World Day of the Sick Mass 

By Philip Lacovara KM

All are welcome at Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Tucson on Saturday, February 14 at 10 a.m. Bishop Gerald Kicanas will anoint the sick, and bless caregivers.  Petitions to Our Lady of Lourdes, and distribution of Lourdes water will also be a part of this special Mass. The World Day of the Sick Mass is sponsored by the Order of Malta Western Association USA. 

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (the Order of Malta) was founded in Jerusalem in 1048 to care for the pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land.  The Knights of Malta, known as Hospitallers because of their care for the sick, took traditional religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was formed after the First Crusade, the Order was obliged to take on the military defense of the pilgrims, as well as the territories conquered during the Crusades, adding defense of the faith to its mission.  

Following the defeat of Christian forces in the Holy Land in 1291, the Order settled on the Island of Rhodes.  After the Order was forced to surrender Rhodes in 1523, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted the Order possession of the Island of Malta in 1530, where the Order remained until Napolean Bonaparte seized Malta in 1798.  In 1834 the Order settled in Rome, where it is based today.  

In modern times, the original hospitaller mission is once again the main activity of the Order.  Today the Knights, Dames, and Auxiliary members of the order serve Our Lords the Poor and the Sick in over 100 hundred countries.  Among the Order’s international works is the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, which provides modern medical care to mothers and children in the place of Christ’s birth.