The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Poste Magistrali, established on 20 May 1966 by decree of the Grand Master Fra’ Angelo de Mojana di Cologna, as the body responsible for administering the Order’s postal service and managing the related issues of postal stamps, which are expressions of its sovereignty.

To date, Poste Magistrali has issued over 650 postal items, with the primary aim of disseminating the history and traditions of the Order of Malta and promoting its spiritual, social and humanitarian values.

The sheet depicts Poste Magistrali’s postbox, originally installed at the Magistral Villa in Rome on the Aventine Hill; the image features four stamps.

The stamp in the top left-hand corner is dedicated to Blessed Gerard, founder of the Order and the inspiration behind its primary mission of ‘tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum’.

The stamp in the top right-hand corner depicts St John the Baptist, Patron Saint of the Order, embodying its religious dimension. Every year since 1967, Poste Magistrali has issued a stamp dedicated to him.

The stamp at the bottom left is dedicated to the Order’s charitable activities, representing its founding mission of assisting the needy, the vulnerable and the sick through the countless humanitarian, social and healthcare initiatives currently carried out in over 130 countries worldwide.

Finally, the fourth stamps, in the bottom right-hand corner, depicts the Magistral Palace in Rome, the seat of the Government of the Sovereign Order of Malta since 1834. The image evokes the Order’s institutional character and its role in guiding all the Order’s activities. Poste Magistrali is also based within this historic building.

Each stamp, in the graphic style of the Order’s earliest postal issues, features the inscriptions “SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA”, “POSTE MAGISTRALI” and “60”, the octagonal cross, symbol of the Order, a caption describing the image reproduced on the stamp, and the face value “€ 1.35”.

The sheet features, in the top right-hand corner on two lines, the heading “SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA”, the Order’s coat of arms on the left and that of its activities on the right; at the bottom, again on the right-hand side, “POSTE MAGISTRALI”, the inscription, on two lines, “60° Anniversario 1966-2026″ (60th Anniversary 1966-2026) and, immediately below, the caption “…storia, tradizioni, valori spirituali, sociali e umanitari” (…history, traditions, spiritual, social and humanitarian values).