Today, 1 October 2026, marks 440 years since the promulgation of the Brief Etsi pro debito by Sixtus V, issued in 1586. This is not a particularly significant anniversary or an occasion for solemn celebration, but the date offers us an opportunity to look back at the history of the Order and rediscover some of the fundamental milestones along its journey. 

With this Brief, Sixtus V raised the Congregation of the Brothers Hospitallers to the status of a religious Order and granted it the right to celebrate a General Chapter. The Chapter was held the following year, in June 1587, in Rome, at the hospital on Tiber Island. It was empowered to establish the Provinces of Spain and Italy, elect the Superior General, Brother Pedro Soriano, appoint local Superiors, and draw up the first Constitutions of the newly established Order. 

Remembering these events does not simply mean looking back at the past. To know our history is to understand our identity more deeply. The decisions, difficulties, insights and witness of the Brothers who came before us form a living memory that helps us to understand the present and face the future with greater awareness. 

Four hundred and forty years after that Brief, remembering a significant milestone in the history of the Order thus becomes an invitation to preserve and pass on this memory, not out of nostalgia, but so that the charism of hospitality, lived throughout the centuries in ever-changing contexts, may continue to speak to our own time.