THE
ORDER IN RUSSIA
Following the fall of Malta, the
loyal Knights of the Order rallied at Saint Petersburg, Russia where they
established their new headquarters under the patronage of Czar Paul I, who
had been named Protector of the Order on November 29, 1797.
The Sovereign Order had long been held in high esteem by the
Russian Czars. Emperor Paul now provided the Order with properties and
annual revenues. He also gave the Order one of the beautiful estates
in Russia - the Vorontov Palace in Saint Petersburg. The emperor changed
its name to the Palace of Malta, and commanded that a Roman Catholic Chapel
be built there. Consequently, the Knights of the Order, formally convening
a Chapter General, and making the appropriate modifications of pertinent statues
of the Order, elected Czar Paul Grand Master of the Sovereign Order on October
27, 1798. Notified of the election while in the Monastery of Cassini
near Florence on November 5th, Pope Pius VI bestowed his approbation, sanction
and paternal apostolic benediction on the new 70th Grand Master of the Order.
Von Hompesch, disgraced by the surrender of Malta, but still a
loyal Knight who loved the Order, formally abdicated and sent the Order's
precious relic - the hand of Saint John - to the new Grand Master. Writing
to Francis II of Austria in whoe realm he now resided in exile, Von Hompesch
said: "May you bring this [the relic] to the attention of your most
intimate ally, the Emperor of all the Russias, under whose powerful auspices the
Order will be re-born, whose protection I was the first to invoke and whom I
shall be the first to bless for his general efforts for the good of The
Religion. With this dignified statement, Von Hompesch dispatched the relic
of Saint John the Baptist to Saint Petersburg, where it arrived on October 12th,
and the Czar, dressed in his coronation robe, bowed to the ground before
it."