News

The most important day in the Order’s calendar

St John’s Day – thanksgiving for the year past, prayers for the year ahead

London, 24 June 2014

St John’s Day, Brompton Oratory, London

Every 24 June the 47 Associations and Priories of the Order of Malta around the world celebrate with Masses and ceremonies the feast day of St John Baptist, patron saint of the Order. It is a time of thanksgiving for the year past and of prayers for the year ahead for the Order’s continuing mission – now almost a thousand years old – of caring for the poor and the sick, whoever they are and from wherever they come.

In London, the event took place this morning at the Brompton Oratory. The President of the British Association, Richard Fitzalan Howard, and the Grand Prior of England, Ian Scott, welcomed distinguished guests, including the Grand Prior of the Venerable Order of St.John, Anthony Mellows, and Order members, their families, volunteers, friends and many who work in the Order’s Homes Care Trust (OSJCT) and in the Order’s charitable activities around Britain. 

Senior office bearers of the British Association