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Grand Priory of Southern Australia Principal Events of the Order in Southern Australia
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The brief history you are about to read is a compilation of matters upon which the reader should have reasonable confidence. The information being presented on the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, (OSJ) is derived predominantly from secondary sources (books, internet, magazines, newsletters, pamphlets on the Order etc), which have, wherever possible, been corroborated by another source.
The Order of Knights Hospitaller (or the Hospitallers as the name implies) started as a charitable group that cared for Christian Pilgrims who came to worship in and around Jerusalem about 50 years before the First Crusade. The inauguration of the Hospice of St. John at Jerusalem was thought to have occurred in 1048, led by Brother Gerard, and initially followed the Benedictine Rule. Subsequently, around 1087, this Hospitaller group under their first Master Brother Gerard adopted the commune life-style of the Augustinian Order, which was sufficiently flexible to be adapted for their special mission as Hospitallers. After the passing of the then Blessed Gerard, the Order took on a more militaristic role under Raymond du Puy, incorporating Knights to protect travelling pilgrims. The original Knights who joined the Order (known as Chevaliers) came from the North of France as members of the First Crusade under Godfrey of Bouillon who captured Jerusalem on the 15 July 1099. A Church to honour St. John the Baptist, the Patron Saint of the Order, was erected on his accepted burial site by these early Hospitaller Knights and became the original Conventual Church of the Order. Since the Crusades, it has been known as the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and his Feast Day, the 24 June, is the Religious Feast Day of the Order. Amongst those who received help from the Knights was Raymond du Puy who was serving in the Army of Godfrey de Bouillon and had been seriously wounded in the Crusades, he lived on because of the care he received from the Hospitallers. Subsequently Raymond du Puy joined the Brotherhood and became Vice Rector of the Order. It was he who formulated the rules for the Government of the Order and who at the time adopted the Benedictine Rule and took the White Cross on a Red Ground for its Ensign, the white Cross of Peace in the bloodstained field of War. Raymond du Puy in Jerusalem first assumed the title of Master in 1125-1158. In the first quarter of the twelfth century Knights constituted the majority of the membership of the Order. By the time of the formal establishment of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem Pope Paschall the Second by a Bull in 1113 sanctioned the Constitution of the Hospitallers. The Hospitallers continued their charitable and military activities in the Holy Land for the next 200 years. However, towards the end of the 13th century when the Christian forces were eventually defeated by Salah al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub (Saladin) at the great Siege of Acre on the 18 May 1291, the Order went briefly to Cyprus. In 1310, it moved to Rhodes where it remained and prospered for the next 200 years – a period of some renown in its history. On the 1 January 1523, after having been besieged on Rhodes for several years by the Turks, the Order negotiated an honourable withdrawal, moving to the relatively barren Island of Malta which was then under Spanish control.
In negotiations with King Charles V of Spain, the Order eventually obtained sovereignty over Malta on 26 October 1530. During the early occupation, there were on-going sea battles with the Turks under Kanuni Sultan Süleyman (Suleiman 1st), who subsequently laid siege to Malta for four months in 1565, eventually being repulsed on 8 September, which is now celebrated as the Annual Commemorative Day of the Order. The Grand Master, Jean Parisot de la Valette, after whom the Capital Valetta was named, conducted this famous defence of Malta, regarded by many military historians as one of the great military feats, alongside that of the defence of Thermopales. This defence is considered to be a turning point of early modern history, when a heroic defence prevented the rampant Ottoman forces from gaining a strategic foothold in the central Mediterranean. Whilst on Malta, the Order built three Hospitals at the forefront of medical science and the magnificent Church of St. John of Valetta. The Order remained in Malta for 286 years until the surrender to Napoleon on 12 June 1798, without a fight.
A year prior to the surrender of Malta, the Order had been formally granted the protection of Russia with Tsar Paul 1 of the House of Romanoff as Royal Protector by virtue of the Russo-Maltese Treaty of 1797. Following the capitulation of Malta and with most of Europe under the domination of Napoleon, the Order was forced to disperse, with the majority of the Knights taking refuge in St. Petersburg under the protection of the Tsar.
On the 21 October 1798, the majority of the Knights elected Tsar Paul 1 of Russia as the 70th Grand Master with the approval of Pope Pius VI and the Langues of Bavaria and Prussia. In March 1802, at the Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain and Russia, the Order was formally recognised as being that in St. Petersburg headed by Tsar Alexander 1, its Royal Protector and the Grand Prior of Russia.
ereditary Commanders
Following the Order’s relocation to Russia in 1798, the Statutes were liberalised and an Orthodox Grand Priory created, establishing their Conventual Church at the Palais de Malta in St. Petersburg. The continuity and integrity of the original Order was assured by the Tsars through the creation of Hereditary Commanders under Letters Patent, as had been an earlier practice in Europe. Hereditary Commanderies exist in perpetuity in the heirs of their founding Knight. As a consequence, were the Order to die out, these Commanderies would still be able to perpetuate themselves. Subsequently, as a result of Russian Revolution of 1905, and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, a significant number of the Hereditary Commanders of the Order left Russia emigrating to various European countries and to the United States of America.
he American Grand PrioryAccording to the literature of the Order and other independent materials, the origins of the American Grand Priory commenced with the activities of Colonel William Lamb, a former US Consul to Sweden and US Vice Consul to Norway. The first formal meeting to discuss the continuation of the Order took place on the 10 January 1908, when it was reported that eighty people were in attendance comprised of 25 heirs of hereditary commanders, 25 other descendants of hereditary commanders, 23 members of families whose forefathers were of Russian nobility who had been members of the Russian Grand Priory; along with the Russian and Austrian Ambassadors to the US, the US Ambassadors to Russia and Austria, the Prime Minister of Serbia, and the US Consul to St. Petersburg. It was reported that at this meeting Colonel Lamb stated, amongst other things, that “quiet consultations, deliberations, plans and preparations had been progressed from 1880 with the objective of legally continuing the Sovereign Order of St. John.” He further indicated that the meeting had been called “in response to an international appeal by members and hereditary commanders of all the Langues throughout Europe to reconstitute the Order with certain modifications, as it had been under the 70th Grand Master, Tsar Paul 1”. The reconstituted Order was to be open to all individuals and was to be ecumenical. The minutes of this founding meeting were signed by eight hereditary commanders (Khilkov, Troubetzkoi, Radziwill, Volkonsky, Bourtoulin, Narishkine, de Choisul Gouffer, and du Pan de Ligny); as well as the Russian and Austrian (Hengenmuller van Hegervar) Ambassadors to the US amongst others. In 1912, Grand Duke Alexander of Russia was elected the 71st Grand Master and subsequently issued a signed Constitution to the Order (his signature was later independently verified by his eldest daughter, Princess Irena of Russia, wife of Prince Felix Youssepoff). Grand Duke Alexander was subsequently invested as Grand Master on his visit to the United States of America in 1913, with Colonel Dr. (William) Sohier Bryant supporting him as the Lieutenant Grand Master. Historians of the Roman Catholic Church have independently confirmed Grand Duke Alexander’s role as Grand Master of the Order of St. John. After Grand Duke Alexander’s passing in 1934, the Order came under the leadership of its Lieutenant Grand Master, Colonel Dr. W. Sohier Bryant, BA, MA, MD, a well known ear, nose and throat specialist of New York City.
M King Alexander 1 of Yugoslavia - Royal Protector
HM King Alexander 1 of Yugoslavia was a direct descendant of the 70th Grand Master, Tsar Paul 1, and was the Royal Protector of the Order from 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution to 1934 when he was assassinated. King Alexander Karadjordjevic was educated in France, Switzerland, and undertook his military training in the Corps des Pages in St. Petersburg, Russia, during which time he is thought to have become a Royal member of the Order. The Corps des Pages was originally established as a school for the Royal Court and to promote chivalric ideals and behaviour among the Russian nobility. However, in 1802 the mission of the Corps des Pages was broadened to a full Military Academy, based on the ideals and values of the Order of St. John. To reinforce the new role, the Corps des Pages was moved in 1810 to the palace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem - the Palais de Malta - where it continued in its dual chivalric and military training role until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Another incident highlighting the close relationship between the Order and the Yugoslavian Royal House occurred shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. To save the Most Holy Relics of the Order (the Arm of St. John the Baptist; the Icon of Our Lady of Philermos, attributed to St. Luke; and a fragment of the True Cross) from probable destruction by the Bolsheviks, these were taken in 1919 by Father Bogoyavlenski to Reval in Estonia who entrusted them to General Count Alexei Ignatiev for delivery to the Mother of Tsar Nicholas II, Dowager Tsarina Marie Feodorovna, at her villa in Hvioze, Copenhagen, Denmark. She kept the Holy Relics at her villa until shortly before her death in 1928, when she bequeathed them to her neice, Princess Yelena Karadjordjevic, the sister to King Alexander I, for protection by the Royal House of Yugoslavia, where they were kept in the private Chapel of the Royal Palace in Belgrade. With the advance of the German forces in 1941, the Holy Relics were placed in the Ostrog Monastery near Niksic in Montenegro. After the War, the Government placed them in the Museum at Cetinje where they have been kept as a special reserve collection and not exhibited. Accordingly, members of the Russian and Yugoslavian Royal families who graduated from the Corps des Pages would have been constituted Royal (and Ancestral) Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem by imperial Ukase.
ing Peter II of Yugoslavia - Royal Protector, Grand Master and Royal Head - The Modern OrderHM King Peter II greatly admired and loved his father, King Alexander Karadjordjevic of Yugoslavia, and did his utmost to understand and emulate his father’s interests, in particular his close association with the Russian Tradition of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Colonel Dr. Bryant was Lieutenant Grand Master from 1913 to 1951, and his signature also appears on the 1912 Constitution of the Grand Priory of America, incorporating the reconstituted Orthodox Russian Grand Priory. Dr. Bryant was succeeded by Baron de Engelhardt-Schellenstein from 1951 to 1955; HE Count Dr Frederick Graf von Zeppelin from 1956 to 1960; and Colonel Paul de Granier Cassagnac from 1960 to 1962. King Peter Karadjordjevic was a direct descendent of Tsar Paul 1, the 70th Grand Master, and was elevated to a Bailiff of the Order on the 6 September 1958. Subsequently, in 1962, a number of concerns were brought to his attention by Colonel de Granier Cassagnac regarding the governance of the American Grand Priory. In response, and in keeping with the tradition of both Royal Houses to protect the Order, King Peter intervened and with the Lieutenant Grand Master issued a decree to transfer the seat of the Order from America to Europe as a first step to normalise matters. King Peter then ‘recognised’ the Order by giving Royal assent to the “Charter of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem” on the 1 October 1963, (as had been done by his great-great-great grandmother, HRH Queen Victoria, for the Most Venerable Order in 1888). Following this, he gave his Royal assent to the “Constitution of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem” on the 19 March 1964, replacing the 1912 Constitution. Also in 1964, he re-established a Priory of the Order in Malta. He subsequently reconstituted it in 1970 as the ‘Russian Grand Priory of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem’ under a Royal Warrant. King Peter was elected the 73rd Grand Master in 1965, and along with the subsequent role of Royal Head of the OSJ, elevated it to a ‘Royal Order of Knighthood’ via the fons honorum of an Orthodox European Monarch; and in ‘perpetuum ad illa fida ad rex propositum’ by the embodiment of the fons honorum in the Royal Charter issued to the Order under Royal Assent and Seal, until the next King of Yugoslavia withdraws or replaces it. Since 1965, the OSJ has expanded with Grand Priories in various European countries including England, Malta, Italy and Cyprus, the USA and Australia. The role of Royal Protector transferred to King Peter’s brother, HRH Prince Andrej Karadjordjevic, upon King Peter’s passing in 1970. Subsequently, in 1979, Prince Andrej was elected the 74th Grand Master of the OSJ succeeding HRH Prince Troubetzkoy who was Lieutenant Grand Master from 1969 to 1983. Prince Andrej led the OSJ until 1987 when the Order was briefly controlled by a Council of Regents from 1987 to 1989 under Anthony Zammit as First Regent. Professor Gaston Tonna-Barthet, the Grand Prior of the Russian Grand Priory of Malta, was to have been the Second Regent but passed away shortly before the Regency assumed responsibility for the Order. HE Conventual Bailiff Anthony Zammit was elected as the Lieutenant Grand Master in 1989 and Grand Master in 1998. After the passing of Prince Andrej in 1990, HRH Prince Karl-Wladimir Karadjordjevic, Prince Andrej’s second eldest son, accepted the Presidency of the Council of Administration of the Order. He subsequently became the ‘Royal Patron’ and Deputy Lieutenant Grand Master in 1991, during which he reaffirmed that the OSJ is a ‘Sovereign Order’. Prince Karl-Wladimir was elected the 76th Grand Master in 2001 upon the passing of HE Conventual Bailiff Zammit. Prince Karl-Wladimir was born in 1964, the son of Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia and Princess Kira of Leiningen, and is married to Princess Brigitte (nee Muller). He is second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, and is in the line of succession to the British throne through both his father and his mother. Queen Victoria is both his father's great-great-great grandmother, and his mother's great-great grandmother. He is listed in the order of succession from his father's lineage, which is higher than his mother's. He is a direct descendant of Tsar Paul 1 of Russia, the 70th Grand Master of the Order.
he Order in Australia
In 1969, following the visit to Australia of Professor Joseph Aquilina of the Royal Malta University, H.E. Bailiff Professor Gaston Tonna-Barthet, Grand Prior of Malta, advised Major Roland Podesta, a Diplomatic Officer residing in Queensland, that he had been admitted to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, with the rank of Knight of Honour. At this time Chevalier Major Roland Podesta was commissioned by H.E. Bailiff Gaston Tonna-Barthet to establish a Commanderie within Australia. Upon his acceptance of the Commission Chevalier Podesta was appointed to the rank of Commander. On 8 September 1972 at a Dinner Party at the residence of Commander Roland Podesta held to celebrate the Great Siege of Malta, the first Commandery in Australia was formally established. At this time the first Council was elected, comprising: - Deputy Commander - Chevalier Alan J, Campbell, (Consul General for Bolivia.) Judge at Arms: - Chevalier The Right Honourable Frank Forde (Former Prime Minister of Australia.) Secretary; - Chevalier A.M. Callus (Trade Commissioner of Malta to Queensland) Treasurer: - Chevalier Joseph Sesta (Company Director) Also present on this occasion were: - Chevalier Bryan V. Walsh (Deputy Mayor of Brisbane) Chevalier Andrew Frendo (Company Director) Chevalier Sydney Hamilton (Chairman of Directors of G.J. Coles Ltd) In the Malta Bulletin of Spring 1974 under the Heading “Priory of Australia” the following announcement appeared: “It is our pleasure to announce that the Commandery of Australia has been promoted to a Priory with jurisdiction over Australia and New Zealand “ Later the same year the Malta Bulletin announced the appointment of Bailiff Podesta as a member of the Grand Council of the Grand Priory of Malta. Prior to the elevation to Priory Status in 1974 the Investing of new Knights and Dames in Australia was performed in Malta. The first Investiture in Australia was conducted at the Church St. Thomas Aquinas in St Lucia on 26 April 1974. The Clergy officiating were Chevalier The Reverend Father Alfred Hogan, Senior Chaplain, assisted by Chevalier The Reverend Frank Delia, Junior Chaplain, and the Reverend Canon Philip Newell, an Anglican Priest who later became a prominent member of the Order and Bishop of Tasmania. Amongst those Invested were Sir Zelman Cowen Vice Chancellor of the University of Queensland who was Invested in the Sacristy as he was of the Jewish Faith, he was later to become the 19th Governor General of Australia. H.E. Gregorio G Abad, the Ambassador for the Philippines in Australia; H.E. Joseph Forace, the High Commissioner of Malta in Australia; Peter Fleming, Consul for the Philippines in Australia who is a member of the Darling Downs Commandery; Sir Bruce Small, Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of Queensland and Mayor of the Gold Coast. Sir Hubert Opperman, former Federal Member of the Parliament of Australia, and later High Commissioner to Malta; Dr Douglas Hodges, a prominent Surgeon and later Grand Prior of Australia; Arthur Rogers, Company Director; Peter Demartini, a Dental Surgeon; Desmond Bradley, Foreign Affairs Member for Queensland; John G Pinnell, Financier and Company Director; Hugh Darra, Retired Pharmacist and Company Director, and the Reverend Canon Philip Newell. On 24 June 1975 The Priory held an Ecumenical Service in the Conventual Church in St. Lucia when an alcove in the Church was dedicated and two plaques were permanently affixed to the wall; a suit of armour backed by the Standard of the Order was placed there. The suit of armour had been made in Malta as an exact replica of one in the Magistral Palace in Malta. The Priory of Australia was granted Grand Priory Status in 1975 with Bailiff Roland Podesta as Grand Prior; sadly he passed away while attending the dinner following the 1980 Investiture in Brisbane. The Deputy Grand Prior Bailiff Dr. Douglas Hodges undertook the position of Acting Grand Prior until his appointment as Grand Prior was confirmed on 27 June 1981. The Priory of Victoria was established on 19 February 1980 with H.E. Bailiff the Honourable Sir Hubert Opperman CBE as the Prior. In October 1981 Mother Teresa of Calcutta was Invested into the Order in Sydney and was presented with a cheque for her ongoing charitable endeavours. In January 1982 Chevalier John Norton was advised that approval was given for the establishment of the Commandery of Hong Kong and of his appointment as the Commander. The Commandery of NSW was established on 30 July 1982 with Chevalier Peter Conley its Commander. The Commandery of Ballarat was raised on 24 June 1983 with Chevalier Colonel Edward Rigby as its Commander. On 27 April 1983 Conventual Bailiff Rene Tonna-Barthet GCSJ, son of the Late Bailiff Professor Gaston Tonna-Barthet, was on a visit to Australia and chaired the first Meeting of the Petit Conseil to be conducted in Australia. In attendance were Conventual Bailiff Rene Tonna-Barthet GCSJ, Grand Councillor. Conventual Bailiff Robert Halliday OAM.GCSJ, Grand Prior and the Grand Marshal, Conventual Bailiff Roger de Bryon-Faes GCSJ. Grand Hospitaller and Deputy Grand Prior, with Chevalier Bruce Morrison KCSJ as Secretary. Proxies were tabled from Conventual Bailiff Victor Usher, Grand Commander and Conventual Bailiff Roland Maillard, Grand Conservator. The Geelong Commandery was established on 17 February 1984 with Chevalier Flight Lieutenant Milton Williams DFM as Commander. In April 1984 following the coming together of Commanderies in Sydney and Canberra the Priory of New South Wales was established. On 9 November 1984 the Grand Master, H.R.H. Prince Andre of Yugoslavia, at a most impressive Ceremony at St. Mary’s Church, North Sydney, invested Twenty Two Knights and Two Dames who had come from all over Australia. On 1 January 1985 the Commandery of South Australia was confirmed with Chevalier Douglas Symons as Commander; this was raised to Priory Status on 11 April 1992 with Chevalier Douglas Symons as the first Prior. Upon the passing of Bailiff Dr Douglas Hodges, the 2nd Grand Prior of the OSJ in Australia, in 1989, Sir Herbert Opperman (as senior Bailiff) assumed the office of Acting Grand Prior until Conventual Bailiff Bob Halliday of Victoria was elected Grand Prior on 29 April 1989 Following the passing of Conventual Bailiff Bob Halliday, the Sovereign Council at its meeting in Ypres on the 13 August 2001 announced that Bailiff Ian Vassie of Victoria was the next Grand Prior of Australia. Following the resignation of Bailiff Ian Vassie due to ill health, the Grand Master created two Grand Priories which came into effect on the 1 September 2006. The Grand Priory of Southern Australia was formed under HE Bailiff Victor Techritz, AM, GCSJ. The Grand Priory of Northern Australia was formed under HE Bailiff Victor Feros GCSJ. Both Grand Priories are established as corporations limited by guarantee The Grand Priory of Southern Australia comprises the Priories of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. It has territorial jurisdiction in the States of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The Northern Grand Priory comprises the Priory of Queensland, with territorial jurisdiction over Queensland and the Northern Territory and possesses putative jurisdiction over Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.
embership
Recognition of a Hospitaller Order such as the OSJ is primarily determined by the qualities of its membership and the contributions the Knights and Dames of the Order make to society, and to humanity as a whole. To this end, the OSJ has included amongst its ecumenical Christian ranks several Kings, Queens, and Princes of Europe, Governors-General, State Governors, Prime Ministers, State Premiers, Senior Federal and State Parliamentarians, Senior Local Government Officers, Senior Clergy from all denominations, leading Medical and Legal practitioners, Senior Military Officers of the three Services; and numerous other prominent Australians from every walk of life.
The Family Tree of HRH Prince Karl Wladimir
Masters and Grand Masters
Russian Lineage of Peter II |
