lem, by
taking upon themselves vows of indissoluble brotherhood, and of chastity
and poverty. Little did the pious, self-abnegating Peter Gerard, the
accredited father of the Hospitallers, when collecting a few friends
together at his own humble dwelling in the latter part of the tenth
century, realize that he was then and there founding an order whose
power should presently become the main prop of Christianity, as
sustained against the energetic inroads of the Ottoman power. The avowed
purpose of these men thus banded together was to devote their lives to
the care and protection of poor, oppressed, and sick pilgrims, who had
come from afar to the sacred city as the Mecca of their religious
faith. After a considerable period of usefulness in the direction
indicated, and seeing the possibilities before them, they obtained
permission from the Caliph of Egypt to found a hospital for the use of
the sick and the needy, but especially in behalf of those who came from
foreign lands to visit the Holy Sepulchre. The rapid increase in the
service they had assumed soon demanded the erection of a second
hospital, or annex, one being devoted to women and the other to men.
This enlarged capacity soon rendered it necessary to create a sisterhood
of regular nurses, composed of self-devoted women actuated by the same
Christian sentiments which had given rise to the formation of the
brotherhood. The hospice prospered beyond the most sanguine hopes of its
originators. Grateful pilgrims who had shared its hospitalities, on
returning to their distant homes, spread the fame of its charities all
over Europe, thus arousing the warmest enthusiasm, and liberal
contributions of money were freely given in its behalf. To meet the
necessities of the case, a chapel was in time duly added to the hospice,
thus forming a very complete and well-organized whole, which may be said
to have been the cradle of the afterward famous Order of the Knights of
Malta.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the early members of the
fraternity, when they were best known as Hospitallers, were entirely
consistent in their object, as it was announced to the world, and that
they were actuated solely by the highest sense of duty and of Christian
endeavor. The sick were healed, the hungry fed, an economical and
unostentatious hospitality was exercised toward one and all, and good,
effective, charitable work was constantly performed. These
self-appointed servants of the poo