One of the most confusing titles within the scope of this book. The term has been used by many different organizations. Stevens has 18 entries under “Malta”.
To begin at the beginning, the order began in 1048 as part of the Crusades. They have an interesting history, ending up controlling Malta, which they surrendered to Napoleon in 1798. Throughout their history they have been closely associated with hospitals and care of the sick.
Today this order is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, still closely associated with the care of the sick. This order, formally known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta1 (a title which encapsulates its history!) or the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is beyond the scope of this book.
So many mimics have occurred that the SMOM has issued a warning2.
During the Reformation, the Order split and there are now several Protestant Orders with a direct link with the original Order.
There are non-religious offshoots, such as the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem3, founded in Great Britain in 1831 as an order of chivalry (which it still is) and which founded the well-known St John Ambulance. These too are beyond the scope of this book.
A number of benevolent and fraternal organizations have built this long history into their rituals, first of them being the Freemasons. The Masonic grouping is called the Knights Templar (based on that organization’s history also going back to the Crusades) but has the full formal title of The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta. It is part of York Rite (see under Freemasons). There is also some indirect associations in Scottish Rite. Generally a Freemason is more likely to use the term Knight Templar than the term Knight of Malta.
The Orange Order adopted the term through the Royal Black Association of the Knights of Malta (see under Orange Order) and in the USA the Ancient and Illustrious Order of the Knights of Malta. Other American splinter groups are the Knights of St John and Malta4 (which has some exposure in Ontario), and the Order of Knights Hospitaller.
There is an organization called the Knights of Malta5 which seems to have moved from Scotland to Ireland and then on to other parts of the world and which seems to have become associated with the Orange Order. Schmidt6 says the full title is the Ancient and Illustrious Order of the Knights of Malta, a strongly Protestant organization which came from Scotland to the USA in 1870 and, although nearly extinct, it still had units in the USA and Canada (as of 1980). Axelrod says it disappeared in the early 1980s7. The Knights had a ladies auxiliary called the Dames of Malta, so named after a 1902 merger of the Ladies of Malta and the Daughters of Malta.
It's hard to determine to which group a 'Knights of Malta' entry belongs. If the local group
is called an 'Encampment' I have listed them under the Orange Order. The 'Commanderies'
are given below, along with other miscellaneous notes.
Click for a list of Commanderies etc in Ontario
References:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta
(2) https://www.orderofmalta.int/clarification-mimic-orders/
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venerable_Order_of_Saint_John
(4) Stevens p266
(5) http://members.tripod.com/~Blessed_Gerard/COVER.HTM
(6) Schmidt p181
(7) Axelrod p60