Fra' John Eidinow is the Presiding Fellow at

St. Benet's Hall, Oxford St Benet's Hall (known colloquially as Benet's) was a permanent private hall (PPH) of the University of Oxford, originally a Roman Catholic religious house of studies. It closed down in 2022. The principal building was located at the northern en ...

, a barrister, and a

Knight of Justice The Knights of Justice or Professed Knights, form the first of the three classes of members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta together with the professed conventual chaplains. They make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. "They are re ...

of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

Early life

Eidinow was born and raised in London.

Academic career

Eidinow read Classics at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, and received the degree Master of Arts from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

.Fra' John Eidinow, St. Benet's Hall
/ref> In January 1992 he was appointed to a lecturership in Classics at Merton College where he was later elected a Bodley Fellow. Since 2003 he has been Director of Studies in Classics at St. Benet's Hall. In 2004 he was named a Fellow of St. Benet's. He is also Dean and Keeper of the Statutes at

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

. His research is mostly about the Roman poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

, although he has also written about

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

. He was formerly Honorary Secretary of the Horatian Society. Eidinow has a

Graduate Diploma in Law The Graduate Diploma in Law/Postgraduate Diploma in Law/Common Professional Examination (GDL/PGDL/CPE) is a postgraduate law course in England and Wales that is taken by non-law graduates (graduates who have a degree in a discipline that is not la ...

from City, University of London. He is a barrister of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and a member of New Square Chambers.

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

In 2011 Eidinow founded the Companions of the Order of Malta, Oxford, a group of Oxford University students who serve the poor and marginalised. In 2011 Eidinow published a new English translation of the Rule written by the second Master of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

Raymond du Puy Raymond du Puy (1083–1160) was a knight from Dauphiné in France and the second Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, from around 1121 until 1160. Officially, he succeeded Blessed Gerard, t ...

. On 16 June 2014 in

Merton College Chapel Merton College Chapel is the church of Merton College, Oxford, England. Dedicated to St Mary and St John the Baptist, the chapel was largely completed in its present form by the end of the 13th century. The building retains a number of original ...

Eidinow made his solemn vows as a Knight of Justice. He has served as Chancellor of the Grand Priory of England.''Annuaire 2015/2016, Ordre Souverain Militaire Hospitalier de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem, de Rhodes, et de Malte'', 22.

Publications

* "Horace’s Epistle to Torquatus", ''Classical Quarterly'' 45 (1995): 191–99. * "Purpureo bibet ore nectar: A Reconsideration", ''Classical Quarterly'' 50 (2000): 463–71. * "Dido, Aeneas, and Iulus: Heirship and Obligation in Aeneid 4", ''Classical Quarterly'' 53 (2003): 260–67. * "Horace: Critics, canons and canonicity", in Houghton, L.B.T. and Wyke, M. (eds.), ''Perceptions of Horace: A Roman Poet and his Readers'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 80–95. * "Virgil in the Works of Alexandre Dumas père: An Introduction", ''Proceedings of the Vergilian Society'' 27 (2011): 38–55.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eidinow, John. Knights of Malta Living people Year of birth missing (living people)