For me, Josef Diez, Hospitality is concept that has existed for thousands of years in all cultures and religions. In most places it is considered fundamental and is even sometimes seen as a  right and thus something precious that must be protected.

But Hospitality as practiced by the Hospitaller Order of the Fatebenefratelli goes one step further. The Order has constructed a complex system of Hospitality with principles, rules and activities that are clearly defined, structured and described down to the very last detail.

Definitions, of course, are not in themselves sufficient. To be really understood, Hospitality has to be lived in real life. And anyone who has been cared for in a Fatebenefratelli structure can bear witness to the fact that it is.

The transmission of Hospitality is brought about, fundamentally, by the Brothers and their lay colleagues. But there is one danger: the more one time one spends talking about Hospitality, the greater the risk that it will turn into a sterile concept, while genuine Hospitality will take a back seat to pure theory.

Despite growing secularization and the fact that many people have today distanced themselves from the Church, the Brothers, their lay colleagues and all the other members of the Family of Saint John of God ought to have a single objective: they must turn Hospitality into a reality that does not need to be advertised.