History

The Cuban Association was established in Habana, Cuba in 1952 under the leadership of naval captain Alberto de Carricarte y Velázquez, who served as its first president from 1952 until 1958, and Monsignor Alfredo Mueller y San Martin, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, subsequently Cienfuegos, as Conventual Chaplain ad honorem. Don Alberto Carricarte was succeeded in 1958 by D. Lorenzo Esteves y Penas+, who was President of the Association until 1967 when he passed away in Habana, Cuba. The insipient charitable works of the Order on the island were short-lived because of the turmoil created by the communist revolution in 1959. At the time, most of the members fled into exile, settling in Spain, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

History

The Cuban Association was established in Habana, Cuba in 1952 under the leadership of naval captain Alberto de Carricarte y Velázquez, who served as its first president from 1952 until 1958, and Monsignor Alfredo Mueller y San Martin, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, subsequently Cienfuegos, as Conventual Chaplain ad honorem. Don Alberto Carricarte was succeeded in 1958 by D. Lorenzo Esteves y Penas+, who was President of the Association until 1967 when he passed away in Habana, Cuba. The insipient charitable works of the Order on the island were short-lived because of the turmoil created by the communist revolution in 1959. At the time, most of the members fled into exile, settling in Spain, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

The Knights and Dames in the diaspora attempted to live the charism of the Order within the context of their exile. In the mid-1960s, under the leadership of Don Miguel Alejandro Fernández Rivera y Gómez, Count of Monterrón as President, and Dr. Carlos Dobal y Marqués as Chancellor, the Association re-established its headquarters in Madrid, Spain. For the next thirty-five years, D. Miguel and his wife, Doña María del Rosario Aranguren y Palacio, Countess of Monterrón and Marchioness of Garcillán, represented the Cuban Association at all hemispheric and international meetings and congresses of the Order.

In the early 1980s, despite the fact that the Association was based out of Madrid, Spain, charitable works were begun in Miami with the assistance of Don Juan T. O’Naghten y de Arango+, Count of Casa Bayona and of Gibacoa, and Don Fernando García-Chacón

Marquis of Salinas, as Vice President, under the spiritual guidance of Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem, the Irish missionary priest to whom more than 14,000 Cuban-born youngsters owe their American lives through his support of Operation Pedro Pan.

By the late 1990s, the Association had 25 members dispersed throughout the world and had established a base in Miami, Florida. The Marquis of Salinas served as Vice President until the passing of the Count of Monterrón in 2000, at which time he was elected president of the Cuban Association and the headquarters of the Association was transferred officially to Miami, Florida, where it remains to this date.

PAST PRESIDENTS

1952 – 1958 D. Alberto de Carricarte y Velazquez+, Grand Cross of Grace and Devotion

1958 – 1967 D. Lorenzo Estevez y Penas+, Grand Cross of Magistral Grace

1971 – 2000 D. Miguel Alejandro Fernández-Rivera y Gómez+, Conde de Monterrón, Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion

2000 – 2015 D. Fernando García- Chacón y Chacón, Marqués de Salinas, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion in Obedience

2015 – 2019 D. Juan Jose Calvo y de Dios, Grand Cross of Magistral Grace in Obedience

2019 – 2023 Dr. D. Juan Tomás O’Naghten y Chacón, Marqués de la Gratitud, Bailio Gran Cruz de Honor y Devoción en Obediencia

After the visit of H.H. Saint John Paul II to Cuba, the Association renewed its focus on Cuba, funding its first Elderly Assistance Facility at the parish of Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Los Pinos, La Habana in 2000 and incorporating into its structure similar projects that had been previously individually developed by some of its members, including the Elderly Assistance Facilities at Santa María del Rosario and San Juan y Martínez. Currently, the Association has 60~ Elderly Assistance Facilities in Cuba that extend through the entirety of the island. The Association also supports the Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio (founded in 1689), and a home for retired elderly priests, the only one in Cuba.

Also, in the early part of the 21st Century, the Association commenced conducting medical missions in the Caribbean and Central American regions, particularly in the Dominican Republic. The Association’s doctors and volunteers currently conduct two missions each year to the ILAC Center at Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. The typical mission will include approximately 70 to 80 volunteers including doctors, nurses, scribes, other healthcare professionals, and non-medical personnel. Each mission, treats over 1,200 patients over a three-day weekend, resulting in over 2,000 patient visits and the delivery of approximately $125,000 worth of medications.

The expertise developed by the Association in the medical missions in the Dominican Republic permitted it to coordinate the initial relief efforts for the Order in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, establishing a coordination center in Miami. Volunteers arrived on the island within 24 hours of the earthquake.

Currently, the Association includes 70~ Knights, Dames, Donates, and Chaplains, the majority of whom reside in Miami, Florida. With the return of the Association’s activities to Cuba, the Association invested its first members and Chaplain living in Cuba since 1959. A Delegation in Puerto Rico, also existed from 2006 to 2024, but is now a separate Association of the Order.

The expertise developed by the Association in the medical missions in the Dominican Republic permitted it to coordinate the initial relief efforts for the Order in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, establishing a coordination center in Miami. Volunteers arrived on the island within 24 hours of the earthquake.

Currently, the Association includes 70~ Knights, Dames, Donates, and Chaplains, the majority of whom reside in Miami, Florida. With the return of the Association’s activities to Cuba, the Association invested its first members and Chaplain living in Cuba since 1959. A Delegation in Puerto Rico, also existed from 2006 to 2024, but is now a separate Association of the Order.

We follow the charism of the Order of Malta by supporting the poor and the sick with our dining facilities for the elderly in Cuba, in cooperation with the local Catholic Church, parish priests, and Bishops; our works at La Casa de Malta in San Juan Bosco parish and the St. John Bosco clinic at Corpus Christi parish, both in Miami, Florida and with Medical Missions to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

CONTACT US

Interested in learning more about getting involved with the Cuban Association of the Order of Malta? Complete the form below and someone from our governing body will be in contact with you.

Order of Malta
Cuban Association
d/b/a Foundation Order of Malta, Inc.
2655 S. Lejeune Road
Suite 918
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Phone: (786) 888-6494
info@foundationorderofmalta.org

Order of Malta

Cuban Association

d/b/a Foundation Order of Malta, Inc.

2655 S. Lejeune Road

Suite 918

Coral Gables, FL 33134

Phone: (786) 888-6494

info@foundationorderofmalta.org