The Founding of the Order

The Brothers of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem were established as an order in Jerusalem in 1099. The Abbot Vertot records the following:

In 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon and the first crusaders under him reclaimed Jerusalem. “The chieftans, after the necessary precautions for the security of their conquest, laid aside their arms, and went barefoot, with their soldiers after them, to prostrate themselves before the holy sepulcher. Nothing was to be heard in that sacred place but sighs and groans. ‘Twas a moving spectacle indeed to see with what devotion these soldiers of the crusade visited and kissed the memorials of our Saviour’s sufferings; and, what is still more surprising, these tears and sentiments of piety came from those very soldiers, who but a moment before had abandoned themselves to the most shocking cruelties: so true it is, that men are often led by principles entirely opposite. (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Page 35.)

Most of “the soldiers of the crusade, having rescued the Holy City from slavery…prepared for their return to Europe. Of all that prodigious number that set out from thence, and entered Asia, there staid only with Godfrey two thousand foot and three hundred horse…” (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Page 38.) Among those who staid were the Brothers of the Hospital of Saint John. As Vertot records it, some of these original Crusaders who remained, “renounced all thoughts of returning into their own country, and devoted themselves in the house of St. John to the service of the poor and pilgrims. Among the illustrious persons of the crusade, who took the habit of hospitallers, were Raimond, deputy of the province of Dauphiny; Dudon de Comps, of the same province; Gastus or Castus, of the city of Berdeiz; Canon de Mantaigu, of the province of Auvergne, and a great number besides.

“Though Godfrey by this means lost some gallant men who had done him great service, he could not but look upon their change with joy…” (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Page 37.) The Hospital of St. John and its belongings “was in the hands of the pious Gerard, a sacred trust and certain fund for the relief of all the distressed. The holy man was as yet only a mere secular administrator; but after the taking of Jerusalem, the desire of greater perfection induced him to propose to the brothers and sisters of the hospital to take a regular habit, and dedicate their life in the hospital to the service of the poor and pilgrims. (37-38) The brothers and sisters of the fraternity of hospitallers, by his advice and example, renounced the world, and took the regular habit, which is a plain black robe, having a white line cross of eight points fastened to it on the left side near the heart. And the patriarch of Jerusalem, after first clothing them with it, received from them three solemn vows of the order, which they made publicly at the foot of the holy sepulchre.
“Pope Paschal II, some years after, confirmed this new institution…” (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Page 38.)

In 1118, after the death of blessed Gerard, the “hospitallers assembled…to chuse him a successor, pursuant of the bull of pope Paschal II. There was no division upon the point; all their votes united in favour of brother Raimond Dupuy… The new master of the hospitaller formed a design of adding to these [works of charity and humility] and the duties of hospitality, an obligation to take up arms for the defence of the holy places; and he resolved to draw out of his house a military body, and a sort of perpetual crusade, who were to be subject to the orders of the kings of Jerusalem, and to make a particular profession of fighting against the infidels.

“For the clearing up of a fact so important to the Order whose history we write, it must be observed, that what was called at that time the kingdom of Jerusalem, consisted only of a capital, and some other cities, separated for the most part by places still in possession of the infidels, so that the Latins could not pass from one to the other without danger, or a large guard. The country too about these Christian towns was still inhabited by Mahometan peasants, who looking on the Christians as enemies to their religion, assassinated and robbed them, whenever they could surprise them with advantage and without danger of discovery. The Latins were scarce more secure in the boroughs and tows that were not walled; robbers entered them by night and cut the throats of the inhabitants; and what was yet more grievous, this little state was still in a manner besieged on all sides, either by the Turcomans or by Sarazens of Egypt, two formidable powers, who, without acting in concert, had yet neither of them any other view but to drive the Christians out of Syria and Palestine. Thus were the Latins obliged to maintain an almost continual war: and in the winter season, when the armies were no longer able to keep the field, different parties of infidels were perpetually harassing the country; destroying all before them with fire and sword, massacring the men, and carrying the women and children away into odious slavery.

“The master of the hospital, touched with these calamities, and seeing himself at the head of a great body of hospitallers, formed the most noble, and withal the most extraordinary design, that ever entered into the mind of a monk, tied down by his profession to the service of the poor and sick.
“God, who had inspired Raimond with this noble project, had given him all the qualities proper to make it succeed; an illustrious birth, exalted sentiments, large and extended views, and an ardent zeal, which made him wish for an opportunity of sacrificing his own life to save that of a Christian.

“He was every moment representing to himself the great number of the inhabitants of Palestine surprised and murdered by the infidels, others of them groaning in irons, the women and virgins exposed to the brutality of robbers, and the debauches of these barbarians, yet more insupportable than their cruelties; in a word, the Christians in general, either to avoid torments, or to save their life or honour, [were] exposed to the to temptation of renouncing Jesus Christ. These dismal reflections, and the desire of preserving to the Saviour of the world, the souls which he had purchased with his blood, continually perplexed the master of the hospital: it was the ordinary subject of his meditations. He consultated every day at the foot of the altar the author and inspirer of this pious design. Pressed at last by a particular call, he summoned a chapter, and proposed to his brethren of the order, to resume, as being soldiers of Jesus Christ, the arms which most of them had quitted to serve him in the person of the poor, and in the hospital of St. John.

“Raimond owed his dignity merely to the luster of his virtues: his friars looked upon this proposal as a new instance of his zeal; and though it appeared not very compatible with their first engagement, and the functions of hospitality, yet the laudable desire of defending the holy places made them look over the difficulties that might arise in the exercise of the two so different professions. The hospitallers, most of them the companions or soldiers of Godfrey de Bouillon, generously resumed their arms with the patriarch’s permission. However, they agreed never to make use of them but against the infidels; and it was resolved, that without abandoning their first engagements, or the care of such as were sick or in poverty, part of these monks should be ready to mount on horseback whenever there was occasion, to oppose the incursions of the infidels.” (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Pages 42-44.)

“’Tis astonishing that none of the historians of that time take any notice of the year in which these hospitallers had recourse to arms, and that those writers have kept the same silence with regard to their exploits, or at least have spoken of them only by the by, and very superficially. However, we learn from a bull of pope Innocent II, bearing date A. D. 1130, that they talked of nothing in all Europe but of the important services done the kings of Jerusalem by the hospitallers against the infidels; which supposes, that they had some time before in arms; and yet there is no carrying the epocha we are in search of higher than A. D. 1118, when Raimond Dupuy was dignified with the mastership of this new militia.” (L’Abbe de Vertot, The History of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Volume 1 of 5. Pages 47.)