(Redirected from Blessed Gerard)'Gerard' (''c.''
1040–
September 3,
1120), variously surnamed 'Tum', 'Tune', 'Tenque' or 'Thom', was the founder of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or the
Knights Hospitaller.
He was born possibly at
Amalfi, or according to other accounts
Martigues in
Provence, while one authority even names the
Chateau d'Avesnes in
Hainaut. Either as a
soldier or a
merchant, he found his way to
Jerusalem, where a
hospice had for some time existed for the convenience of those who wished to visit the Christian holy places. Of this institution Gerard became guardian or provost at a date not later than 1100, and here he organized that religious order of St John which received papal recognition from
Paschal II in 1113, by the
bull ''Geraudo institutori ac praeposito Hirosolimitani Xenodochii''. It was renewed and confirmed by
Calixtus II shortly before the death of Gerard in 1120.
References
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