Gerard Thom (The Blessed Gerard), founder of the Knights Hospitaller (b. c. 1040)
Blessed Gerard (c. 1040 – 3 September 1120), first known as Gérard de Martigues, was a lay brother in the Benedictine Order who was appointed as rector of the hospice in Jerusalem at Muristan in 1080. In the wake of the success of the First Crusade in 1099, he became the founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, an organization that received papal recognition in 1113. As such, he was the first Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.