Does anyone know much about the Order of Malta? I read around on their websites, but it sounded like it was only laymen and women now, does it still have the religious order to it?

The Knights Hospitaller of Malta (ie, The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta) are a Military Religious Order tracing back to the Crusades, and they are a Sovereign Order of Chivalry with a Nobiliary character, and also Hospitaller.

The main reason that they have survived as a military order when most of the others died out is mainly because they are also a Hospitaller order doing hospital and charity work too.

Knights in the feudal age had long existed, but they were the individual decorations of various Lords...not organized into orders, nor specifically recognized internationally.

Then Military Orders started out in the Crusades as Religious Orders of Knights. These "knight-monks" under the three vows, usually also had lay knight assosciates and clerical chaplains in their orders.

These were Sovereign Orders of Chivalry, meaning they could independently confer true and recognized knighthood on both their religious and lay members. Their grand masters were "fons honorem" (fonts of honor) and had the same power as Lords when it came to knight creation and all that.

As time went on, Monarchs and Royal Dynastic Houses also started giving secular awards of chivalry and creating their own secular Orders of Knighthood. Such are the knighthoods of England, the Order of the Golden Fleece of the House of Hapsburg, etc. Even the Pope, in his role as Temporal Leader of the Papal States/Vatican City, confers orders of chivalry to this very day as a special honor.

Monarchs and dynastic houses can ennoble people too (giving them individual nobility or even inheritable nobility) Such are the Lords and peers of Britain, and the various duchies, baronies, and counties that were awarded throughout history. The Pope as temporal leader used to ennoble people (and even their descendents) quite often...though today it is extremely rare if not practically nonexistent (the last new title of nobility created publically by the Popes was in the 1950's). And the only posts of "Papal Roman Nobility" left at the papal court are the two Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne. This is the only noble hereditary office left at the papal court after the reforms of the papal court and papal household in the sixties. The old noble titles still exist, however, and have current holders (the nobility and titles themselves can't be abolished since most were hereditary) but the Offices at the papal court for holders of such titles, were largely done away with.



So...that's some background on Knighthood, Chivalry, Sovereign Military Orders, Royal Houses, and Nobility, with special emphasis on the Titles of Nobility and Orders of Chivalry of the Papal States (However, the Knights of Malta are not one of the secular Orders of Chivalry of the Papal States...but rather a Sovereign Religious Order of Chivalry under the protection of the Pope...big difference).

I recommend this book: http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/books/ordkni.htm


Now, in answer to your original question:

Yes, the Order of Malta still has Proffessed Knights under the three religious vows, as well as "Knights of Obedience" under just the vow of obedience. The largest portion of the knights and dames of malta is indeed their "third degree" which are lay knights and honorary chaplains. The Religious Knights are mainly found in Europe. They were in decline for a while, but their ranks are actually GROWING at this point.

They are rare in America because of the Nobiliary requirements of the Order. To be given certain of their higher chivilric degrees or make religious profession as a "knight-monk"...one must have certain quarterings of nobility: either a personal title of nobility, or certain percentages of noble-blood from descent from noble houses. However, under the new constitutions from the early sixties, they specify that under some exceptional circumstances (due to the demands of the Vatican) extraordinary members not of noble houses may be raised to higher ranks...but it is specified that they will be first ennobled before doing so (as I said, it is the right of Sovereigns, including the Pope, to ennoble people). This is very rare.


So...if you're thinking about a religious vocation to the Knights of Malta...don't plan on it. In most cases, you have to be Noble to become a Professed "Knight-Monk"

But you can still join and recieve Knighthood (a valid, recognized order of chivalry...not merely analogous like the "Knights" of Columbus) but you can only join as a Third Degree member, which do not take religious vows. Third Degree Knights and Dames may even be priests or religious from other religious orders, and do not take the vows of the religious Order of Malta. Still, the third degree of the SMOM is a true degree of chivalry, a recognized knighthood from a sovereign order with the right to confer such honors. But you could be a member of another religious order and still join it (upon recommendation or request)

Outstanding... thanks for the in depth reply. I emailed both the World wide organization and the American Association, but your reply answers my question far better.

Srs of St John of Jerusalem is their cloistered branch, and are primarily in Europe.

Blessings,
Gemma