Over the weekend, the Order of Malta has celebrated two key events: the Order of Malta World Day on Saturday 12 October, and the Feast of Blessed Frá Gerard on Sunday 13 October.

On 12 October, the Order of Malta in Romania marked the second ever Order World Day. The Order’s National Relief Service in Romania, Serviciul de Ajutor Maltez în România (SAMR / Maltez), organised a number of events across the country. These included first aid demonstrations and trainings for Romanian citizens. The aim of the World Day is to introduce the Order of Malta to a wider public, describing its main activities and attracting new volunteers. The first Order of Malta World Day was held on 14 October 2023, as it is held on the Saturday nearest to the Feast Day of Blessed Fra’ Gerard.

13 October is celebrated at the Feast Day of Blessed Fra’ Gerard, the Founder of the Order. Towards the end of the eleventh century, Gerard went to Jerusalem. There, next to the Church of Saint John, he established a hospice, resting place, for pilgrims and the sick. To maintain his work he founded a religious fraternity. During the Crusader siege of Jerusalem in 1099, he was in the city. After the conquest of the city, Gerard served the multitude of wounded, sick, and dying. Many of the crusading knights put aside the sword to join him in this work and the brotherhood expanded rapidly. On 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II solemnly approved the Order with the Papal bull, the “Pie postulatio voluntatis”, addressed to “Gerard, Founder and Warden of the hospice at Jerusalem and to his lawful successors”. Frá Gerard conceived the principle that the sick and the poor were the ‘lords’ of the members of the Order, and the members were their ‘serfs’, under the feudal obligation to render the same devotion and reverence that secular lords would receive from their liege men. He died at Jerusalem on 3 September 1120. The Church holds Blessed Fra’ Gerard’s official Feast Day on 13 October each year