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Order of Malta


Introduction


Mission
Across the world, the Order of Malta’s mission is dedicated to the preservation of human dignity and the care of all those in need regardless nationality, race or religion.
The Order today
The Order of Malta is a Catholic lay religious order dedicated to the care and service for the vulnerable and the sick, the forgotten or excluded members of society for over 900 years. Today the Order works in over 120 countries through the provision of medical and emergency humanitarian relief, social assistance and a broad spectrum of charitable works. The Order of Malta also operates through its worldwide relief agency and its international network including partners, institutions, hospitals, medical centres. It has 13,500 members and a strong volunteer base of over 80,000 that come from all over the world and different walks of life. The Order of Malta is neutral, impartial and apolitical.
Historial roots
Founded in 1113, The Order of Malta is one of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilisation. In the 11th century a monastic community The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, as it was first known, established a hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. Their work grew in fame and in 1113 Pope Paschal II officially recognised the monastic community as a lay religious order. The Pope identified the Hospitaller Blessed Gerard as the Order’s founder together with an established group of monks. All the Knights Hospitallers were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Order was later obliged to take on the military defence of the sick and the pilgrims, as well as guarding its medical centres and main roads. The Order thus added the task of defending the faith to that of its hospitaller mission. As time went on, the Order adopted the white eight-pointed cross that is still its symbol today. The Order ceased to carry out it’s military function when it was no longer needed in the 18th century but continued its faith with its founding mission focusing on hospitaller and humanitarian works.
For more information and history, as well as how The Order of Malta became known by various names including the acronym SMOM, as well as its connection with Malta, click here.

Order of Malta

Hong Kong