The Grand Masters

First Grand Master

The Blessed Gerard

Circa 1040 – 1120

The founder and first Grand Master of the Order was born around 1040 in Scala, a village a few kilometres from Amalfi in southern Italy. In the second half of the 11th century he went to Jerusalem where he began to work in the hospital next to the church of St. Mary Latin, built by Amalfi merchants to receive pilgrims and tend the sick.

Legend has it that in 1099, during the Siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Blessed Gerard threw bread to them from the walls but when he was arrested the bread had miraculously turned into stones.

To build up the institution he ran, Blessed Gerard transformed it into a religious order dedicated to St. John Baptist. On 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II officially recognised the monastic community of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The pope’s document gives an indication of the role and importance of the Order’s founder and demonstrates the significance of the service offered to the pilgrims and the poor in the Jerusalem hospital. It also gives a list of its hospitals and hospices in France and Italy, proving that the order established by Blessed Gerard – a few decades after its foundation – was not limited to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem but already had a European dimension.

Blessed Gerard died in Jerusalem on 3 September 1120. His directions and his example constitutes the basis for the Order’s first written Rule issued by Fra’ Raymond de Puy – second Grand Master – between 1145 and 1153.
The Catholic Church considers him blessed and remembers him on 13 October.

1100

2	Fra’ Raymond du Puy	1120 – c. 1158/60
3	Fra’ Auger de Balben	c. 1158/60 – 1162/3
4	Fra’ Arnaud de Comps	1162 – 1163
5	Fra’ Gilbert de Aissailly	1163 – c.1169/70
6	Fra’ Gastone de Murols	c. 1170 – c. 1172
7	Fra’ Joubert de Syrie	c. 1172 – 1177
8	Fra’ Roger de Moulins	1177 – c. 1187
9	Fra’ Ermengard d’Aps	1188 – c. 1190
10	Fra’ Garnier de Naplous	1189/90 – 1192
11	Fra’ Godefroy de Donion	1193 – 1202

1048 Jerusalem

The birth of the Order of St. John dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorisation to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race.

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem – the monastic community which ran the hospital – became independent under the guidance of its founder, Blessed Gérard.

1200

12	Fra’ Alfonso of Portugal	1203 – 1206
13	Fra’ Geoffrey Le Rat	1206 – 1207
14	Fra’ Guérin de Montaigu	1207 – c. 1227/8
15	Fra’ Bertrand de Thexis	c. 1228 – 1231
16	Fra‘ Guerin	1236 – c. 1239/40
17	Fra’ Bertrand de Comps	1239/40 – 1242
18	Fra’ Pierre de Viellebride	1239/40 – 1242

19	Fra’ Guillaume de Chateauneuf	1242 – 1258
20	Fra’ Hugues de Revel	1258 – 1277
21	Fra’ Nicolas de Lorgue	1277 – 1284
22	Fra’ Jean de Villiers	1284/5 – c. 1293/4
23	Fra’ Odon de Pins	1294 – 1296
24	Fra’ Guillaume de Villaret	1296 – 1305

1300

25	Fra’ Foulques de Villaret	1305 – 1319
26	Fra’ Helion de Villeneuve	1319 – 1346
27	Fra’ Dieudonné de Gozon	1346 – 1353
28	Fra’ Pierre de Corneillan	1353 – 1355
29	Fra’ Roger de Pins	1355 – 1365

30	Fra’ Raymond Berenger	1365 – 1374
31	Fra’ Robert de Juliac	1374 – 1376
32	Fra’ Jean Fernandez de Heredia	1376 – 1396
33	Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo	1383 – 1395
34	Fra’ Philibert de Naillac	1396 – 1421

1400

35	Fra’ Antonio Fluvian de Riviere	1421 – 1437
36	Fra‘ Jean de Lastin	1437-1454
37	Fra’ Jacques de Milly	1454 – 1461

38	Fra’ Piero Raimondo Zacosta	1461 – 1467
39	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Orsini	1467 – 1476
40	Fra’ Pierre d’Aubusson	1476 – 1503

1500

41	Fra’ Emery d’Amboise	1503 – 1512
42	Fra’ Guy de Blanchefort	1512 – 1513
43	Fra’ Fabrizio del Carretto	1513 – 1521
44	Fra’ Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam	1521 – 1534
45	Fra’ Pierino del Ponte	1534 – 1535
46	Fra’ Didier de Saint-Jaille	1535 – 1536
47	Fra’ Jean de Homedes	1536 – 1553

48	Fra’ Claude de la Sengle	1553 – 1557
49	Fra’ Jean de La Vallette-Parisot	1557 – 1568
50	Fra’ Pierre de Monte	1568 – 1572
51	Fra’ Jean l’Evesque de La Cassière	1572 – 1581
52	Fra’ Hugues Loubenx de Verdala	1581 – 1595
53	Fra’ Martin Garzez	1595 – 1601

1600

54	Fra’ Alof de Wignacourt	1601 – 1622
55	Fra’ Luis Mendez de Vasconcellos	1622 – 1623
56	Fra’ Antoine de Paule	1623 – 1636
57	Fra’ Jean-Paul de Lascaris-Castellar	1636 – 1657
58	Fra’ Martín de Redín	1657 – 1660

59	Fra’ Annet de Clermont-Gessant	1660
60	Fra’ Raphael Cotoner	1660 – 1663
61	Fra’ Nicolas Cotoner	1663 – 1680
62	Fra’ Gregorio Carafa	1680 – 1690
63	Fra’ Adrien de Wignacourt	1690 – 1697
64	Fra’ Ramon Perellos y Roccaful	1697 – 1720

1700

65	Fra’ Marc’Antonio Zondadari	1720 – 1722
66	Fra’ Antonio Manoel de Vilhena	1722 – 1736
67	Fra’ Raymond Despuig	1736 – 1741
68	Fra’ Manuel Pinto de Fonseca	1741 – 1773

69	Fra’ Francisco Ximenes de Texada	1773 – 1775
70	Fra’ Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc	1775 – 1797
71	Fra’ Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim	1797 – 1802

1800

72	Emperor Paul I of Russia	1799 – 1801 (de facto)
73	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Tommasi	1803 – 1805

Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce

1879 – 1905

1900

75	Fra’ Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein	1905 – 1931
76	Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere	1931 – 1951

77	Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna	1962 – 1988
78	Fra’ Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie	1988 – 2008

2000

79	Fra’ Matthew Festing	2008 – 2017
80 81	Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto Fra’ John Dunlap	2018 – 2020 2023 –

Lieutenants of the Grand Magistry

1	Fra’ Innico Maria Guevara-Suardo	1805-1814
2	Fra’ André Di Giovanni	1814-1821
3	Fra’ Antoine Busca	1821-1834
4	Fra’ Carlo Candida	1834-1845
5	Fra’ Philippe di Colloredo-Mels	1845-1864
6	Fra’ Alessandro Borgia	1865-1872
7	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce	1872-1879
8	ra’ Antoine Hercolani Fava Simonetti “ad interim”	1951-1955
9	Fra’ Jean Charles Pallavicini “ad interim”	1988 (January-April)
10	Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2008 (February-March)

Lieutenants of the Grand Master

Fra’ Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri (during 75th Grand Master’s illness)	1929-1931
Fra’ Ernesto Paternò Castello di Carcaci	1955-1962
Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2017 – 2018
Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas Boas	2020 April –

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Mission

The mission of the Order of Malta is inspired by its tradition of ‘Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum', to assist the poor and the sick, and bear witness to the Christian faith.

Government

The Sovereign Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law. The Order - which is based in Rome, in via Condotti - has its own Government, an independent magistracy, and bilateral diplomatic relations with 110 countries.

FAQ

The Order of St John of Jerusalem is one of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilisation. Present in Palestine in around 1048, it is a lay religious Order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature.

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