Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce
Grand Master of the Order of Malta
Fra' Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce (22 February 1827, Venice – 24 January 1905, Rome) was Lieutenant of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 1872 to 1879 and then Prince and Grand Master from 1879 until his death in 1905. Ceschi was the second son of Antonio Giuseppe Ceschi a Santa Croce (1777–1854) and Francesca Margarita a de Rosmini (1804–1875). His family worked in the government service of the Austrian Empire. In 1895 his older brother Alois, an imperial privy councillor and chamberlain and a life member of the Austrian House of Lords was made a count. Ceschi joined the Order of Malta as a Knight of Justice 21 February 1856. In February 1868 he resigned from the Austrian government service. On 19 January 1871 he received the Commandery of Fiorucci di Pietralunga in Umbria. This commandery had formerly been held by Fra' Giovanni Battista Tommasi before he became Grand Master. On 14 February 1872, Ceschi was elected Lieutenant of the Order in succession to Fra' Alessandro Borgia. On 28 March 1879, Pope Leo XIII appointed him Grand Master of the Order. He was the Order's first Grand Master in over seventy years. Ceschi was responsible for restoring the good name of the Order by re-establishing its many works. He completed the organization of the Order's Hospice at Tantur near Jerusalem. He cooperated in the maintenance of the Order's hospital in Naples, the children's hospital in Milan, and
the free dispensary for the poor in Paris. He organized the Association of the Italian Knights which provided medical service including hospital trains and barracks, thus receiving the support of the Italian government and royal family. He restored the Villa del Priorato di Malta. He initiated the creation of national associations of the Order in Spain, Great Britain, France, and Portugal made up of knights who would remain lay people and not take religious vows.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially 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; Latin: Supremus Militaris Ordo Hospitalarius Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodiensis et Melitensis), commonly known as the Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. Though it possesses no territory, the order is often considered a sovereign entity under international law. The order claims continuity with the Knights Hospitaller, a chivalric order that was founded about 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The order is led by an elected prince and grand master. Its motto is Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum ("Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor"). The order venerates the Virgin Mary as its patroness, under the title of Our Lady of Philermos. The Congress of Vienna of 1815 confirmed the loss of Malta. After having temporarily resided in Messina, Catania and Ferrara, the seat of the order was moved to Ferrara in 1826 and to Rome in 1834. The Magistral Palace in Via Condotti 68 and the Magistral Villa on the Aventine Hill enjoy extraterritorial status. The grand priories of Lombardy-Venetia and of Sicily were restored from 1839 to 1841. The office of Grand Master was restored by Pope
Leo XIII in 1879, after a vacancy of 75 years, confirming Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce as the first Grand Master of the restored Order of Malta. However, the loss of possession of Malta during this period did not affect the right of active and passive legation for the Order, which is legally important for the absolute continuity of international status, regardless of the former territorial possession.
Grand Master the style of His Eminence and precedence at the Court of Rome immediately after the cardinals. In 1880 the title of Fürst (Prince) was recognised in Austria by the Emperor Franz Joseph I.
The grand master is dressed in the ceremonial uniform of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. He wears the collar and sash of the Military Order of Malta. On the prince's chest there are stars of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John and Supreme Order of Christ.
