(Rivista
Internazionale - December 1999:Chapter General- 1/1)
Chapter General
The ordinary Chapter General of the Order was held in Rome on 22 and 23 June in the Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill, convened and presided over by H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie. On the agenda was the election of the High Offices and members of the Sovereign Council, Government Council and Board of Auditors following the recent reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code. Problems regarding the Order’s activities, its spiritual state, its patrimony and its international relations were also discussed. The Order’s highest assembly, the last of this millennium, was attended by 70 representatives of its local organisations from all continents.
After the Mass celebrated by the Prelate of the Order, Msgr. Donato De Bonis, in the Magistral Church of Santa Maria all’Aventino, His Most Eminent Highness opened the meeting with the following address:
Excellences and Dear Confrères,
This Chapter General opens under the banner of a solemn moment for the Order, the celebration of its nonacentenary.
In opening our meeting, I would like to read the telegram which, as I hope you will approve, I will have immediately sent to His Holiness the Holy Father, to whom we are grateful for his spiritual guidance and for the support which over these years has always been afforded us in the constant dialogue between the Order and the Vatican bodies:
"In Opening This Ordinary Chapter General Sovereign Order Malta All Members Comma With Me United In Prayer Of Thanksgiving For Having Achieved Our Nonacentary Comma Express Filial Love And Fervid Gratitude To Your Holiness For Constant Paternal Encouragement And Spiritual Guidance To Achieve Ancient Always Current Charisma Of Tuitio Fidei Et Obsequium Pauperum Imploring Comfort Of Apostolic Benediction For Work Proposed And Commitment Of Participants
Most Devoted Fra Andrew Bertie Grand Master"
Last year the Holy Father beatified a heroic member of the Order, Bishop Vilmos Apor. I was present at the solemn ceremony in the Vatican and we all took new strength from it for our spirituality as Knights of Malta, today more than ever aimed at the moral elevation of those who, like us, pursue the institutional aims of defence of the faith and assistance for our beloved "lords the poor and the sick".
Since the last Ordinary Chapter General, some confrères who had devoted all their energy to the service of the Order have passed to another life. I shall not name them: for their external rest we will now recite together the REQUIEM AETERNAM DONA EIS, DOMINE.
Over the last five years the most significant events were the entry of the Order in the United Nations as Permanent Observer and the reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code. I will not dwell on the political significance of these events; it is clear that they have immensely strengthened the Order’s capacity to spread its humanitarian and health activities worldwide. We shall always encourage religious vocations within the framework of our beloved Order; in fact the more numerous our religious Knights. the better will we be able to defend the faith in the world and to relieve human suffering.
Our Priories have been busy in charitable works. I would like to cite, on behalf of all, the Priory of the Veneranda Lingua of Italy which has for five years been devotedly taking care of the terminally ill and especially children. This is an exemplary action of charity This is because, as we are well aware: "ordo praesidet in charitate" and "infirmis servire firmissimum regnare!". At the moment we are 38 professed knights plus nine chaplains. It is my specific duty to emphasise once again that the Knights of the First and Second Class constitute the future of the Order. It is essential to do our utmost with indefatigable application to encourage the religious vocation of suitable individuals.
At the moment we have six priories, three sub-priories and 41 national associations. These years have been characterised by a comforting increase of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic relations. Today we have diplomatic relations on a level of embassy with 83 States, as well as 16 delegations in some leading European countries and important European and international organisations.
The entire Order participated in our annual pilgrimages. First of all the one to Lourdes, an authentic international gathering for getting to know each other better and working more profitably together. There were also many other pilgrimages to the Marian Sanctuaries and I hope that even more will be promoted within the framework of the local activities of the Order’s bodies worldwide.
The Order has assisted fervently with charity in the great world crises, from Yugoslavia to Zaire, from Iraq to Kosovo, including medical materials sent to the Cuban population for a value of eight million dollars. There have been numerous international agreements, including one with Morocco for the campaign against cataracts, with Brazil for the blind, the postal agreements with Lithuania and Mali and, very important on a political level, that concluded on 5 December 1988 with the government of Malta, now being ratified, with which the extraterritoriality of Fort Sant’Angelo was clearly defined and its concession to the Order extended to 99 years. The restoration of the Captain House and Church of St. Anna has been completed and we now have a Resident Knight and, on an international level, the headquarters of the International Melitense Academy.
Our diplomacy, albeit with the difficulties based on the fact that it is performed by unpaid volunteers, has functioned well. Numerous initiatives have been launched in the countries where we do not yet have an association, which in time will certainly lead to the establishment of the Order’s operational bodies in the territory.
I hope that the cooperation and coordination between the Order’s bodies operating in the same territory, whether it be Grand Priory, Sub-Priory, Association or Diplomatic Delegation, occurs with mutual and confraternal respect. In these cases, the exchange of information is the best means to avoid misunderstandings, complications and bitterness.
A special thought goes to the action carried out during the first two years of this legislature by H.E. Ambassador Felice Catalano di Melilli, Grand Chancellor, who left the position on 19 April 1997. He performed his activity tirelessly in the service of the Order for a good 17 years with excellent results: I am grateful to him for this.
The Order’s financial situation in the last five years has been undoubtedly satisfactory, with an overall surplus for the 1994 to 1998 period of around 2 billion and 400 million Italian Lira. Assets have increased by over 12 billion Italian Lira and investments have been extremely conservative. The auditing mechanisms within the Magistry have been improved and voluntary external auditors have been called in, with the cooperation of the Receiver of the Common Treasure. This has helped and will help in the future the tasks of the Board of Auditors.
However, additional investments are necessary for improving the internal organisation of the Grand Magistry and, above all, as the Receiver will explain better in his address, for adjusting to the new information technology requirements on an international level.
On the international political level, the Order’s position, I am happy to recall, is of full neutrality; in the light also of our presence in the UN, we intend to develop our internal human and material resources so as to be ready to accept requests for mediation or friendly interventions as long as, clearly, these are in the interests of justice.
The pathway traced out by the first Seminar for Strategies from 1998 to today has led to a renewal of the Order’s junior management and in particular to the creation of international bodies such as ECOM, the Co-ordination Centre of Miami and others which are working with the voluntary organisations worldwide. The Bethlehem Hospital is also working well as is the fight against disease, fruit of poverty, in the Third World.
I am certain that you will vote for the good of the Order on the issues presented to you without being swayed by considerations of a personal or national nature.
In conclusion I want to thank everyone who has co-operated with me in these five years of government and who have achieved a definite progress, albeit the path has not always been easy. This goal has been attained precisely because of their firm principles and willpower.
I finish with the warmest wishes for a profitable work.
The report of the Receiver of the Common Treasure, Amb. Count Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, on the Order’s patrimony followed, and after that the report of the Grand Hospitaller, H.E. Baron Albrecht von Boeselager, on the Order’s welfare and hospitaller activities worldwide over the last five years. The Prelate concluded with his address:
At the dawn of the third millennium, the Order of the Knights of Malta remains faithful to its founding principles – defence of the faith and service to the suffering – but reforms the modes and styles of a legend which continues to marry vocation and commitment to solidarity, to justice and to peace underpinned by the teaching of the evangelical doctrine. All this in very close communion with the Holy See – more than ever today – expressing active and dynamic charity sustained by prayer.
During my seventh year with the Order, I am proud to confirm that the Sovereign Military Order of Malta lives and works in the world and for the world, but feels it does not belong to it precisely because of its great spirituality.
One is not a Knight or a Dame only for the privilege of birth or for acquired merit, but for having known how to respond to the request to work where there are material and moral needs, where suffering with its mystery lies hidden.
Do not expect from your Prelate a dry list of the Order’s religious activities, with the risk of a useless self-glorification. Following the ancient philosophical saying "agere sequitur esse" the "doing" of our Order is the simple visualisation of what it is!
Religious spirit?
Let us read together the words written in the first rule of the HOSPITALLERS of St. John, drawn up by Fra’ Raimond du Puy, successor of the Founder Blessed Gerard:
"In the name of the Lord. Amen. I Raymond, servant of the Poor in Christ and guardian of the Hospital of Jerusalem, with the counsel of the Chapter of Friars who come to serve the poor and to defend the Catholic Faith, may they maintain, and with divine aid observe, three promises to God, which are Chastity, Obedience (that is that they shall fully carry out everything the Master commands) and to live without personal means (Poverty)."
This is a felicitous summary of what we find in the Reform of April 1997.
TUITIO FIDEI – OBSEQUIUM PAUPERUM, two faces of the same medal: CHARITY.
It is charity to help the poor, tuitio fidei is charity, especially if integrated with the actions of "evangelisation" and "human promotion".
The eight points of our cross, referring to the eight beatitudes (Mt. 5, 3-12), do not represent only an evocative and much desired decoration, but recall the essential elements of the religious spirit. I can assure that this "spirit" is breathed in our life, in our offices, in our meetings and in our by now famous pilgrimages.
His Highness has recently declared that the Order is a continuous pilgrimage of prayer and love. I can add that for over 900 years the Order is a continuous "Jubilee", that is time of reflection and penitence. The reports of the Chaplains arrive regularly. The example of Rome is under the eyes of everyone. We have the benediction of the Church and of the Pope.
The continuous action of His Highness and the Grand Commander on the institutional level, the active, attentive and scrupulous preoccupation of the Grand Chancellor to refer to the head of the competent department, regularly for advice or opinions, even on details of everyday life, have brought the Vatican ever closer to the Order and the Order to the Vatican.
I am the daily witness to this.
The past must never more be put before, but alongside, us. In front it would uselessly paralyse us, beside it can help us to live more fervently our everlasting charisma.
Some rare black clouds in the past (even the recent past) can become a flower of heaven when illuminated by faith and the eternal desire to do more and better.
May it continue thus!
The Chapter General then elected the members of the Sovereign Council, the Government Council and the Court of Auditors:
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Rome. Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill. The Chapter General presided over by H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, assisted by H.E. the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Count Don Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, (left) and H.E. the Grand Commander, Ven. Balìff Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein. On the left of the Grand Chancellor, the Order’s Prelate, Msgr. Donato de Bonis. This Chapter General is the first Ordinary Chapter to be held after the Reform of the Constitutional Charter and Code and the last of this millennium. |
SOVEREIGN COUNCIL
High Offices
Grand Commander:
S.E. Ven. Bailiff Fra’ Ludwig HOFFMANN von RUMERSTEIN
Grand Chancellor:
H.E. Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience Amb. Count Don Carlo MARULLO di CONDOJANNI, Prince of CASALNUOVO
Grand Hospitaller:
H.E. Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience Albrecht Freiherr von BOESELAGER
Receiver of the Common Treasure:
H.E. Knight of Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion in Obedience Marquis Gian Luca CHIAVARI
Councillors:
H.E. Ven Bailiff Fra’ Carl E. PAAR
H.E. Comm. Fra’ Carlo ARDITI di CASTELVETERE
H.E. Fra’ Giacomo DALLA TORRE del TEMPIO di SANGUINETTO, Knight
H.E. Fra’ John Alexander MACPHERSON, Knight
H.E. Richard J. DUNN, Knight of Grace and Devotion in Obedience
H.E. Jean Pierre MAZERY, Knight of Grace and Devotion in Obedience
GOVERNMENT COUNCIL
H.E. Amb. Comm. Fra’ José Antonio LINATI-BOSCH, Grand Cross of Justice
Count Prof. Elie de COMMINGES, Knight of Justice
Winfried Graf HENCKEL von DONNERSMARCK, Knight of Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
Count Jacques de LIEDERKERKE, Knight of Honour and Devotion
Thomas Francis CARNEY Jr., Knight of Magistral Grace
Dr. Antonio Carlos da SILVA COELHO, Donate of Devotion
BOARD OF AUDITORS
President:
Noble Francesco LECHI, dei Marchesi di CASTELLARANO and S. CASSIANO, Knight of Honour and Devotion
Councillors:
Franz Graf von HARNONCOURT-UNVERZAGT, Knight of Grace and Devotion in Obedience
Count Thierry de BEAUMONT BEYNAC, Knight of Grace and Devotion in Obedience
Ernst Freiherr von FREYBERG-EINSENBERG, Knight of Honour and Devotion
Charles J. WOLF II, Knight of Magistral Grace
Alternate Councillors:
Baron Carlo EYRL of WALDGRIES and LIEBENAICH, Knight of Honour and Devotion in Obedience
Zweder Baron van HOEVELL
tot
WESTERFLIER, Knight of Honour and Devotion