MALTA
For seven years the Order sought a
new home - but there was none to be found that was suitable for a sovereign
Order. Moreover, the monarchs of Europe, steeped in their own arrogance
and greed, and with a lust for the hundreds of properties of the Order located
in their realms, were not helpful to the Order, in spite of the fact that the
Knights had just saved Christendom from certain invasion and possible conquest
by Islam. Finally Clement VII prevailed upon Charles V to give to the
Order the island of Malta in the center of the Mediterranean - the small rocky
island (the ancient Melita) on which Saint Paul had been
shipwrecked.
The Knights were familiar with Malta - they knew the
Mediterranean in every detail, but Malta was not beautiful fertile Rhodes, it
was rocky and barren, and its inhabitants were impoverished. However, its
central position in the Mediterranean was perfect. Moreover, L'Isle Adam
could see it as a future fortress which could never be conquered.
On 24 March 1530, the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino,
together with Tripoli on the coast of Africa, were ceded forever to the Grand
Master, L'Isle Adam, and the Order of Saint John. The Emperor's gift to
the Order was not entirely charity, indeed it was self-serving, for he saw the
Order's occupation of Malta as a key defense between his empire and the Ottoman
Infidels.
Even while the Order was occupying Malta and building its
initial defenses, the war continued on the sea and for the cities on the
sea-coast of North Africa. It was an on-going battle with the Muslim
forces and the many pirate ships which preyed upon all shipping and small
coastal cities throughout the Mediterranean. The pirate Barbarossa
(Redbeard) alone had some 82 warships, and many other pirates were well
outfitted. All were predators and vicious, and most often they were allied
with the Muslims.
The Order's successes on the seas continued to be remarkable,
but the challenge and the work to rebuild the Order on Malta was immense.
There were now some conflicts between the various langues (national groups) in
the Order - which had erupted into fighting. This dishonor was new to the
Sovereign Order. But what was most discouraging was the action of Henry
VIII who had declared himself head of the Church of England. When the
English Knights continued to support the pope, Henry confiscated all the Order's
properties in England and had numerous noble Knights executed. They
courageously died martyrs for the Faith.
All of this greatly saddened L'Isle Adam, now elderly and worn
by the rigors of the battle and command. Infected by a violent fever
he expired on August 21, 1534. As the famous historian Alexander Sutherland
wrote in 1830: "In him the Order lost the most illustrious Grand Master
it had ever possessed. His reign of thirteen years was marked by a continued
succession of perils and disasters; but his bravery, his wisdom, his fortitude,
his clemency, and his devotion to this Order, threw a radiance even over reverses.
The Knights laid him in the dust with filial sorrow; and the simple epitaph,
'Here lies virtue triumphant over misfortune', was inscribed on his tomb."