Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta

A true oddity, the Order of Malta, which has no territory (except property in Rome) is widely recognised as a sovereign State and has official relations with Canada.

The Order is the original medieval order of Saint John of Jerusalem, known as the Knights Hospitaller, a group founded in Jerusalem about 1050 as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, it became a military order under its own charter. Following the loss of Christian held territories of the Holy Land to Muslims, the Order operated from Rhodes (1310–1523), and later from Malta (1530–1798), over which it was sovereign.

Although this state came to an end with the ejection of the Order from Malta by Napoleon, the Order as such survived. It retains its claims of sovereignty under international law and has been granted permanent observer status at the United Nations.

The Order today does good charitable works -- but it is strange that it has the trappings of a State. Imagine if the United Way had the right to issue currency?

www.orderofmalta.org