13/10/2026
On 13 October, we celebrate Blessed Gerard, founder and first Grand Master of the .
His example embodies the spirit of a mission that has endured through the centuries, guided by the motto Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum: upholding the faith and serving the poor. This ideal is renewed every day through care for the sick, support for the most vulnerable and service to those in need.
Gerard was a Benedictine monk who served pilgrims in Jerusalem. Working at a hospital started by wealthy merchants from Amalfi, Italy, he was known for his care for the sick and poor.
Gerard wanted to create a new religious order so that he could increase his hospital work. He founded the Knights of St. John, referred to as the Hospitallers. This has grown into today’s Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, the Order of Malta, and was made a lay-religious order in 1113 by Pope Paschal II’s bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis. Gerard died on September 3, 1120.
Blessed Gerard's epitaph reads, in part: “Here lies Gerard, the most humble man in the East and the servant of the poor.”
Prayer from the Order of Malta
Missal:
O God, who raised up Blessed Gerard because of his wonderous care for the poor and the sick, and through him founded the Order of St. John in Jerusalem, grant, we pray that, following his example, we may always see the image of your Son in our brothers and sisters. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Blessed Fra’ Gerard, pray for us!
