The Sacra Militia Foundation is organising a two-day seminar with the title “The Order of St John from Palestine to Malta”. The seminar will be held on Saturday 18 (full day) and Sunday 19 (half day) November at Casa Lanfreducci, the headquarters of the Maltese Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), near the Church of Our Lady of Victory.
This promises to be another highly interesting and very scholarly seminar as the speakers are experts in their fields and the papers prepared cover a variety of aspects connected with the Order’s activities and achievements since its foundation.
The 13 speakers and the subjects they will present are as follows:
Dr George Buttigieg – The Hospitaller component of the standing army of the Latin Kingdom 1099-1291
Prof. Robert Dauber – Knights of Rhodes and Malta in the national navies of Europe between the 14th and 19th centuries
Dr Ann Williams – Decision making in the Order of St John, 1530-1631
Vincent Zammit – Defending Malta 1530 – 1565: First military preoccupations of the Knights in Malta
Dr Simon Mercieca – “Vale of Tears”: An analysis of the description of Malta by the Ottoman Admiral Piri Reis and its relevance to the history of Hospitaller Malta
Antonio Espinosa-Rodriguez – The Madonna of the Fleet: An ex-voto painting from the Battle of Lepanto
Dr Joseph F. Grima – The Order of St John's Naval Medical Services in the 18th century
Anton Quintano – The chebec (24-gun sailing vessel) in the Maltese-Hospitaller Navy, 1757–1766
Dr George Cassar – Some education programmes run by the Order of St John for naval personnel in 17th and 18th century Malta
Dr Stephen C. Spiteri – Drawbridge mechanisms in fortress gateways in 17th and 18th century Hospitaller Malta
Maj. Frederick Cauchi Inglott – Warfare on land: features of general military practice in the 18th century
Dr Conrad Thake – Architectural iconography during the rule of the Order of St John (1530–1798)
Michael Ellul – The Sacra Infermeria – The building and the institution
Dr Jaime H. Cremona, president of the Maltese Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, will conclude the seminar with a brief outline of the Order and its activities in the modern world.
Those who are interested in attending this seminar can contact the executive chairperson of the Sacra Militia Foundation, Dr George Cassar, by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or a letter to 78, Triq il-Papa Piju XIII, Mosta MST05, including a contact number, and further details will be given. The closing date is Saturday 11 November.