Order of Malta

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Michigan Area launches e-mail series on Saints and Blesseds of the Order

06/05/2026 

By canonizing some of the faithful , i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 828

In reciting the Daily Prayer of the Order, members of the Order of Malta recall our patrons, Our Lady of Philermo and St. John the Baptist, and our founder, Blessed Gerard, the first Grand Master.

But how many members are familiar with Blessed Vilmos Apor, Saint Ulbaldesca, Blessed Gerard Mecatti, or the many other Saints and Blesseds associated with the Order of Malta?

To help members become better acquainted with these models of holiness, the Michigan Area has started recognizing the Saints and Blesseds on their feast days, in addition to commemorating other liturgical celebrations proper to the Order.

As Michigan Area Chair Andy Smith explained at the Area’s January 3 First Saturday, “Other religious orders of the Church look to their saints as models. Jesuits teach their students about St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Peter Claver, and St. Francis Xavier. Dominicans celebrate St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Martin de Porres. We’re a religious order and we should learn about the many Saints and Blesseds who exemplify the Malta calling.”

The effort launched with a January 3 e-mail to members about Bl. Garcia Martinez, a Knight who became known for spectacular miracles after his death in 1286. The series has continued with e-mails to Michigan Area members on each Saint’s or Blessed’s feast day, including brief accounts of the Saint’s or Blessed’s life and works, and any prayers proper to the day.

Some of the Saints and Blesseds are well known – for example, St. Pope Paul VI – but their connection to the Order of Malta is not. St. Pope Paul VI, who first joined the Order in 1937, was raised in 1958 to the rank of Bailiff Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion – the same rank conferred in 2024 on then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.

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