The Order of St. John

(Information are taken from " A Brief history of the Order of St. John", "The history of The Order of St. John" and "A Century of Service to Mankind - The story of St. John Ambulance Brigade")

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This page cover only part of "The Most Venerable Order of Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem" (The Order of St. John Ambulance) that related to St. John Ambulance. For other Order of St. John, please click Orders of St. John for details.

THE EMBLEM

Many people recognise the above emblem. But how many know the history behind it and its significance today?

It was the religious symbol worn by the Knights of St. John in the Middle Ages and is still worn today by St. John Ambulance members who carry on the tradition of caring for the sick.

The Knights choose the shape of the cross to represent the spiritual qualities blessed by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. And so the four arms of the cross stand four the four Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and fortitude. The eight points for the eight Beatitudes, and the colour white for the purity of the soul. This eight-pointed cross became known as the Maltese cross after the Knights settled on the island of Malta from 1520-1798. The lions and unicorns between the angles of the Cross represent Brave and Wise. They are the supporters of the British Royal coat-of-arm, and was granted by British Crown to show that it is a British Royal Order.

For a St. John Ambulance member, the cross symbolises the qualities necessary to be a good First Aider: observation, tact, resource, dexterity, explicitness, discrimination, perseverance and sympathy.

The order of St. John originated in Jerusalem at the end of the 11th century. It began as a hospice to look after the sick and weary pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. There is no precise date for the founding of the hospice. It was certainly running by the time of the First Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem in 1099. The hospice was administered by a group of monks who took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and chose St. John the BAPTIST as their patron Saint. By 1113 Pope Paschal I made the Order independent owing allegiance to the Pope only, and Brother Gerard became the first Master of the hospital.

The Knights Hospitaller ensured that patient received the best food and medicine available, and lain down very strict rules in the Statutes - the Order's rule book - concerning the welfare of the patients.

Raymond du Puy succeeded Brother Gerard as Master of the Hospital in 1120. During his rule, the Order took on a military role and acquired many castles from which to defend the territory captured by the Crusaders from Muslim attackers. At first mercenary soldiers were employed to fight; later the Brothers themselves became involved in military activity. The Knights Hospitaller, together with the Knights Templar, played a major part in the defence of the Middle Eastern Kingdoms set up by the Crusaders. By the 13th century, their military role dominated the Hospitallers' activity. In the early 12th century, the Knights were given castles and lands to maintain and garrison. Of those under their command, Krak des Chevaliers was the finest, and was held until 1271, when it was surrendered to the Saracens.

After the fall of Acre, the last of the Crusader states, in 1291, the Knights were forced to leave the Holy Land and sailed to Cyprus. In Cyprus, the Knights' headquarters were in Limassol; they also owned other properties in Nicosia and Kolossi. The present keep of kolossi Castle dates from the mid-15th century. In 1312 the Templars were dissolved and the Hospitallers, the sole remaining military Order in the East, felt the need for a more stable base from which to carry out military and naval activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In order to identify themselves in battle, the Knights wore red surcoats with a white cross on their front and back. This cross became the coat-of-arms of the Order. Permission to wear red surcoats in battle and black mantles at other times was granted by Pope Alexander IV in 1259. The Sea Gate, Rhodes, provided an excellent base for the Order's defensive operations against the Turks, particularly at sea. The island was captured between 1306 and 1309 and the Order of St. John soon established itself as the sovereign ruler, providing the native Greek population with protection. Trade flourished and settlers, craftsmen, soldiers and mariners from Western Europe were encouraged to settle on the island.

By the late 15th century the Order was divided at its headquarters into eight national Tongues (or branches): Italy, Spain, France, Auvergne, Provence, Portugal, England and Germany. The eight tongues together formed the Convent of the Order. At the head of each Tongue was a Bailiff, who resided at the headquarters of the Order. Each Bailiff administered a different branch: the Chancery, Treasury, the Hospital and so on. In Europe the Order's estates were divided into Priories. Each Priory had its own headquarters. The headquarters of the English Priory was in Clerkenwell, London. The Priories were further divided into Commanderies - properties owned by the Order to provide goods, recruits and income necessary to support the Order's activities in the Mediterranean.

As Turkish power grew in the Mediterranean, the Knights successfully defended Rhodes against many sea-brone Turkish attacks, in particular a siege in 1480. In 1522, however, they were forced to surrender the island together with their castle at Bodrum on the Turkish coast. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, recognising the Knights as worthy adversaries,granted the Grand Master and his Knights safe passage from the island. When Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, offered the island of Malta to the Order, the Knights were not enthusiastic. The island's defences were poor and the land was dry and uninviting, although its natural harbours were magnificent. They finally settled in Malta in 1530. The Knights built a new city called Valletta after Grand Master Jean de la Valette. He, at the age of 70, successfully led the defence of the island against the Turks in the Great Siege of 1565. The city was laid out on a classically-inspired grid system which allowed all sides of the walled town to be defended efficiently. The Knights improved the entire defensive system in the island and made Malta one of the most impressive examples of fortifications in Europe.

By the end of the 18th century, the wealth of the Order had decreased, first with the loss of the English properties in 1540 with Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, and then with the loss of French properties following the Revolution there in 1789. Napoleon encountered little resistance from the Knights on Malta, most of whom were French. The capture of the island signalled the end of the Order as a military force. After a brief period under the protectorship of Tsar Paul I of Russia, the remaining members looked to the Pope for support and finally, in 1834, they settled in Rome. The direct descendant of the medieval religious Hospitallers is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Order of the Catholic church, which has a humanitarian and charitable role.

In 1540 Henry VIII dissolved the Order in England. It was the last of the monastic institutions to be suppressed by the Crown. At the instigation of some French Knights, the idea of the Order in England was revived in the early 19th century. Its members looked for a useful role in the tradition of the Hospitallers. The Geneva Convention of 1864 dealt with the humane care of battlefield casualties. The members of the 19th century English Order of St. John realised that there was no similar system for the treatment of accident victims in civilian life and for those working in heavy industry. In 10 July 1877 they founded the St. John Ambulance Association, whose aims were to train the public at work and at home in First Aid and ambulance transport.

In June 1887 the St. John Ambulance Brigade was established with those people trained in First Aid who wished to provide a service to the community. The Brigade also provided trained personnel during times of war, including the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars. The activities of the Brigade and the Association merged in 1968 under the collective name of St. John Ambulance.

The Brigade's first public duty was to provide First Aid cover for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 21 June 1887. One of the Brigade's aims was to provide trained personnel as reserve to the Armed Forces Medical Services in time of war. They first did this during the South African War, 1899-1902. During the First and Second World Wars, St. John joined with the British Red Cross Society, under Joint Committees, to provide Voluntary Aid Detachment personnel (VADs), to staff hospitals for casualties, and provide humanitarian services for prisoners-of-war, and auxiliary medical services to the general public.

In 1882 the British Order of St. John founded a Hospital in Jerusalem, in the tradition of caring for the sick established by the Knights Hospitaller in the 12th century. It was the first hospital to concentrate on eye diseases, as these were very prevalent in the Middle East.

In recognition of the success of the Order, the establishment of an eye hospital in Jerusalem, and the foundation of the Association and Brigade, Queen Victoria granted the English Order a Charter in 1888. On 14 May the first Royal Charter was issued to "The Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem" recognising it as an official Order of Chivalry. The Queen became Patron and Sovereign Head of the Order and the Prince of Wales, Grand Prior. Today, the Sovereign Head is Her Majesty the Queen and the Grand Prior, HRH Richard, Duke of Gloucester. In 1926 King George V granted a new Royal Charter for the Order and Augmentation of the Royal Crest to the Arms of the Order. The lions and unicorns was added between the angles of the Cross in order to show that it is a Royal Order.

In March 1922, Brigade Order 416 inaugurated the Cadet Branch of the Brigade. At first the terms "Boy Cadets" and "Girl Cadets" were used but in 1942 the titles were changed to Ambulance and Nursing Cadets.

In 1960 a new Hospital was opened with the support of many Arab countries. Recently, a smaller clinic has opened in the Gaza strip. The Hospital provides treatment free of charge to all, irrespective of race, creed and colour. In an average year it carries out 5,000 eye operations and treat 45,000 out patient. The Hospital also has a training school for post-graduate doctors and Arab nurse, and a Research Institute. It continues its Outreach programme of visiting remote places to detect eye diseases at an early stage and training villagers in primary health care. The Hospital is almost entirely supported by donations, and further help is always needed.

On 6 April 1924 a cardiac patient was flown from Paries to Croydon escorted by Charles Green, a St. John member of the Invalid Transport Corps. In 1934 the first Air Duties Ambulance Division was established in Ipswich to deal primarily with casualties arising as a result of aeroplane accidents. During 1971 surgeons at the London Hospital were concerned at the lack of good transport facilities for kidneys which became available for transplant. The result was the formation of the Air Wing on 5 February 1971. By 1974 intensive care was possible in flight, St. John Aeromedical Service officially started. Transport service of any organs and surgical transplant teams was supported.

Unfortunately the 1985 ruling of the Civil Aviation Authority (Which demanded that the carriage of surgical transplant teams required commercially registered aircraft and pilots) had seriously affected the operations of the Wing, which was now required to use charter aircraft or commercial flights for all missions except unaccompanied organs in boxes. On 4 November 1991 St. John Ambulance officially transferred responsibility for transport of surgical teams to the UK Transplant Service and reverted to 1972 function of arranging transport for unaccompanied organs. As the missions decrease, it was difficult to recruit younger volunteers who were prepared to provide the time and complete the training for the demanding task of flight controller. Without dedicated, efficient flight control staff, it would not be possible to organize pilots, aircraft, flight plans, reception and special ground/air arrangements so necessary for these critically important flights. Furthermore, the new Ambulance Trust did not apply for a CAA exemption certificate for the carriage of organs. There was no alternative but to disband the Air Wing. The Order of St. John reluctantly decided to terminate the activities of the Air Wing with effect from 23 June 1993. In its 21 years the Wing had flown over 2,500 successful flights, totalling over 1 million miles, 9,000 flying hours and 185,000 ground control hours.

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This is not an official HomePage of St. John Ambulance Hong Kong, just some brief information about St. John Ambulance Hong Kong.
Written by Mr. Johnny K.L. AU-YEUNG (A member of The St. John Ambulance Brigade Hong Kong).

You are welcome to send your suggestion or comment by e-mail to johnny@hkbu.edu.hk

Last modified date : 31 July, 97.