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HISTORY


Foundation and early history

In 600, Abbot Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory The Great to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. In 800, Charlemagne , Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , enlarged Probus' hostel and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph El Hakim destroyed the hostel and three thousand other buildings. He made the Christians wear wooden crosses, half a Meter long by half a meter wide, around their necks. Although Christians were not allowed to buy slaves, male or female, and had few other privileges, they were allowed to ride horses on the condition that they ride with wooden saddles and unornamented girths. In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali Az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the Hospice in Jerusalem . The hospice, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John The Baptist , took in Christian pilgrims traveling to visit the cities and sites where Jesus was born, lived, died, rose again, and ascended. It was served by Benedictine Brothers.

The monastic hospitaller order was founded following the First Crusade by the Blessed Gerard , whose role as founder was confirmed by a Papal Bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom Of Jerusalem and beyond. His successor, Raymond Du Puy De Provence , established the first significant Hospitaller Infirmary near to the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group just cared for those pilgrims who made it to Jerusalem but the order soon extended into providing an armed escort to pilgrims. The escort soon grew into a substantial force.