Categorie: Uncategorized

Dear Dames and Knights,

It is with very deep sorrow that the Magisterial House of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem,
Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) announces the decease of our dear brother,
Monsignore Fabio Fabbri, Grand Prior of the Italian Langue, Magisterial Chaplain and Spiritual Guide of the Grand Master,
Prelate of Honour of His Holiness the Pope and Grand Cross Knight of St. John.

Mons. Fabbri passed away peacefully in the afternoon of 25th February 2022 in Siena, Italy, at the age of 79,
and his funeral service took place on the 28th February – presided by His Eminence the Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice, Archbishop of Siena.
Dom Fabio, born on 3rd May 1942 in Scarperia, Italy, was ordained a priest on the 22nd March 1970 and had a brilliant career in the service of the Roman Catholic Church, performing important and relevant duties. In KMFAP he was a member of the Magisterial Board of Religious Counsellors and Interfaith Pluralism of our Sovereign Order as well as President of the Federation Institute for Penitentiary Assistance (FIPA).
The Prince Grand Master, who presented personally his most sincere condolences to the brother and sisters of Dom Fabio,
declared a 3-day official mourning for the State of the Federation, during which our flags must fly at half-mast in all embassies and consulates of KMFAP around the world.
The decease of Monsignore Fabio Fabbri is an irreplaceable loss to KMFAP.
Requiescat in Pace!

Message of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta (KMFAP) in Times of War

“It’s the tragedy of our times that lunatics must lead the blind.”
(William Shakespeare, in King Lear Act 4 Scene 1)

In times of War we must defend Peace more vigorously. Our federation – the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta,
Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) – both as an Order and as a Sovereign State is by definition and by its Constitutional law: Neutral,
Supranational and Multi-Confessional, never fights against anybody or anything, but always fights for the principles we defend – in this case fighting for Peace -,
however neutrality does not mean disinterest or detachment from reality, therefore, in accordance with our principles,
this message will consist of a brief meditation about War and Peace, so each one of our Knights and Dames can draw their own conclusions.

ABOUT WAR

The truth is that states historically start wars against other states with two main objectives: the first aim is to steal
(to steal territorial possessions, valuable goods or precious commodities of the attacked states),
the second is to gain power or influence over the others or over a region, but of course,
the attackers always create or invent a good cause or an excuse for the wars they started,
causes such as Religion, Freedom of the populations they attack and defence of their own territory or culture and civilization.
For this effect, the attackers always create a nice story, which is most often a script based on lies, on false excuses or on distorted “historical” facts.
Mainly a state only starts a war against another state when it is sure of winning that war,
so we frequently see the strong attacking the weak and the result of these attacks are the tragedies that history clearly tells,
from the ancient to the recent times.

Most wars are provoked or started by dictators or tyrants,
and they all share a few traits in common: they all have huge egos, and they all create a cult of their own personalities around them.
Dictators and tyrants usually have a tragic end, as history shows us,
from Julius Caesar to Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, or Mussolini among so many others who convince themselves that they have a place in history
in the Gallery of Great Men, but history has place reserved for them in its Gallery of Great Villains…
These dictators are generally ridiculous men, theatrically pathetic, most of them with funny hairstyles, other with laughable moustaches or pathetic faces where the Botox replaces the wrinkles brought by age, but they all have other characteristics in common, such as their poor relationship with truth and no empathy for the suffering, pain and distress of people, so to serve their personal interests – or their big egos – they do not care about causing millions of deaths and incredible sufferance and misery, someone once said that “the wolf doesn’t concern himself with opinions of the sheep…”.
Those who make war spend millions each minute making armament or weaponry – usually to kill poor and vulnerable people – millions that should be spent in favour of the well-being and progress of their people, and we know that there are no wars without weapons, neither weapons without wars… Mia Couto, the Mozambican writer, once wrote that “… in War the poor are the first to be killed and in Peace the poor are the first to die”.

ABOUT PEACE

“Peace is not the absence of War, Peace is the absence of Violence” so, as misery, starvation, disrespect for human rights, corruption, poor education and health care, environmental destruction, abuse of power and intolerance of all kinds are forms of violence, we cannot say that we live in peace, but the armed conflicts only contribute to make everything worse.

It is quite strange that the environmental groups and respective activists, who cry out loud in peacetime that everything is harmful and disruptive to the environment, never show their face nor make their voice heard in wartime, being a fact that the military conflicts have tragic results of all kinds for the environment…

Only Peace can bring true Freedom;
Only Peace can bring Progress;
Only Peace can bring better Education and Health Care;
Only Peace can bring respect for the Human Dignity and Human Rights;
Only Peace can bring Happiness;
Only in Peace we can protect the Environment!

For all the above said it is the obligation of each and every one of the KMFAP Knights and Dames to fight for attaining and preserving Peace and in times of War to help and support the victims, whoever they are, wherever they are. As Miguel Cervantes said in his book through the words of Don Quixote: “it is not the responsibility of Knights (…) to discover whether the afflicted, the enchained and the oppressed whom they encounter on the road, are reduced to these circumstances and suffer this distress for their vices, or for their virtues: the Knight’s sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds”.

Magisterial House, 28th February 2022

His Most Eminent Highness Prince José
Grand Master and Head of the State

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”(Matthew 5:4)
Dear Dames and Knights, 
It is with deep regret that the Magisterial House of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) announces the decease of Sir Daniel Lee Starks, Knight of the Sovereign Order of Cyprus, who passed away on the 18th February 2022, at the age of 73, in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Sir Daniel, who was the founder and president of the Starks Training Institute, Inc. in Charlotte, was known for hosting a long running news series for News Channel 36 (WCNC-TV) “Don’t be a Victim” as well as “Partners Against Crime”. The “Don’t Be A Victim” series helped everyday people by offering them various crime prevention tips and covered a wide range of self-defence topics. His series won an Emmy Award and were nominated for an Emmy ten times. 
Sir Daniel Starks and his life partner, Lady Constance Lynn Smigiel – Dame of Cyprus, believed in personal safety and together they taught self-defence classes as well as firearm safety and carry conceal classes. 
Sir Daniel helped tens of thousands of citizens to empower themselves to have the correct response when things go wrong. He taught law-abiding citizens (incl. teens, families, students, new moms, singles, and senior citizens) to look for the best way to protect themselves. His clients also included agents from the United States Secret Service and FBI, as well as officers from state and local law enforcement. He designed custom self-defence programs for prominent business leaders, politicians, celebrities, and sports figures alike as well. Sir Daniel was ranked as the number one NRA instructor/recruiter in the country in 2009. Furthermore, he was a member of the American Women’s Self-Defence Organization, Infragard, National Range Officers Association and the National Speakers Association. 
On the 12th January 2013 in Charlotte, NC, Sir Daniel Starks was Knighted as Knight of Cyprus in an official Ceremony of Knighthood of KMFAP, led by His Grace Count Sir George Popper, Lieutenant General of the Federation and Executive Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Order of Cyprus – Knights of Sword and Silence in representation of His Eminent Highness the Prince Grand Master. 
In his personal name and on behalf of all Knights and Dames of our Sovereign Order and State, the Grand Master expresses condolences and support to his beloved wife, Lady Connie and to all the bereaved family at this time of grief.
Requiescat in Pace! 

“By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too.”
William Shakespeare

Dear Dames and Knights,

It is with deep regret that the Magisterial House of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem,
Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) announces the decease of our dear Knight,
Sir Dr. Attila Erdőfi-Szabó on the 11th February 2022 in Budapest, Hungary, at the age of 55.
Sir Attila was a brilliant Biophysicist, who developed the innovative EMOST,
an advanced medical treatment equipment distributed by his company Biolabor.
In his personal name and on behalf of all Knights and Dames of our Sovereign Order and State,
the Grand Master expresses condolences and support to the bereaved family at this time of grief.

Requiescat in Pace!

11th February 2022

Sir Narcy 11th February 2022

Sir Narcy was awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the first-ever edition of the Malta Film Awards,
held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta. The event aims to celebrate the success story of the creatives and projects in Malta’s cinematic history that ensured the country reaches a unique level of excellence. Sir Narcy was selected from among 5 nominees, 2 of whom were well known British professional actors, and he was recognised for a dramatic part he portrayed in the feature film “Knock Me Up Knock Me Down” (Ħabbilni Ħa Nirbaħ).
Sir Narcy was also among the Hollywood elite, including director Roland Joffe` (The Mission), composer John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon) and actor Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction) who received the Best Actor in a Leading Role award for his performance in Maltese film “Blood on the Crown”. Also of note are Sir Ridley Scott – receiving the Malta Film Ambassador Award, and Russell Crowe – receiving the Malta Film Industry Honorary Award.
Sir Narcy has a 50-year career in the theatre and film industry,
where he has worked as a script writer, director, actor and Malta Film Studios director.
In his acceptance speech, he acknowledged his fellow nominees and his lovely wife Lauren,
who has supported him throughout his career.
He opened the fabulous event with a bang, drawing much laughter and applause.
The program presenter, Britain’s Got Talent judge, David Walliams, remarked: “This speech will soon be available on audio books”.
With this extraordinary event transmitted live not only for Malta Television but also on social media worldwide, Sir Narcy brought proud honour to us all,
his brother Knights and Dames of KMFAP.
Dear Sir Narcy,
in the name of all the Knights and Dames of KMFAP, please accept our heartfelt congratulations for this prestigious award!

KMFAP Organisation

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Dear Dames and Knights,

I come to share with all of you some thoughts and considerations regarding the present crisis caused by the Coronavirus, a crisis that is being dramatic for many millions of persons all over the World.
As you know there are 3 types of plagues: The Lymphatic Plague – that attacks the Lymphatic System, of which the most well-known for its tragic consequences was the Bubonic Plague, responsible for the death of millions -, the Septicaemic Plague – that enters the bloodstream and multiplies there – and the Pneumonic Plague – the most lethal of all three and the only form of plague that is transmitted from person to person, mainly by coughs and sneezes, when other persons breathe that air.
Pandemics and epidemics are known since the ancient times, but from the 14th Century on the Mankind has known at least one large plague outbreak every Century:
In the 14th Century, originated in Asia and travelling through the Silk Road, arrived at Europe the first outbreak of the terrible Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, a pandemic that killed about 60% of all the European population. This outbreak, with its ups and downs, took more than 200 years to be eradicated and is considered as the Greatest Catastrophe ever in History.
The 15th Century continued to be affected by this outbreak and it is during this Century that the Government of the Italian Republic of Venice decided that 30 days of confinement were not enough to stop the disease and decided to impose 40 days as the appropriate time of confinement to the infected and that was the origin of the word “Quarantena” (quarantine). In the UK during this century another terrible and mysterious plague appeared, called Sweating Sickness (Sudor Anglicus) and later propagated to continental Europe during the next Century.
The 16th Century was marked not only by the mysterious Sweating Sickness that caused death in few hours and is believed today to have been caused by a virus, but also by the Smallpox (Variola) outbreak, which devastated most of the indigenous population of Central America.
In the 17th century other forms of Bubonic Plague stroke and devastated Europe, when the Italian Plague extended to Spain and went on in Europe causing what is known as the Great Plague of London and the Great Plague of Vienna. In this century, we must also mention the disastrous results for the population of American Indians caused by the arrival of the Mayflower “Pilgrims”.
The 18th was the century of the Marseille Plague, that devastated not only this French city killing most of its inhabitants, but also a part of France and stroke also other European countries.
The 19th Century is known as the century of the First Cholera Pandemic. Coming from Asia, believed from the Ganges River area, this terrible outbreak killed many people all over the World.
Early 20th Century, after the First World War, the World was again devastated by what is known as the Spanish Influenza, not because it started in Spain (it is believed to have started in the United States of America) but because, as in the present times with COVID-19, it affected specially the Spanish population.
The new Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 is without doubts the Great Plague of the 21st Century.
In fact, in-spite of all the high technology of the 21st Century in all fields, from Medicine to Biology, from Telecommunications to Transports, in-spite of the powerful microscopes, of the advanced laboratories and of the sophisticated World’s Economy, a simple virus, not even as lethal as its predeceasing plagues, has managed to stop the World and to spread fear among the populations, and its future consequences, mainly the economic ones are still unconceivable.
To minimize the crisis caused by the Coronavirus outbreak most Governments have allocated hundreds of billions of Dollars to support populations and companies, however one fact is for me difficult to understand: Up to this day (21st March 2020) the Coronavirus infected about 298,000 persons and caused about 13,000 deaths and the World had to stop in order to intercept the outbreak, however, for many, many years that Malaria keeps devastating the populations of many poor countries. In accordance with the report of January 2020 of the World Health Organization only in 2018 were registered 228.000.000 cases of Malaria in the World causing in that year 405.000 deaths, of which 272.000 were children under 5 years of age so, to control and eliminate this disease in all World only $2.7 Billion USD were spent. Sadly, we have to come to the conclusion that the life of the poor has much less value than the life of the rich…
Presently every country, every city, every person in the World has been, and will be in the future, very seriously affected – mainly in economic terms – by this outbreak of Coronavirus, which has become a global problem, but, like other global problems of our times such as the problem of the refugees in Europe and America, we only see different responses given individually by each Government and there are no global solutions at all to the global problems. Without global solutions, the global problems will not be solved.
Pandora was, in the Greek Mythology, the first non-goddess woman created by the order of Zeus. She received from the gods all good qualities, including Curiosity, but she also received a box containing all the evils of the World. One day Curiosity impelled Pandora to open the box to see what was inside, so, consequently, all evils escaped from the box and ever since are tormenting the World. Only Hope, that was an evil at that time, remained in the bottom of the box… and in the present times, when all evils seem to be tormenting the world, Hope still remains in the hearts of all humans giving the strength and the confidence to build a new future, but nothing will be the same as before.
Hopefully the future will be better and the recent study of the Stanford University (USA) is a beacon of Hope, when it states that the decrease in the global pollution caused by the lower industrial production, has saved only in China 20 times more lives than the ones that the Coronavirus has taken. So we have reasons to believe that the future will be better!

21st March 2020 HMEH José Cosmelli, P.
Grand Master and Head of the State

Both Femeraid International Air Rescue Service and the recently set up Isolation Unit of Femeraid International Ambulance Service are ready and able to join the fight against Wuhan coronavirus and other life threatening conditions by the means of 2 state of the art Isolation Chambers, one of them is stationed in Malta and the other is stationed in Angola.
These isolation chambers can be used both for transporting severely burned patients under positive pressure, and for transporting patients suffering from serious infectious diseases such as coronavirus, Ebola and the like under negative pressure.
By this FEMERAID International – the health service institution of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Federation of the Autonomous Priories (KMFAP) dedicated to providing Medical Care and Humanitarian Assistance to the needy and to critical patients – maintains its high standards of quality in Emergency Services.
All our Knights and Dames in good standing have priority in using our services!
31st January 2020

• 

• 

• 

•