INTERNATIONAL NEWS - ITALY
Friday, November 02, 2007, 18:00
GRAND MAGISTRAL COUNCIL MEETING
A Grand Magistral Council Meeting of The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Malta Obedience) was recently held in Viareggio, Italy between the 19th and the 21st October 2007.
Representatives of the Malta Obedience from Malta, Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Austria were present. Also invited to be present, as an observer, was the Master-General of The United Grand Priories of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, with whom the Malta Obedience is in Alliance.
Apart from the lengthy discussions held by the senior members of the Obedience, time was allocated for a magnificent Investiture which was held in a beautiful church in Lucca, presided over by The Grand Vicar, Chevalier Vittorio Galoppini de Carpenedolo and the Roman Catholic Bishop, Monsignor Philippe Bär from Belgium.
A number of distinguished guests attended the Investiture, and the subsequent formal dinner in the evening. Amongst these was the Master-General, Frà John Baron von Hoff, who was asked to address those present.
The Master-General congratulated the organisers of the three day event, for their spectacular ceremonies and the general splendour of the occasion, but also took the opportunity to remind all those attending, that the purpose of the Order of Saint Lazarus, in all its various forms, was to practise and support humanitarian projects, in emulation of the original Hospitaller Order established by Augustinian monks during the time of the Crusades.
The Master-General was invited to address the senior members of the Malta Obedience at a special session set aside for members of the Saint Lazarus Alliance. During this time Frà John emphasised the problems which all the various branches of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem were experiencing due to their insistence on regarding themselves as members of a regular Order of Chivalry. Unfortunately there is no evidence to support this stance, and the consequent frustration felt by these members has developed, over the years, into an internecine ‘warfare’ between the competing groups, each claiming, and desperately trying to prove, that they are the only legitimate Order of Chivalry bearing the name of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.
The Master-General explained that The United Grand Priories of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem was established in 1995 as a ‘Confraternity of Hospitallers’, with no pretensions or claims of being an Order of Chivalry and, as such, it had received a very positive press in ‘Burke’s Peerage – World Orders of Knighthood and Merit’, in which a rather scathing critique was made of those other branches of the Order of Saint Lazarus who sought to present themselves as legitimately recognised Orders of Chivalry.
It was the Master-General’s opinion that the members of the Alliance should devoted a greater part of their time to enhancing their many charitable works, as this would in the end be more beneficial for the future of the Order of Saint Lazarus, and raise its standing in the eyes of the general public.
The Master-General wished continuing success to the members of the Malta Obedience and confirmed his support for all their humanitarian endeavours.
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