East Sheen resident Dominae Lorna Hawthorne has been awarded the Meritorious Order of Malta by the sacred house of the hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and the military order of the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord at a ceremony at Brompton Oratory this week. The award recognises the twenty years Lorna has spent working to support homeless people in London.

The citation – the original is in Latin below – states (a rough translation):

Your merits and inclination of spirit towards our Order, as well as the devotion with which you are highly commended among us, encourage us to embrace your most distinguished person with a signal of benevolence. Therefore, gladly consenting to the petitions presented to us, we grant you to wear and carry the Silver Medal struck in honor of the Meritorious Order of Malta.

We grant you the full licence and opportunity to bear and refer, and we declare it openly. We urge all and each of the Brothers of our said House, holding any authority, dignity, or office, present and future, by virtue of holy obedience, not to make any concessions contrary to our present declaration of concession and participation, but rather to strive to observe them inviolably.

In witness whereof, our Master’s Seal is impressed here in black wax.

Given at Rome 7 February 2025