AN HISTORIC ORDER.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 14 July 1933, Page 7

AN HISTORIC ORDER.

DUTY TO HUMANITY. DAYS OF THE CRUSADES RECALLED. ALLEVIATION OF SUFFERING. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, frequently known as the Knights Hospitaller, was the first of all those orders of Christian knighthood founded as the outcome of the first recovery and protection of the Holy City by devout pilgrims for the Sepulchre of Our Lord. But this order, unlike all those others, has lived through the ages to the present time, and to-day, as a great organisation in England, is still engaged in carrying out its original intention of giving aid to the sick and wounded, both in times of peace and

As early as the third century of our era, it became customary for pilgrims to journey to the Holy City of Jerusalem, and there some sort of hospital existed for their succour and protection. For centuries after the rise of Islam and its possession of the Holy Land, this Christian hospital in Jerusalem was treated with greater or less toleration by the rulers of the city. About the year l,iß certain merchants of Amalfi (a little seaport to the south of Naples), who were trading to Palestine, either founded a new hospital or, what is more probable, raised the old one to a more important position, and provided for its serving by a body of men who called themselves the Brothers of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Early Endowments. The head of the brotherhood, or rector as he was called, was Brother Gerard, and when the great army of the first crusade under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon, captured the city of Jerusalem, it found the hospital in full work, and many of the crusaders received help from the brethren. Many of the richer pilgrims joined its ranks, and others gave of their possessions in the various countries from which they had come, in order that their revenues should endow the hospital. Brother Gerard was succeeded by Raymond de Puy, who was the first to assume the title of Grand Master, and with the sanction of Pope Pascale 11. he formulated the rules for the order. The White Cross. The white cross on a red ground was adopted as their banner, and a black lobe with an eight-pointed cross on the left breast as their conventual dress. When fighting they wore over their armour a tunic or supravest of red, with a large plain white cross on tht: front, similar in appearance to the banner. The sisters of the order wore a red dress, over which was a black robe with the eight-pointed cross, but at the loss of the Island of Rhodes they abandoned the red dress for one of black as a sign of mourning. At the ceremonial admission of a knight to the order he was told by the grand master that the four arms of the badge represented the Christian virtues, prudeuce, justice, temperance, and fortitude: and the points, the eight beatitudes which spring from those virtues; and that its whiteness is the emblem of that purity of life required in those who fight for the defence of the Christian faith and live for the ser-1 viro 0 f (he poor and suffering. The knights divided themselves into .seven divisions, or langues as they were called, named after the more important countries of Europe f rom which they had come, and where their possessions and revenues lay. They were Provence, Auvergene, France. Italy. Aragon. England, and Germany, making an eighth langues of Castile. The more important properties in the countries were called priories, and the smaller bailiwicks and commanderies. Removal from Palestine. In 1291 the last hold of the Christians in Palestine was lost to the Saracens, and the order removed to Cyprus, where their chief home was the Castle of Kolossi, which was given to them by the Christian king of that island. This castle was, about 1914, acquired by the English order, as a memento of the time when the whole wo-k of the knights lay at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. In 1310 they removed to the Island of Rhodes, where they built a large and strongly-fortified city, which they occupied as their headquarters for more than two centuries. In 1480 they were attacked by the Turks with an enormous fleet and army, but the knights victoriously sustained a seige which lasted many months, and which was one of the greatest in history. It is evident that the value of the stand then made by the knights is difficult to overestimate, for ,at this criticial period, had they lost Rhodes, the command of the Mediterranean would have been in the hands of the Turks, with results which might have changed the whole history of Europe, and even of Christianity. The Island of Rhodes. However, in the year 1522 the Turks again attacked the island, and the knights were compelled to surrender, but it is interesting to note that to-day the white cross banner of the order again flies over the city of Rhodes in the form of the modern flag of Italy, the present owner of the island. Driven from' Rhodes, the knights were obliged to establish their headquarters in a temporary manner elsewhere, and during this period, De l'lsle Adam, then Grand Master, visited the various rulers of Western Europe to solicit help for the vain project of recovering the island. He came to England to interview Henrj VIII., and was entertained in the priory at Clerkenwell, .and later at St. James' Palace, where he stayed for the remainder of his visit. The King eventually gave him 19 great cannon and 1023 balls, but the knights were unsuccessful, and for seven years they wandered.

At last De l'lsle Adam prevailed upon the Emperor, Charles V., to grant to them the Island of Malta,

and they sailed into its great harbour on October 26, ].%0.

On the Island of Malta, the knights again suffered attacks from the Turks, and it was not until 1566 that they were left in peace.

The French Revolution. Then came the great French Revolution with its ambitious commander, Napoleon Buonaparte, ravaging Europe. In June, 1798, he arrived with the French fleet, and after very little resistance he captured the island. Many of the knights abandoned the profession and went home to their various countries, but a remnant, with the grand master fled to Russia, under the protection of the Emperor, and thus ended the once glorious rule of the Knights of St. John in the Mediterranean. It was about the year 1130 that the Knights of St. John were given ten acres of land in Clerkenwcll, and here they built their great priory, their chief house in England. They rapidly acquired other properties, until, in 1338. they owned more than 90 manors in England, and also possessed much property in Scotland and Ireland. In London, apart from Clerkenwcll, they held considerable property, and at the suppression of the knights templars by King Edward 11., their property in England and .Scotland, also passed into the possession of the Knights of St. John. The head of the English knights was called the grand prior, or lord prior, and held a very important position; he was chief baron of England, taking precedence over all other lay barons in the House of Lords. Many Charters Granted. Very many charters were granted to the priors and brethren, giving them the greatest privileges, and freeing them and their men from the usual duties to the State. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the prosperity of the order in England appeared to be at its zenith. In 1502 Henry VII was elected protector of the knights of Rhodes, and was a frequent visitor to the priory. In the early days of the reign of Kenry VIII. the knights continued in great favour of the king, and it then that he received De l'lsle Adam, a visiting grand masler from abroad, and gave him the guns previously mentioned. When Henry's quarrels with the Pope began, however, he tried to subvert the allegiance of the English knights of the order from their headquarters, and he tempted them to become his knights with the defence of Calais as their particular mission. The King's Supremacy. After having dissolved the religious houses of England, Henry turned his attention to the hospitallers, and members were forbidden to wear tlie dress of the order, or to use any of its distinctive titles. The greater number of the knights retired to Malta, and of those who remained several were executed, being charged wtih having denied the King's supremacy. During the continuation of the reign of Edward VI., the English langues was maintained at Malta, but on the accession of Queen Mary the knights were invited to return, and by royal letters patent, dated April 2, 1557, the bailiffs, commanders, and knightswere once more incorporated by and under the name and title of the "Prior and Co-brethren of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England." This revival lasted but a short time, for on the accession of Queen Elizabeth the Crown again seized the property of the order, and the knights once more fled to Malta. The Order To-day. On its reincorporation in England the method of government of the order was formed, as far as possible, on the precedents of the old order, with certain modifications owing to the changes in religion and modern environment. The Sovereign of the Realm is the Sovereign Head and Patron, and no admission can be made to the order except with his Majesty's sanction. Probably the best known modern work of the order is the development through its ambulance department of the St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade, the latter being more or less an off-shoot of the former. The Red Cross movement, which became active at the beginning of the latter half of last century, was much stimulater by the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871, and many members of the order enrolled themselves in the newly-formed British National Aid Society established for red cross work. Experience gained in the war made it clear that no Red Cross Society could efficiently carry out its work in time of war unless organised in time of peace, and this experience fructified in 1877 in the formation of the St. John Ambulance Association, with the object of disseminating instruction in ambulance work. First-aid Training. It was found that the training necessary for a first-aid pupil differed essentially from that of the embryo doctor, owing to the principal aim of the former being to prevent an injury from becoming worse, while the doctor's business is to effect a cure, and thus there was fixed a line of demarcation beyond which first-aid must not go. Moreover, while the doctor has usually at hand an ample supply of the most modern appliances, the first-aider has to act rapidly with whatever he can lay his hands upon, and must therefore cultivate faculties of resourcefulness and observation.