(Rivista Internazionale - December 1999: CELEBRATIONS FOR THE ORDER'S NINTH CENTENARY- 1/1)

CELEBRATIONS FOR THEORDER’S NINTH CENTENARY

Te Deum of Thanksgiving

Rome. Magistral Villa. H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie and the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with the Secretary General Gaetano Gifuni and the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, during the meeting for the closing ceremony of the Order’s nonacentenary.

On 6 December, our Grand Master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, concluded the celebrations of the Order’s Ninth Centenary with a solemn Te Deum celebrated in the Magistral Church of Santa Maria on the Aventine Hill.

The Cardinalis Patronus of the Order, Pio Laghi, officiated. The President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with his wife, and numerous Italian personalities attended. This is because Italy and Rome, where the Order has been residing for almost two centuries, were chosen as the most indicative for the conclusion of the nonacentenary events that had revisited all the stages in the Order’s life, with celebrations and state visits to various countries in Europe and on the American continent. President Ciampi had a private conversation with the Grand Master, extended to the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, half an hour prior to the ceremony, at the Grand Master’s Villa on the Aventine.

The religious ceremony was attended by the highest representatives of the Church’s religious orders to celebrate the nonacentenary of one of the oldest religious orders in existence and the oldest Catholic order of knighthood. Also present were the heads of all the Order’s national bodies and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Order.

Rome. Magistral Palace. During his visit to the Grand Magistry, the Mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, greets H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master and H.E. the Grand Chancellor.

The Mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, had made an official visit in the morning to the Grand Master in the Magistral Palace to offer him a chalice, thus linking the city of Rome with the nonacentenary celebrations on Malta.

Immediately after, in the Sala Nervi in the Vatican, the Prelate of the Order, Msgr. Donato de Bonis, blessed a new ambulance offered by the President of the United States Knights, Richard J. Dunn, for the first-aid station in St. Peter’s Square.

Rome. Vatican City. The Cardinalis Patronus, His Eminence Pio Laghi, blesses the ambulance donated by the Western Association for the First-Aid Station in St. Peter’s Square in the presence of H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master.

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