1A0C Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Where Extraterritoriality Makes the Difference
For a week this past summer, hams around the world were treated to the first operation in four years from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an extraterritorial entity headquartered in the heart of Rome that has its own place on the ARRL DXCC list. An international team of 15 amateurs operated 1A0C for eight days in late July and early August, making nearly 80,000 contacts and helping to raise funds for the Order’s worldwide relief efforts.
While many amateurs are familiar with “SMOM” as a DX entity, far fewer know much about its nearly thousand-year history or its humanitarian mission. So let’s start there…
The Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (this is the complete name of the Order, also known as SMOM) is one of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilization. It was founded in 1048, when a group of merchants from the maritime republic of Amalfi, in southern Italy, obtained authorization from the Caliph of Egypt to build in Jerusalem a church, convent and hospital named after St. John the Baptist to assist pilgrims and, later, all those in need, regardless of their origin or religion.
It was under the leadership of Blessed Fra’ Gerard, founder and first Master (Photo A), that the religious community became a lay religious order of the Catholic Church. Thanks to the bull of February 15, 1113, Pope Paschal II recognised the Order of St. John, placing it under the protection of the church and granting it the right to freely elect its
