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Order of Saint Lazarus



This article concerns the suppressed catholic hospitaller and military order. For other uses of the name Lazarus, see Lazarus (disambiguation).

  The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital, run by hospitaller brothers, founded in the twelfth century. It was originally established to treat virulent diseases such as leprosy. It later became a military/hospitaller order.

Today, a modern self-styled revival of the Order is engaged in a major charitable program to revive Christianity in Eastern Europe. Millions of dollars in 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.

Contents

History

Even prior to 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. 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 solely an order of hospitaller monks at 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 proven, though it has been asserted, that this was the case at Jerusalem.

From the time of the crusades, followed by 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 Lazarus (1632).

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem is believed to have become a military order circa 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 during the siege of Acre, all being killed. It is believed the Order ceased military activities in the early 14th century.

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 era when 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 decline 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.

 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”. In 1831 the government of Louis-Philippe, suppressed the United Orders of Saint Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel among others.

Returning to the dukes of Savoy: Pope 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 Saints Maurice and Lazarus, as a house order, accessible without conditions of birth to both civilians and military men.

Self-styled revival

Members of the modern Order of St Lazarus claim that in 1841, the historic Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem requested the protection of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Maximos III Mazlûm, and petitioned he become their Spiritual Protector; he reportedly accepted, both for himself and his successors. There is no reliable documentation of this event.

In 1910, the Greek Melchite patriarch of Jerusalem had just been forced to resign as Grand Master of the Supreme Militia of Jesus Christ. This organization had started in 1870 as a group of former soldiers in the Papal army, discharged after the capture of Rome by Italy. In the mid-1880s, the association tried to turn itself into an order of chivalry; rebuked by the Dominicans to which they were initially connected, they turned in 1900 to the Greek Melchite patriarch of Jerusalem. A stern warning from the Pope quickly convinced the patriarch to resign the Grand-Mastership (to use the terms of Bertrand). Then, according to the official historians of the revived order, in 1910, the Patriarch asked "the almoner of the Order of Saint Lazarus", a Polish chaplain named Tansky, living in Paris since 1870, to revive the order; the chaplain being also a member of the Militia of Jesus-Christ, got in touch with a fellow member of that Supreme Militia, a Frenchman by the name of Paul Watrin, who is made "Chancellor" of the Order. Watrin is also a key public figure in the revival. [1]

The self-styled order's activities were suspended in 1914, perhaps due to World War I. Possibly, because Moser and an accomplice named Hans Branco were both arrested in Paris for trafficking in false orders and decorations. Moser had apparently gone too far and started selling fake Legion of Honor medals. He was sentenced to 4 months in jail, after which he returned to Berlin, and committed suicide in 1928. The offices of the Société were searched by the police and many counterfeit diplomas, crosses and various insignia were found. This may have put a damper on the Order of Saint Lazarus. Eight years later, Fritz Hahn alias Guigues de Champvaus was jailed in 1936 in Paris for illegal sale of order and decorations. [2]

In June 1933, the Duke of Seville, who had fled Republican Spain, was hosted at a dinner at the Hotel Iena in Paris. To replace the publication La Science Historique, a new periodical appeared in April 1933 under the editorship of Paul Bertrand, La Vie Chevaleresque, as the official mouthpiece of the order. The new periodical chronicles the fabulous expansion of the order. In December 1935, the Duke of Seville was elected Grand-Master of the order. Presumably, the duke's royal connections (a member of the extended Spanish royal family) impressed Spanish-speaking applicants, and the order became linked with a number of Latin American diplomats in Paris. Otzenberger was made consul of the Dominican Republic in Mulhouse.

The order's ideological slant was quite visibly inherited from Watrin's original legitimism: the Duke of Seville himself was a colonel in Franco's armed forces. The distribution of crosses confirms the political inclination: between 1933 and 1936, the following individuals become members: Francisco Franco (dictator of Spain 1936-75), Carol II of Romania (king/dictator of Romania 1930-40), Rafael Trujillo (dictator of the Dominican Republic 1930-52), Fulgencio Batista (dictator of Cuba 1933-44, 1952-59), Getulio Vargas (dictator of Brazil 1930-45), and a few other presidents of Latin American countries (Argentina, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala). Whether all of these distinguished gentlemen were actually aware of their membership is not quite clear: the order occasionally bestowed its cross on unsuspecting individuals, as happened to the Mexican Marquis de Guadalupe, whose protestations were obviously ignored. [3]

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 revived Order of St Lazarus.   In recent years the expansion of the organisation 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 organisation is, and always has been, charity. Primarily, St. Lazarus has been world renown as a charity in that its works have always been associated with medical care, primarily through the operation of medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.

For a number of years, the organisation was 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 activities. As the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, joined by members of the College of Cardinals, had 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, and celebrated Holy Mass with them in his private chapel, and encouraged them to undertake charitable projects in which he took personal interest personally. (However, the Vatican has not recognized the Lazarites as a legitimate order of chivalry.)

Schisms and protections

Today, the revived Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is divided into three main branches due to internecine squabbles. 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[5]. 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.

Connections to freemasonry

Andrew Michael Ramsay, also known as Chevalier Ramsay, was a prominent Scottish freemason who converted to Catholicism in 1710. The Archbishop of Cambrai, who converted him to Catholicism, secured him as the tutor of the Duc de Chateau-Thierry and the Prince de Turenne. He was made a knight of the Order of Saint Lazarus, thus receiving the title Chevalier. He also tutored the two sons of the Pretender, James, III. In 1737 as chancellor of the Paris Grand Masonic Lodge, he delivered his celebrated oration in which he falsely attributed the origin of Freemasonry to the Knights Templar rather than to the Guild of Masons. This may have been inspired by his membership in the Lazarus order. He addressed this theory to the Pope, for which he suffered censure from the church. He is also credited with the development of several Masonic degrees and rites, before his death on May 6, 1743. [4]

The Dukes of Brissac, [5] and the Dukes of Seville, [6] have also figured prominently among the leaders of freemasonry.

Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators of the historic order

Protectors in Near East - Apocryphal

  • Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea (329 - 379) - Apocryphal Father of St. Lazarus Order
  • Saint John the Almoner, Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria (... 606 - 616/620?)

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

  • Anastasius II (???-706)
  • John V (706-735)
  • Theodore (745-770)
  • Elias II (770-797)
  • George (797-807)
  • Thomas I (807-820)
  • Basileus (820-838)
  • John VI (838-842)
  • Sergius I (842-844)
  • Solomon (855-860)
  • Theodosius (862-878)
  • Elias III (878-907)
  • Sergius II (908-911)
  • Leontius I (912-929)
  • Athanasius I (929-937)
  • Christodolus (937-950)
  • Agathon (950-964)
  • John VII (964-966)
  • Christodolus II (966-969)
  • Thomas II (969-978)
  • Joseph II (980-[[983)
  • Orestes (983-1005)
  • Theophilus I (1012-1020)
  • Nicephorus I (1020-???)
  • Joannichius (???-???)
  • Sophronius II (???-1084)
  • Theodosius (1084)

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Jerusalem

  • Blessed Gerard de Martigues (108? - 1098)
  • Boyant Roger (1120 - 1131)
  • Jean (... 1131 ...)
  • Barthélémy (... 1153 ...)
  • Itier (... 1154 ...)
  • Hugues de Saint-Pol (... 1155 ...)
  • Blessed Raymond du Puy (1157 - 1159)
  • Rainier (... 1164 ...)
  • Raymond (... 1168 ...)
  • Gérard de Monclar (... 1169 ...)
  • Bernard (1185 - 1186)

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Acre

  • Gautier de Neufchâtel or de Châteneuf (... 1228 ...) - Master General
  • Raynaud de Flory (1234 - 1254)
  • Jean de Meaux (1256 - ?1276) - General-Preceptor
  • Thomas de Sainville (1277 - 1281) - Master General

Master-Generals in Boigny, France

  • Thomas de Sainville (1281 - 1312) - Master General
  • Adam de Veau (... 1314 ...)
  • Jean de Paris (1342 - 1349)
  • Jean de Coaraze (... 1354 ...)
  • Jean le Conte (... 1355 ...)
  • Jacques de Besnes alias de Baynes (1368 - 1384)
  • Pierre des Ruaux (1413 - 1454)
  • Guillaume des Mares (... 1460 ...)
  • Jean le Cornu (1469 - 1493)
  • François d'Amboise (1493 - 1500)
  • Agnan de Mareuil (1500 - 1519)
  • François de Bourbon, count of Saint-Pol (1519 - 1521) - Commander of Boigny
  • Claude de Mareuil (1521 - 1524)
  • Jean Conti (1524 - 1557)
  • Jean de Levis (1557 - 1564)

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

  • Michel de Seure (1564 - 1578)
  • François Salvati (1578 - 1586)
  • Michel de Seure (1586 - 1593)
  • Armand de Clermont de Chastes (1593 - 1603)
  • Hughes Catelan de Castelmore (..1603..)
  • Charles de Gayand de Monterolles (1603 - 1604)
  • Philibert marquess of Nérestang (1604 - 1620)
  • Claude marquess of Nérestang (1620 - 1639)
  • Charles marquess of Nérestang (1639 - 1644)
  • Charles-Achille marquess of Nérestang (1645 - 1673)
  • François-Michel le Tellier, marquess of Louvois (Vicar General 1673 - 1691)
  • Philippe de Courcillon, marquess of Dangeau (1693 - 1720)
  • Louis d’Orleans, duke of Chartres, next of Orleans (1720 - 1752)
  • Louis de France, duke of Berry (1757 - 1773)
  • Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, count of Provence (1773 - 1814)

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

Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators of the self-styled order(s)

French and Spanish obediences - under the 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 Duke of Seville

  • 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

  • Pierre de Cossé, duke of Brissac (1969-1986)
  • François de Cossé, marquess and duke of Brissac (1986-2004) - Supreme Head

Malta and Paris obediences - Spanish Allegiance branch - under the temporal protection of Duke of Seville

  • Francisco de Paula de Borbon y Escasany, duke of Seville, Grand of Spain [6] (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

  • Charles Philippe d'Orléans, prince of Bourbon-Orléans, orleanist duke of Anjou [7] (Grandmaster Boigny Obedience; Titular Head Malta Obedience 2004 - ...)

The United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

  • John von Hoff (1995 - ...)

The Constitutional Grand Priory of England & Wales

  • Robert Washington Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers {2007 - ...) - Grand Prior;

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 other self-styled "Orders of Saint Lazarus"

  • Chapter of Knights Hospitaller of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem and Our Lady of Mercy – est. c.a. 1910 in Belgium by Jacoby Rotschild alias Jean-Joseph de Moser – disappeared c.a. 1928
  • Independent Grand Priory of Ukraine-Ruthenia - est. c.a 1980 by Alexis Brimeyer and self-styled orthodox bishop Michail
  • Independent Commandery of Berlin-Ostleiben – est. in 80-ies by Prince Waldeck and Pyrmont
  • Ordre de la Résurrection de Saint-Lazare - est. c.a. 2000 in Canada
  • Pannonian Soverign Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, PANNSOV - est. 2004 by dr Allan Inovius from Hungary

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 apocryphal beliefs, 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 Kingdom of Israel 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 Pius 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 the brothers 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 order's leper Hous, 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 aforementioned 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. ^ 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
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.

Websites belonging to various jurisdictions

  • Order of St. Lazarus - Grand Priory of America
  • Grand Bailiwick of Scotland
  • Commandery of Slovakia
  • Order of St. Lazarus - Grand Priory of Canada
  • The Grand Priory of the Maltese Islands of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem - Orleans Malta Obedience
  • The United Grand Priories of The Order Of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
  • Order of St. Lazarus - Grand Priory of Bohemia (Czech Republic)
  • Lazarus-Hilfswerk in Germany (germ.)
  • Grand Bailliwick of Austria
  • Order of St. Lazarus - Grand Priory of France (fr.)
  • Priory of Belgium of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem - Malta Obedience
  • Grand Chancery - Switzerland

Different and alternative views on St. Lazarus Order history

  • The Order of St Lazarus. A Short History
  • The Order of St Lazarus. Paris Obedience view for history
  • The Order of St Lazarus. Orleans Obedience view for history
  • Heraldry of the St Lazarus Order
  • The Order of St. Lazarus by Guy Stair Sainty
  • "Revived" Orders of Chivalry: the case of the Order of Saint Lazarus by François Velde
  • The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem from the book: Orders of Knighthood and Merit : The Pontifical, Religious and Secularised Catholic-founded Orders and their relationship to the Apostolic See by Peter Bander van Buren. (Gerrards Cross : Colin Smythe, 1995)

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Order_of_Saint_Lazarus". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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