Palestine

hen the Crusaders took the city of Jerusalem in July 1099, within the confines of the Holy Shrine they came upon a hospital run by a religious community which lived according to the Rule of St. Benedict. These monks, who took St. John the Baptist as their patron, were dressed in black and wore a white cross similar to that of Amalfi on their breast. It may have been some rich merchants coming from the old maritime republic who had obtained permission from the Caliph of Egypt, some years before, to build a church, a monastero and a hospital where to take care of the pilgrims of all faiths or races in the Latin suburb of the Holy City of Jerusalem. The origin of this institution has been discussed at length but today most people agree that those men were the founders of the Order of St. John.

In the days of the conquest of Palestine the Hospitallers first came into the limelight of history. Exhausted from their difficult march toward Jerusalem and from the long sieges, the Crusaders found care and comfort in the hospital. The period that followed was very difficult for the Christians in the Holy Land. The nobility, coming from Europe to free the Holy Sepulchre, seemed more interested in quenching their thirst to conquer rather than in confirming the real reasons that inspired the Crusades and they often fought among themselves.

After a brief period of dispersion, the Muslims reacted decisively and for this reason it was necessary to have men trained to use arms and ready to handle them at any time. Men who considered war not only a job, but above all a mission. The tales of those who had been assisted with love and care made those monks famous all over Europe and, on 15th February 1113, Pope Paschal II sent a Bull to Fra' Gerard, head of the community, in which he approved and thereby officially recognised the establishment of the Hospital, granting to its members the authority to appoint their own "Masters". The Church of Rome therefore sanctioned the birth of a new religious Order which was soon to become so famous that it was to be called "The Holy Religion".

More or less at the same time other Military Orders were created and they too began to acquire power and authority. The death of Fra' Gerard marks the historic and final turning point for the Hospitallers. He, who some people considered from Amalfi and others from France, was a figure of great interest in the history of the Order which, from its beginning, did not come under the jurisdiction of the Bishops and other Church authorities.

In contrast with his predecessors who had helped merchants and poor people in search of the forgiveness of God, Gerard lived in the days of the Christian victory and met the great western leaders. Following the conquest of Jerusalem, Godfrey de Bouillon made a donation to the Hospital which was followed by others. The tension of the final battle was spent.

Religious sentiment was reborn and many Crusaders sought to become Hospitallers: The ranks and files of what was to become known as the "Sacra Milizia" were beginning to grow.

The successor of Gerard was Fra' Raymond du Puy who styled himself "Master" and entrusted a new task to his confratres: no longer was only care and assistance to be offered to the sick and the pilgrims, but armed defence too.

The new Master definitively adopted the white eight pointed Cross as their emblem: a symbol of the eight Beatitudes in the sermon on the Mount, but while remaining faithful to their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the men would wear armour and be girded with a sword. The Hospital assumed the connotations of a Military Order but at the same time maintained its religious character. The Order became military but there were substantial differences between this and other similar institutions. Men in search of a meaning to give to their fighting in war and wishing to put their own courage in the service of the Faith would gather under the banners of the Templars and the Teutonics. The Hospitallers were men who had already been touched by the Word of God, were dedicated to charitable works, were devoted to altruism and in the name of this ideal, decided to take up arms.

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