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Order of Saint Lazarus

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This article concerns the former religious, catholic-founded order of knighthood. For other uses of the name Lazarus, see Lazarus (disambiguation).

Cross of the Order of Saint Lazarus

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital run by hospitaller brothers founded in the twelfth century by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom. It was originally set up to treat virulent diseases such as leprosy.

Today the organisation has been engaged in a major charitable program to revive Christianity in Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Near East: Lebanon, Syria, Palestina. Millions of dollars worth of food, clothing, medical equipment and supplies have been distributed in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. Because of this experience, the European Community commissioned the Order to transport more than 1.5 billion dollars in food to the hungry in Russia, resulting in new laurels for the Lazarus volunteers.

History

Even before the twelfth century there were leper hospitals in the Near East, of which the Knights of St. Lazarus claimed to be the continuation, in order to have the appearance of remote antiquity and to pass as the oldest of all orders. But this pretension is apocryphal. These eastern leper hospitals followed the Rule of Saint Basil, while that of Jerusalem adopted the hospital Rule of St. Augustine in use in the West.[1] The Order of Saint Lazarus was indeed purely an order of hospitaller monks from the beginning, as was that of St. John, but without encroaching on the field of the latter. Because of its special aim, it had quite a different organisation. The patients of St. John were merely visitors, and changed constantly; the lepers of St. Lazarus on the contrary were condemned to perpetual seclusion. In return they were regarded as brothers or sisters of the house which sheltered them, and they obeyed the common rule which united them with their religious guardians. In some leper hospitals of the Middle Ages even the master had to be chosen from among the lepers. It is not proved, though it has been asserted, that this was the case at Jerusalem.

The Middle Ages surrounded with a touching pity these the greatest of all unfortunates, these miselli, as they were called. From the time of the crusades, with the spread of leprosy, leper hospitals became very numerous throughout Europe, so that at the death of St. Louis there were eight hundred in France alone.

However, these houses did not form a congregation; each house was autonomous, and supported to a great extent by the lepers themselves, who were obliged when entering to bring with them their belongings, and who at their death willed their goods to the institution if they had no children. Many of these houses bore the name of St. Lazarus, from which, however, no dependence whatever on St. Lazarus of Jerusalem is to be inferred. The most famous, St. Lazarus of Paris, depended solely and directly on the bishop of that city, and was a mere priory when it was given by the archbishop to the missionaries of St Vincent de Paul, who have retained the name of Lazarists (1632).

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem is believed to have become a military order in c. 1123. It is known that a contingent of Lazar brethren were present at La Forbie, and in 1253 they were part of the army under St Louis. In 1291 25 brethren were present at Acre, all being killed. It is believed the Order ceased military activities from the early 14th century

The house at Jerusalem owed to the general interest devoted to the holy places in the Middle Ages a rapid and substantial growth in goods and privileges of every kind. It was endowed not only by the sovereigns of the Latin realm, but by all the states of Europe. Louis VII, on his return from the Second Crusade, gave it the Château of Boigny, near Orléans (1154). This example was followed by Henry II of England, and by Emperor Frederick II. This was the origin of the military commanderies whose contributions, called responsions, flowed into Jerusalem, swollen by the collections which the hospital was authorized to make in Europe.

The popes for their part were not sparing of their favours. Alexander IV recognized its existence under the Rule of St. Augustine (1255). Urban IV assured it the same immunities as were granted to the monastic orders (1262). Clement IV obliged the secular clergy to confine all lepers whatsoever, men or women, clerics or laymen, religious or secular, in the houses of this order (1265).

At the time these favours were granted, Jerusalem had fallen again into the hands of the Muslims. St. Lazarus, although still called "of Jerusalem", had been transferred to Acre, where it had been ceded territory by the Templars (1240), and where it received the confirmation of its privileges by Urban IV (1264).

It was at this time also that the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, following the example of the Order of St. John, armed combatants for the defence of the remaining possessions of the Christians in the near east. Their presence is mentioned without further detail at the Battle of La Forbie against the Khwarezmians in 1244, and at the final siege of Acre in 1291.

As a result of this catastrophe the leper hospital of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem disappeared; however, its commanderies in Europe, together with their revenues, continued to exist, but hospitality was no longer practised. The order ceased to be an order of hospitallers and became purely military. The knights who resided in these commanderies had no tasks. Things remained in this condition until the pontificate of Innocent VIII, who suppressed this order and transferred its possessions to the Knights of St. John (1490), which transfer was renewed by Pope Julius II (1505). But the Order of St. John never came into possession of this property except in Germany. The Papal Bull to this effect could not be enforced owing to the sovereign tradition of these orders. This action resulted, however, in splitting the Order into two major branches, that under the rule of the preceptory at Boigny and the other under the authority of the priory at Capua. [2]

In France, Francis I, to whom the Concordat of Leo X (1519) had resigned the nomination to the greater number of ecclesiastical benefices, evaded the Bull of suppression by conferring the commanderies of St. Lazarus on Knights of the Order of St. John. The last named vainly claimed the possession of these goods. Their claim was rejected by the Parliament of Paris (1547).[3]

Leo X himself disregarded the value of this Bull by re-establishing Order of St. Lazarus, (1517)[4]

Pius IV went further; he annulled the Bulls of his predecessors and restored its possessions to the order that he might give the mastership to a favourite, Giovanni de Castiglione (1565). But the latter did not succeed in securing the devolution of the commanderies in France. Pius V codified the statutes and privileges of the order, but reserved to himself the right to confirm the appointment of the Grand Master as well as of the beneficiaries (1567). He made an attempt to restore to the order its hospitaller character, by incorporating with it all the leper hospitals and other houses founded under the patronage of St Lazarus of the Lepers. But this tardy reform was rendered useless by the subsequent gradual disappearance of leprosy in Europe.

Finally, the grand mastership of the order having been rendered vacant in 1572 by the death of Castiglione, Pope Gregory XIII united it in perpetuity with the Crown of Savoy. The reigning duke, Philibert III, hastened to fuse it with the recently founded Savoyan Order of St. Maurice, and thenceforth the title of Grand Master of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus was hereditary in that house. The pope gave him authority over the vacant commanderies everywhere, except in the states of the King of Spain, which included the greater part of Italy. In England and Germany these commanderies had been suppressed by Protestantism. France remained, but it was refractory to the claims of the Duke of Savoy. Some years later King Henry IV, having founded with the approbation of Paul V (1609) the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, hastened in turn to unite to it the Knights of St. Lazarus obedient to French mastership, and such is the origin of the title of "Knight of the Royal Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Knight of the Military and Hospitaller Order St. Lazarus of Jerusalem", which carried with it the enjoyment of a benefice. The King of France was the sovereign head of the Royal Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and protector the Military and Hospitaller Order St. Lazarus of Jerusalem and chose the Grand Master (Concordat 1519). During the reign of Louis XVI the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, not the combined orders, was awarded only to the top three students of the Royal Military School. The orders were separate though they shared the same Grand Master. Although the Order enjoyed a unique relationship with the French Royal House and was officially under the protection of the King of France, it was never a Royal Order.

Louis XVIII with St. Lazarus' Star - Oil painting, 1817

The King's titles as Sovereign, Founder and Protector meant that he was Sovereign and Founder of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Protector of Saint Lazarus. During the French Revolution. a decree of 30 July 1791 suppressed all royal and knightly orders. Another decree the following year confiscated all the Order's properties (the Château de Boigny, the Military Academy, the commanderies and hospitals). Louis, count of Provence, Grand Master of the Order, who later became Louis XVIII, continued to function in exile and awarded the Order, though sparingly. While in exile in the Polish province of Mitawa, where the Grand Master was living in 1800, he awarded the Order to Tsars Paul I and Alexander I of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, count Rostopchine, General de Fersen and General Paul Osten Dreisen. When the Count of Provence returned to France from exile to reign as Louis XVIII, he gave up the magistracy of the Order and became Protector, as had his predecessors, but appointed no grand master. The Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour issued a statement in 1824 to the effect that “..of the united Orders of Saint Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the latter has not been awarded since 1788 and is allowed to extinguish itself”.

King Henri V of France becomed Protector of the Saint Lazarus Order. The Order did not enjoy the protection of the new Louis-Philippe, king of French and from 1830 was governed by a Council of Officers. In 1831 the government of Louis-Philippe, suppressed United Orders of Saint Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel among others. The king could not ‘abolish’ the Order (anymore than could the National Assembly earlier), but under canon law it could only become extinct through lack of admissions through one hundred years after the death of its last member. The position of the Order after 1831 is in French Law it ceased to exist but, in Canon Law it continued to survive. Some publicists ignored admissions to the Order in exile by Grand Master Louis, Count of Provence, as so as protectional statements of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch. They hold the view that this was possibly happened, and the end of the religious Order of Saint Lazarus was maked in 1957 after 100 years from dead of chevalier Antoine-François de Charry des Gouttes, Marquis des Gouttes (knighted in 1788). [5]

Revival

To return to the dukes of Savoy: Clement VIII granted them the right to exact from ecclesiastical benefices pensions to the sum of four hundred crowns for the benefit of knights of the order, dispensing them from celibacy on condition that they should observe the statutes of the order and consecrate their arms to the defence of the Faith. Besides their commanderies the order had two houses where the knights might live in common, one of which, at Turin, was to contribute to combats on land, while the other, at Nice, had to provide galleys to fight the Turks at sea. But when thus reduced to the states of the Duke of Savoy, the order merely vegetated until the French Revolution, which suppressed it. In 1816 the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel I, re-established the titles of Knight and Commander of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus, as simple decorations, accessible without conditions of birth to both civilians and military men.

In 1841, the Council of Officers of the St. Lazarus Order requested the protection of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Maximos III Mazloum, and petitioned he become their Spiritual Protector; he accepted, both for himself and his successors.[6] Eastern Patriarchs, whether autonomous or in union with the Roman Church, always refer to their patriarchate or religious jurisdiction as ‘a nation’. Patriarchs always has right to protect or created orders and other canonical institutions on their jurisdiction. In 1910, the Patriarch asked the almoner of the Order, a Polish chaplain Rev. Jan Tanski, to revive the Order's chancellery in Europe.[7] In 1913, Marquis de Jandriac published in Rivista Araldica (pp.679-83) the fundamental statutes of the Order. The statutes specify that the knights must be Catholics, of noble origin, and must contribute to charitable causes in the Holy Land. Whilst remaining under the spiritual protection of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch, in 1935 the Chapter General of the Order elected as the new Grand Master Francisco de Bórbon y de la Torre, 3rd Duke of Seville.

Recent years

Don Francisco de Borbon y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain is present Grand Master and His Beatitude Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch and all the East is Spiritual Protector of the Order of St Lazarus.

The Breast Star of the Knights of St. Lazarus (Bohemian and Polish Priories)

In recent years the expansion of the Order and its humanitarian activities have taken a new direction. Aid to the handicapped, the sick and to the aged has been added to the Order's pursuit of its traditional mission in the field of leprosy. The primary purpose and activity of the Order is, and always has been, charity. Primarily, St. Lazarus has been world renown as a Hospitaller Order in that its works have always been associated with medical care, primarily through the operation of medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.

With the personal encouragement of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Macharski of Krakow, the Grand Priory of Austria, under Archduke Leopold of Austria and Dr. Heinz Peter Baron von Slatin, and their Referendary Prof. Franz Josef Federsel, had constructed the first Polish Hospice for the terminally ill in Poland, the St. Lazarus Hospice, in Nowa Huta the American Grand Priory providing substantial financial assistance to this project. For a number of years, the organization has been at the forefront of charitable and humanitarian projects supported by Pope John Paul II, and they were specifically singled out by him for their praiseworthy chivalric activities. Pope John Paul II, joined by members of the College of Cardinals, has on more than one occasion invited a group of people collectively as members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem to his private apartments in the Vatican, has celebrated Holy Mass with them in his private chapel, and continues to encourage them to undertake charitable projects which he monitors personally. The Grand Priory of France and the European Humanitarian Grand Priory (Lazarus-Hilfswerk)supported by the Grand Priory America were particularly active in initiating the relief programmes of the Order in Croatia. The Order strongly backed the relief missions of the Grand Hospitaller throughout Eastern Europe. The trucks, trailers, field kitchens and jeeps that were provided by the Order for service in Croatia. They have continued to be used by the Order’s members and the charitable arm of the church for humanitarian purposes only, and they remain the property of the Order. During the Winter of 1991/92, the European Community in Brussels earmarked US$ 125 million-worth of aid for food for the starving population in Russia. Transport and distribution were to be provided by organisations chosen by the European Community. Apart from the humanitarian aspects, it is a fact that this aid programme also prevented large scale social unrest and political instability in urban centres. Of this sum the European Community allocated half to the International Red Cross, and half to the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem as represented by the Lazarus-Hilfswerk. For this purpose the Order set up three centres, in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Novgorod from which they operated their distribution system. A letter from H.I.R.H. Archduke Dr. Otto von Habsburg, signed in his capacity as a Member of the European Parliament and addressed to the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem testifies to the high esteem in which the St. Lazarus and his work are held by the European Parliament.

Arms of the St. Lazarus Order

These jurisdictions have also spent substantial amounts of their own money on charitable works and projects close to the heart of Pope John Paul II, the Polish and other Eastern European members of the College of Cardinals and the Polish and Eastern European Episcopate, as well as in other areas of activity. For example, the Canadian Grand Priory works extensively in the field of Hansen’s Disease (leprosy), both in the areas of research and of support services. In this and other fields, the Canadian Grand Priory has worked closely with the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem, and many of the officers of the Grand Priory of the Order of St. Lazarus are also officers in the St. John Order. Similarly, Grand Priories in New Zealand and Australia have been providing support for the victims of Hansen's Disease in their own countries and the islands of Oceania. When faced with the task of assessing meritorious, chivalrous work on a vast scale instead of simply writing about a Catholic-founded Order of Knighthood in the context of other Orders, there is a danger of compiling an activity report rather than keeping strictly to the criteria upon which the book is based. However, very rarely something catches one’s attention which seems to be so small, but in reality symbolises all that chivalry is about. It's been learned incidentally that part of the contribution several Commanderies of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem expect their members to make are twelve full days a year given free of charge to work in hospitals and institutions which cater for the mentally or physically sick, the hungry and the needy, or do social work that benefits those who need help. I was particularly impressed by the activities of the nine members of the Order in Liechtenstein: they set up in 1990 an emergency telephone helpline for the children of the Principality, ‘Sorgen-Telefon für Kinder in Liechtenstein’. They give their time freely, answering calls in rotation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the year. Posters about this service are displayed in schools, and stickers are displayed in telephone booths and public places throughout the Principality. The members have been professionally trained as counsellors for this particular task, and they receive well over 300 calls from children every year out of a population of 30,000. Other jurisdictions of the Order in Europe, South America and Africa are active in charitable activities, and the work of the Order in such countries as South Africa and Zimbabwe is remarkable, and some European Grand Priories still work as hospitallers in the way that members of the Order did in the early years of its existence, much of their work still concerned with fighting leprosy Others, such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Bohemia, assist the Grand Hospitaller in relief work for the hungry and needy in several Eastern European countries. In New Zealand the Order is directly involved in Pacific-area programs against leprosy and donates medical supplies to various island leprosaria. The Grand Priory of Finland operates a Special Volunteer Ambulance Corps for young drug addicts and directly supports a medical and religious mission in Mugaea, Kenya. The Grand Bailiwick of Austria also operates a Volunteer Ambulance Corps which is officially recognised by the government as an alternative to compulsory military service. Support for disabled people, the sick and the aged as well as for refugees is provided. The Grand Priory of Alsace supports various dispensaries in Cameroon as well as a leprosarium. The Commandery of Poland under command of Prince Radziwill represented by Saint Lazarus Association operates St. Lazarus Ambulances, and First Aid Volunteer's Corps in most main cities of Poland. Commandery is raising funds in support Polish leprosaria in India. The Commandery of Slovakia operates International Green Cross Organization (IGCO) with their Green Cross Ambulances in Bavaria and Romania. For the past 12 years the IGCO First Aid Training Division, alone in Slovakia, trained several thousand First Responders and Crime Prevention Practitioners. The Hungarian Priory supports people without lodging and earnings. The Grand Bailiwick of England is raising funds in support of research into the early diagnosis of malignant melanoma, leprosaria in Kenya, and currently the Kosovo Appeal. The Grand Bailiwick of the United States is donating health professions scholarships (physician's assistant and nursing), supporting leprosaria (Mexico, Kenya) and an ambulance/children's hospital program in Romania, assisting the American Organ and Tissue Donation Program and giving financial assistance to Christian churches of various denominations. The German Commandery of Berlin-Brandenburg gives medical aid for the population of Benin, Croatia, Hungary, Russia and Slovenia and relief for people without lodging in Berlin. Maltese members are supporting charities around Malta, also leprosaria (Kenya, Tanzania) and a medical clinic (Bethlehem, Holy Land). The Commandery of New Caledonia is giving material and moral support to persons in need and collecting drugs and other medical items, in particular for hospitals and dispensaries of underprivileged Pacific islands. This is an impressive list of charitable activities, and equally impressive are the official acknowledgements of gratitude from governments and especially the Headquarters of the European Community in Brussels.

For a number of years, the organisation has been at the forefront of charitable and humanitarian projects supported by Pope John Paul II, and they were specifically singled out by him for their praiseworthy chivalric activities. As the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, joined by members of the College of Cardinals, has on more than one occasion invited a group of people collectively as members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem to his private apartments in the Vatican, has celebrated Holy Mass with them in his private chapel, and continues to encourage them to undertake charitable projects which he monitors personally.

Protections

Today the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is split into three main branches. There is the branch that enjoys the Spiritual Protection by the east-catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem H.B. Gregory III Laham, also the 172nd Patriarch of Antioch since Saint Peter. There is the branch that has aligned itself with the French House of Bourbon Crown of France in the person of Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France, Head of the Royal House of France, enjoys the Spiritual Protection by H.E. László Cardinal Paskai OFM, Primate of Hungary[8]. Finally there is a branch headquartered in the United Kingdom called the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem - that has no royal allegiance and is run by a Master General.

Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators

Protectors in Near East - Apocryphal

Protectors in Jerusalem - Melkite Patriarchs of Jerusalem (VII c. - 1054) - Apocryphal

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Jerusalem

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Acre

Master-Generals in Boigny, France

Master-Generals in Capua, Italy

  • Angelus de Raimo (?) (...1226...) - Master
  • Alfonso de Azzia (...1327...) - Master
  • Simon de Aqua Mundula (...1329...) - Master
  • Santiago de Azzia (...1347...) - Master
  • Guillermo (...1366...) - Master
  • Santiago de Benuto (1426-1440) - Master
  • Giacomo del Balzo (...1460...) - Master
  • Santiago de Azzia (1468-1498) - Master
  • Santiago Antonio de Azzia (1498-1522) - Master
  • Alfonso de Azzia (1522-1548) - Master
  • Muzzio d’Azzia (1548-1564) - Master
  • Giannotto Castiglione (1565-1572) - Master General
  • Philibert Emmanuel, duke of Savoy (1572) - united Italian branch of the Order to his dynastic Order of St Maurice, then created new Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

Grand Masters in Boigny - under protection of French Crown

Interregnum

  • Claud Louis, prince of La Châtre - (General-Administrator 1814 - 1824)
  • Jean-Louis de Beaumont, marquess of Autichamp (President of the Council of Officers 1824 - 1831)
  • Council of Officers (1831 - 1841) - Father Picot; Joseph-Bon, baron of Dacier 1831-1833; Auguste-Francois, baron of Silvestre

French and Spanish obediences - under protection and administration of Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarchs

  • Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum (General-Administrator 1841 - 1855)
  • Patriarch Gregorios I. Youssef (General-Administrator 1864 - 1897)
  • Patriarch Peter IV. Geraigiri (General-Administrator 1898 - 1902)
  • Patriarch Ciril VIII. Ghea (General-Administrator 1902 - 1910)
  • Council of Officers under the protectorate of Patriarch Ciril VIII (1910 - 1926), and Patriarch Ciril IX (1926 - 1930)
  • Francisco de Paula de Borbon y de la Torre, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1930-1952)
  • Francisco de Paula Henry de Borbon y de Borbon, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1952-1967)

French obedience

  • Charles Philippe d'Orléans, duke of Alençon, Vendôme and Nemours, prince of Bourbon-Orléans, Premier Prince du Sang (1967-1969)

Malta obedience - under the temporal protection of Kingdom of Spain[9]

  • Francisco de Paula Henri de Borbon y de Borbon, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1972-1995)
  • Francisco de Paula de Borbon y Escasany, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1995-2004)

Paris obedience

Presently:

Malta and Paris obediences - Spanish Allegiance branch - under the temporal protection of Kingdom of Spain[10] and the spiritual protection of Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham of Jerusalem

  • Francisco de Paula de Borbon y Escasany, duke of Seville, Grand of Spain [11] (Grandmaster Elect 2004 - ...) and François de Cossé, marquess and duke of Brissac (Acting Grandmaster 2004 - ...)

Malta and Boigny obediences - French Allegiance branch - under the temporal protection of H.R.H. Henry, count of Paris, duke de France, Henri VII as the Orleanist to the throne of France

The Constitutional Grand Priory of England & Wales

under protection of Rt Hon. & M.Rev. Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

List of 'Orders of Saint Lazarus' not recognized by the duke of Seville or the duke of Anjou

List of self styled 'Orders of Saint Lazarus'

Bibliography

  • Belloy, Pierre de, De l'origine et institution des divers ordres de chevalerie tant ecclésiastiques que prophanes, Paris, 1604, 2nd edition Toulouse, 1622
  • Gautier de Sibert, History of The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, Paris, 1772
  • Francis Elphinstone, The Opponents of St Lazarus which appeared, The Armorial, vol.III, no.4, November 1962, Edinburgh
  • Algrant y Cañete, James J. / Beaugourdon, Jean de St. Vincent de, Armorial of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, Delft, 1983
  • Morris of Balgonie, Stuart H., Ygr., The Insignia and Decorations of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, Perthshire, 1986
  • Francis Elphinstone, The Opponents of St Lazarus, The Armorial, vol.III, no.4, November 1962, Edinburgh
  • Bander van Duren, Peter, Orders of Knighthood and of Merit-The Pontifical, Religious and Secularised Catholic-founded Orders and their relationship to the Apostolic See, Buckinghamshire, 1995, p. 495 - 513, XLV - XLVII
  • Montilla Zavalía, Félix Alberto, Las Órdenes de Caballería y las Órdenes Honoríficas Católicas en la actualidad (Una visión histórico-jurídica y política) introduced by Dr. Isidoro J. Ruiz Moreno, Argentinian Lieutenant of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Editorial Dunken, Buenos Aires, 2001, p. 16
  • M. Ellul, The Green Eight Pointed Cross, Malta, 2004
  • Charles Savona-Ventura, The Knight Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus, Malta, 2006

Notes

  1. ^ According to ancient tradition, the birthplace of the Order of Saint Lazarus was a leper hospital, constructed outside the walls of Jerusalem by the High Priest John Hyrcanus who ruled over the Jewish people between the years 135 and 105 BC. Letters patent issued in 1343 by John (later King of France under the name John "the Good") attest to the tradition that the Brotherhood was founded in the year 72. Putting this fanciful origin aside, most historians agree with the affirmation by Pope Pi us IV in his Bull Inter Assiduas that the Order existed in 369 during the papacy of St Damasus I, when St Basil the Great was Archbishop of Caesarea. It is this sainted archbishop who is considered the legendary Father of the Order by virtue of his founding a large hospital for lepers near Caesarea. Established since the fifth century at Acre and , the of Saint Lazarus founded their principal hospital at Jerusalem in 530. Here they cared for and protected pilgrims to the Holy Places, and especially directed their efforts to the comfort and treatment of lepers. Their, or Leper House, was located outside the walls of the city near the postern of Saint Ladre, or Saint Lazarus, on what was believed to be the site of the ancient hospital founded by John Hyrcanus.
  2. ^ The Priory of Capua had been founded in 1211 and Pope Leo X granted it extraordinary privileges. From 1517 onwards the leader of this branch called himself Grand Master of the Order within the Kingdom of Sicily, and elsewhere. In 1572 Pope Gregory XIII united this branch in perpetuity with the House of Savoy. This Bull specifically excluded the Spanish branch of the Order which remained under the control of the Spanish Crown. The reigning Duke of Savoy, Philibert III, hastened to fuse the Priory of Capua with his recently founded Order of Saint Maurice, and thenceforth the title Grand Master of the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus has been hereditary in the Ducal House of Savoy and the Royal House of Italy. This order has been conferred by the King of Italy without restrictions of borth to both civilians and military personnel.
  3. ^ The branch headquartered at Boigny in Francehad been founded in 1154 through a gift of King Louis VII to the first knights of the Order to leave the Holy Land. After the final fall of Acre, its commanders were recognised as Grand Masters of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem Upon and Beyond the Seas. The sovereign character of the Order was recognised by the Kings of France. and under their protection the Order continued to perform its sovereign functions.
  4. ^ Other important branches gravitated around these two main jurisdictions. In England, the Master of the Hospital of Burton Lazars, founded in 1135, was Vicar-General of the Grand Magistracy of Boigny for England. The Spanish knights of the Order also came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Magistracy of Boigny. The Commander of the famous Convent of Seedorf, founded in Switzerland in 1134, bore the title of Master of Saint Lazarus. In Germany, the Commander of the Hospital of St Magdalene of Gotha was Provincial Commander; the Commander of Strigonia in Hungary was Vicar-General of the Grand Magistracy of Boigny for Hungary. From these examples, it is apparent that the principal European branches of the Order were grouped around the Grand Magistracy of Boigny. Thus Boigny assured the perpetuation of the sovereign existence of the Order.
  5. ^ Few individuals were included in the 1816 Almanach Royal with the M with an interlaced L that signified membership in the united Orders; none of them, however, were named in the pre-1789 rolls nor in the Roll of the united Orders published in this Almanach. Including, notably, Count Camille-Henri-Melchior de Polignac (Maréchal de Camp), Count Maurice-Gabriel-Joseph Riquet de Caraman (Maréchal de Camp, Inspector-General of Cavalry, Peer of France, Commander of Saint-Louis), the Marquis de Bizemont (indicated as a member in the 1820 edition), the Marquis de Dubois-Descours (1820 and 1823 edition), and M. Huzart, Agent-General of the Royal Society of Agriculture (1820 edition). Charles-François le Prévost de Basserode was authorized to wear the decorations of the united Orders in a letter written in the name of the Duc de Gramont, First Gentleman of the Chamber of the King, dated July 6, 1814, on the basis that he had been nominated by the King in exile; and a M. de la Brousse, Captain at the École Militaire de la Flèche, was authorized in a letter dated 12 Aug 1814 from the Marquis de Dreux-Brezé, Grand Master of Ceremonies of France, to wear the decorations and this last gentleman was listed in the Almanach Royal in several editions from 1817 with the ML symbol. Later some other names appear e.g. Albert de Steiguer, Maréchal de Camp listed in the 1827 Almanach (knighted after 1814).
  6. ^ That statement had been officially confirmed by each succeeding Patriarchs, including present one. - The knights and hospitallers of the Order of St Lazarus, now confident that their traditions would be maintained, resumed their charitable work especially for the benefit of Christians in the East. Under the spiritual authority of the Patriarch, there was cautious recruitment to the Order, so that by 1850 it numbered some twenty knights. Among the Eastern prelates appointed to the Order were, notably, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishops Clement of Beirut (who became Patriarch in 1856), Mgr Agapi Dumani (appointed in 1864) and Mgr Antoine Sabbagh (appointed in 1871). In the West, recruitment of new members was restricted by the Patriarch’s position vis-à-vis the Ottoman Empire. Knights appointed up to the end of the nineteenth century included, in 1853, Admiral François Alphonse Hamelin, who commanded the Black Sea squadron during the Crimean War, became Minister for the Navy and was Grand Chancellor of the Légion d’Honneur when he died in 1860. In the same year, Admiral Louis Edouard Bouët Willaumez, who became an Imperial Senator and died in 1871. In 1863, Comte Louis François du Mesnil de Maricourt, who became French Consul at Larnaca in Cyprus and died in 1865 while ministering to cholera victims; Comte Paul de Poudenx, who died in 1894; the Rev. Jan Tanski, who came to France after taking part in the Polish uprising, lived in Paris (where he was attached to the parish of Sainte-Marie-des-Batignolles), later became Almoner of the Order, contributed to its maintenance and died in 1913. In 1865, Comte Jules Marie d’Anselme de Puisaye, a Zouave in the papal armies; the Vice-count of Boisbaudry in 1875; Baron Yves de Constancin in 1896, who was later to become commander of the Hospitaller Nobles of St Lazarus, a Knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and of St Anne of Russia. A man of letters, he founded the Association of Parliamentary Journalists and was the director of the Revue Internationale, dying in 1914. In 1880, Count Jules Marie d’Anselme de Puisaye, living at the time in Tunisia and desirous of involving the Order in a charitable and hospitaller project, founded in Tunis the Association of Green Cross, a society for aid to the injured and sick. In 1902, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Mgr Cyrille Ghea, a member of the Order, became Patriarch Cyril VIII. Under his aegis, new members joined the Order, among them Mgr Grégoire Haggear, his successor as Melkite Archbishop of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Paul Watrin, Paul Beugnot, Charles Otzenberger, Jean-Paul Eyscher, Alexandre Gallery de la Tremblaye, Jean Georges de Guillet de Pardes de Fleurelles.
  7. ^ On 19 January 1928, Pope Pius XI addressed a message through the papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri, to the President of the French Association of the Knights of St. Lazarus: ‘The Holy Father kindly accepts the filial homage.... offering in turn his best wishes for the prosperity of the Hospitallers of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem and their families, sends them all a special benediction.’ (Reference 3511/27)
  8. ^ Declaration by H.R.H. the Count of Paris, Duke of France, Head of the Royal House of France
     We, Henri, by the Grace of God, Head of the House of France, make known to all persons, for now and the future, that,
    Whereas pursuant to letters patent given at Poitiers, in July 1308, by King Philippe IV the Fair, who declared that he took “under Our special guard and protection the Master General and brethren of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem” in order to prevent their suffering any despoilment;
    Whereas pursuant to the pontifical origins and canonical structure of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, as recalled in particular by Pope Alexander IV in a Bull given at Naples on the eleventh day of the calends of April 1255, and by Pope Clement XIV in the Bull Militarium Ordinum Institutio of 10 December 1772;
    Whereas pursuant to the various agreements entered into between the Heads of the Royal House of France and the Sovereign Pontiffs setting out in full the exercise of that Protectorship following the Concordat of 15 August 1516;
    Whereas pursuant to this Protectorship being assumed by the Heads of the Royal House of France until 1830;
    And whereas the title of Temporal Protector of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem being an integral part of the heritage that we have entered into as Head of the Royal House of France;
    We declare our perpetuation of this commitment, guaranteeing as we do, in terms both of the law and of tradition, the authentic and unique character of this ancient Institution.
    Orléans, 12 September 2004
  9. ^ By decrets of: Government of Spain, Decret by 9 May 1940 publicated in State Bulletin of Decrets nr 131 from 10/05/1940 pag. 3177 and 3178; next (Art. 22 and 25) approved by Decret from 8 March 1946; next awarded by King Juan Carlos by recognition the Saint Lazarus Order's Grand Priory of Spain as part of "Orders of State of Spain" by Decret from 4 August 1980
  10. ^ By decrets of: Government of Spain, Decret by 9 May 1940 publicated in State Bulletin of Decrets nr 131 from 10/05/1940 pag. 3177 and 3178; next (Art. 22 and 25) approved by Decret from 8 March 1946; next awarded by King Juan Carlos by recognition the Saint Lazarus Order's Grand Priory of Spain as part of "Orders of State of Spain" by Decret from 4 August 1980
  11. ^ He is the fourth in Legitimist line of succession to the French throne. The Legitimist succession to the French throne includes all males who are descended in the male line from Hugh Capet through legal marriages.
  12. ^ On December 8, 2004, he received the title Duc d'Anjou (Duke of Anjou in English) from his uncle Henry, count of Paris, duke of France, Head of the Royal House of France who is the current Orléanist Pretender to the French Throne as Henri VII. Charles Philippe d'Orléans is the seventh in Orléanist line of succession to the French throne.

Order's Official Websites

Websites belonging to various jurisdictions

Different and alternative views on St. Lazarus Order history

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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