What is the Order of Malta?

 

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, better known as the Sovereign Order of Malta, or the Knights of Malta, is one of the most ancient Catholic Religious Orders, founded in Jerusalem in around 1048.

Today the Order of Malta is a worldwide, lay, religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, which seeks to glorify God by promoting the sanctification of each member through his or her work with the sick and the poor and defense of the Catholic faith.

The Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta are admitted because of manifest merits towards the Church and the Order, with focus on the charism of personal service and sacrifice. The honor of membership in the Order of Malta presupposes a strong record of service to the Church and church-related causes—in particular to the poor and the sick. One can become a member of the Order of Malta only by invitation. Solicitations are not entertained. Only persons of undoubted Catholic morality and practice, who have acquired merit with regard to the Sovereign Order, its institutions and its works are eligible for admission.
The Order's mission is summed up in its motto "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum" - defense of the faith and assistance to the suffering.

The homepage of the Order of Malta can be found here:

http://www.orderofmalta.int/?lang=en