Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
but we find among the warriors of the first Crusade , a knight named Eaymond Dupuy , who , being wounded , was received into the hospital . Upon his recovery , he decided on becoming a member of the fraternity ; and , upon the death of Gerard , the abbot of the
Benedictine monastery attached to the hospital , was elected as superior by the denomination of Grand Master , —although we may observe that the title " Grand" was not used in any of the papal edicts until the Mastership of Hugh de Eevel , in 1259 . This title proves that the institution had undergone some change previous to this election ; atnd the whole body was consolidated under one head .
The services in arms of the brethren of St . John are acknowledged in a papal bull of Baldwin II . ; and we know that it existed as a military Order prior to that of the Templars , which was founded iir 1118 . In these hospitals all Christian pilgrims w ere sheltered and relieved , without distinction of nation or condition : those whom robbers had plundered were clothed ; those whom disease had debilitated were tended with skill and tenderness ; and those who died
were buried wdth Christian rites . Truly this was an extension , of the Masonic principle even beyond that commanded by our faith , —to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction . The hospital of the almoner was the cradle of that illustrious fraternity which , as the Order of St . John , of Khodes , and of Malta , was for seven centuries the sword and buckler of Christendom .
The palmers who had been relieved by the Hospitallers of St . John could rarely make pecuniary remuneration to their benevolent entertainers , but carried back to their homes vivid recollections of the kind treatment they had received ; and so universally was the gratitude of Christendom excited , that there was scarcely a country or province in which the Hospital of St . John did not possess manors . Commanderies were soon formed at St . Giles , in Provence ,
at Toronto , at Messina , and at Seville . Though the Christian arms had been triumphant , yet as the infidels still held many fortresses in the mountains , and the peasants were chiefly of Saracen or Turkish descent—for the Hebrew had long been a stranger in the land ,- —the Christian pilgrims were plundered and murdered . These bands of robbers made bloody inroads
even to tho gates of Jerusalem , carrying helpless women and children into slavery . To mitigate these calamities , and to clear the country of these cruel pests , the Master of the Hospitallers called on his brethren to brace on the mail which they had laid aside . Raymond now organized his warrior-monks into three classes . The first was to consist only of men of patrician ancestry and high military station , —they were the Knights , and upon them alone were the dignities of the Order conferred ; the second class were priests ;
and the third were serving brothers , —these latter enjoyed many privileges in common with the Knights ; and in after-times a certain number of commanderies were reserved for them . The constitution of the Order of St . John blending , as it did , the ^ rave and religious obligations of the monk with the stirring and o 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
but we find among the warriors of the first Crusade , a knight named Eaymond Dupuy , who , being wounded , was received into the hospital . Upon his recovery , he decided on becoming a member of the fraternity ; and , upon the death of Gerard , the abbot of the
Benedictine monastery attached to the hospital , was elected as superior by the denomination of Grand Master , —although we may observe that the title " Grand" was not used in any of the papal edicts until the Mastership of Hugh de Eevel , in 1259 . This title proves that the institution had undergone some change previous to this election ; atnd the whole body was consolidated under one head .
The services in arms of the brethren of St . John are acknowledged in a papal bull of Baldwin II . ; and we know that it existed as a military Order prior to that of the Templars , which was founded iir 1118 . In these hospitals all Christian pilgrims w ere sheltered and relieved , without distinction of nation or condition : those whom robbers had plundered were clothed ; those whom disease had debilitated were tended with skill and tenderness ; and those who died
were buried wdth Christian rites . Truly this was an extension , of the Masonic principle even beyond that commanded by our faith , —to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction . The hospital of the almoner was the cradle of that illustrious fraternity which , as the Order of St . John , of Khodes , and of Malta , was for seven centuries the sword and buckler of Christendom .
The palmers who had been relieved by the Hospitallers of St . John could rarely make pecuniary remuneration to their benevolent entertainers , but carried back to their homes vivid recollections of the kind treatment they had received ; and so universally was the gratitude of Christendom excited , that there was scarcely a country or province in which the Hospital of St . John did not possess manors . Commanderies were soon formed at St . Giles , in Provence ,
at Toronto , at Messina , and at Seville . Though the Christian arms had been triumphant , yet as the infidels still held many fortresses in the mountains , and the peasants were chiefly of Saracen or Turkish descent—for the Hebrew had long been a stranger in the land ,- —the Christian pilgrims were plundered and murdered . These bands of robbers made bloody inroads
even to tho gates of Jerusalem , carrying helpless women and children into slavery . To mitigate these calamities , and to clear the country of these cruel pests , the Master of the Hospitallers called on his brethren to brace on the mail which they had laid aside . Raymond now organized his warrior-monks into three classes . The first was to consist only of men of patrician ancestry and high military station , —they were the Knights , and upon them alone were the dignities of the Order conferred ; the second class were priests ;
and the third were serving brothers , —these latter enjoyed many privileges in common with the Knights ; and in after-times a certain number of commanderies were reserved for them . The constitution of the Order of St . John blending , as it did , the ^ rave and religious obligations of the monk with the stirring and o 2