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Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
[Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Flag of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Motto: "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum"  (Latin)
"Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor"
Anthem: "Ave Crux Alba"  (Latin)
"Hail, thou White Cross"
Location of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
CapitalPalazzo Malta, Rome
Official languagesItalian
Government
Fra' Andrew Bertie
CurrencyScudo

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), Order of Malta or Knights of Malta for short) is a Catholic order based in Rome, Italy. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law.[1]

It takes its origins from the Knights Hospitaller, an organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, it became a Catholic military order under its own charter. Following the loss of Christian territory in the Holy Land, the Order operated from Rhodes, over which it was sovereign, and later from Malta - where it administered a vassal state under the Spanish viceroy of Sicily.

Although this state came to an end with the ejection of the Order from Malta by Napoleon, the Order as such survived. It retains its claims of sovereignty under international law and has been granted permanent observer status at the United Nations, although its claims of sovereignty are disputed by some scholars.[2] SMOM is considered to be the main successor to the medieval Knights Hospitaller, and today operates as a largely religious, charitable and hospitaller organization.

Name and insignia

The full official name is Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (in English) or Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta (in Italian). Conventionally, they are also known as the Order of Malta. The Order has a large number of local priories and associations around the world but there also exist a number of organizations with similar-sounding names that are unrelated, including numerous fraudulent (self-styled) orders seeking to capitalize on the name.

In ecclesiastical heraldry, the Order of Malta is one of only two Orders whose insignia may be displayed in a clerical coat of arms. (Laypersons have no such restriction.) The shield is surrounded with a silver rosary for professed knights, or for others the ribbon of their rank. Members may also display the Maltese Cross behind their shield instead of the ribbon (Noonan 1996).

International status of the Order

Blason of the Knights, from the façade of the church of San Giovannino dei Cavalieri, Florence.

With its unique history and unusual present circumstances the exact status of the Order has been the subject of debate: it claims to be a traditional example of a sovereign entity other than a state. Its two headquarters in Rome, namely the Palazzo Malta in Via dei Condotti 68 (where the Grand Master resides and Government Bodies meet), and the Villa Malta on the Aventine (which hosts the Grand Priory of Rome, the Embassy of the Order to Holy See and the Embassy of the Order to Italy), are granted extraterritoriality.

Flags of Knights Hospitaller in St. Peter's castle, Bodrum, Turkey
(from left to right : Fabrizio Carretto (1513-1514); Amaury d'Amboise (1503-1512); Pierre d'Aubusson (1476-1503); Jacques de Milly (1454-1451)

However, unlike the Holy See, which is sovereign over the Vatican City, SMOM has had no sovereign territory (other than a few properties in Italy) since the loss of the island of Malta in 1798. The United Nations does not classify it as a "non-member state" but as one of the "entities and intergovernmental organizations having received a standing invitation to participate as observers". For instance, while the International Telecommunication Union has granted radio identification prefixes to such quasi-sovereign jurisdictions as the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority, SMOM has never received one. For awards purposes, amateur radio operators consider SMOM to be a separate "country", but stations transmitting from there use an entirely unofficial callsign starting with the prefix "1A0".[3] Likewise, for internet identification the SMOM has not sought, nor been granted, a top level domain (such as .com or.uk), while Vatican City uses its own domain (.va).

Although most legal scholars accept a claim to sovereign status, a few leading experts in international law, notably Dr. Ian Brownlie, Dr. Helmut Steinberger, and Dr. Wilhelm Wengler, do not. Even taking into account its ambassadorial status among many nations, such a claim is sometimes rejected. Specifically Professor Dr Wilhelm Wengler, a German Professor of International law, addresses this point in his book "Völkerrecht", and rejects the notion that recognition of the Order by some states can make it a subject of international law. Conversely, Professor Rebecca Wallace, writing more recently in her book "International Law", explains that a sovereign entity does not have to be a country, and that SMOM is an example of this. The Holy See in 1953 proclaimed "in the Lord's name" that the Order of Malta was only a "functional sovereignty" - due to the fact that it did not have all that pertained to true sovereignty, such as territory.

Foreign relations with the SMOM
  diplomatic relations
  other relations

SMOM has formal diplomatic relations with 97 states (many of which are non-Catholic), and has official relations with another 5 countries, non-state subjects of international law like the European Community and International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of international organizations.[4] Its international nature is useful in enabling it to pursue its humanitarian activities without being seen as an operative of any particular nation. Its claimed sovereignty is also expressed in the issuance of passports, licence plates,[5] stamps,[6] and coins.[7] The latter are appreciated more for their subject matter rather than for use as postage or currency. Starting in 2005, SMOM issues stamps with the Euro as the unit of postage, while Scudo (pl. Scudi) remains the SMOM's official currency. The coincidence of Rome being the capital of the Italian Republic, the Holy See and the Order of Malta leads to a high density of diplomatic instances in the city.

Government of the Order

The proceedings of the Order are governed by its Constitutional Charter and the Order's Code. It is divided internationally into various territorial Grand Priories, Priories, and Sub-Priories. There are also national associations which operate in parallel with the priories.

The supreme head of the Order is the Grand Master, who is elected for life by the Council Complete of State. The present Grand Master is British, Fra' Andrew Bertie. Voters in the Council include the members of the Sovereign Council, other office-holders and representatives of the members of the Order. The Grand Master is aided by the Sovereign Council, which is elected by the Chapter General, the legislative body of the Order. The Chapter General meets every five years; at each meeting, all seats of the Sovereign Council are up for election. The Sovereign Council includes six members and four High Officers: the Grand Commander, the Grand Chancellor, the Grand Hospitaller and the Receiver of the Common Treasure. The Grand Commander is the chief religious officer of the Order and serves as "Interim Lieutenant" during a vacancy in the office of Grand Master. The Grand Chancellor is responsible for the administration of the Order. The Grand Hospitaller coordinates the Order's humanitarian and charitable activities. Finally, the Receiver of the Common Treasure is the Order's financial officer.

Prior to the 1990s, all officers of the Order had to be of noble birth, i.e armigerous for at least 100 years. This remains the case. However, Knights of Magistral Grace (i.e. those without noble proofs), may make the Promise of Obedience and may, at the discretion of the Grand Master and Sovereign Council, enter the novitiate to become professed Knights of Justice. The latter are religious, essentially monks practising the triple vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, although seldom living in monastic community. Worldwide there are over 10,000 knights and dames, a small minority of whom are professed religious. Others choose to be a "Knight of Obedience". Membership of the Order is by invitation only and solicitations are not entertained.

The Order's finances are audited by a Board of Auditors, which includes a President and four Councillors, all elected by the Chapter General. The Order's judicial powers are exercised by a group of Magistral Courts, whose judges are appointed by the Grand Master and Sovereign Council.

Fascist members of the SMOM

Grand Master Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere awarded the Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was also awared a knighthood prior to World War II.[8]

On Dec 4, 1932 Franz von Papen was succeeded as Chancellor of Germany by Kurt von Schleicher. Determined to gain revenge on Schleicher, von Papen came to terms with Hitler (Jan. 4, 1933) and persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler Chancellor. In April 1933 von Papen was elevated to Knight Magistral Grand Cross of SMOM.

On November 17, 1948 SMOM awarded one of its highest honors, the Grand Cross of Merit, to Reinhard Gehlen, the Nazi chief of intelligence on the Eastern Front who took part in the failed bomb plot of July 20, 1944 to assassinate Hitler, and was later recruited by the United States military to set up a spy ring directed against the Soviet Union.

See also

References

  1. ^ Riley-Smith, 170
  2. ^ http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/oosj/pkkmono.htm
  3. ^ http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/list_1a0.html
  4. ^ http://www.orderofmalta.org/attdiplomatica.asp?idlingua=5
  5. ^ http://www.targheitaliane.it/smom/smom.html
  6. ^ http://www.orderofmalta.org/filatelica.asp?idlingua=5
  7. ^ http://www.orderofmalta.org/numismatica.asp?idlingua=5
  8. ^ Peyrefitte, Roger. Knights of Malta. Translated from the French by Edward Hyams. Secker & Warburg, London, 1960, page 96.
  • Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The Atlas of the Crusades. Facts On File, Oxford (1991)
  • Cohen, R. (2004-04-15) [1920]. Julie Barkley, Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders (ed.). Knights of Malta, 1523-1798. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2006-05-29. {{cite book}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  • Noonan, Jr., James-Charles (1996). The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church. Viking. pp. p.196. ISBN 0-670-86745-4. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  • Read, Piers Paul (1999). The Templars. Imago. pp. p.118. ISBN 85-312-0735-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  • Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Allen Lane. pp. p.253. ISBN 0-7139-9220-4. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  • Wallace, R.M.M (1992). International Law. pp. p.76. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); Text "Publisher Sweet and Maxwell" ignored (help)

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