Activity Report 2010 - Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the United ...

The passing of Grand
Master Fra’ Andrew Bertie
Fra’ Andrew Bertie,
born 15 May 1929,
died 7 February 2008,
having served as the Order’s
78th Grand Master for
twenty years.
The coat of arms of Grand Master Bertie
O
n 7 February 2008,
the 78th Grand Master of
the Order of Malta,
Fra’ Andrew Bertie, died
peacefully in Rome. He left
a legacy of achievements
that stretched back over his leadership
of the Order during 20 exceptional years
– a legacy noted with devotion by the
Order’s 12,500 members around the
world, and remarked upon with great
esteem by Cardinal Pio Laghi, the
Order’s Cardinal Patronus, who celebrated
his Requiem Mass.
His Eminence spoke of ‘the gratitude,
devotion and affection that many of us
felt towards him. His sober and consistent
approach, his modest and reserved
behaviour, his compassion towards the
suffering,’ and he paid tribute to the
Grand Master’s wise leadership in
modernising and developing the Order’s
activities around the world, in doubling
its ranks of Ambassadors, in increasing
the number of National Associations,
in overseeing the many international
conferences and meetings, all of which
promoted the Order’s mission of tuitio
fidei and obsequium pauperum.
The State Memorial was celebrated by
Cardinal Angelo Sodano one month later
and attended by mourners including
Heads of State, senior members of the
Vatican and the Italian Republic, civil
and military authorities, as well as
family, friends, members and
volunteers, from around the world.
The Cardinal recalled Fra’ Andrew’s
kindness as well as his statesman like
qualities, demonstrating his sincerity
and religious devotion as well as his
commitment to his role as the Order’s
leader, who ‘promoted grand initiatives
for the Order in many countries,
convinced that now was the time for
international solidarity against poverty,
hunger and social illnesses.’
Fra’ Andrew Bertie, born 15 May 1929,
died 7 February 2008. Educated at
Ampleforth College, Christ Church
Oxford and the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London.
Saw service in the Scots Guards,
became a financial journalist in the City
of London, then Head of Languages at
Worth School, Sussex. Admitted to the
Order 1956, solemn vows 1981, served
on the Sovereign Council for seven
years, elected Grand Master 1988.
HMEH Fra’ Andrew Bertie
8
SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA