Grand Masters of the Order

The first Grand Master: Blessed Gerard

c. 1040 – 1120

The founder and first Grand Master of the Order was born around 1040, probably in Scala, a village a few kilometres from Amalfi in southern Italy. In the second half of the 11th century he came to Jerusalem, where he began working in the hospital beside the church of St. Mary of the Latins, built by merchants from Amalfi to receive pilgrims and care for the sick.

Legend has it that in 1099, during the crusaders’ siege of Jerusalem, Blessed Gerard threw bread to them from the walls; when he was arrested for it, the bread miraculously turned to stone, and he escaped punishment by the city’s Muslim rulers.

To raise the standing of the institution he led, Blessed Gerard made it a religious order dedicated to St. John the Baptist. On 15 February 1113 Pope Paschal II officially recognised the religious community of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The papal document shows the role and importance of the founder and of the services offered to pilgrims and the poor in the hospital of Jerusalem. It also lists hospitals and hospices in France and Italy, showing that only a few decades after its foundation the Order of Blessed Gerard was not confined to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem but already had a European dimension.

Blessed Gerard died in Jerusalem on 3 September 1120. His instructions and his example are the basis of the Order’s first written rule, issued by Fra’ Raymond du Puy, the second Grand Master, between 1145 and 1153.
The Catholic Church venerates him as Blessed; his memorial is on 13 October.

1100

2	Fra’ Raymond du Puy	1120 – c. 1158/60
3	Fra’ Auger de Balben	c. 1158/60 – 1162/3
4	Fra’ Arnaud de Comps	1162 – 1163
5	Fra’ Gilbert de Aissailly	1163 – c. 1169/70
6	Fra’ Gastone de Murols	c. 1170 – c. 1172
7	Fra’ Joubert de Syrie	c. 1172 – 1177
8	Fra’ Roger de Moulins	1177 – c. 1187
9	Fra’ Ermengard d’Aps	1188 – c. 1190
10	Fra’ Garnier de Naplous	1189/90 – 1192
11	Fra’ Godefroy de Donion	1193 – 1202

1200

12	Fra’ Alfonso of Portugal	1203 – 1206
13	Fra’ Geoffrey Le Rat	1206 – 1207
14	Fra’ Guérin de Montaigu	1207 – c. 1227/8
15	Fra’ Bertrand de Thexis	c. 1228 – 1231
16	Fra’ Guerin	1236 – c. 1239/40
17	Fra’ Bertrand de Comps	1239/40 – 1242
18	Fra’ Pierre de Viellebride	1239/40 – 1242

19	Fra’ Guillaume de Chateauneuf	1242 – 1258
20	Fra’ Hugues de Revel	1258 – 1277
21	Fra’ Nicolas de Lorgue	1277 – 1284
22	Fra’ Jean de Villiers	1284/5 – c. 1293/4
23	Fra’ Odon de Pins	1294 – 1296
24	Fra’ Guillaume de Villaret	1296 – 1305

1300

25	Fra’ Foulques de Villaret	1305 – 1319
26	Fra’ Helion de Villeneuve	1319 – 1346
27	Fra’ Dieudonné de Gozon	1346 – 1353
28	Fra’ Pierre de Corneillan	1353 – 1355
29	Fra’ Roger de Pins	1355 – 1365

30	Fra’ Raymond Berenger	1365 – 1374
31	Fra’ Robert de Juliac	1374 – 1376
32	Fra’ Jean Fernandez de Heredia	1376 – 1396
33	Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo	1383 – 1395
34	Fra’ Philibert de Naillac	1396 – 1421

1400

35	Fra’ Antonio Fluvian de Riviere	1421 – 1437
36	Fra’ Jean de Lastin	1437 – 1454
37	Fra’ Jacques de Milly	1454 – 1461

38	Fra’ Piero Raimondo Zacosta	1461 – 1467
39	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Orsini	1467 – 1476
40	Fra’ Pierre d’Aubusson	1476 – 1503

1500

41	Fra’ Emery d’Amboise	1503 – 1512
42	Fra’ Guy de Blanchefort	1512 – 1513
43	Fra’ Fabrizio del Carretto	1513 – 1521
44	Fra’ Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam	1521 – 1534
45	Fra’ Pierino del Ponte	1534 – 1535
46	Fra’ Didier de Saint-Jaille	1535 – 1536
47	Fra’ Jean de Homedes	1536 – 1553

48	Fra’ Claude de la Sengle	1553 – 1557
49	Fra’ Jean de La Vallette-Parisot	1557 – 1568
50	Fra’ Pierre de Monte	1568 – 1572
51	Fra’ Jean l’Evesque de La Cassière	1572 – 1581
52	Fra’ Hugues Loubenx de Verdala	1581 – 1595
53	Fra’ Martin Garzez	1595 – 1601

1600

54	Fra’ Alof de Wignacourt	1601 – 1622
55	Fra’ Luis Mendez de Vasconcellos	1622 – 1623
56	Fra’ Antoine de Paule	1623 – 1636
57	Fra’ Jean-Paul de Lascaris-Castellar	1636 – 1657
58	Fra’ Martín de Redín	1657 – 1660

59	Fra’ Annet de Clermont-Gessant	1660
60	Fra’ Raphael Cotoner	1660 – 1663
61	Fra’ Nicolas Cotoner	1663 – 1680
62	Fra’ Gregorio Carafa	1680 – 1690
63	Fra’ Adrien de Wignacourt	1690 – 1697
64	Fra’ Ramon Perellos y Roccaful	1697 – 1720

1700

65	Fra’ Marc’Antonio Zondadari	1720 – 1722
66	Fra’ Antonio Manoel de Vilhena	1722 – 1736
67	Fra’ Raymond Despuig	1736 – 1741
68	Fra’ Manuel Pinto de Fonseca	1741 – 1773

69	Fra’ Francisco Ximenes de Texada	1773 – 1775
70	Fra’ Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc	1775 – 1797
71	Fra’ Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim	1797 – 1802

1800

72	Tsar Paul I of Russia	1799 – 1801 (de facto)
73	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Tommasi	1803 – 1805

Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce

1879 – 1905

1900

75	Fra’ Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein	1905 – 1931
76	Fra’ Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere	1931 – 1951

77	Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna	1962 – 1988
78	Fra’ Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie	1988 – 2008

2000

79	Fra’ Matthew Festing	2008 – 2017
80	Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2018 – 2020
81	Fra’ John T. Dunlap	2023 – present

Lieutenants of the Grand Magistry

1	Fra’ Innico Maria Guevara-Suardo	1805 – 1814
2	Fra’ André Di Giovanni	1814 – 1821
3	Fra’ Antoine Busca	1821 – 1834
4	Fra’ Carlo Candida	1834 – 1845
5	Fra’ Philippe di Colloredo-Mels	1845 – 1864
6	Fra’ Alessandro Borgia	1865 – 1872
7	Fra’ Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce	1872 – 1879
8	Fra’ Antoine Hercolani Fava Simonetti	1951 – 1955

Lieutenants of the Grand Master

1	Fra’ Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri (during the illness of the 75th Grand Master)	1929 – 1931
2	Fra’ Ernesto Paternò Castello di Carcaci	1955 – 1962
3	Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2017 – 2018
4	Fra’ Marco Luzzago	2020 – 2022
5	Fra’ John T. Dunlap	2022 – 2023

Lieutenants ad interim

1	Fra’ Jean Charles Pallavicini	1988 (January–April)
2	Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto	2008 (February–March)
3	Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein	2017 (January–April)