Venerable Order Of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (French: L'Ordre très vénérable de l'hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem), is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland, and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and injury, and to act to enhance the health and well-being of people anywhere in the world." It is commonly referred to simply as the Order of St. John, or as the Venerable Order of Saint John (VOSJ) when distinction from other similarly named orders is desired.
The order's approximately 25,000 confrères, supported by 4,000 employees and 300,000 volunteers, are mostly of the Protestant faith, though those of other Christian denominations or other religions are accepted into the order, but usually honorary membership is awarded to deserving and distinguished adherents of other religions. Except via appointment to certain government or ecclesiastical offices in some realms, membership of the order is by invitation only, and individuals may not petition for admission. It is perhaps best known through its service organizations, St John Ambulance and St John Eye Hospital Group, the memberships and work of which are not constricted by denomination or religion. It is also a member of The Alliance of the Orders of St. John of Jerusalem.
Read more about Venerable Order Of Saint John: History, Vestments and Insignia, Eligibility and Appointment, Precedence in Each Realm
Famous quotes containing the words venerable, order, saint and/or john:
“Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I don’t know but a book in a man’s brain is better off than a book bound in calf—at any rate it is safer from criticism. And taking a book off the brain, is akin to the ticklish & dangerous business of taking an old painting off a panel—you have to scrape off the whole brain in order to get at it with due safety—& even then, the painting may not be worth the trouble.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“A designer who is not also a couturier, who hasn’t learned the most refined mysteries of physically creating his models, is like a sculptor who gives his drawings to another man, an artisan, to accomplish. For him the truncated process of creating will always be an interrupted act of love, and his style will bear the shame of it, the impoverishment.”
—Yves Saint Laurent (b. 1936)
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
—Bible: New Testament St. John the Divine, in Revelation, 20:12.