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By means of Decree 0145 the 28^th January 1953 the Government of Colombia recognized the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as an international independent entity and as an expression of its authority His Most Eminent Highness the Great Master.  Simultaneously diplomatic relations were established with the Order.

To implement said Decree steps were taken at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  As first Plenipotentiary Minister to the Order Mr. José Antonio Montalvo, then Ambassador to the Holy See, was appointed.  And Mr. Manuel Mejía presented his Credential Letters as Minister of the Order in Colombia, since its Government made it a requirement that such a task should be filled by a Colombian as an honorary position.

On February 12^th, 1957, a group of 17 gentlemen set up the initial roll of the Colombian Association of Knights of Malta under the auspices of H.E.R. Cardinal Crisanto Luque, Archbishop of Bogotá, and of his Secretary, Mgr. Arturo Franco.  The By-laws were approved and the Directive Council was elected.  In November H.E. the Marquis Alessandro Palavicino, Bali Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, paid and official visit to Colombia.  Late in 1958 H.E. Manuel Mejía passed away.  Also, steps were taken to create a medical dispensary to provide service to the sick and the poor, under the name of St. John the Baptist.

The Sovereign Council of the Order approved the By-laws and the Rules of the Association as well as the group of Knights that founded it.

Since then the number of Knights and Dames of the Association increased gradually, although some of them unfortunately passed  away.

The diplomatic missions of Colombia and of the Order have been maintained without interruption through the appointment of the Colombian Ambassadors to the Holy See and of prominent Italian citizen residing in Colombia.

In 1968 all the Knights and Dames attended the ceremonies of the Eucharistic Congress presided by H.H. Pope Paul VI in Bogotá.  In 1969 H.E. Quintin Jeremy Gwin, Chancellor of the Order, paid an official visit to Colombia and decorated the President with the Collar of the Order “Pro Merito Melitensi”.  He also visited the premises for the leper treatment in Agua de Dios and the building undertaken by the Association for the dispensary of St. John the Baptist.

In 1969 the diplomatic missions in Rome and in Bogotá were upgraded to Embassies.  The Duchess Maria Immacolata Salviati, Dame of Honour and Devotion and Member of the Assistance Committee for the Missions and for the struggle against famine, misery and sickness in the world, visited the Association.  An interesting TV program and a film on the activities of the Association in which the dignitaries took part was broadcasted.

Besides the different donations received for the program against the leper, a new home to care for the elderly was founded in the north of the city; another to assist the poor in the Las Delicias quarter and a Fund for domestic calamities.

The Association has been developing a project called "Hogar de Paso" intended to provide lodgings to the sick and poor coming from the provinces to under go chirurgical or specialized treatments in the hospitals of Bogotá.  Furthermore the medicines and medical equipment obtained from Americares have been the object of a wide distribution to the hospitals and medical centers throughout the country, for whose import a cooperation treaty was signed with the Government of Colombia.

At the end of 1992 His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Great Master of the Order paid a state visit to Bogotá, accompanied by the high dignitaries of the Order.  They were officially received by the President of the Republic and by his Foreign Minister and attended all the social and protocol acts corresponding to his dignity.  He then moved to Cartagena in order to preside the II Latinoamerican Encounter of the Order, in which all the Associations and Embassies in the Continent took part.

These Encounters have proved to be of particular importance to integrate the Associations in L.A.  The Colombian Association attended the I Encounter in  Sao Paulo and the subsequent ones in Buenos Aires and in the Dominican Republic.  She was also present in Rome for the celebration of the 900 years of the Order, and makes  part of the Coordination Committee based  in Miami in charge of obtaining and distributing all the donations and medical elements that enable the Associations in South America, Central America and the Caribbean to meet the needs of the hospitalarian centers for serving the sick and the poor in those areas.

The Directive Council of the Association meets regularly to program the activities intended to improve the spiritual advancement of the Knights as well as to study the new initiatives that might be implemented in accordance with the objectives of the Order, namely “the defense of the faith and the service to the sick and the poor”.

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