path. But most severe punishments, which ought to make the sinner
repent, are being imposed, when sins became publicly known. The
fact that the sick were supposed to first go to confession and
receive Holy Communion before they were brought to bed, when they
were admitted to the hospital is typical for the Order of . John's
conception of their service.

The Holy Communion of the Sick also played an important role being
administered again and again also after admission to the hospital.

The "Hospital Regulations" indirectly give us information about
the deep respect towards the Sacrament of Marriage, because the
hospital gave support to poor bridal couples towards their wedding
reception.

d. The conception of man

The conception of man is going to be deducted from the tasks and
the position of the different classes of the members of the
church.

The religious priest is an equal member of the community and
subdued under the prior. Secular (diocesan) priests there haven't
been rich at all. More than once the Regulations of the Order
refer to voluntary stipends for secular priests, who did services
for the Order. The contemporary Canon Law in these days counted
not only priests and deacons among the clergy, but also e.g. sub-
deacons and acolytes.

They should serve the priest at the altar and accompany him when
administering Holy Communion to the Sick. The Psalter is read
every night by five clerics for the benefactors of the house.

The Conception of the Rule and the first Statutes of man in
general lets us understand what the spiritual foundation of the
service of the Order of St. John is all about: The Faithful
themselves become Saints because God takes up residence (dwells)
in them. The Brethren must witness this holiness when going
abroad.

The Conception of the Poor and Sick is especially revealing for
our theme: They are called "Poor of Christ" or "Poor of Our Lord".
Thus we understand that the Poor of Christ are Holy Poor, in whose
name the Rule is enacted and who being Lords are being served like
a Lord. This quotation "quasi dominus" can be interpreted in two
different ways: On the one hand as "like A Lord" - note that in
these days "Lord" was used as a kind of royal title - on the other
hand as "like THE Lord", i.e. like God or like Christ. The oldest
Latin and French text allow both interpretations, whereas the
oldest German text decided for the interpretation "like A Lord". I
am not going to report on the many discussions, which of these
interpretations may be the right one. I rather melt both into one:
By serving the Sick like Lords the Brother served the Lord, which
is the outspoken aim of the Order. No other place in the
respective documents reveals more clearly the enacting of Christ's
words: "Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you
do unto me!" The Hospital is supposed to be a community of Saints
where all mutually contribute to the other's sanctification. The
sick are destined to be an instrument to sanctify the brothers and
that makes them holy themselves. The Brethren glorify on the one
hand the Lord in their service to the sick, which always was seen
as a integrated service of Body and soul. Thus the Brethren
sanctify the Sick and the service itself as well as themselves.
Even the house where this mutual sanctification takes place thus
becomes holy. Now we understand why the Regulations use the word
"holy" that frequently.

e. The Asceticism

A review of the ascetic demands and achievements of the Brethren
offers us a deep insight into the spirituality of the Order of St.
John:

The main theme are the Religious vows. Through them all Brethren
promise chastity, obedience and to live without their own personal
property. The Rule explains thereafter the call of the separate
Evangelical Counsels in more detail:

In order to be able to keep the vowed chastity the Brethren are
supposed to avoid contact with women. If that is unavoidable they
must keep guard over their modesty. In the contrary to the customs
at that time and place they should not lie down naked. If a
brother in spite of all that fell into fornication, he should, if
he had sinned in secret, confess secretly and do an appropriate
penance. But if the brothers sin became well known he is subject
to severe punishment.

Obedience includes whatever the master prescribes to the brother.
It is called holy obedience being an instrument for
sanctification.

As far as the demanded poverty is concerned we come to know, that
the clothing of the Brethren must not be luxurious but simple.
This demand is being emphasised by threatening the brethren with
severe punishments even posthumously, if forbidden property was
found to have been in possession of the concerned. If forbidden
property is being found at the lifetime of the concerned, this
money is being tied round his neck and he is being led naked
through the Hospital and beaten severely.

Another ascetic call is the Fasting of the Brethren. They should
eat only twice a day and on Wednesdays, Saturdays and from
Septuagesima (= the third Sunday before Lent) until Easter they
should not eat meat.

The Brethren must live most modestly and they must keep silence at
table and after compline (= night prayer).

f. The Veneration of the Saints

Concerning the spirituality I would like to add some words on the
Order's veneration of the Saints. In the times this work is
dealing with there are only very rare statements there about.

Mary, the Holy Mother of God and St. John are named only once,
i.e. in chapter 15 of the Rule ("All these things ... we command
and ordain in the Name of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Mary,
and of the Blessed St. John, and of the (holy) Poor." (only the
German source inserts "holy"). This formula so to speak introduces
Holy Mary, St. John and the holy Poor as patron saints. We know
already from history that the church was erected next to the
church of St. Mary Latina and that its tradition roots in this
monastery. Thus a continuation of the veneration of Mary suggests
itself. For sure we know from later times (about AD 1239) that the
novices being received into the community of the Order had to say:
"I vow and promise to God Almighty, to the Most Blessed Virgin
Mary and to Saint John the Baptist, that I will always be obedient
to the superior which God and our Order have given me, that I will
live without property and that I will keep chastity, so help me
God." Moroso refers to Bosio's reports on "the veneration , which
the Knights showed to the most blessed virgin and from the
shrines, which they erected to her honour. The shrine of Our Lady
of Liesse is especially worth being mentioned among those, which
was built by three French Knights, who were saved miraculously by
Mary." (Moroso. loc. cit.. S.4) The veneration of the picture of
Our Lady of Philermos plays an important role later on at the
times of the Order on Rhodes until today.

The Order's veneration of St. John plays a special role,
particularly as the Order is named after him. But for the moment
we have to distinguish:

The hospice for men, which was built as an extension of the
monastery of St. Mary Latina, was dedicated with its chapel to St.
John the Almoner towards the end of the 11th century. The
historians, which regard the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem as
a continuation of the hospice, also call him the first patron
Saint of the Order of St. John. He was a noble man from Cyprus,
born in AD 550. He became patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt. He
soon was veneratet as one of the biggest benefactors in the
eastern sphere, because he dedicated himself especially to the
Poor and the Sick. He founded hospitals and poorhouses and he was
the first to call the Poor and Sick his "Lords and Masters". He
died between AD 616 and 620.

Most of the scientists who deny a dependence of the Hospital from
the Amalfitan hospice, regard St. John the Baptist as the patron
saint of the Order right from the beginnings. John the Baptist is
mentioned in a document for the first time in the deed of gift of
Foupier Favard about the land Diosolvol. This document dates back
to the time between AD 1106 and 1110. At the latest from that time
onwards, i.e. still in the times of the founder Gerard, St. John
the Baptist is to be regarded as the patron saint of the Order.
Thus also the bull "Pie postulatio voluntatis" of Pope Paschal II.
from February 15th, 1113 calls John the Baptist the Patron Saint.
He was venerated as the forerunner of Christ. He was in the
desert, where he preached, like the Brothers of the Order of St.
John, who went into a foreign desert like area, to serve Christ
there.

St. John (probably as the Vicar of Christ) is symbolically
depicted on coins of the Order of the beginning 16th century as a
feudal lord, who enfeoffs the Grand Master with banners,

or his (St. John's) head on the plate after his decapitation,

whereas the Grand Master and the Order's Council kneel praying in
front of Christ's Grave on the oldest seals of the Order.
Waldstein-Wartenberg refers to the veneration of St. John the
Baptist as the patron saint of the Lonely and of the baptisteries
in France and Bedford reports that St. John was venerated also a
patron Saint of the Sick - he refers to epileptics.

g. The Works of Charity => Hospitality

"Hospitality holds the highest rank among all works of piety and
humanity. All Christian peoples agree to that because hospitality
includes all other virtues. It must be exercised and respected by
all men of good will - especially by those who carry the
honourable name of a Knight Hospitaller. Therefore we must not
devote ourselves to any other task with more dedication than to
this very task the Order has got its name from." History proofs
that these words of Vert�t were not a hollow formula in the Order
of St. John but were filled with life in the practical service.
The Hospitality of the Order of St. John roots in a profound
spirituality, which we dealt with above, and it is one of its
elements. Hospitality is service to the Poor of the Lord. The
Masters of the Order call themselves "servant of the Poor of our
Lord Jesus Christ" or "Servant of the poor Sick" and the Brethren
are called Servants of the Poor. This attitude seems quite
strange, especially as humility is commonly not associated with
the factual life of the knights. But we must take into
consideration that the knights usually were very submissive and
devout to their superiors. The crusaders considered Christ their
supreme superior whom they finally served. Christ identified
himself with the lowly: "The righteous will then answer him,
'When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and
welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we
ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you? ' The King will
reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least
important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me!'" (Mt.
25.37-40). Serving the hungry, thirsty, estranged, naked, sick or
imprisoned therefore means serving Christ and that is exactly what
the knights were up to. Therefore it is just a consequence of
their faith and their ideals of chivalry to serve the poor as
their Lords.

The practical connection between the spiritual and the physical
service to the poor shows that the Brethren of St. John did not
restrict their service to the physical welfare of the sick, but
that they were also concerned about the spiritual welfare. Thus
they used to have an altar for saying holy Mass right in the
wards. Later on St. John's Hospitals were often built as double
story churches, whereas the sick lay in the first floor and could
look down from their beds to the ground floor and thus have audio-
visual contact with the happenings on the altar of the church.

This custom has continued until today, e.g. in a coach of a
hospital train from World War I,

or in a present hospital (San Giacomo in Augusta) of the order.

This connection is already obvious in the oldest seal of the
Order, which symbolises the interior of the Hospital. A sick
person lies in the bed with his face turned aside. The "Eternal
Light" is suspended (hanging down) from a dome in the background,
it reminds the Sick of Christ's presence in the Sacrament of the
Altar. The swinging censer symbolises the prayers of the Brethren
for the convalescence of the sick.

The Rule and the Statutes obviously proof what an even for our
days exemplary well organised system of charity was being run by
the Order of St. John already in the first 88 years of its
existence. Moreover it did not restrict itself to its main task of
nursing, but it also includes services like baby care, care for
abandoned children, welfare aid, e.g. by material help for poor
bridal couples, other poor people or discharged prisoners, or food
aid for the Poor. A St. John's Hospital thus represented much more
than just a hospital or a hospice (the latter was in those days
not defined as a home for terminally ill, but purely as
accommodation for guests, e.g. pilgrims. The Latin word hospitium
means just "house for guests"). I would therefore like to call the
Hospital of Jerusalem a comprehensive institution of Charity Care.
This may not only be understood qualitatively but also
quantitatively. The priest Johannes Wizburgensis (John of
W�rzburg/Germany) reports in AD 1170 on his travel in AD 1135 to
Jerusalem and the Holy Land. He writes about St. Hospital in
Jerusalem: "At that time, when I was there myself, the number of
the sick admitted was up to 2000 as I was told personally by the
serving brothers, ... but these numbers increased steadily." Roger
de Moulins reports in AD 1177, that after the Battle of Tell
Diezer (Ramle) 750 wounded soldiers were admitted to the hospital
which was already accommodating 900 other sick people. Another
pilgrim to Jerusalem, Theodericus, who visited the Hospital about
AD 1172, counted 1000 beds. We also know that the hospital made no
difference in where the people seeking help came from when
admitting the sick. This fact explains a certain gentlemen's
agreement from the enemies of Christianity towards the hospital,
especially in the 11th century. Zwehl praises this fact by
writing: "The honour to have been the first ones to tackle the
accommodation and nursing of sick people of every kind and origin
in a larger scale is to be credited to the Hospitallers." It is
another exceptional quality, that every sick person had his own
bed in the St. John's Hospitals, which was in those times really
unusual. The Hospitality of the Order of St. John represented all
in all a remarkable progress in the occidental medieval Care for
the Sick. Frederick Barbarossa calls the achievements of the Order
"invaluable works of mercy" and Richard Lionheart calls the "most
holy hospital of Jerusalem magnificent in works of piety". Pope
Alexander III. calls the Brethren "steadfast champions of Christ"
in his bull "Quanto maior" from March 9, 1160.

A most valuable contribution to the research of the early history
of the Order of St. John was made by Berthold Count of Waldstein-
Wartenberg's book "Die Vasallen Christi" in 1988. He discovered a
report of an unknown German monk, who he thinks might be identical
with John of W�rzburg or Theodericus, in the Bavarian State
Library, Munich (Germany) [CML 4620 f. 132 b - 139b]. The author
reports, that he had been inside the walls of Jerusalem before the
conquest of the Crusaders and that he himself had been admitted to
the Hospital. The charity work which he experienced there was
quite a contrast to the worldly life in the city itself. This
encouraged him to write a tract on charity, which contains an
elaborate description of the nursing care of the Order of St.
John. He did not want to bother the doctors and nurses with the
many questions a reporter usually asks. Therefore he just wrote
down what he observed, which makes his report even more valuable.
The reporter is obviously not able to distinguish between knights
and serving brothers and he also mixes up their titles. He
probably has not known the statutes either, although his report is
in going with the prescriptions of the hospital regulations, which
just reveals, that the brethren of the Order observed their Rule.

According to him the hospital admitted sick people of all nations,
ranks and classes, men and women, Christians and Non-Christians.
Every sick person, no matter what sex or religion he or she
belonged to, was considered a neighbour of Christ, who had to be
admitted and nursed. The Hospital is called the "Palace of the
Sick" and consequently belongs to them. For the sick the best was
just good enough. Therefore the hospital may also have employed
oriental doctors, which encouraged the local people even more to
come to the Hospital for treatment.

If sick people could not come to the hospital by their own means,
the serving brothers of the hospital went to their home and
transported them carefully to the hospital. There was even a kind
of ambulance service, which accompanied the crusaders on their
way. Even full time employed surgeons belonged to that service,
who erected tents or canopies on the battle fields, where the
casualties were brought to and even their mounts, which were then
used to transport the wounded to the hospital. If those were not
sufficient the brethren had to put their own pack animals to the
patients' disposal, thus showing that they only had lent those
from their Lords, the sick, anyway.

As soon as the sick had arrived in the hospital the porter had to
receive and treat them like Lords. They were first brought to a
priest, were they could confess their sins and receive as the
first food, the "remedy of heavenly medicine", i.e. Holy
Communion. (This practise the Order had adopted from the Medical
School of Salerno). Thereafter the sick were brought to the ward.

The Hospital was divided into eleven wards, which were obviously
segregated according to the kind of sickness or injury of the
patients. One ward had between 90 and 180 beds. Every ward was
catered for by a special nursing team consisting of twelve nurses
who were subject to a master. The women's ward, mainly serving as
a maternity ward, was situated in a separate building. Waldstein-
Wartenberg (Vasallen Christi) assumes it may have been situated in
the western wing of the hospital adjacent to the Maria Latina
Maior Convent. The nurses there may originally have belonged to
St. Magdalene's Convent and later have become nuns of the Order of
St. John.

The beds were big and covered with a bedspread and a linen sheet
and feather cushions, so that the sick did neither "have to suffer
from the roughness of the shaggy blankets nor through the hardness
of the bed". The private clothing of the sick was secured in
sealed bags and they were provided with coats, furs and shoes, so
that they neither had to suffer from the coldness of the marble
floor nor that they would make themselves dirty. (cf. 2 HO 2).

The nurses had to prepare the beds, to straighten the blankets and
to loosen the cushions. They had to be of assistance to the sick
in every respect, to cover them, to set them up and to support
them in walking. Their hands were washed and dried with a towel as
often as necessary. When it was time for meals a "tablecloth" was
put on top of their beds. Bread was distributed in special
baskets. Every sick person got his own loaf of bread, to avoid
giving an unequal share. To intensify the appetite of the sick,
even the sort of bread was changed frequently, so that no aversion
would develop. The food for the sick was usually prepared in the
monastery kitchen, where they cooked beef and mutton on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, whereas Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
flummery was cooked. The members of the Order, knights, serving
brothers and sisters served the food to the sick and got
afterwards exactly the same food. The nurses had to watch that the
food was well prepared and of good quality. When the quality of
the food was poor or the sick did not have a good appetite, the
nurses had to make a note of that fact and they had to see to it,
that the patients got supplementary food like chicken, doves,
partridges, lamb, bucks, at times also eggs or fish. The nursing
staff had to buy regularly pomegranates, pears, plums, chestnuts,
almonds, grapes, dried figs and vegetables like lettuce, chicory,
turnips, parsley, celery, cucumber, pumpkin, sweet melons etc. The
treasury of the Order provided every ward with a budget of 20 to
30 Solidi per week for such additional food. The doctors of the
hospital prescribed which patients had to get a special diet.
Generally forbidden for all patients were beans, lintels, sea-
onions (?), moray eels, meat from mother pigs, every smoked meat,
biltong or fat meat or innards.

Certain Brethren had the special task to wash the head and trim
the beard of every patient. They had to wash the feet and clean
the soles with a pumice stone every Monday and Thursday. They had
to go through all the wards during food distribution and sprinkle
everybody with water and apply incense. This was done by burning
Thyrus wood, the so-called oriental tree of life. This general
oriental custom was supposed to disinfect, but chased away the
insects in any case.

"Because doctors have learnt a lot and have practical knowledge,"
our reporter concludes, "the community of the Order entrusts the
practical healing to the experience of science, that the sick
might not be deprived from what is possible to man." The number
and knowledge of learned European doctors was not very
considerable. Therefore Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Syrians were
recruited as doctors. The doctors visited the wards every morning
and evening. They were accompanied by two nurses. One of them had
to get the medicines, the other one had to hold the urinal (urine
analysis played a central role in medical examination in those
days) and write down the prescriptions.

The hospital employed also barbers (village quacks), which were
recommended by the doctors. It was their task to bleed the
patients according to the prescriptions of the doctors. {The
medieval conception of patho-physiology ascribed many sickness to
an imbalance of what they considered the four body liquids, blood
(Latin: sanguis), phlegm (Greek: flegma [phlegma]), bile (Greek:
[chole] means also anger and rage) and black bile (Greek: melaina
chole [melaina chole]), which had its effect even in the mood of a
person. If there was too much blood, the person is sanguine; too
much phlegm makes him phlegmatic; too much bile causes one to be
choleric and too much black bile makes a melancholic. To interfere
with such an imbalance, e.g. through bleeding somebody was
considered a necessary medical treatment.}

To the very surprise of the contemporary witness terminally ill
patients were nursed with the same care as those who had a good
prognosis.

At dusk the day shift ended and two brothers per ward took over
night shift. The brothers had to light three to four lamps in the
ward "in order to prevent the sick from illusions, errors and
dubiousness." One of the brothers had to go round with a candle in
the left and a wine jar in the right hand and call out dearly to
them: "You Lords, wine from God." Whoever wanted to drink had to
be served. The other brother did the same with a jug of water
calling out: "You Lords, water from God." When all had quenched
their thirst, both came with a copper full of warm water calling:
"Warm water, in God's name." It was their task to wash the sick
and they used to do it "without force, but mild persuasion".
Afterwards they just had to walk around in the ward continuously
to watch even those sick who were asleep. Those who were uncovered
had to be covered, who was lying uncomfortably, had to be
repositioned. In case of necessity the priest had to be called and
the deceased had to be removed.

Our reporter does not mention that the priests had to pray daily
after dark with the patients. In a prayer text from the 12.
century the "Lords Sick" were asked to pray for peace, the fruits
of the earth, the pope, the cardinals, the patriarch of Jerusalem,
the delegates, archbishops and bishops, for the Master of the
Order and the Holy Land, the brothers of the Order, the kings of
England etc., for all pilgrims, benefactors, the prisoners of war
in the hands of the Saracens, for the Sick, the donates and the
Sisters, who work in the hospital, for the spiritual and financial
supporters, and finally for their own parents. It seems strange,
that the sick were asked to pray, but they were believed to be
closer to Christ and therefore their prayers were considered more
effective. After the brothers had prayed the nocturne, all
brothers on night duty met to form a procession by candlelight.
Together they proceeded through all wards and could notice "if one
of the wardens was careless or disorderly or even antagonistic to
this task." Afterwards they elected a brother from among
themselves, who had to supervise them. This brother continuously
walked through all wards and kept an eye on the guards, that
nobody fell asleep, was careless or even behaved improperly when
nursing the sick. If he discovered any mistake in the care, he
amended this mistake immediately, but he was entitled to sentence
the careless guard with flagellation, which was executed on the
following day. Such severe punishment was imposed on those, who
maltreated the sick in words and deeds. Who did so repeatedly was
immediately suspended from service and replaced by another
brother. The evildoer was sentenced by the Hospitaller or his
deputy, who had jurisdiction over all nursing and medical staff,
to imprisonment of 40 days at water and bread.

Our reporter also mentions a hospital for women, which is situated
in a separate building. His description is quite short, presumably
he had no access to the department. He calls the nurses "Mothers
of St. John" and nuns. They are most probably Nuns of the Order of
St. John evolving from St. Magdalene's Convent. The female
hospital was mainly a maternity ward. The delivering mothers got
warm baths and all what they needed for their body hygiene. The
commissioner of the hospital provides napkins for the newly born
children which were laid into a cradle next to their mother. There
was only an exception made, if the mother was poor, very ill or
negligent with the infant because of her "stepmotherly harshness".
In such cases the child was passed on to a wet nurse. As soon as
the mother's condition had improved, the child was returned not
later than a fortnight after birth. If the mother was not in a
position to raise her child because of poverty, the master of the
hospital visited her and arranged the transfer of the child to a
foster mother. That happened quite often, as our reporter writes
about up to one thousand children, who had to be supported by the
hospital at the yearly cost of twelve talents each.

B. Sources of the spiritual heritage

The different hypothesises on the origin of the Rule of the Order
of St. John have already been briefly mentioned in the above
paragraphs. In the contrary to those above mentioned opinions
Truszczyski states, that the Regulations which were enacted by
Gerard, the founder of the Order, would have been a rule following
the Benedictine Order. It is quite reasonable to assume that,
because the hospital was part of the Benedictine Monastery St.
Mary Latina before AD 1099 anyway. Other authors say Gerard or
Raymond would have adopted the Rule of St. Augustine. Referring to
the above supported hypothesis of the independence of the Rule of
the Order of St. John, according to the fact that Pope Lucius III.
compares both rules with one another, and because the Rule of the
Order of St. John includes parts of the Rule of St. Augustine
verbally, this hypothesis may be explicated and supported
hereinafter:

The elements of the Rule of the Order of St. John which are common
with the Rule of St. Benedict or with the Rule of St. Augustine or
with both of them are being used to explain the hypothesis.

The following scheme shows in short the parallels of contents of
the compared Rules:

No   statement             Rule of the   Rule of St.  Rule of St.
                          Order of St.  Augustine    Benedict
                          John

1    no property           I,2;XIII,1    I,4
XXXIII,6;LV,17

2    obedience             I,2           II,44        V

3    order provdes food    II,1          I,4          -
    and clothing

4    simple clothing       II,2          IV,19        LV,7

5    going abroad only in  IV,1f.        V,36         -
    a group of two or
    three, companion
    chosen by superior

6    brethren are          IV,7          I,9;IV,24    -
    temples/dwelling of
    God

7    inconspicuous         IV,4          IV,19        -
    behaviour

8    general conduct       IV,4          IV,20f.      -

9    contact with women    IV,5f.        IV,24        -

10   light at night        VII,3         -            XXII,4

11   fasting except when   VIII,2        III,14       -
    sick

12   sleep dressed         VIII,3        -            XXII,5

13   punishment for sins   IX            IV,29        -
    with women or
    fornication

14   punishment for        IX            -            XXV
    serious faults

15   satisfaction of the   IX,4f.        -            XLIV
    expelled

16   quarrelling amongst   X,1f.         VI,41f.      LXX
    brethren

17   taking back of        X,3f.         -            XXIX
    absconded brethren

18   silence at table      XI,1          III,15       XLII,8

19   fraternal correction  XII,1;XVII    IV,25
XXIII;XXVIII;
                                                     LXX

20   denouncing to         XII,1;XVII,4  IV,26        XLVI,4
    superior

21   reception of          XVI           -            LIII
    sick/guests

22   attend to             XVI,2f.       -            LIII,4+8
    sick/guests first
    spiritually, then
    physically

The above scheme shows clearly what a close connection there is in
the contents of the Rules. This may depend on the one hand on the
fact that all three Rules are written for religious people.
Therefore certain elements will be part of every Rule. This is
certainly the case with the topics of poverty, simple clothing,
obedience and silence. But there are parallels in several
particular regulations and statements which suggest a closer
dependence. Steidle deals with the influence of the Rule of St.
Augustine on the Rule of St. Benedict. He calls the above quoted
paragraphs XXXIII,6; XLII,8 and XLVI,4 Augustinian parts of the
Rule of St. Benedict. As far as the dependence of the Rule of the
Order of St. John on the Rule of St. Augustine is concerned, we
even find literal correspondence in chapter 4 of Raymond's Rule:

Rule of the Order of St. John IV,   Rule of St. Augustine V, 36
1-5.7

(1) "Iterum cum ierint fratres per  Nec eant ad balneas, sive
quocumque
civitates et castella, non eant     ire necesse fuerit, minus quam
duo
soli set duo vel tres,              vel tres.

(2) nec cum quibus voluerint, sed   Ne qui habent aliquo eundi
cum quibus magister iusserit ire    necessitatem, cum quibus ipse
debent,                             voluerit, sed cum quibus
praepositus iusserit, ire debebit.

(3) et cum venerint quo voluerint,  (IV,20) cum veneritis quo
itis,
simul stent                         simul state.

(4) in incessu; in habitu et in     (IV,21) In incessu, in statu,
(in
omnibus motibus eorum nichil fiat,  habitu) in omnibus motibus
vestris
quod cuiusquam offendat aspectum,   nihil fiat quod cuiusquam
offendat
sed quod suam deceat sanctitatem.   aspectum, sed quod vestram
decet
sanctitatem.

(5) Quando etiam fuerint in domo    (IV,24) Quando ergo simul
estis in
aut in ecclesia, vel ubicumque      ecclesia et ubicumque et
feminae
femine sint invicem, suam           sunt, invicem vestram
pudicitiam
pudicitiam custodiant ...           custodite;

(7) Deus enim, qui habitat in       Deus enim, qui habitat in
vobis,
sanctis, isto modo custodiat eos,   etiam isto modo vos custodiet
ex

amen.                               vobis.

Ambraziejute admits dependence only in the case of verbal
correspondence. This might be a too narrow view, because over and
above literal correspondence there are close parallels in the
meaning and themes both to the Rules of St. Augustine and of St.
Benedict. Especially at places where the theme concerned
represents a particular special regulation, e.g. the regulation to
have light in the dormitory or to lie down dressed, there a
dependence suggests itself. In a fundamental point of the
spirituality of the Order of St. John there is a parallelism to
the Rule of St. Benedict: In chapter LXIII,13 Benedict determines,
that the abbot is to be called "lord" and "abbot", "because we
believe that he holds the place of Christ". What a minimal
difference to the sick being called "poor of Christ", "holy Poor"
or "lord" by the Order of St. John, because they regard the sick
as the Lord!

Supposed that this Geraldus, whom William of Tyre calls after AD
1048 the director of the branch hospice of St. John belonging to
St. Mary Latina Monastery, is identical with that Gerard, who
founded the Order of St. John in AD 1099 and if we further imply,
that the first mentioned Geraldus was a Benedictine Monk and was
put into charge by the abbot of St. Mary Latina, then the
reception of Benedictine elements into the Rule of the Order of
St. John suggests itself. A direct adoption of the Rule of St.
Benedict was not possible with respect to Gerard's aims, which St.
Benedict's Rule was too narrow for. What would be more reasonable
to assume than to pick out the fitting elements from St.
Benedict's Rule, to add elements out of the less particular Rule
of St. Augustine and one's own particular ideas and ideals and to
amalgamate all these ingredients forming a new Rule, which
Gerard's successor Raymond du Puy recorded in writing as the Rule
of the Order of St. John? The strong influence of the
Augustinians, which we notice in Raymond's Rule becomes more
understandable, when we have in mind, that the canons (?) of St.
Augustine of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lived in immediate
proximity to the Hospital of Jerusalem. Delaville deducts from the
strongly Augustinian character of the Rule of the Order of St.
John even a striving for independence from the Benedictine
monastery St. Mary Latina.

C. The innovation in the spiritual heritage

On account of the above descriptions and findings we now are able
to see the elements, which the Order of St. John brought as
innovations through its foundation and Rule into the history of
the religious institutes, of the church and of the world. Thus we
reached the finishing straight of our description.

1. The vow of chastity

A substantial new element of the spiritual heritage of the Order
of St. John is the demand in the Rule to vow chastity. No Founder
of a religious Order had demanded this yet explicitly in his Rule.
That does not mean, that previous orders would not have known or
demanded chastity, but in the Rule itself this vow appears for the
first time with the Order of St. John.

The Rule of St. Augustine contains in its fourth chapter clear
statements on how to keep chastity. It demands, to pleasantly
stand out in moral habits, to behave according to the holy status,
neither to desire women, nor to wish being desired by them, nor to
star at them in an unchaste manner.

In the Rule of St. Benedict too, there are statements about
chastity: "to love chastity" is a tool for good works and the
abbot must be chaste, too.

Chastity appears for the first time in the formula for the
religious vows about AD 1148 in the monastery (of canons of) St.
Genoveva in Paris, when this was reformed on the suggestion of St.
Bernard of Clairvaux, whereas chastity was already counted amongst
the duties of clerics in the "Aachen Rule for Clerics" in AD 816.
Abbot Odo of St. Genoveva called these vows "chastity,
community(life) and obedience." Raymond words it in the Rule of
the Order of St. John: "the three things ..., which they have
promised to God: that is to say, chastity and obedience, ... and
to live without property of their own."

Through a development of the Rule of St. Augustine therefore the
vow of chastity came into the Rule of the Order of St. John. The
priests of the brotherhood of the hospital of Jerusalem, which was
the forerunner of the Order, had a decisive influence on the
emergence of the Rule. Thus canon 4 of the Lateran Synod of AD
1059, which was concerning secular priests, may have served as a
basis for the canonising of the Rule. It reads: "Those clerics,
who in obedience to our predecessor, kept chastity, should eat and
sleep, share their income and lead an apostolic life at the
churches they have been ordained for."

2. The Poor of Christ

A second new element of the Order of St. John is to call the Sick
"Poor of Christ" or "holy Poor". This designation had not been
known in the occidental church before, but becomes afterwards part
of its linguistic usage. Thus different Popes used the term "Poor
of Christ" in several bulls: Pope Anastasius IV. in 1153 and Pope
Alexander III. in 1166 and 1168. Secular rulers used this term
too: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1158 or King Baldwin III of
Jerusalem in 1160. "Holy poor" the sick are called in deeds of
gift of William Ferrariis and Raoul le Fun (AD 1165-1172). This
terms are closely and profoundly connected with the Spirituality
of the Order of St. John , which admits - as already explained
above - the sick as a full member into the "community of Saints"
of the hospital. This lead us to the third, the most
characteristic new element in the spiritual heritage of the Order
of St. John: The hospitality in its special nature and its special
genuineness at the Order of St. John.

3. The Hospitality

As I described above in detail, the hospitality of the Order of
St. John is in its inmost essence spirituality. The service to the
"Poor of Christ" is spiritual service. This fact is proven by
chapter 3 of the Rule, which belongs to its independent material.
There visiting the sick including the communion of the sick is
being taken for granted and they just enacted liturgical
regulations for it.

I am convinced, that the conception of charity as worship of God,
which represents the essential aim of the Orders in those days
like today, was the remaining motivating force, which preserved
the Order until today through the heavy storms of its history in
the contrary to other religious orders of chivalry. The Order of
St. John was the first religious Order which made hospitality its
main task. Sometimes it proudly was called the eldest and for
centuries the only regular relief organisation of the occident.
Rightfully it deserves the honour of being the eldest hospital
order of the world. "The Order founded by Gerard anticipated for
many centuries all the following organisations, who devoted
themselves to nursing the Poor and the Sick."

Although hospitality as such is no new invention of the Order of
St. John - the roman valetudinariums for the nursing of sick
slaves, in order to uphold their capacity to work, or the
xenodochea, which were instituted in big number in the course of
time by the bishops, to nurse sick and aged people, following an
advise of the Council of Nicaea AD 325, were examples of much
older hospitality - it still was the first religious community,
whose central task was to care for the poor and sick and who ran
this service in a large scale.

The Rule and the Statutes (in the said time) give no evidence that
the brethren made a fourth vow, the vow of hospitality. But the
Customs (usances) about AD 1239 describe in chapter 121 the
ceremonies how a brother should be received. It says: "You promise
and vow unto God and unto Our Lady and unto our Lord St. John
Baptist to live and to die in obedience, and to be obedient unto
whatsoever superior God shall give you. And likewise you promise
to live in chastity until your death. And likewise you promise to
live without property of your own. Also we make another promise,
which no other people make, for you promise to be the serf and
slave of our lords the sick." (King, Statutes pg. 193) If we
consider this now a fourth religious vow or an additional promise,
it is in any case a profound innovation, because such a promise
appears for the first time in the history of religious orders
besides the vows to live according to the evangelical counsels,
like we find it in our days with the hospital order of St. John of
God.

It is remarkable and new in this context, too, who the aim of the
service was directed to. Whereas the Rule of St. Augustine and
especially the Rule of St. Benedict seem to focus at the first
place on the brethren's gaining of salvation through their service
to God and the neighbour, the main destination of the Rule of the
Order of St. John is to selflessly try to achieve the neighbour's,
i.e. the poor and the sick's salvation. Surely the latter is not a
result of extensive dogmatic exegetic reflection on fundamental
principles, but rather due to a original Christian impetus. The
wish to gain one's own salvation surely plays a big role with a
brother of the Order of St. John, but the activities of the order
are directed in a far more obvious way to the outside, i.e. to the
sick.

4. The genesis of the Rule of the Order of St. John

A last new moment is the different genesis of the Rule of the
Order of St. John compared to the older Rules of religious orders.
In the Rule of St. Augustine and in the Rule of St. Benedict the
founder of the Order gives regulations for a God pleasing
religious life well founded practically and theoretically. But the
Rule of the Order of St. John is the theoretical theological
reflection about the exercised practise, written down because the
practise was found to be right and thus was standardised, i.e. the
Rule is not just theory which is to be filled with life, but it is
philosophy of what was practised, whose norms regulate the further
practise for the future too.

In this context it is also unusual, that the Rule itself and all
statutes added to the Rule, are always authorised by the whole
chapter general and not just by the founder or his successors, the
Masters of the Hospital. This proofs first indications of a
democratic structure in the legislature of a religious community.
Thus also the veneration of Blessed Gerard or of his successor,
Raymond du Puy as Founders of the Order stepped back behind the
big veneration of St. John, the elected patron saint of the Order.
This fact is also not known from any other older Order.

D. The influence of the Order

The Order of St. John, his Rule and the practise which it is based
onto, exercised already in early times a determining influence on
the history of religious orders and the church. This most obvious
through the fact, that its Rule , so to say as an exemplary Rule,
was adopted as a whole or in parts or to the meaning by later
orders.

�  Thus Pope Clement III. prescribed on July 18, 1188 the Rule of
the Order of St. John to the HOSPITAL ORDER OF TERUEL, which was
founded by King Alphonse II of Aragon for the ransom of prisoners.

�  The TEUTONIC ORDER OF KNIGHTS, whose aim were to fight the
enemies of the church and the charitable duties towards the poor,
also adopted in its constitution in AD 1198 the Rule of the Order
of St. John, as far as the care for the poor and sick was
concerned. Already in AD 1143 Pope Celestine II. subdued the
Teutonic Hospital under the obedience and disposition of the Order
of St. John. Pope Innocent III. stated in his bull "Sacrosancta
Romana ecclesia" from February 19, 1199 his contentment, that the
Teutonic Order really followed the Rule of the Order of St. John
in his care for the Poor and sick.

�  The hospital ORDER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, founded by Guido of
Montpellier for the care of the poor and sick, organised its
charitable activities according to the example of the Order of St.
John, too. Its Rule corresponds with the Rule of the Order of St.
John in many instances literally or in its meaning.

�  The ORDER OF THE BRIDGE BUILDERS OF ST. JAMES, whose task it
was to build bridges in order to make it easier for travellers to
cross rivers and who also ran hospices, also used the Order of St.
John as an example for its charitable organisation. The French
branch of the order (de l'H�pital d'Altopascio) was given the
statutes of the Order of St. John by Pope Gregory IX. in AD 1239.

�  John of Matha founded towards the end of the 12th century the
ORDER OF THE TRINITARIANS (Ordre des Trinitaires pour le rachat
des captives), in order to exchange prisoners. Its first
constitution also corresponds with the Rule of the Order of St.
John in some instances verbally or follows the same philosophy.

�  The same applies for FRENCH HOSPITALS, e.g. in Paris (H�tel
Dieu), Ch�teau-Thierry, Saint-Paul, Montdidier, Noyon, Saint
Julien, Saint-Jean in Cambrai, Amiens, Saint-Riquier, Abbeville,
Beauvais and Montreuil-sur-Mer.

Thus the Order of St. John set the standards for the Christian
Charity in vast parts of the Occident for centuries.

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECT

The foundation of the Order of St. John AD 1099 represents - as I
tried to describe in the above - a remarkable event in the history
of religious orders. It was not just the origin of one of the many
religious orders, but of the first hospital order of the church.
It set spiritual standards, which contributed to the moulding of
the life of the church until today. The spirituality culminating
in hospitality was the basic spiritual innovation which the Order
of St. John contributed to the history of Religious orders. Based
in the faith it always was and is still today the motivating force
for the order. Even as the order was transformed, beginning with
the times of the second director Raymond du Puy, into a military
order, who also took on military and juridical tasks as a
sovereign - emerging from the spirit of protection to the pilgrims
and the idea of the "militia Christi" - which was the reason that
the order appeared in its turbulent history rather as a military
power than as a hospital order, the order has in no phase of its
development forgotten to fulfil its main task which is
hospitality.

As the Maltese cross, the symbol of the eight beatitudes of
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in refugee camps and on hospitals,
on centres for medical research and ambulances, on institutions
for civil defence and rehabilitation, on hospital trains for
pilgrimages for the sick and on training facilities for nursing
personnel, gives an eloquent witness, that the Order of Malta
translates it's timeless motto "Protection of faith and
obsequiousness to the poor" into contemporary works of Christian
charity, we are reminded of the word of the founder of the Order,
Blessed Gerard: "Our brotherhood will be everlasting, because the
ground which this plant is rooted in, is the misery of the world -
and because, God willing, there will always be people, which want
to work towards the alleviation of these sufferings and making
this misery more bearable."

May the Order of St. John / Malta, based on its spiritual
foundation, humbly serve the hungry and thirsty, the estranged and
naked, the sick and imprisoned Lord in all future, and thus become
a sign of Christian faith, cheerful hope and apostolic love for
the people.

PART III

THE RULE OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN

by BLESSED RAYMOND DU PUY 1120-60

This is the CONSTITUTION ORDAINED BY BROTHER RAYMOND.-

In the name of God, I Raymond Servant of Christ's poor and Warden
of the Hospital of Jerusalem, with the counsel of all the Chapter,
both clerical and lay brethren, have established these
commandments in the House of the Hospital of Jerusalem.

1.HOW THE BRETHREN SHOULD MAKE THEIR PROFESSION: Firstly, I ordain
that all the brethren, engaging in the service of the poor, should
keep the three thing with the aid of God which they have promised
to God, that is to say, chastity and obedience, which means
whatever thing is commanded them by their masters, and to live
without property of their own: because God will require these
three things of them at the Last Judgement. 2.WHAT THE BRETHREN
SHOULD CLAIM AS THEIR DUE: And let them not claim more as their
due than bread and water and raiment, which things are promised to
them. And their clothing should be humble, because Our Lord's
poor, whose servants we confess ourselves to be, go naked. And it
is a thing wrong and improper for the servant that he should be
proud, and his Lord should be humble. 3.CONCERNING THE CONDUCT OF
THE BRETHREN AND THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCHES AND THE RECEPTION OF
THE SICK: Moreover this is decreed that their conduct should be
decorous in church, and that their conversation should be
appropriate, that is to say, that the clerics, deacons and sub-
deacons, should serve the priest at the alter in white raiment,
and if the thing shall be necessary another cleric should render
the service, and there should be a light every day in the church,
both by day and by night, and the priest should go in white
raiment to visit the sick, bearing reverently the Body of Our
Lord, and the deacon and the sub-deacon, or at least an acolyte
should go before, bearing a lantern with a candle burning, and the
sponge with the holy water. 4.HOW THE BRETHREN SHOULD GO ABROAD
AND BEHAVE: Moreover, when the brethren shall go to the cities and
castles, let them not go alone but two or three together, and they
shall not go there with those whom they would, but with those whom
their Master shall order, and when they shall become there where
they would go, let them remain together as united in their conduct
as in their dress. And let nothing be done in their movements
which might offend the eyes of anyone, but only that which reveals
their holiness. Moreover, when they shall be in a church or in a
house or in any other place where there are women, let them keep
guard over their modesty, and let no women wash their heads or
their feet, or make their beds. May Our Lord, who dwells among his
saints, keep guard over them in this matter. 5.BY WHOM AND HOW
ALMS SHOULD BE SOUGHT: Also let religious persons, both clerical
and lay brethren, go forth to seek alms for the holy poor; also
when they shall seek for a lodging (hostel), let them go to the
church or to some suitable person and let them ask of him their
food for charity sake, and let them buy nothing else. But if they
should not find anyone who will give them the necessaries, let
them buy by measure one meal only, on which they shall live.
6.CONCERNING THE ALMS OBTAINED AND CONCERNING THE PRODUCE OF THE
HOUSES: Also let them take neither land nor security from the alms
collected, but let them deliver them up to the Master with an
account in writing, and let the Master deliver them up with his
own account in writing to the poor in the hospital; and let the
Master receive from all the Obediences the third part of the bread
and wine and of all food, and that which shall be surplus should
be added to the alms, and let him hand it over in Jerusalem to the
poor with his own account in writing. 7.WHO AND IN WHAT MANNER
THEY SHOULD GO ABROAD TO PREACH: And let not any of the brethren,
of whatever Obedience they may be, go to preach or to make
collections, except only those whom the Chapter and the Master of
the Church shall send. And let those same brethren, who shall go
to make collections, be received in whatever Obedience they shall
come, and let them receive such food as the brethren have ordained
among themselves, and let them demand no other thing. Also let
them carry with them a light, and in whatever house they shall be
lodged (herbergie), let them cause the light to burn before them.
8.CONCERNING THE CLOTHING AND FOOD OF THE BRETHREN: Furthermore
also we forbid the brethren to wear at any time brightly coloured
cloth (dras ysambruns ne galembruns) or furs of animals (pennes
sauvages) or fustian. Also let them not eat more than twice in the
day, and let them eat no meat on Wednesdays or Saturdays, or from
Septuagesima until Easter, except those who are sick or feeble;
and let them never lie down naked, but clothed in shirts or linen
or wool, or in other similar garments. 9.CONCERNING BRETHREN
GUILTY OF FORNICATION: But if any of the brethren, and may such a
thing never happen, through sinful passion shall fall into
fornication, if he shall sin in secret, let him do his penance in
secret, and let him impose upon himself suitable penance; and if
it shall be well known and proved absolutely for certain, then in
that town in which he shall have committed the sin, on the Sunday
after Mass, when the people shall have left the church, let him be
severely beaten and flogged with hard rods (verges) or leather
thongs (corroies) in the sight of all by his Master or by other
brethren commanded by the Master, and let him be expelled out of
all our company: and after wards if Our Lord shall enlighten the
heart of that man, and he shall return to the House of the Poor,
and shall confess himself to be guilty and a sinner and the
transgressor against the law of God, and shall promise amendment,
he should be received and for a whole year should be treated as a
stranger, and the brethren should observe during this period of
time whether he be satisfactory, and afterwards let them do as
shall seem good to them 10.CONCERNING BRETHREN QUARRELLING AND
STRIKING ONE ANOTHER: Also if any brother dispute with another
brother, and the Procurator of the House shall have heard the
complaint, the penance should be as follows: he shall fast for
seven days, the Wednesday and the Friday on bread and water, and
he shall eat seated on the ground without table and without napkin
(toaille). And if the brother shall strike another brother he
shall fast for forty days. And if he shall depart from the House,
or the Master under whose authority he shall be, wilfully and
without the leave of his Master, and afterwards he shall return,
he shall eat for forty days seated on the ground, and shall fast
on Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and water; and for as long a
time as he has been absent, let him be treated as a stranger,
unless by chance the time should have been so long that the
Chapter should think proper to modify it. 11.CONCERNING THE
SILENCE OF THE BRETHREN: Also at table, as the Apostle says, let
each one eat his bread in silence, and let him not drink after
Compline. Also let the brethren keep silence in their beds.
12.CONCERNING BRETHREN MISBEHAVING: And if any brother shall not
conduct himself well, and shall be admonished and corrected by his
Master or by other brethren twice or three times, and if, at the
instigation of the Devil, he will not amend his ways not obey, he
should be sent to us on foot with a written report of his sin; and
always a small allowance (procuration) should be given to him
sufficient to enable him to come to us, and we will correct him;
and also no brother should strike the sergeants subject to him for
any fault or sin they may commit, but let the Master of the House
and the brethren exact vengeance in the presence of all; but
always let the sentence (justice) of the House be maintained
completely. 13.CONCERNING BRETHREN FOUND WITH PRIVATE PROPERTY:
And if any of the brethren have made a disposition of private
property at his death, he shall have concealed it from his Master,
and afterwards it shall be found upon him, let that money be tied
round his neck, and let him be led naked through the Hospital of
Jerusalem, or through the other houses where he dwells, and let
him be beaten severely by another brother and do penance for forty
days, and he shall fast on Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and
water. 14.WHAT OFFICE SHOULD BE CELEBRATED FOR THE DECEASED
BRETHREN: Moreover we command that this statue should be made,
which is most necessary for us all, and we ordain it in commanding
that for all the brethren who die in your Obedience thirty Masses
should be chanted for the soul of each; and at the first Mass each
of the brethren, who shall be present, shall offer one candle with
one Denier. Which Deniers, as many as there shall be, should be
given to the poor for God's sake; and the priest who shall chant
the Masses, if he be not of the House, should have provision in
the Obedience on those days; and on completion of the office, the
Master should render charity to the said priest, and let all the
garments of the deceased brother be given to the poor; also let
the brother priests, who shall sing the Masses, pray for his soul
to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and let each of the clerics chant the
Psalter, and each of the lay brothers 150 paternosters. And also
concerning all other sins and matters and complaints let them
judge and decide in Chapter with righteous judgement. 15.HOW THE
THINGS HERE DETAILED ARE TO BE FIRMLY MAINTAINED: All these
things, just as we have detailed them above, we command and ordain
in the Name of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Mary, and of the
Blessed St. John, and of the poor, that these same things should
be kept with the utmost strictness. 16.HOW OUR LORDS THE SICK
SHOULD BE RECEIVED AND SERVED: And in that Obedience in which the
Master and the Chapter of the Hospital shall permit, when the sick
man shall come there, let him be received thus, let him partake of
the Holy Sacrament, first having confessed his sins to the priest,
and afterwards let him be carried to bed, and there as if he were
a Lord, each day before the brethren to eat, let him be refreshed
with food charitably according to the ability of the House; also
on every Sunday let the Epistle and the Gospel be chanted in that
House, and let the House be sprinkled with holy water at the
procession. Also if any of the brethren, who hold Obedience in
different lands, coming to any secular person offering allegiance
and giving him the money of the poor, in order that those persons
should cause the said brethren to prevail by force against the
Master, let such brethren be cast out of all the company 17.IN
WHAT MANNER BRETHREN MAY CORRECT BRETHREN: Also if two or more
brethren shall be together, and one of them shall conduct himself
outrageously be evil living, the other of the brethren should not
denounce him to the people nor to the Prior, but first let him
chastise him by himself, and if he would no be chastised, let him
join with himself two or three brethren to chastise him. And if he
should amend his ways, they should rejoice at it; but if he be not
willing to amend his ways, then let him write down the guilt of
the brother, and let him send it to the Master privately, and
according at the Master and the Chapter shall order let it be done
concerning him. 18.HOW ONE BROTHER SHOULD ACCUSE ANOTHER BROTHER:
Let no brother accuse another brother unless he be well able to
prove it; and if he shall accuse him and be unable to prove it, he
is no true brother. 19.THAT THE BRETHREN BEAR ON THEIR BREASTS THE
SIGN OF THE CROSS: Also let all the brethren of all the
Obediences, who now and henceforward shall offer themselves to God
and to the Holy Hospital of Jerusalem bear on their breasts the
cross, on their cassocks (chapes) and on their mantles, to the
honour of God and the Holy Cross that God by that banner
(gonfanon), and through faith and works and obedience, may guard
and defend us in soul and in body, with all our Christian
benefactors from the power of the Devil in this world and the
next. Amen.

STATUTES OF FR. JOBERT 1172-7

A. THE CHAPTER GENERAL OF 1176

THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SICK TO HAVE WHITE BREAD. -

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.

Let all men know of those who are, and those in the future shall
be sons of Holy Mother Church, that I Jobert, Master of the
Hospital of Jerusalem, with the good will and unanimous consent of
all our brethren assembled in our Common Chapter, before the
presence and witness of the passion and resurrection of Our Lord,
have given and granted in permanent possession to our blessed
lords, that is to say to the poor of the Xenodocheum of the
Hospital of Jerusalem, and to Brother Steven the Hospitaller at
the present time, and to their successors who shall come after
them perpetually for all time, two casales, that is to say the
casales of St. Mary and Caphaer, with all their possessions and
appurtenances within and without, for the provision of white bread
which should be given to them forever; and if by chance it should
happen that the corn should fail in the casales or be insufficient
to provide for the needs of the poor, enough should be taken from
the Treasury to purchase white bread and to provide sufficient for
the poor; and if should happen that the wheat from the casales
should be mixed with evil herbs, good wheat should be taken
measure for measure from the granary of the Hospital, and so
sufficient should be provided for our lords the poor. And in order
that this gift may be established and unaltered forever, we have
caused this charter to be sealed with our seal; and if anyone from
henceforward would go to contrary to this Holy Commandment, or
would distort it, may he be damned with Judas the traitor in
everlasting damnation, with Cain and Dathan and Abiron, whom the
earth swallowed up, may he be cursed with the curse. Amen.

Each loaf should be the weight of two marks, and should be given
to two poor persons.

This decree was made in the year of the Incarnation of Our Lord
1176.

B. THE CHAPTER - GENERAL OF 1177

THE CUSTOMS OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOSPITAL OF JERUSALEM. -

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.

These are the customs which should be observed in the House of the
Hospital of Jerusalem.

1.The first morning Mass should not be begun before it is day, nor
should the Commander of any house order the priest to chant mass.
And no priest should chant mass twice in a day, unless by chance
the body of the dead person be there, and then in this manner,
first should be chanted the mass for the day, if it be a Sunday or
a day of Festival, and afterwards should be chanted that for the
dead, if a body be present there. And everywhere where a deceased
(brother) of the hospital shall be buried, the day of his death
should be written in the calendar. And for thirty days masses
should be chanted for his soul. And when the Trental shall be
completed, the day the anniversary should always be celebrated for
his soul, and when the church where the Trental shall be
celebrated has three priests, one should celebrate the Trental,
and the other two chant the masses for the day. And if two priests
only be there where the Trental should be celebrated, the service
should be shared between them, and the gratuity. And when there
shall be there no more than one priest, they shall obtain another
a stranger to celebrate the service of the Trental.

2.And when it shall be celebrated, one besant and a new shirt and
breeches, according to the custom of the House, should be given to
him. And if it be impossible to find a stranger priest. and the
priest of the house be without the company of another priest, the
Trental should be celebrated in this manner, that is to say that
every day he should chant for the dead except on Sundays and days
of solemn festival; and then afterwards he should make the
commemoration and remembrance for the brother that is departed.
But when the thirty days shall be passed, and after the number of
days on which commemoration should be made only for the soul of
the brother shall be fulfilled by the Trental, and there should be
given to the priest the charity aforesaid. And if by chance these
things should happen in Lent in the houses where there shall be no
more than one priest, let it be postponed until after Easter, and
then let celebration be made for the soul of the brother without
delay.

3.And let the brethren always take care to have a light in the
church, and let the chalice for administration be of silver, and
the censor of silver.

4.And it is commanded that the bodies of pilgrims or of other
Christians, who shall die after the Hour of Vespers, should be
left until the next day; and in the Hospital, where they shall
have died, let them not lie upon their biers without a light. And
the next day before Prime they should be carried to the church,
and after Mass should be buried; the biers of the dead should be
like those that are in Jerusalem.

5.The bodies of the brethren should be watched in the church, and
the clerics should be around them chanting their psalms, and the
tapers should be lighted. Of the charity that is given to the
priests for the Trental the house should retain nothing; but for
the Trentals of strangers the brethren should retain the half.

6.For the public and private masses the priests should have
nothing for themselves, except so much as the brethren should wish
to give them of their own free will.

7.Of the payments from confessions the sixth part should be given
to the priests and the clerics, not by contract but of grace; but
in casales where there shall be no burgesses, and no one except
one priest, the arrangements aforesaid shall be at the discretion
of the Commander of the house, and the gratuity of the clerics he
shall give as shall seem good to him.

8.Of the wills and legacies, which shall be made to vicars up to
one besant, the half should be given to them; but the legacies and
wills, which shall be left to the Hospital , when they shall be
paid over, the brethren should receive them without deduction.

STATUTES OF FR. ROGER DE MOULINS 1177-87

The Chapter-General of 1181

THAT THE CHURCHES SHOULD BE REGULATED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE
PRIOR.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. In the year of the incarnation of Our Lord 1181 in the month
of March, on the Sunday on which they chant 'Laetare Jerusalem'
(i.e. March 22nd), I Roger, servant of Christ's poor, in the
presence of the clerical and lay brethren seated around the
Chapter-General, to the honour of God and the glory of our
Religion, and the support and benefit of the sick poor.

1.It is commanded that the statutes of the church aforesaid and
the benefits for the poor afterwards written should be Kept and
observed forever, without going contrary to them in any respect.
Concerning the churches it is commanded that they should be
arranged and regulated at the disposition of the Prior of the
clerics of the Hospital with regard to books clerics vestments
priests chalices censers perpetual light and other ornaments.

2.And secondly, it is decreed with the assent of the brethren that
for the sick in the Hospital of Jerusalem there should be engaged
four wise doctors, who are qualified to examine urine, and to
diagnose different diseases, and are able to administer
appropriate medicines.

3.And thirdly, it is added that the beds of the sick should be
made as long and as broad as is most convenient for repose, and
that each bed should be covered with its own coverlet, and each
bed should have its own special sheets.

4.After these needs is decreed the fourth command, that each of
the sick should have a cloak of sheepskin and boots for going to
and coming from the latrines, and caps of wool.

5.It is also decreed that little cradles should be made for the
babies of the women pilgrims born in the House, so that they may
lie separate, and that the baby in its own bed may be in no danger
from restlessness of its mother.

6.Afterwards it is decreed the sixth clause, that the biers of the
dead should be concealed in the same manner as are the biers of
the brethren, and should be covered with a red coverlet having a
white cross.

7.The seventh clause commands that wheresoever there are hospitals
for the sick, that the Commanders of the houses should serve the
sick cheerfully, and should do their duty by them, and serve them
without grumbling or complaining, so that by these good deeds they
may deserve to have their reward in the glories of heaven. And if
any of the brethren should act contrary to the commands of the
Master in these matters, that it should be brought to the notice
of the Master, who shall punish them according to the sentence of
the house commands.

8.It was also decreed, when the council (i.e. Chapter-General) of
the brethren was held, that the Prior of the Hospital of France
should send each year to Jerusalem one hundred sheets of dyed
cotton to replace the coverlets of the poor sick, and should
reckon them in his Responsion together with those things which
shall be given in his Priory to the House in charity.

9.In selfsame manner and reckoning the Prior of the Hospital of
St. Gilles should purchase each year the like number of sheets of
cotton and send them to Jerusalem, together with those things
which shall be given in his Priory for the love of God to the poor
of the Hospital.

10.The prior of Italy each year should send to Jerusalem for our
lords the sick two hundred ells of fustian (= cotton sheets) of
divers colours, which he may reckon each year in his Responsion.

11.And the Prior of Pisa should send likewise the like numbers of
fustians.

12.And the Prior of Venice likewise, and all should be reckoned in
their Responsions.

13.And likewise the Bailiffs this side of the sea should be
particular in this same service.

14.Of whom the Bailiff of Antioch should send to Jerusalem two
hundred ells of cotton cloth for the coverlets of the sick.

15.The prior of Mont Pelerin (i.e. Tripolis) should send to
Jerusalem two quintals of sugar for the syrups, and the medicines
and the electuaries of the sick.

16.For this same service the Bailiff of Tabarie (i.e. Tiberias)
should send there the same quantity.

17.The Prior of Constantinople should send for the sick two
hundred felts.

18.Moreover guarding and watching them day and night, the brethren
of the Hospital should serve the sick poor with zeal and devotion
as if they were their lords, and it was added in Chapter-General
that in every ward (rue) and place in the Hospital, nine sergeants
should be kept at their service, who should wash their feet
gently, and change their sheets, and make their beds, and
administer to the weak necessary and strengthening food, and do
their duty devotedly, and obey, in all things for the benefit of
the sick.

THE CONFIRMATION BY THE MASTER ROGER OF THE THINGS THAT THE HOUSE
SHOULD DO.

Let all the brethren of the House of the Hospital, both those
present and those to come, know that the good customs of the House
of the Hospital of Jerusalem are as follows;

1.Firstly the Holy House of the Hospital is accustomed to receive
sick men and women, and is accustomed to keep doctors who have the
care of the sick, and who make the syrups for the sick, and who
provide the things that are necessary for the sick. For three days
in the week the sick are accustomed to have fresh meat, either
pork or mutton, and those who are unable to eat it have chicken.

2.And two sick persons are accustomed to have one coat of
sheepskin (pelice de brebis/berbis?), which they use when going to
the latrines (chambres), and between two sick persons one pair of
boots. Every year the House of the Hospital is accustomed to give
to the poor one thousand cloaks of thick lamb skins.

3.And all the children abandoned by their fathers and mothers t
Hospital is accustomed to receive and to nourish. To a man and
woman who desire to enter into matrimony, and who possess nothing
with which to celebrate their marriage, the House of the Hospital
is accustomed to give two bowls (escueles) or the rations of two
brethren.

4.And the House of the Hospital is accustomed to keep one brother
shoemaker (corvoisier) and three sergeants, who repair the old
shoes (soliers) given for the love of God. And the Almoner is
accustomed to keep two sergeants who repair the old robes that he
may give them to the poor.

5.And the Almoner is accustomed to give twelve deniers to each
prisoner, when he is first released from prison.

6.Every night five clerics are accustomed to read the Psalter for
the benefactors of the House.

7.And every day thirty poor persons are accustomed to be fed at
table once a day for the love of God, and the five clerics
aforesaid may be among those thirty poor persons, but the twenty-
five eat before the Convent, and each of the five clerics should
have two deniers and eat with the Convent.

8.And on three days of the week they are accustomed to give in
alms to all who come there to ask for it, bread and wine and
cooked food.

9.In Lent every Saturday, they are accustomed to celebrate Maundy
for thirteen poor persons, and to wash their feet, and to give to
each a shirt and new breeches and new shoes, and to three
chaplains, or to three clerics out of the thirteen, three deniers
and to each of the others, two deniers.

10.These are the special charities decreed in the Hospital, apart
from the Brethren-at-Arms whom the House should maintain
honourably, and many other charities there are which cannot be set
out in detail each one by itself. And that these things be true
good men and loyal here bear witness, that is to say Brother
Roger, Master of the Hospital, and Brother Bernard the Prior and
all the Chapter-General.

Epilogue

The Second Vatican Council says in Art. 2 of its Decree on the
contemporary renewal of religious life "perfectae caritatis" from
October 28, 1965: "Contemporary renewal of Religious life means:
permanent return to the roots of every Christian life and to the
spirit of the origin of the individual institutes, but at the same
time their adaptation to the changed conditions of the time. This
renewal is to be put into effect under the motivation of the Holy
Spirit and under the leadership of the church according to the
following principles:

a. Last norm of religious life is the imitation of Christ as
described in the gospel. It must be the supreme rule for all
institutes.

b. It is to the profit of the church, that the institutes have
their individuality and their particular tasks. Therefore the
spirit and the essential intentions of the founders and the
healthy traditions, which constitute together the heritage of
every institute, must be faithfully researched and preserved ..."

The latter has been the task of this work. In doing so I neither
claim to have described totally what the charisma of my patron
saint, the Blessed Gerard Tonque is all about, nor that there were
no room for amendments to what I have written. Therefore I will be
most grateful for every stimulus for further studies and for every
suggestion for improvement. If I had succeeded to bring out the
indispensable basis of every service under the Maltese cross, like
it was lived and laid down by the founder and his first
successors, my big wish would be fulfilled, to make a little
contribution to the renewal of this order, who I feel so deeply
attached to.

When we look today onto the essence and the work of the order, we
may joyfully state that it did not only start with the Second
Vatican Council to tackle this renewal with lots of energy. But
renewal is no singular procedure, but means a perpetual change, a
lasting flexibility according to the demands of the time. Renewal
means also, but not only, an outward change, but essentially also
a permanent inward change. I.e. every member of the Order and
every helper in the works of the Order must be prepared to
continuously reflect and if necessary to repent, as far as the
nature, the contents, the aim and the type of his service is
concerned. Especially in our times, where we often complain about
secularisation, diminishing of faith, selfishness and so on, every
individual has to question himself, keeping the aim of the Order
in the back of his mind, again and again, what for and how he does
this service: Is it really the pure love to God and the neighbour,
which motivates him to meet the suffering Christ selflessly in the
needy fellow man? The future of all who serve under the Maltese
cross is being shaped and determined by the answer to that
question. Only, if we are able to respond to this question with a
clear "Yes", have we been faithful to the intentions and aims of
the founder of the order.

The aim "tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum" (Protection of faith
and obsequiousness to the poor) is an inseparable unity. It must
not and it cannot be divided into its two parts. Because the
service for the faith lacks credibility, if it doesn't result in
the helping deed, and all aid for the poor, even if it may emanate
from the very best intentions and be perfectly organised, remains
a miserable fragment, if it is not part and parcel of the
imitation of Christ, who is the only one who can and who will
bring the good, which he started in us, to perfection.

This leads to the consequence for the running of our service, that
we always have to see the needy in its unity of body and soul.
Physical healing and spiritual welfare are inseparable. But the
aim "spiritual welfare" must not be mixed up with psychological
health. The latter is just part of physical health. As we
rightfully call for caring for those entrusted to us also
psychologically, this does not free us from the task of the
pastoral care, i.e. care for the spiritual welfare of our
proteges. As the salvation of man lies in his communion with
Christ, it is our task through our service to bring people closer
to Christ in such a way that they can have en encounter with him
which has an effect on their salvation. Our service thus is
knowingly and essentially also missionary service. Thus we take
part as God's instruments in his plan for the world's salvation.
The essential difference of our service to the work of other
relief organisations is in the fact, that we do not and shall not
only heal, but that we are called to sanctify.

Service to the needy motivated by faith in imitating Christ is
genuine service towards salvation, is truly divine service.

This is, and nothing else was and will be the task of everyone
serving under the Maltese cross. This aim is not only our only
justification to exist, but an inward duty, but also the highest
honour and distinction of all who follow the ideals and example of
Blessed Gerard.

Fr. Gerard Tonque Lagleder O.S.B.

Bibliography

The original bibliography of the literature used for this
publication contains 76 German, 21 French, 14 Latin, 10 Italian, 7
English, 2 Dutch and 1 Spanish title/s. In order to be
practicable, there are only the English titles enumerated here:

Bibliographies

�  MIZZI, J.: A Bibliography of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
1925-1969. in: The Order of St. John in Malta: XIII Council of
Europe Exhibition. 1970. 108-204

�  NELSON, Melvyl Lynn: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN OF
THE HOSPITAL; NOW KNIGHTS OF MALTA. COMPILED FROM A SEARCH OF
MELVYL LYNN NELSON. 1992

General Literature and Monographs

�  BEDFORD, W.K.R. and HOLBECHE, Richard: The Order of St. John of
Jerusalem. Being a History of the English Hospitallers of St.
John, their Rise and Progress. London 1902. Reprint (New York)
1978

�  BRADFORD, Ernle: The Shield and the Sword

�  FINCHAM, H. W. : The Order of St. John of Jerusalem and its
Grand Priory of England. London 1933

�  KING, Edwin James: The Grand Priory of The Order of the
Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England. London 1924. Reprint
(New York) 1978

�  KING, Edwin James: The Knights Hospitallers in the Holy Land.
London

�  KING, Edwin James: The Knights of St. John in the British
Empire. London 1934

�  KING, Edwin James: The Rule and Statutes and Customs of the
Hospitallers 1099-1310. London 1934

�  KING, Edwin James: The Seals of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem. London

�  KINGSLEY, Rose G.: The Order of St. John of Jerusalem (past and
present). London 1918. Reprint (New York) 1978

�  MASSON, Madeleine: A Pictorial History of Nursing. Middlesex
1985

�  REES, William: A History of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
in Wales and on the Welsh Border including an Account of the
Templars. Cardiff (1887, 21947). Reprint (New York) 1978

�  RENWICK, E. D. and WILLIAMS, I. M.: A Short History of the
Order of St. John. London 51969

�  RILEY-SMITH, Jonathan: The Knights of St. John in Jerusalem and
Cyprus c. 1050-1310. London 1967 = A History of the Order of the
Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem I

�  WILLIAMS, Richard: St. John's Gate Picture Book. London 1947

Taken from the Homepage of the Brotherhood of Blessed Gerard at
http://www.shaka.iafrica.com/~gtl/rulemalt.htm

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