Matthew Festing

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79. Grand Master
HMEH Fra 'Matthew Festing, 79th Prince and Grand Master, SMOM.jpg
Matthew Festing
SMOM 79. GM coat of arms.jpg
Grandmaster Crest by Matthew Festing

Matthew Festing OBE GCStJ (born November 30, 1949 in Northumberland , England, as Robert Matthew Festing ) was the 79th Grand Master of the Order of Malta from March 11, 2008 until his resignation in January 2017 . His full title was "His Highness and Eminence, Fra 'Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Knights and Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta".

family

Matthew Festing grew up in Egypt , Malta and Singapore , where his father, Sir Francis Festing , was a senior British officer from 1958 to 1961 as Field Marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff . His mother is Mary Cecilia, eldest daughter of Cuthbert David Giffard Riddell, Swinburne Castle, Northumberland.

He is descended from the blessed Adrian Fortescue , a Knight of Malta and cousin of Thomas Boleyn . Fortescue was executed in 1539 on the orders of King Henry VIII in the Tower of London and is considered a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Festing completed school and studies at Ampleforth College of the Benedictines in York and at St. John's College in Cambridge , where he received his doctorate in history . He did his military service with the Grenadier Guards and held the rank of Colonel of the Reserve . He then worked as an art expert in an international auction house.

At times Festing was Deputy Lieutenant to Queen Elizabeth II in Northumberland .

Religious life

Festing was accepted into the Sovereign Order of Malta in 1977 and made perpetual vows in 1991 . He became a professed knight and monk in the sense of canon law. Before his election as Grand Master, he was the first Grand Prior of the Grand Priory of England, which was re-established in 1993 . In this role he led humanitarian aid missions in Bosnia , Serbia , Croatia and Kosovo as well as the annual sick pilgrimages of the delegation from Great Britain to Lourdes .

Fra 'Matthew was elected on March 11th, 2008 by the Grand Council of State , which met in the Order's magistral villa on the Aventine in Rome . After the election and the acceptance of the election, the new Grand Master took the oath before the Grand Council of State and the Cardinal Patron of the Order of Malta , Pio Cardinal Laghi , and took office.

On January 24, 2017, following an intervention by Pope Francis , he offered his resignation, which was accepted by the Pope on January 25 and confirmed three days later by the Sovereign Council of the Order . The resignation took place due to a dispute between the Order's leadership and the Vatican over external investigations in connection with the impeachment of the German Albrecht von Boeselager as Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta on December 6, 2016, which had to be reversed at the request of the Pope.

honors and awards

literature

  • Jörg Bremer, Grand Master Matthew Festing. In: FAZ, July 16, 2011, p. 10.

Web links

Commons : Matthew Festing (GM 79)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Orderofmalta.int , accessed on March 13, 2008
  2. ^ Letter from Fra 'Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein. In: orderofmalta.int. January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Constitution of the Order (PDF; 400 kB)
  4. ^ Andrea Tornielli : Malta, Boeselager torna Cancelliere. Accolta la rinuncia di Festing. In: La Stampa , January 28, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  5. ↑ Grand Master of the Order of Malta resigns | domradio.de. Retrieved January 25, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Official visit of the Romanian President ( Memento from June 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Honorary Citizen ( Memento from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Official visit of the Prince of Monaco, Albert II. ( Memento of February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ State visit of the Grand Master in Portugal ( Memento of November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Fra 'Matthew Festing awarded the Matteo Ricci Prize
  11. ↑ a b c d e Archived copy ( Memento from April 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Path to Peace Prize 2011 for Fra´ Matthew Festing ( Memento from June 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  14. ↑ The Grand Master visiting Pompei ( Memento of April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Fra´ Matthew Festing ( Memento from June 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
predecessor Office successor
Andrew Bertie Grand Master of the Order of Malta
2008-2017 		Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto
personal data
SURNAME Festing, Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Festing, Robert Matthew (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Grand Master of the Order of Malta
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Northumberland , England