The Most Venerable Order
Of The
Hospital Of Saint John Of
Jerusalem
THE
ORDER
Queen Elizabeth II in the
robes
of Sovereign Head of the Order
The Following text and Photos are Copyright the
Order of Saint John and are reprinted
here by kind permission for Historical information. For their website go
here!
To
the Headquarters of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John
The Order of Saint
John has its origins in the time of the Crusades,
when poor pilgrims to the Holy Land were given help and assistance by the
Hospitaller Knights and, when sick, cared for by the Knights and Brothers
of the Hospital of Saint John. Hence, from its foundation in the late eleventh
century, the Order had been dedicated to helping the Sick and Poor.
The Order was soon
established across Europe with Knights, Brothers and Sisters grouped into
Priories, Bailiwicks and Commanderies. The earliest British Knights, members
of the
Grand
Priory of England, established their headquarters in Clerkenwell, London,
in 1144 and the world headquarters of the Most Venerable Order are still
based adjacent to the ancient Priory buildings of Saint John's Gate. These
buildings were acquired for the Order in 1874 by Sir Edward Lechmere, then
the Order's Secretary-General.
Saint John's Gate, Clerkenwell
The Protestant Reformation
led to the confiscation of the Order's properties in Great Britain but
the Catholic Priories continued to survive with their headquarters, the
Grand Magistery, transferred from the island of Rhodes to that of Malta
in 1530. The Knights of Malta continued to hold the island until it was
captured by Napoleon in 1798, but they eventually established their headquarters
in Rome, where the Grand Magistery of the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta (which has National Associations around the
world) can still be found today.
In the late 1820's
a group of English and Scottish gentleman, encouraged by some French knights
of Malta, established an ecumenical Priory
of the Order in England. This attracted the attention of the British
Royal Family in the 1870s and, in 1888, following a petition from the then
Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria granted it a Royal Charter as an Order
of the British Crown. Since then the Most Venerable Order of Saint John
has continued as a Royal
Order of Chivalry with
the Monarch as Sovereign Head and a junior member of the Royal
Family as Grand Prior. In addition to the Grand Priory, there are Priories
of England, Scotland, Wales, Australia
and Canada, for South Africa,
in New Zealand and the United
States, and Commanderies in Northern Ireland (of Ards), and Western
Australia.
The Great Officers of the Order
The Grand Prior of the
Order, nominated by the Queen as Sovereign Head, is His
Royal Highness Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Ranking immediately
below him is the Lord Prior, presently Lord Vestey. Since the reforms of
the Order's Constitution in October 1999, the number and titles of the
Great Officers have been revised. In addition to the Grand Prior and Lord
Prior, these are now the Prelate: the Rt Rev John Waine (a Bishop of the
Church of England); the Deputy Lord Priors: Lt-Col Eric Barry (Canada),
and Prof Anthony Mellowes (England), and a Sub-Prior: John Strachan, Esq
(New Zealand). The ordinary administration is carried out by the Secretary-General,
presently Sir Christopher MacRae. See the Government
of the Order and Triennial
appointments.
.
Saint John Badge
Coming
Soon!
THE
NATURE OF THE ORDER
THE
HOSPITALLER KNIGHTS IN BRITAIN BEFORE THE REFORMATION
ORIGINS
OF THE MODERN ORDER IN BRITAIN
THE
FOUNDATION OF THE MODERN ORDER
THE
DECORATIONS OF THE ORDER
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