The Hospital, 1590-1798

In 47 volumes. Records pertaining to the activities and administration of the Hospital or Holy Infirmary (Sacra Infermeria) of the Order of St. John, of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta. Records include rules, statutes, accounts, wills, indexes, and lists of personnel. Volumes include printed and manuscript material.

Documents produced for the administration of the Holy Infirmary of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. The Venerable Congregation ran the Holy Infirmary and was composed of a knight grand cross as president and ten commissioners (five knights and five illustrious citizens). The hospitaller of the Langue of France administered the Holy Infirmary. His staff included an infirmarian or commander of the infirmary, scribes, notaries, physicians, surgeons, and two comptrollers (prud’hommes). The hospitaller also served as the head (piliere) of the Langue of France. The infirmarian came from the Langue of France and was in charge of managing the Holy Infirmary and of taking care of the patients. The two comptrollers were appointed each year by the Council. They were responsible for food, equipment, financial matters, and took inventories and wills of patients with the help of the notaries and the scribes. The Holy Infirmary also included the prior, the vice-prior and some chaplains appointed by the prior of the Conventual Church. The prior was in charge of religious duties and of controlling the inventories and wills of the laymen. He also controlled the annual inventory of the goods of the Holy Infirmary. The secretary of the proud’hommes, the linciere (in charge of the household goods), the bottigliere (in charge of supplies), and other employers were part of the Holy Infirmary's staff. The Grand Master and the Council visited patients regularly and novices served the Holy Infirmary once a week. The Holy Infirmary cared for members of the Order of Saint John and laymen. Women were treated in their own houses or in the casetta delle incurabili managed by the Commissioners of the Poor. Christian slaves could be treated and could work at the Holy Infirmary, while Muslim slaves and some Christian slaves were treated at the prison infirmary. Muslim slaves rarely worked at the Holy Infirmary. Privately owned slaves were often treated at the Holy Infirmary.

Archive of the Hospital, Holy Infirmary, Valletta (1575?-1798); Depôt Générale des Chancelleries et Tribunaux Supprimés and Public Library, 1798-1851; Record Room, Public Library and Justice Court, 1851-1890; Public Registry Offices, 1890-1937; National Library of Malta, 1937-

Printed work

Joseph Mizzi, Catalogue of the Records of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Vol. 11, Archives 1713-1758 (1968); Paul Cassar, "A Medical Service for Slaves in Malta during the Rule of the Order of St John of Jerusalem," Medical History 12/3 (1968): 270-277; Paul Cassar, The Holy Infirmary of the Knights of St John, "La Sacra Infermeria" (1994); Paul Cassar, Medical History of Malta (1965); Charles Savona-Ventura, "Hospital Management Structure in Maltese Hospitals through the Ages," Historia Hospitalium 22 (2000-2001): 137-155; Godfrey Wettinger, Slavery in the Islands of Malta and Gozo, ca. 1000-1812 (2002), 326-332, 416, 508-511 and 514; Michael Ellul, "The Holy Infirmary: The Hospitaller Vocation of the Knights of St John," in Melitensium Amor: Festschrift in honour of Dun Ġwann Azzopardi (2002), 149-162; Theresa Vann, "The Archives and the Library of the Sacra Infermeria, Malta," in The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice (2007), 19-40; The Sacra Infermeria Hospital of the Order of Malta at La Valletta: Two Legal Sources, edited by Wolf-Dieter Barz and Ingrid Kidder (2014); Charles Savona-Ventura, Knight Hospitaller Medicine in Malta 1530-1798 (2015).