Chivarly is Not Dead- Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Many people believe Chivalry is dead, but obviously they are not looking hard enough. The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem and of Malta, all so known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or simply as the Order of Malta is the oldest surviving order of Chivalry and just calibrated its 900 year anniversary this year. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has its headquarters located in Rome and is subject to international laws, treated as a sovereign entity and hold permanent observer status in the UN.

The SMOM has had many homes throughout history. SMOM is the continuation of the Knights Hospitallers that was established around 1048 in Jerusalem and later on became a military order. During the First Crusade the knights build hospitals to treat pilgrims coming to the holy land. Hover the order relocated to Rhodes in 1310, then to Malta in 1530. The Order stayed on Malta until 1798 when Napoleon kicked them out and found their current home in Rome in 1834.

The SMOM still follows Chivalry and the practice of Knights and Dames. There are 13,500 Knights and Dames in the Order now, around 80,000 volunteers, and 20,000 medical personal. Keeping to their Hospitaller roots the Order of Malta is heavily involved in humanitarian aid, by setting up hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes and take care of the elderly, disabled and terminally ill. So where does the military order come in, well they needed to become a military order in the crusades in order to protect themselves, but these days the name is kept and they follow military tradition. 

The Order of Malta is present in over 120 nations and has diplomatic relations with 104 nations in the world. Their members are issued with passports which allows to travel to countries to help provide humanitarian aid where it is need. The Order of Malta are a permanent observer in the UN, but they are not an independent country, but they do govern themselves and hold more resemblance to the Red Cross and Crescent Societies also since both groups are heavily involved in providing humanitarian aid and are permanent observers in the UN. The Order also has institutions and associations in various nations, with 23 cities in the United States harboring Knights and Dames. 

Not going to lie when I first came across the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, I thought it sounded like secrete society out of a conspiracy theory who were intent on ruling over the world, mostly because it has the words military order in it. . But as with any thing when you actually look into it, it is something almost different. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, like many other international organizations are using their time and resources to help people the need it the most and will still continue to do for the next 900 years or so.

Read more about the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Official Website

Wikipedia 

Geography About

Order of Malta in the US