First Grand Master
Circa 1040 – 1120
The founder and first Grand Master of the Order was born around 1040 in Scala, a village a few kilometres from Amalfi in southern Italy. In the second half of the 11th century he went to Jerusalem where he began to work in the hospital next to the church of St. Mary Latin, built by Amalfi merchants to receive pilgrims and tend the sick.
Legend has it that in 1099, during the Siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Blessed Gerard threw bread to them from the walls but when he was arrested the bread had miraculously turned into stones.
To build up the institution he ran, Blessed Gerard transformed it into a religious order dedicated to St. John Baptist. On 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II officially recognised the monastic community of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The pope’s document gives an indication of the role and importance of the Order’s founder and demonstrates the significance of the service offered to the pilgrims and the poor in the Jerusalem hospital. It also gives a list of its hospitals and hospices in France and Italy, proving that the order established by Blessed Gerard – a few decades after its foundation – was not limited to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem but already had a European dimension.
Blessed Gerard died in Jerusalem on 3 September 1120. His directions and his example constitutes the basis for the Order’s first written Rule issued by Fra’ Raymond de Puy – second Grand Master – between 1145 and 1153.
The Catholic Church venerates him as blessed and remembers him on 13 October.
2 | Fra’ Raymond du Puy | 1120 – c. 1158/60 |
3 | Fra’ Auger de Balben | c. 1158/60 – 1162/3 |
4 | Fra’ Arnaud de Comps | 1162 – 1163 |
5 | Fra’ Gilbert de Aissailly | 1163 – c.1169/70 |
6 | Fra’ Gastone de Murols | c. 1170 – c. 1172 |
7 | Fra’ Joubert de Syrie | c. 1172 – 1177 |
8 | Fra’ Roger de Moulins | 1177 – c. 1187 |
9 | Fra’ Ermengard d’Aps | 1188 – c. 1190 |
10 | Fra’ Garnier de Naplous | 1189/90 – 1192 |
11 | Fra’ Godefroy de Donion | 1193 – 1202 |
12 | Fra’ Alfonso of Portugal | 1203 – 1206 |
13 | Fra’ Geoffrey Le Rat | 1206 – 1207 |
14 | Fra’ Guérin de Montaigu | 1207 – c. 1227/8 |
15 | Fra’ Bertrand de Thexis | c. 1228 – 1231 |
16 | Fra‘ Guerin | 1236 – c. 1239/40 |
17 | Fra’ Bertrand de Comps | 1239/40 – 1242 |
18 | Fra’ Pierre de Viellebride | 1239/40 – 1242 |
19 | Fra’ Guillaume de Chateauneuf | 1242 – 1258 |
20 | Fra’ Hugues de Revel | 1258 – 1277 |
21 | Fra’ Nicolas de Lorgue | 1277 – 1284 |
22 | Fra’ Jean de Villiers | 1284/5 – c. 1293/4 |
23 | Fra’ Odon de Pins | 1294 – 1296 |
24 | Fra’ Guillaume de Villaret | 1296 – 1305 |
25 | Fra’ Foulques de Villaret | 1305 – 1319 |
26 | Fra’ Helion de Villeneuve | 1319 – 1346 |
27 | Fra’ Dieudonné de Gozon | 1346 – 1353 |
28 | Fra’ Pierre de Corneillan | 1353 – 1355 |
29 | Fra’ Roger de Pins | 1355 – 136 |
30 | Fra’ Raymond Berenger | 1365 – 1374 |
31 | Fra’ Robert de Juliac | 1374 – 1376 |
32 | Fra’ Jean Fernandez de Heredia | 1376 – 1396 |
33 | Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo | 1383 – 1395 |
34 | Fra’ Philibert de Naillac | 1396 – 1421 |
35 | Fra’ Antonio Fluvian de Riviere | 1421 – 1437 |
36 | Fra’ Jean de Lastic | 1437 – 1454 |
37 | Fra’ Jacques de Milly | 1454 – 1461 |
38 | Fra’ Piero Raimondo Zacosta | 1461– 1467 |
39 | Fra’ Giovanni Battista Orsini | 1467 – 1476 |
40 | Fra’ Pierre d’Aubusson | 1476 – 1503 |
41 | Fra’ Emery d’Amboise | 1503 – 1512 |
42 | Fra’ Guy de Blanchefort | 1512 – 1513 |
43 | Fra’ Fabrizio del Carretto | 1513 – 1521 |
44 | Fra’ Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam | 1521 – 1534 |
45 | Fra’ Pierino del Ponte | 1534 – 1535 |
46 | Fra’ Didier de Saint-Jaille | 1535 – 1536 |
47 | Fra’ Jean de Homedes | 1536 – 1553 |
48 | Fra’ Claude de la Sengle | 1553 – 1557 |
49 | Fra’ Jean de La Vallette-Parisot | 1557 – 1568 |
50 | Fra’ Pierre de Monte | 1568 – 1572 |
51 | Fra’ Jean l’Evesque de La Cassière | 1572 – 1581 |
52 | Fra’ Hugues Loubenx de Verdala | 1581 – 1595 |
53 | Fra’ Martin Garzez | 1595 – 1601 |
54 | Fra’ Alof de Wignacourt | 1601 – 1622 |
55 | Fra’ Luis Mendez de Vasconcellos | 1622 – 1623 |
56 | Fra’ Antoine de Paule | 1623 – 1636 |
57 | Fra’ Jean-Paul de Lascaris-Castellar | 1636 – 1657 |
58 | Fra’ Martín de Redín | 1657 – 1660 |
59 | Fra’ Annet de Clermont-Gessant | 1660 |
60 | Fra’ Raphael Cotoner | 1660 – 1663 |
61 | Fra’ Nicolas Cotoner | 1663 – 1680 |
62 | Fra’ Gregorio Carafa | 1680 – 1690 |
63 | Fra’ Adrien de Wignacourt | 1690 – 1697 |
64 | Fra’ Ramon Perellos y Roccaful | 1697 – 1720 |
65 | Fra’ Marc’Antonio Zondadari | 1720 – 1722 |
66 | Fra’ Antonio Manoel de Vilhena | 1722 – 1736 |
67 | Fra’ Raymond Despuig | 1736 – 1741 |
68 | Fra’ Manuel Pinto de Fonseca | 1741 – 1773 |
69 | Fra’ Francisco Ximenes de Texada | 1773 – 1775 |
70 | Fra’ Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc | 1775 – 1797 |
71 | Fra’ Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim | 1797 – 1802 |
72 | Emperor Paul I of Russia (de facto) | 1799 – 1801 |
73 | Fra’ Giovanni Battista Tommasi | 1803 – 1805 |
74 | Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce | 1879 – 1905 |
75 | Fra’ Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein | 1905 – 1931 |
76 | Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere | 1931 – 1951 |
77 | Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna | 1962 – 1988 |
78 | Fra’ Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie | 1988 – 2008 |
79 | Fra’ Matthew Festing | 2008 – 2017 |
80 | Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto | 2018 – 2020 |
81 | Fra’ John Dunlap | 2023 – |
1 | Fra’ Innico Maria Guevara-Suardo | 1805 – 1814 |
2 | Fra’ André Di Giovanni | 1814 – 1821 |
3 | Fra’ Antoine Busca | 1821 – 1834 |
4 | Fra’ Carlo Candida | 1834 – 1845 |
5 | Fra’ Philippe di Colloredo-Mels | 1845 – 1864 |
6 | Fra’ Alessandro Borgia | 1865 – 1872 |
7 | Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce | 1872 – 1879 |
8 | Fra’ Antoine Hercolani Fava Simonetti | 1951 – 1955 |
1 | Fra’ Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri (durante la malattia del 75° Gran Maestro) | 1929 – 1931 |
2 | Fra’ Ernesto Paternò Castello di Carcaci | 1955 – 1962 |
3 | Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto | 2017 – 2018 |
4 | Fra’ Marco Luzzago | 2020 – 2022 |
5 | Fra’ John Dunlap | 2022 – 2023 |
1 | Fra’ Jean Charles Pallavicini | 1988 (January – April) |
2 | Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto | 2008 (February – March) |
3 | Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein | 2017 (January – April) |
4 | Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas Boas | 2020 (April – November) |
'Casa Lanfreducci’ - 2, Pjazza Jean de Valette, Valletta VLT 1104, Malta