The Cross of Malta
Four Arms: the Cardinal Virtues

Our Lady of Philermos
The Virgin Mary, under the advocation of our Lady of Philermos, is an icon found by the Hospitalier Knights during their two century residence in the island of Rhodes. After the siege of Rhodes and during their stay at the island of Malta, the icon of the Virgin of Philermos accompanied them, and Her sons sung the hymn Tu spes afflictiis, Sola Salus (You the Hope for the afflicted, You the Only Health) in her honour.

Because of the different trials suffered by the Order since then, the original image can be found today at the National Museum of Cettinye (Montenegro). The name of Philermos etymologically means "love for solitude". Nothing can be more appropriate for a contemplative nun!

Saint John the Baptist: the Precursor
Saint John the Baptist was cousin of Our Lord. The Gospels say that "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God", when he started to preach and to baptize in the banks of the River Jordan. At the height of his fame and prestige, Our Lord made St. John baptize Him before starting his public life.
Many disciples had started their way with the teachings of the Baptist and later joined Jesus, when St. John discreetly took a step backwards, because it is "convenient that He grows and that I diminish". Saint John the Baptist died giving testimony of Jesus as a martyr before the injustice and immorality. It is not in vain that the defence of the Faith is part of the Order's maxim.

Blessed Gerard: the Founder
Gerard was born between 1035 and 1040, some say to a noble Provençal family, or more probably, in the city of Scala (Amalfi) where the powerful patrician families maintained particularly close ties with the Holy Land and had seen to the foundation of monasteries and small houses for the reception of pilgrims in Jerusalem.
It is possible that the terrible menace of Norman invasions started the young Gerard on his journey toward his future vocation, but it is more likely that he went to Jerusalem in order to be of assistance to pilgrims thanks to the influence of a merchant named Mauro.
This charitable mission could be carried out easily under the role of the caliphate of Egypt. However, in the battle of Manzikert (1071) the Byzantines were heavily defeated by the Seljuk Turks and 30,000 churches (among which the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) were destroyed during the reign of the insane Caliph Hakim. The ensuing persecution of Christians and obstruction of pilgrims provided Godfrey de Bouillon with the motive for taking Jerusalem on the 15 July 1099.
Gerard undertook the construction of a large hospital with the result that the name "Hospital" came to be the very name of his confraternity. Possessed of a remarkable talent for organization, building a hostel for pilgrims and a church in honour of St John the Baptist, handling administration, reception, boarding and pastoral assistance for numerous wayfarers, caring for the wounded and infirm, Gerard was known even then as the "Master of the sick".
Pope Paschal II placed the "Jerusalem Hospital" under the protection of the Holy See on the 15 February 1113, and the Kings of Jerusalem, Portugal, Castille and Leon along with many other princes and Bishops lent Gerard their support.
Gerard died on the 3 September 1120.
It is clear that his directives and his own example were the inspiration behind what is, by tradition, the first written Rule of the Order "of the Hospital of Jerusalem" enacted by Raymond de Puy between 1145 and 1153.
The novena here presented in honour of Blessed Gerard is offered in a specific way for the Order and all its works with a particularly urgent prayer for vocations to the consecrated life. In this way, we pray to be like the first Apostles at Pentecost: All these with one accord were constantly at prayer, together with a group of women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers (Acts 1:14), that is to say, his next of kin (his "brothers", according the language of the time) in company with all those who, through baptism, have become sisters and brothers of the Kyrios, the Lord, Emmanuel, the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Risen Christ.

The mission
The spirituality of the Order of Malta is concentrated in the motto "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum", defence of the Faith and assistance to the poor and the sick. The female branch of the Order uses as a maxim "Pro Fide et Utilitate Hominum", for the Faith and to the service of men.
The features of the charisma of the Order are concentrated in: the figure of Saint John the Baptist, his mission and virtues; the Virgin Mary, in the Mystery of Christmas; hospitality through the contemplative way of life; the paschal mystery of the Lord consumed in Jerusalem.