A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER
OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM
9 Centuries of history...
A little over 900 years ago the Abbey of St. Mary in Jerusalem set up a small hospital to care for sick pilgrims. The hospital was attached to a little church dedicated to St. When the first Crusade took Jerusalem in 1099, the hospital was probably being run for the abbey by one of its monks called Gerard. It quickly benefited from many gifts of property in Europe as well as in the east and in 1113 Pope Paschal II recognized it as an independent order of the church. John later developed a military role. By the middle of the twelfth century, the Order of St. John was a military religious order whose members vowed to care for the sick as well as defend Christianity. John flourished across Europe. In about 1140, its Knights in Britain built their headquarters in Clerkenwell, London. The Order continued to prosper in Britain until Henry VIII’s time when he confiscated all the lands and property that had been donated to them over the years, and dissolved the Order. John of Jerusalem continued in Catholic Europe, although it faced a difficult period after the loss of its headquarters on Malta in 1798. In the wake of that disaster some members of the Order decided on their own initiative to revive its British branch. This was not accepted by the head of the order in Italy, but the British organization survived and its members determined finally that the Hospitaller tradition of caring for the sick should return to England. So in 1877 they founded the St. John Ambulance Association. At this time Britain was at the height of the industrial revolution. Work was often unpleasant and dangerous, accidents frequent - and no one was trained to give treatment. John Ambulance ran classes on First Aid, published books and other material and set examinations for First Aid certificates. The need for equipment was met by establishing a stores depot at St. John’s Gate, which by then had been acquired as the Headquarters of the Order. Before long thousands of people had received their First Aid certificates and many of them wanted to use their training to help the public. At first they got together in groups called Ambulance Corps, and then in 1887, the St. John Ambulance Brigade was formed. Its aim was to provide a service of First Aid and ambulance transport at public events. Members attended ‘wherever crowds gathered’ from great national occasions to local football matches. (Later, the Brigade and Association merged as "St. John Ambulance".) In 1882, the British Order acquired land in Jerusalem to set up an Eye Hospital, which has been operating ever since. In 1888, in recognition of its work, Queen Victoria made the British Order of St. John a Royal Order of Chivalry with the title ‘The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem’. (King George V, an enthusiastic supporter, added “Most” to the formal title.) The Order soon spread throughout the then British Empire. Before long, there were largely autonomous branches in a number of places. Soon after the end of World War II, the status of separate Priory had been conferred on St. John in Scotland, Wales, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. They were joined by the United States in 1996. In October 1999, as part of major constitutional changes in the Order, the Priory of England was created to take its place alongside the other seven. These 8 Priories now sit together with the 5 Great Officers, in the Grand Council of the Order. There are also branches in some 30 other Commonwealth centres, run by National St. The International Secretariat came into existence in October 1999 to service the Grand Council; and to act as a link between the eight Priories and the many National Councils, as well as with the Foundation for the Jerusalem Eye Hospital.
