The Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Fra’ John Dunlap, made an official visit to the Republic of Malta on 16 and 17 June.
On Saturday, 17 June, the Grand Master was received by President George William Vella at San Anton Palace. During the meeting, the deep friendship and close cooperation between the Republic of Malta and the Sovereign Order of Malta was reaffirmed.
The Grand Master visited the exhibition of tapestries donated by Grand Master Ramon Perellos in St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Subjected to an important and long restoration, these tapestries are considered some of the most significant of the Baroque era. The Grand Master, together with the Order of Malta’s delegation, then prayed in the crypt of the Co-Cathedral, which contains the tombs of eleven of the Grand Masters who led the Order of Malta from 1522 to 1623, as well as that of Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing, who died in 2021 in Valletta.
Renewal of the concession of Saint John’s Cavalier
On the morning of the 16th June a meeting was held at Palazzo Spinola in St. Julian’s between the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Malta Dr Ian Borg and the Grand Chancellor Riccardo Paterno’ di Montecupo, accompanied by the Ambassador of the Order to the Republic of Malta Prince Augusto Ruffo di Calabria.
In the course of this cordial meeting, where bilateral relations were discussed, a Procès-Verbal was signed by the Minister and the Grand Chancellor whereby the Government of Malta agreed to renew the emphyteusis for the historical bastion of St. John’s Cavalier, seat of the Embassy of the Order in the Capital City of Valletta, until the 23rd June 2037.
Later that evening, the Grand Master attended a mass celebrated in the Collegiate Church of St. Lawrence, in Birgu (Vittoriosa) together with President Daniel Gera de Petri Testaferrata and members of the Order of Malta’s Maltese Association. After mass, the Grand Master received the title of Honorary Canon of the Chapter of St. Lawrence.
