K. of M

K. of M.

In the fabulous days of the first crusade (1096-99) there came into being the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The purpose of this order was to succor crusaders and pilgrims into the Holy Land. Through the centuries the organization has been preserved, changing its name in 1310 to the Knights of Rhodes, in 1530 to the Knights of Malta; never changing its purpose-- the performance of acts of mercy. It is the most ancient of such organ- izations in the Catholic Church.

Last week in the august precincts of the Metropolitan Club, Manhattan, distinguished laymen gathered with Patrick Joseph Cardinal Hayes. The laymen included James J. Phelan, Boston banker; Morgan Joseph O'Brien, Manhattan jurist; Patrick Edward Crowley, President of N. Y. Central R. R., James Augustine Farrell, President of U. S. Steel, and many another almost as potent. With solemnity Cardinal Hayes was inducted as the head of a new chapter in the order, to be known as the Knights of Malta in the United States, the first chapter in the Western Hemisphere. His Eminence was also notified that he had received the Grand Cross of Honor, highest rank of the order.*

*George William Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago, was the first American to be so honored. He received the Grand Cross in Rome in 1924 (TIME, May 5, 1924).