Although the total number of knights in the Order at any one time probably never numbered more than 1,500 (some historians say the total was considerably less), the achievements of the Order, and the valor and heroism of its Knights, almost defy description. The Knights of Saint John controlled the Mediterranean Sea with their great galleys, fought heroic land battles in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East and Africa, and, though often out-numbered as much as 20 to 1, achieved victory after victory. For several centuries the Sovereign Order almost single-handedly assured the security of Europe and the preservation of Christendom.
All of this was achieved with a few thousand men-at-arms (trained by the Order) and only a few hundred Knights, many of whom were not even engaged in those great and decisive battles but were administrating the Order's properties and institutions throughout Europe. Certainly, in its time of need, the hand of Almighty God was directly and miraculously upon the Order of Saint John.
It would take a book of a thousand pages to begin to tell of the exploits of these Christian Knights. It is true that these dedicated Knights of the Religion (as they were most often called) gained world-wide fame for their works of charity, for their remarkable hospitals which were so advanced for the time, for their expertise in diplomacy and statecraft, and for their prayer life and devotion to Christ as Catholic monks under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. However, it was their military prowess in warfare be it on land or sea, their genius for tactics and strategy and innovation, their indefatigable tenacity in battle, and their indescribable bravery and courage that gave these intrepid knights a unique place in history.
For five centuries these holy monks constituted the principal obstacle to the conquest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East by the armies and navies of Islam. These knights held fortresses in the heart of territories conquered by the Muslims much to the chagrin and the distraction of the Sultan and his Pashas. The knights conducted raids by sea on Muslim held fortifications, thus requiring the diversion of military forces which would have been used for the invasion of Europe. The Order's galleys, the sleekest and fastest warships then in existence, manned by Knight Commanders who were the greatest seamen of the age, sought out and destroyed large numbers of Islamic warships and supply ships throughout the Mediterranean, thus interrupting Muslim supply lines, confiscating valuable materials, capturing hundreds of Muslim seamen and warriors, and liberating from the captured warships thousands of Christians who were enslaved as galley oarsmen on the Muslim ships. The courage, capability, devotion and achievements of these Knights of Saint John exceed all superlatives.
In our time, when pacifism, tolerance of evil, gross immorality and absence of principle characterize so much of modern man's character, men who took up the sword and manned the ramparts on far flung shores and fortresses so as to preserve the True Faith and preserve the civilized nations of Christendom these men are hardly comprehended in today's world. Yet, they gave their lives in devotion to God and their fellow man in order that chivalry, culture, knowledge, idealism, and above all the Christian Faith, might be preserved.
To place in perspective the devotion and courage of the Knights of the Sovereign Order, let us paraphrase from a statement of Sir Thomas A. Nelson, O.S.J., the founder and president of TAN Books and Publishers: It is essential that the world never erase from its memory those thousands of glorious martyrs of the Order of Saint John who died defending the Church and Christendom, often against hopeless odds, often in little known and less remembered places, sent by the Grand Master, or the Pope himself, to fight the common enemy and stop the advancing tide of Islam time and again defending and saving Christian Europe, while Christian monarchs many times were fighting among themselves.