Connection Between The Knights of Malta and The Modern Order of St. John - St John Ambulance (branded as St John in some territories)

Taken and updated from - Knights of Malta - 1523 to 1798 by Reuben Cohen - Late scholar of Wadham College Oxford - Knights of Malta Published in New York in 1920

The Modern Order of St. John which at last developed into the St. John Ambulance Association!

During the Napoleonic wars the surviving Knights were too scattered and too helpless to be able to improve their condition. But from 1815 onwards we find various attempts of the Order to obtain from Europe another chef-lieu, and representatives of the Knights at the Congress of Vienna (1815) and at the Congress of Verona (1822) tried in vain to persuade the Allies to grant them an island. The French Knights were by far the largest and most powerful section of the Order, and in 1814 they had established a capitulary commission in which they vested plenary powers to treat on their behalf. During the various negotiations for a chef-lieu the question of reviving the English langue was started, and the French Commission entered into communication with the Rev. Sir Robert Peat, Chaplain to King George IV., and other distinguished Englishmen. The outcome was the reconstitution of the English langue on January 24, 1881, with Sir Robert Peat as Grand Prior.

The English branch of the Order of St. John has devoted itself to the succour of the sick and wounded, setting up cottage and convalescent hospitals, aiding the sick in other hospitals, and establishing ambulance litters in dangerous industrial centres, such as coal-mines and railway-stations, which at last developed into the St. John Ambulance Association, which rendered such magnificent service during the Great War (WW I) and World War two (WW II).

The German branch of the Order was the first to start ambulance work in the field in the Seven Weeks War of 1866, work which was continued in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Since that date the mitigation of the sufferings of war has been a conspicuous part of the work of the Order of St. John, and nowhere has the Order's magnificent spirit of international comradeship been more fully displayed.

Today most members of St John Ambulance (Brigade) are not themselves members of the Order, and vice versa, so a major presence of the Order does not dictate a major presence of St John Ambulance. Most notably, the Order of St John is a Christian (Catholic) organisation, whereas St John Ambulance is keen to ensure there is no allegiance to any particular religion or denomination, so as to remain available to all. St John Ambulance works on a more geographical nature than the Order, and has to contend with the differing national laws, medical practices and cultures of countries.