The Order of Malta is a sovereign order, inasmuch as it enjoys certain prerogatives which, according to the principles of international law, are proper to sovereignty. These rights have been recognized by the Holy See and a number of states. However, these rights do not comprise all the powers and prerogatives that belong to sovereign states in the full sense of the word.
Insofar as the Order of Malta is composed of knights and chaplains, it is a “religio” and more precisely a religious order, approved by the Holy See, according to the Codex juris canonici, Can. 487 and 488, nn. 1 and 2. The purpose of this order is, besides the sanctification of its members, also the pursuit of religious objectives, charity, and welfare work.
The sovereign and the religious character of the order are intimately related, inasmuch as the former serves to attain the objectives of the order as a religious institution and its development in the world.
The Order of Malta depends on the Holy See and, as a religious order, on the Sacred Congregation of Religious.
Those persons who have obtained marks of distinction from the order and the associations of these persons depend on the order, and, through it, on the Holy See.
Questions concerning the institution’s character as a sovereign order are treated by the Secretariat of State of His Holiness. Those of a mixed nature are received by the Sacred Congregation of Religious in accord with the Secretariat of State.
The present decisions do not interfere with the order’s acquired rights, customs and privileges which the Popes have granted or recognized, inasfar as they are still in force according to the norms of canon law[18] and the order’s own constitutions.[19]
THE ORDER OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS
The origin of the Order of the Teutonic Knights was practically the same as that of the Order of Saint John: the Teutonic Order sprang from a fraternity of lay men engaged in charitable work. A number of crusaders from Bremen and Lübeck in Germany, under the leadership of a certain Meister Sigebrand, operated a field hospital during the dreadful winter of the Siege of Acre (1190 A.D.), when the Christian army through famine and sickness was almost decimated. Pope Clement III, recognizing the remarkable services of the confraternity, gave it his approbation in 1191; the first Superior of this religious congregation was Conrad, chaplain of Fredrick of Swabia. During the next eight years a number of German knights joined, and the community gradually assumed the character of a military order of knighthood, becoming known as the Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of Saint Mary of Jerusalem. The Pope approved the Order in 1199 with Henry Walpott of Bossenheim as first master. The new order was organized along the same lines as the Hospitallers; it comprised professed knights, priests and lay brothers and its purpose was to care for the poor and the sick as well as to wage war against the foes of Christendom. Like the Hospitallers, the knights followed the Augustinian rule, but whereas the former wore a black mantle with a white cross, the Teutonic Knights adopted a white mantle with a black cross. Only German candidates were eligible for the new order, which rapidly grew in numbers and influence. This may have been due to the fact that the German knights, always resentful of the predominantly Latin influence in the existing military orders, were only too happy to have an organization of their own and thus gave it strong support. The fourth Master, Hermann of Salza (1210-1239), shifted the military activities of his order from Palestine, first to Hungary, and then to the northeastern frontier of Germany, where the order engaged in fighting the heathen Prussians. But although the Knights operated mainly in Prussia, their general headquarters still continued at Acre, until the latter fell in 1291, after which they transferred to Venice. Finally, in 1309, the seat of the order was established in the famous fortress of Marienburg in Prussia.[20]
In 1236 the Teutonic Order absorbed the remnants of the Brothers of the Sword, an order of knighthood which had been founded some thirty-four years earlier for the purpose of subjugating and christianizing the peoples of the Baltic countries of Livonia, Lettonia and Esthonia (now known as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia).