Gerard | |
|---|---|
 18th-century copper engraving by Laurent Cars, captioned Brother Gerard Tum, Founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem 1099. | |
| Rector of the Hospital | |
| Born | c. 1040 <Scala, Duchy of Amalfi> |
| Died | 3 September 1120 Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Monastery of St. Ursula, Valletta, Malta |
| Feast | October 13 |
| Patronage | Day of Emergency Medicine (Poland) |
Blessed Gerard Sasso (c. 1040 – 3 September 1120), known also as Gérard de Martigues, was a lay brother in the Benedictine Order who was appointed as rector of the hospice in Jerusalem at Muristan in 1080.[1] In the wake of the success of the First Crusade in 1099, he became the founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, an organization that received papal recognition in 1113. As such, he was the first Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.[2]
- ^ Phillips, Walter Alison (1911). "St John of Jerusalem, Knights of the Order of the Hospital of". In Encyclopædia Britannica. 24. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 12–19.
- ^ Charles Moeller (1910). "Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.