Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/10848
Title: The old hospitals : the Order of St. John
Authors: Galea, Joseph
Fenech, Frederick F.
Keywords: Knights of Malta -- History
Holy Infirmary of the Knights of St. John (Valletta, Malta) -- History
Hospitals -- Malta -- Valletta -- History
Hospital care -- Malta -- Valletta -- History
Issue Date: 1967-12
Publisher: Clinical pediatrics
Citation: Clinical pediatrics. 1967, Vol. 6(12), p. 728-734
Abstract: Between 1048 and 1070 in Jerusalem, the Order of St. John was founded for the direct purpose of helping pilgrims who had become lost, weary, or beset by other difficulties while en route to the Holy Land. They opened both hostels and hospitals for this purpose, though hospitals formed the main outlet of their activities; in fact, their organization was, and still is, referred to as "hospitaller." In 1113 they received a charter as one of the Orders of Knighthood by Pope Paschal n. Within a few years these Knights undertook the active responsibility for protecting those travelling to the Holy Land, which gave the Order a military character also. On October 26, 1530, Philip Villiers de l'Isle Adam, the Grand Master who had pleaded the cause of the Order at the various Courts of Europe, arrived in Malta to establish himself as Sovereign Ruler of the Maltese Islands and Head of the Order of St. John. Though the resources of the Order were practically exhausted when the Knights first came to Malta, one of their first acts was to erect a hospital in Birgu, the little seaboard town on the south of the Grand Harbour. The spacious building, started in November 1532 and completed in six years, soon became overcrowded and more extensions had to be made. Thronging here came patients of every nationality, class and status. In 1566 the city of Valletta was founded by Grand Master Jean de la Vallette. The Knights then transferred their Headquarters to the new capital of the Island, giving up the old Infirmary at Birgu. The new hospital or Sacred Infirmary was built on the southeastern part of Valletta promontory facing the Grand Harbour.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/10848
Appears in Collections:Melitensia Works - ERCASHHer

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