The Knights of St John have a strong connection with the Maltese Islands after having ruled over Malta from 1530 to 1798 but did you know that the skull of their founder and first Grandmaster is on display right here in Valletta?

The skull of the Blessed Gerard Tum or Tunc otherwise known as Gérard de Martigues can be visited by all at the church of St. Ursola.

Tum was born in the year 1040, almost 2000 years ago! He was a lay brother in the Benedictine Order before being appointed as rector of the Jerusalem hospice in 1080.

After the success of the First Crusade, 19 years later in 1099 he founded the Order of St John of Jerusalem which later became known as Knights Hospitaller after it received papal recognition in 1113.  He formed the religious order to support the hospital in Jerusalem.

In fact, by 1113 he started opening many other hospitals alongside the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem such as Bari, Otranto, Taranto, Messina, Pisa, Asti and Saint-Gilles.

As a result, this made him the first Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.

Not much is known about his nationality or place of birth yet it is suspected that he is from Scala, Campania in Italy.

After dying sometime between 1118 and 1121, he was succeeded by the Knights second Grand Master, Raymond du Puy.

After his death, the Knights tried to preserve his body. His skull still survives to this day but a large amount of the remainder of his relics were lost amid the French Revolution.

Have you ever visited?

Facebook/Saviour Garcia & Facebook/Order of Malta-Queensland