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"Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us!"
September 11-14, 2025. The Hungarian Association of the Knights of Malta made a pilgrimage to Rhodes, one of the most important sites in the 900-year history of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, in connection with the feast day of Our Lady of Philermo on September 8.
As part of the preparations for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of its foundation, the Hungarian Association of the Knights of Malta commemorated its predecessors with a visit to Rhodes, immersing itself in the living legacy of the two centuries spent there by the Order.
Morning prayers and daily Masses set the spiritual tone for the pilgrimage, providing the context for a proper understanding of the sites connected with the history of the Knights in Rhodes.
The pilgrims visited the medieval town of Rhodes, with its impressive system of fortifications, its important port, and within the city, the Grand Master's Palace, the Street of the Knights, the convent buildings of the individual "tongues," and the unique, vast and well-preserved 15th-century hospital, where patients were treated according to the highest medical and human standards of the time. From the point of view of the Order's spirituality, the highlight of the pilgrimage was undoubtedly the visit to Mount Filermos, and a prayer service in the monastery, at the site where the icon of Our Lady of Filermos, patron of the Order of Malta, was found. Visits to two significant military sites, the imposing citadels of Lindos and Kritinia, helped participants understand the scale of the defensive fortifications built to preserve the sovereignty of the Order on the island of Rhodes.
The spiritual leader of the pilgrimage was Dr. Tamás Tóth, conventual chaplain ad honorem. Himself a historian, he helped interpret the significance of the sites visited and their message for the present and the future.
The military fortifications surrounding the island, and the ports, bear witness to the fact that the Order of St. John, as it was originally called, was a bastion of European Christianity, and, by choosing to remain close to the Holy Land, it was the last order of knights to keep alive the hope of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The hospital, which is still impressive in size today, showed that, in addition to armed combat, they also helped the sick and needy with outstanding dedication. The remains of the vast buildings communicate powerfully the mission of the Order of Malta, which is still valid today: "tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum"; the protection of the faith and the service of those in need.
The pilgrimage, numbering around forty people, was attended by Kristóf Szabadhegÿ, President of the Hungarian Association of the Knights of Malta, HE Dr. Heinz Anton Hafner, Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta to Hungary, and Péter Szabadhegÿ, President of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.
Photo and text: Hungarian Association of the Knights of Malta
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