Liturgical books and manuscripts of the Order of St. John located in the archives at the National Library Valletta Malta

Abstract

Liturgy is the public act of people worshipping and loving God as the Church. All liturgical rites and liturgical books guide us to participate actively in liturgy. The Order of St John being a religious Order also had its particular liturgical rite. In my dissertation I have focused on the liturgical books and manuscripts that are located in the archives of the National Library at Valletta Malta that throw a light on the liturgy of the Order. I have listed their churches, saints, relics, hymns antiphons, indulgences and days of obligation. Then I touched upon the books and manuscripts predating the arrival of the Knights in Malta in 1530, these include a Vetus Kalendarium that the Order used when they were in Rhodes, various Book. of Iloms and other liturgical books of the Order. Following this I researched the antiphonaries and choral books that the Order used in the period 1530 to 1798 and I ended my dissertation by describing the following manuscripts: • AOM 1952 entitled: Caeremoniale Book I and Kalendarium ac Caeremoniale Festorum Book II. • AOM 1953 entitled: Solemnibus Functionibus Extraordinariis Book III and Descrizione della Maggior Chiesa Conventuale e dell'altre Chiese, Cappelle ed Oratorijs della S.R.G. • AOM 1954 entitled: Caeremoniale. • AOM 1955 entitled: Caeremoniarum Book I, Kalendarium Book II, Praxis m conferendis Ordinibus Book III. • AOM 1957 entitled: Officia de precepto ad Libitum ex decreto Sac. Rit Cong ris in Breviario Apponenda. • AOM 1958 entitled: Rituale della Maggior Chiesa Fonte di S. Giovanni di Malta. • AOM 1959 entitled: Indulgentiarum Sacro Ordini Hierosolymitani eiusque Ecclesiis et Oratorijs concessarum.