1783 Calabrian earthquakes

The 1783 Calabrian earthquakes are recalled not through a description of the disaster itself, but through the response of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. In the book’s account, news from Sicily prompts an order nearing its end to act according to its old vows: its members bring supplies and consolation to the wounded and dying, making this their final remembered service before the Order passes away.

The Order’s Last Service

The author calls the Hospitallers’ response the last expiring token of the old chivalric spirit in its old forms. When news of the earthquake reaches Malta, the knights, previously characterized as feeble-minded and devoted to comfort, briefly remember their manhood, knighthood, and vows as Hospitallers. They man their galleys and set out to assist those affected.

Aid amid the Ruins

The knights carry food, clothing, and medicines, as well as the consolations of their faith. The account places them at the bedsides of the wounded and dying among the still-tottering ruins of devastated houses. Their half-military, half-priestly clothing—armour covered by a black robe bearing a white cross—embodies the combination of armed service and religious vocation through which the author understands their response.

A Final Act and Its Meaning

Within a few years, in the same generation, the Order has passed away for ever. The retrospective passage therefore gives the earthquake relief a double significance: it is practical aid to people in immediate need and, in the author’s judgment, a fitting final deed by which to remember the Hospitallers. The image of the knights attending the wounded and dying stands against the subsequent disappearance of the institution and preserves, for the author, a last instance of chivalry’s older spirit.