Portugal -

" SHIPS ~ CHIVALRY ~ 900th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORDER OF MALTA."

MNH ~ Miniature Sheet !

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Italian: Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme di Rodi e di Malta), also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order of, traditionally, a military, chivalrous and noble nature.

It is the world's oldest surviving order of chivalry. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is headquartered in Rome, and is widely considered a sovereign subject of international law.

SMOM is the modern continuation of the original medieval order of Saint John of Jerusalem, known as the "Fraternitas Hospitalaria" and later 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 ...

Date of Issue: 9 October 2013.

(PR4).