To all Dames and Knights Of the Federation of Autonomous Priories of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Saint John,

It is with the deepest and most sincere sorrow that I inform you all of the decease tonight, in New York, at the Hospital, of our beloved Grand Master, His Most Eminent Highness Dom Lorenzo O.S.B., in the sequence of a severe vascular brain hemorrhagic accident.

In the fulfillment of the terms of the Constitution, as Lieutenant General and Prime Minister, I’ll conduct the Federation and it’s Government in full legal capacity and I have convoked the Grand Council, presided by His Royal Highness Prince Michael Stuart of Albany, to perform it’s constitutional duties.

May our Lord protect and guide us, and keep our beloved Grand Master in His Divine company.

Made on the 14th day of the month of November of the year of our Lord 2005

Prof. Doctor J. M. Cosmelli, Knight of Grand Collar

Lieutenant General and Prime Minister