The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, known more commonly as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a lay religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. It dates back to the eleventh century, the time of the Crusades. Formally recognized by the Pope in 1133 A.D., it is the fourth oldest religious order of the church.

The founder was Brother Gerard. He opened and operated a hospital in Jerusalem for the pilgrims who had been attacked on their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Later, other hospitals were formed along these pilgrimage routes. Some men who entered the Order were the sons of the wealthiest, most powerful families in Europe who would forsake their personal fortunes so that they could better serve the poor.

The motto of the Order has been the same since 1099, Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum - to defend the faith and to serve the poor. Gradually the Order took on a military function, and became one of the most advanced fighting and naval forces in the world. Their battles defending the island of Rhodes and later the island of Malta are legendary. Knights would also nurse the sick in the evening. The rule was that they would serve the patients first - "white bread on silver plate" - before they would eat.

In the Middle Ages, many gifts of land allowed the Order of St John to build along all the great pilgrimage routes of Europe hospices for the care and the defense of pilgrims. In the year 1270, Geneva's Bishop offered Compesieres's church to the order of the Hospitallers. The Commandery was built in the fifteenth century and was probably completed in its medieval shape by the Commander of Luyrieux (1439-1452). After having been plundered by Geneveses in 1536, the castle became the residence of the Bernese baillifs until 1567.

The members of the Order who came to Rhodes from all over Europe, as well as the establishments of the Order in Europe, were from the beginning of the fourteenth century grouped according to languages spoken. There were thus, initially, seven such groups of Langues (Tongues):

Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon (-Navarre), England (with Scotland and Ireland) and Germany. In 1462 Castile and Portugal separated from the Langue of Aragon and formed together the eighth Langue.
In the sixteenth century the Langue of England was suppressed and later, in 1782, temporarily re-established under the name of the Anglo-Bavarian Langue. Each Langue was composed of Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks, and Commanderies.

The Order was ruled by the Grand Master and the Council, minted its own money and maintained diplomatic relations with other States. The Grand Master was Prince of Rhodes, as later he was Prince of Malta. The high offices of the Order were attributed to representatives of different Langues; and the seat of the Order, the Convent, was in effect composed of a number of national religious houses.

The Knights gallantly repulsed numerous Turkish assaults, until the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent attacked Rhodes with a large fleet and a powerful army. On Christmas Eve of 1522 the Knights were forced to capitulate and, on 1 January 1523, left the island with military honours. For the next seven years the Order, whil vested with international soverignty, was deprived of territory, until the cession by the Emperor Charles V (in his capacity as King of Sicily) of the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, as well as Tripoli in North Africa, in sovereign fief.

On 26 October 1530 the Grand Master Fra' Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam took possession of Malta, with the approbation of Pope Clement VII. It was stipulated that the Order was to remain neutral in wars between Christian nations.Yet the war of defence of Christendom went on. The Turks attacked Malta, but in the Great Siege, from 18 May to 8 September 1565, were finally routed by the Knights led by theheroic Grand Master Fra' Jean de la Valette (picture on the right) after whom the island's capital Valetta is named. The decline of Ottoman sea power dates from the defeat of 1565. The navy of the Order of St. John (or of Malta as it now came to be called) became one of the most powerful in the Mediterranean and took part in the final destruction of the Ottoman naval might in the great battle of Lepanto in 1571.

In 1798, Bonaparte, engaged in a campaign against Egypt, occupied the island of Malta and drove out the Order. The Knights again found themselves without a home. This was followed by what has been called the Russian coup d'état (1798-1803). The Emperor Paul I of Russia, who had shown himself a friend of the Order, now had himself proclaimed Grand Master by a handful of Knights then in Russia, in place of the Grand Master Fra' Ferdinand von Hompesch who had been obliged to abandon to the French. This proclamation of a married non-Catholic as head of a Catholic religious order was wholly illegal and void, and never recognised by the Holy See (a necessary condotion for legitimacy). Accordingly, a number of governments, can only be regarded as a Grand Master de facto, never one de jure. His successor Alexander I, on the other hand, helped the Order to return to legitimate rule; and in 1803 Fra' Giovanni Battista Tommasi was elected Grand Master. The British had meantime occupied Malta in 1801 and though the Treaty of Amiens (1802) recognised the Order's sovereign rights over the island, it has never been able to avail itself of them.

After temporary seats in Messina, Catania and Ferrara the Order finally established itself in 1834 in Rome, where it holds, extra-territorially, the Malta Palace at 68 Via Condotti and the Villa on the Aventine.

From 1805 the Order was ruled by Lieutenants, until in 1879 Pope Leo XIII restored the Grandmastership and the honours of a Cardinal attaching to it. Hospitaller work, the original work of the Order, became once again its main concern. The hospital and welfare activities, undertaken on a considerable scale in World War I, were greatly intensified and expanded in World War II under the Grand Master Fra' Ludovico Chigi della Rovere Albani.

The activities of the Order have been further expanded under the rule of Grand Master Fra' Angelo de Mojana di Cologna (1962-1988), who was succeeded by the present Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie.

Other facts:

Now, that was a nice pice of history, but what has to do with secret organizations? It has ... When the Templar's got killed in France, this Malta Order was one of the four Orders that continued the Templars ideal.

Have you ever asked your self, why the Templar (Crusaders) were interested in taking over Jerusalem? And why Hugues de Payens (the funder of the order) put all hes wealth just to create an army of good situated people (mostly nobility) and to attack The Holy city? Was it there anything valueable to make all this effort to be whorthed? YES.

The Holy Relic's

The Crystal Tiara.

The Shround of Turin.

The Holy Grail

The Holy Cross *

Lance of Longinus

Other alleged relics include:

Pieces of the True Cross, including the INRI inscription tablet preserved at an orthodox monastery
The Rock of Crucifixion, which was carved out and lost to sea in 1804 while shipping it to Constantinople
The Iron Crown of Lombardy and Bridle of Constantine, said to be made from nails used during the crucifixion
The Holy Prepuce or foreskin of Jesus, removed during his circumcision
The Spear of Destiny or Spear of Longinus, used to pierce Jesus' side when he was on the cross, to ensure that he had died.
The Crown of Thorns which was placed upon the head of Jesus at his crucifixion by Pontius Pilate
The Holy Chalice which Jesus used for serving wine during the Last Supper
The Holy Grail which is said to have been used to collect Jesus' blood during Crucifixion
Veronica's Veil, used to wipe the sweat from Jesus' brow as he carried the cross
The Seamless robe of Jesus, which is kept at the cathedral of Trier Letters Jesus himself has written to Abgar, the King of Edessa declining an invitation to visit his palace.
The "Icon Not Made by Hands" that He allegedly sent to the King of Edessa to cure him of leprosy.
The Sudarium of Oviedo
The Holy Sponge
T he Holy Umbilical Cord
Hair
Tears
Blood
Milk teeth

* Xamo's note: The holy Cross, seems not to be a cross form, but a simply "T" form peice and the skepticism say: how the body's weight could hold the whole body?

According to legend, the Knights Templar discovered the greatest treasure in human history buried beneath the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. What is true, scholars say, is that the knights became wealthy and powerful, and they may have rivaled the influence of some European kings.

"They're mysterious because they were so sensationally successful," said Lisa Bitel, a history professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. "The idea behind lots of these conspiracy and treasure stories is that any individual could happen upon a forgotten relic of the past, join with other like-minded mavericks, and use this relic for personal redemption or universal good."

But in the early 1300s, the knights were suppressed and executed. Whether they found Solomon's treasure is not known. No treasure map has ever been found.

To be continued ...