Fra' Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce (22 February 1827,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

''Elenco dei Cavalieri del S. M. Ordine di S. Giovanni di Gerusalemme Ricevuti nella Veneranda Lingua d'Italia dalla Fondazione dell'Ordine ai Nostri Giorni''
compilato da Francesco Bonazzi di Sannicnandro (Napoli: Libreria Detken & Rocholi, 1907), II, 47. Some sources say that he was born at Trento which was his family home. – 24 January 1905,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was Lieutenant of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

from 1872 to 1879 and then Prince and Grand Master from 1879 until his death in 1905. Ceschi was the second son of Antonio Giuseppe Ceschi a Santa Croce (1777–1854) and Francesca Margarita a de Rosmini (1804–1875). His family worked in the government service of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

. In 1895 his older brother Alois, an imperial privy councillor and chamberlain and a life member of the Austrian House of Lords was made a count. Ceschi joined the Order of Malta as a Knight of Justice 21 February 1856. In February 1868 he resigned from the Austrian government service. On 19 January 1871 he received the

Commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

of Fiorucci di Pietralunga in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. This commandery had formerly been held by Fra' Giovanni Battista Tommasi before he became Grand Master. On 14 February 1872, Ceschi was elected Lieutenant of the Order in succession to Fra' Alessandro Borgia."Der Fürstgroßmeister des Malteserordens Fra Johann Baptist Ceschi a Santa Croce"
''Wiener Salonblatt'', Vol. 36, No. 5 (28 January 1905): 12. On 28 March 1879,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

appointed him Grand Master of the Order.The Latin letter of appointment is reprinted i
''Leonis XIII Pontificis Maximis Acta''
(Romae: Ex typographia Vaticana, 1881), I, 211-218. An Italian translation is reprinted in Raffaele Cuomo
''Ordini Cavallereschi antichi e moderni''
(Napoli: Tipografico de Angelis & Bellisario, 1894), 769-772. He was the Order's first Grand Master in over seventy years. Ceschi was responsible for restoring the good name of the Order by re-establishing its many works. He completed the organization of the Order's Hospice at Tantur near

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. He cooperated in the maintenance of the Order's hospital in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, the children's hospital in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, and the free dispensary for the poor in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He organized the Association of the Italian Knights which provided medical service including hospital trains and barracks, thus receiving the support of the Italian government and royal family. He restored the Villa del Priorato di Malta. He initiated the creation of national associations of the Order in Spain, Great Britain, France, and Portugal made up of knights who would remain lay people and not take religious vows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceschi a Santa Croc, Giovanni Battista 1827 births 1905 deaths Italian knights 19th-century Italian people Lieutenants of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Princes and Grand Masters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta People from Trento