THE IBERIAN MILITARY ORDERS
In Spain and Portugal the fight against the Moors who since the eighth
century had conquered large sections of the Iberian peninsula prompted
the founding of a considerable number of military religious orders. The
chief ones in Spain were the Order of Calatrava (founded in 1158 and
approved by Pope Alexander III in 1164) which absorbed the smaller
orders of Montjoie (1180) and Montfrac (1198), the Order of Alcantara
(1156), the Order of Santiago (1175) and the Order of Our Lady of
Monteza (1319). Those in Portugal were the Order of Saint Benedict of
Avis, previously known as the Order of the Knights of Evora (1146), the
short-lived Ala Order, so called after the wing of Archangel Michael,
and the Order of Christ (1318).[22]
They were all founded in the second half of the twelfth century, except
the Order of Christ and that of Monteza which originated more than a
century later. The origin of several of these institutions is identified
with the problem of finding a suitable garrison for frontier fortresses.
When a king had captured a Moorish stronghold, he would evidently look
around for some reliable soldiers to whom he could entrust his conquest.
For instance, after the Castilian kings Alphonso III and Sancho III had
conquered the Moorish fortress Calatrava in the Mancha, they entrusted
the defense of this citadel to the Cistercian Abbot Raymond of Fiteiro,
and soon numerous knights and soldiers rallied around the abbot for the
protection of this bastion against the Moors. Thus the Order of
Calatrava came into existence. The members took the rule and the habit
of Citeaux and elected a grand master in 1164. A few years later the
order severed connections with the Cistercians and was approved by
several Popes as an autonomous regular military order. As the Moors were
gradually forced back toward the south, the order changed headquarters
several times; one of its residences was Montsalvat which acquired some
fame in literature as the locale of many romances of chivalry. The
Orders of Avis and Alcantara were established for the same purpose as
that of Calatrava, namely the defense of the boundaries between Spain
and Moorish territory.
The origin of the Knights of Santiago or Saint James of Compostella was
slightly different. Compostella prided itself on possessing the body of
Saint James the Apostle, who, according to tradition, stayed for a while
in Spain to preach the gospel and consecrated the first Spanish bishops.
After the Apostle had been martyred in Jerusalem, his body was
transferred to Compostella, which for that reason ranked in the Middle
Ages as one of the most venerable shrines of Christendom, with an
importance surpassed only by Rome and Jerusalem. However, the numerous
pilgrims from all countries in Europe visiting the Apostle’s tomb in
this far corner of Galicia were often waylaid and robbed by brigands and
Moors. For that reason a number of Spanish knights banded together to
protect the pilgrims on the road to Compostella, and in 1175 this group
of pious soldiers was canonically approved as a religious military
order. The Knights of Santiago erected hospices and strongholds on the
Spanish side of the Pyrenees as did the Knights of St. John on the
French side. A fortified church erected by the Hospitallers at this time
and still in a stage of good repair may be seen at Luz-St. Sauveur near
Lourdes.
The origin of the Order of Christ and that of Monteza were quite
different from that of the other Iberian military orders, as we shall
see when we come to speak of the Pontifical Orders of Knighthood.
Although each of the Iberian military orders had, of course, its own,
often fascinating, history, the general development of these
institutions followed very much the same pattern. The knights lived in
their convents and castles ruled by their grand masters; they showed
great prowess in the wars against the Moorish invaders, and
simultaneously they rose to power and political influence, accumulating
immense wealth from the bounty of grateful kings and the pious faithful.
Sometimes one order of knighthood confronted another on the field of
battle, as happened when they took opposite sides in civil wars that so
frequently occurred on the peninsula. This continued until most of the
peninsula was under one rule through the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon
and Isabella of Castile. The reign of these two sovereigns, _los Reyes
Catolicos_, marked the end of the Moorish occupation, but at the same
time accounts for the decline of the religious military orders. After
the surrender of Granada in 1492—the year in which Columbus first sailed
westward from Palos—the Moors were definitely driven off the Iberian
Peninsula, but by the same token the military orders lost their very
_raison d’être_. The fact that the Portuguese Orders of Christ and of
Avis kept the military spirit alive for some time by sending out
expeditions to Africa to fight the Mohammedans in their own stronghold
altered but little the inevitable course of events. The religious
military orders on the Iberian Peninsula were doomed to die a slow
death.
Ferdinand the Catholic administered the first blow in 1482 by assuming
the grand mastership of all the Spanish military orders, with the
exception of the Order of Monteza. Although this seizure was,
canonically speaking, an infraction of the rights of the Church, the act
was legalized some decades later, when the Pope put the military orders
permanently under the Spanish crown. The Portuguese orders followed suit
in 1551, when the mastership was vested in the Crown of Portugal. The
only remaining independent order was that of Monteza which, however,
shared the same fate in 1587. Thus all the military orders of the
Iberian Peninsula lost their independence in the sixteenth century.
During the same century the religious nature of the orders greatly
changed. True, the knights still took the monastic vows, but these vows
came to have a rather indulgent interpretation. The vow of obedience
meant, of course, obedience to the Crown. The vow of poverty was in most
instances altered into a vow to lead an upright life (_conversio
morum_). And the vow of chastity was changed into that of matrimonial
chastity (_castitas conjugalis_). The knights were allowed to marry
once, but the vow implied that if they committed a sin of impurity, they
sinned not only against marriage but also against their vow. In the
Order of Alcantara the vow of chastity was replaced by a vow to defend
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.[23]
Although the kings had taken over the title, office and privileges of
grand master, the orders still enjoyed a sort of semi-autonomy, inasmuch
as their possessions still belonged theoretically to the orders as such.
But the ideas of the French Revolution in Portugal and the Napoleonic
occupation of Spain delivered the final blow to the rapidly expiring
military orders. They were completely secularized, and their properties
confiscated. The Restoration almost succeeded in degrading the once
proud knights of Calatrava, Santiago, Alcantara and Monteza to the role
of “carpet knights” and court ornaments. However, not quite. There is
still some difference between the military orders and the mere orders of
merit of the Spanish State as, for instance, that of the Order of Isabel
la Catolica. The organization of the Spanish military orders still
maintains a number of elements that bestow on them a distinctly
ecclesiastical flavor. (While describing the present status of the
Iberian military orders we have limited ourselves to the Spanish; the
Portuguese Order of Avis was suppressed by King Pedro in 1834 and the
present condition of the Order of Christ will be spoken of later).
In the first place, the candidates eligible to these orders must be
Catholic. An additional prerequisite, reminiscent of the original
objective of the orders, is that candidates must evidence that neither
Moors nor Jews are found among their forebears. The reception of the
“habit” is accompanied by a rather elaborate Church ceremonial according
to the ritual of each particular order. This investiture constitutes the
candidates novices of the order. Most of them remain novices throughout
their life, but a number of them take the religious vows—in the sense
explained above (_votum castitatis conjugalis_). These professed knights
have also the obligation of reciting some prayers daily, originally the
equivalent of the Divine Office. Before the pontificate of Pius XI the
professed knights were bound daily to say one hundred Paters, Aves and
Glorias. Since then, however, this obligation has been reduced to one
Pater, Ave and Gloria.
Another important link with the Church is the “Priory of the Military
Orders” which actually is a bishopric comprising more than half a
million Catholics. The establishment of the priory was intended to
compensate somewhat for the loss of property which the Military Orders
had suffered in consequence of the so-called _desamortización_ laws of
the prime minister, Juan Alvarez de Mendizabal. By a decree of Oct. 11,
1835, the latter suppressed most religious orders in Spain and
confiscated their properties. These laws also affected the military
orders, which had jurisdiction over a large number of abbeys, parishes,
monasteries and churches throughout Spain and enjoyed the revenues of
these properties. This infringement upon the rights of the Church was
rectified by a substitute compromise in the Concordat of 1851. The
Spanish province of Ciudad Real (19,741 square kilometers) is set apart
as a “coto redondo,” literally a rounded-off territory, known as the
Priory of the Military Orders. This priory is a “prelatura nullius,”
immediately dependent on the Holy See. The prior is titular bishop of
Dora, his official title being “Obispo Prior de los Ordenes Militares.”
This dignitary is appointed prior by the Spanish King in his capacity of
grand master, but the papal authority is required to elevate the
appointee to the episcopal dignity. The former jurisdictional rights of
the military orders are, so to say, grouped together in this diocese and
vested in the prior. The emoluments of the ecclesiastical properties in
the priory go to the diocese and the salaries of the bishop, canons,
pastors and other parish priests are paid by the Spanish government, in
the name of the grand master. The priests of the diocese of Ciudad Real
must belong to one of the four military orders—an arrangement which
reinstates the old division of the members of the orders into the
classes of knights and priests.
Recently, on Aug. 27, 1953, a new concordat was concluded between the
Holy See and Spain, and thus the status of the Priory of Ciudad Real was
reconfirmed.[24] Article VIII of the concordat reads as follows:
“Continuerà a sussistere a Ciudad Real il Priorato _Nullius_ degli
Ordini Militari.”
Since the office of Grand Master of the Military Orders, after the
abdication of the king in 1931, is in abeyance, the bishop-prior is the
acting head of the orders, inasmuch as he is the chairman of a
commission whose task it is to prepare a project of law designed to put
the orders on a more solid juridical basis. The military orders were
suppressed by the Red Government of 1931-1936, but were re-established
by the Franco regime. The task of this commission is to define with
greater precision the rights and privileges of the Spanish military
orders.
THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM
The origin of this order of knighthood (_Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulchri
Hierosolymitani_) is the subject of a great deal of controversy. There
is no doubt that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre originated in the
Holy Land and existed at the time of the Crusades or possibly even
earlier. There is no doubt either that for many years an order of
knighthood was in existence and called the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
For some time it was listed as a pontifical order of knighthood,
apparently because, off and on, the popes have been its grand masters,
but the _Annuario pontificio_ has ceased to list it as such since 1931,
when Pope Pius XI transferred the grand mastership to the Patriarch of
Jerusalem. However, the order as it presently exists is an
ecclesiastical order of knighthood; article 44 of its statutes,
published in 1949, clearly states that it “is strictly religious, both
in character and objective.” The problem is not only at what time it
originated as an order, but also what its status was; more particularly
whether it ever achieved the status of a religious military order, as
did the Templars or the Hospitallers.
Some writers believe that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre formed an
order which was founded even before the Crusades. In fact, they are of
the opinion that this order was the cradle from which all other
religious military orders in the Holy Land developed. This is the
position found amongst older authors and at present strenuously defended
in the monumental work of Guido A. Quarti.[25]
According to this author the prototype of the Knights of the Holy
Sepulchre is to be found in the “rabdophoroi,” macebearers, who are said
to have been attached to the church of the Holy Sepulchre from ancient
times to keep order during the ceremonies. These ushers were, according
to Quarti, “i primitivi cavalieri” of the Holy Sepulchre. They are
supposed to have formed a fraternity which was instituted when Saint
Helena, in the beginning of the fourth century, built the basilica of
the Sepulchre. Other authors go even farther back and point out that in
Jerusalem a confraternity of hermits existed to whom Pope Anaclet in 81
is said to have assigned the custody of Christ’s tomb. Some writers
attribute the foundation of this legendary society to the Apostle St.
James, first bishop of Jerusalem.[26]
This confraternity, then, is taken to be the forerunner of the Order of
the Holy Sepulchre. When in 451 the bishopric of Jerusalem was made a
patriarchate, the confraternity of custodians is believed to have been
transformed into a chapter of canons. Whatever the vicissitudes of this
chapter may have been throughout the succeeding centuries, we arrive at
some more solid historical data at the time of the first Crusade. After
Godfrey de Bouillon had captured the Holy City in 1099, a chapter of
canons was instituted in the basilica of the Sepulchre of our Redeemer.
Now, according to Quarti, this chapter was a religious military order,
the oldest of all such institutions.
This opinion is criticized by many authors, even though they admit that
the first knights of the Holy Sepulchre appeared during the reign of
Godfrey. They concede that at the time of the Crusades there was a
chapter of canons attached to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem. But they find no proof that this chapter formed a religious
order, let alone a military order. The most that can be said is that it
acted in some respects like the orders of St. John or the Temple,
inasmuch as it received ample donations in the form of manors, farms,
fishing rights and the like, not only in Palestine, but also in many
parts of Europe. And like the military orders, the chapter of the Holy
Sepulchre established priories in many lands to administer the estates
it had received.
The most famous of these donations was the bequest made by King Alfonso
of Aragon, who willed in 1134 that his kingdom be equally divided among
the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre.
The three organizations wisely ceded their rights to Ramon Berenguer IV,
Count of Barcelona. But the event had an intriguing juridical angle,
because it made it possible for the “Order” of the Holy Sepulchre to
claim at a later date the title of “sovereign order.” For—so it was
argued—the chapter of the Holy Sepulchre was by right the partial
sovereign of the kingdom of Aragon until the disputes concerning this
legacy were settled; and by ceding its rights to the count, the chapter
had acted as a sovereign power.
On the other hand it is admitted that the Crusades gave rise to the
existence of knights who, being knighted at the Holy Sepulchre, were
called after it. During the Crusades, before or after battle, hundreds
of soldiers were dubbed knights, and it was only natural that these
soldiers who came to fight in Palestine for Christ’s sake were eager to
receive the knighthood in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, right at the
tomb where the body of Christ rested for three days. This may have been
the case during the first Crusade when Godfrey de Bouillon assumed the
title of Defender of the Holy Sepulchre; in fact, legend has it that
Godfrey created twenty knights of the Holy Sepulchre. It is also
possible that the soldiers knighted at the tomb of the Saviour assumed a
special distinction which at first may have consisted of the
patriarchical cross with double bar and after the fall of Acre in 1291
assumed the form of the five-fold cross which still is the symbol of the
Knights of the Sepulchre. Wearing the same badge, some knights may have
banded together in groups and fought side by side on the principle of
brotherhood in arms.
However, it is extremely doubtful that these knights formed an order,
like that of the Order of Saint John, for the records make no mention of
monastic vows, rule, community life, community of goods, or regular
organization. It is equally doubtful that the knights formed a secular
brotherhood in arms, but granted that they did, the fraternity had no
permanent organization.
Like most other knights, when these knights of the Holy Sepulchre had
completed their service in the Holy Land they went back home to Europe.
And like all other knights—with the exception only of those of Saint
John—after the fall of Acre they left the Orient for good. Back in
Europe some knights of the Holy Sepulchre may have retired into
monasteries, as many a battle-weary knight did, perhaps to fulfill a
vow. Small groups of knights belonging to the same district may have
founded convents. As a matter of fact, mention is made of several
religious communities of the Holy Sepulchre in Spain, Belgium, France,
Germany, Poland and elsewhere. But it is here that the critics insist
that such communities were not formed by knights, like those of the
Templars and the Knights of Saint John, but by canons and even by
canonesses. These communities were probably independent of one another,
like Benedictine abbeys, but it could be expected that they would be
designated as belonging to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. It would
follow also that, conformable to the customs of the time and under the
influence of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre who naturally would take
an interest in those convents, the epithet “military” was added to the
term “order.” Such seems precisely to have happened, for one of the
first, or at least one of the most famous of these institutions,
established at Saragosa in 1276 and occupied by women, came to bear the
sonorous title: “Real Monastero de Canonesas Comendadores de la Orden
Militar del Santo Sepulcro”—The Royal Monastery of the
Canonesses-Commanders of the Military Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries
the monasteries and convents of the Holy Sepulchre seemed to have passed
through a crisis. Pope Innocent VIII issued the bull _Cum sollerti
meditatione_ on March 28, 1489, whereby all the members of the order and
its possessions were incorporated in the Order of Saint John, and the
latter’s grand master still bears the title of the Master of the Order
of the Holy Sepulchre. But many of those concerned objected; they stayed
the execution of the decree until the pope died, and remonstrated with
his successor, Alexander VI. Alexander, in a bull of Aug. 13, 1496,
declared himself grand master of the order, but by then it was an empty
title, because the order soon dissolved into several groups. Emperor
Maximilian obtained from Alexander in 1497 the independence of the
houses of the Holy Sepulchre and made the prior of Miechow the master
general; the king of Spain was the recipient of the same favor from Leo
X in 1512; and the Duke of Nevers became the head of the French group.
In this way the Order of the Holy Sepulchre came to be divided into
three national branches, each closely connected with the ruling dynasty.
Besides, there were still the individual knights of the Holy Sepulchre
who did not form a homogeneous group, but who more than anyone else
could lay claim to that title, inasmuch as they had been knighted at the
tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. The old custom may have been interrupted
for some time after the Christians evacuated the Holy Land, but was
restored by the Franciscans to whom was committed the care of the Holy
Land. They had arrived in Palestine around 1230; after the Christian
armies left they managed as best they could despite opposition and
persecution, and Pope Clement VI in 1342 made them the official
custodians of the Holy Land. In that capacity they formed in a certain
way the continuation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. And like the
kings of Jerusalem, the superior of the Franciscans who bore the title
of “Custos” continued the old tradition of bestowing the knighthood in
the church of the Holy Sepulchre. But this time the people who received
the honor were not soldiers but rather pilgrims of noble birth—and at
times of not so noble birth—who had made substantial donations to the
holy places. Pope Leo X confirmed the right of the superior of the
Franciscans to continue this practice. About the same time one more
grand master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre entered upon the stage,
inasmuch as the custos assumed the title, and various popes acknowledged
its use. However, the custos who was to bestow the honor ran into
difficulties, historical as well as canonical. In the first place, there
was the age-old tradition according to which a knight could be created
only by a knight. Besides, the dubbing to knighthood involved the use of
a sword, but the custos being a priest was forbidden by canon law to
carry a sword. The usual procedure, therefore, was that the priest would
give the various blessings, and one or another knight, often enough at
hand among the crowd of pilgrims, would carry out the dubbing with the
sword. Thus history records that a certain German count, who in
Jerusalem joined the Third Order of St. Francis and was hence known as
Brother John of Prussia, conducted the ceremonies of conferring
knighthood from 1478 to 1498. But in case no such knightly assistance
was available there was little else left for the priest to do but carry
out the sword ceremonial himself. And here the office of grand master,
being vested in the custos, provided a convenient excuse to circumvent
the canonical irregularity involved in that act.
The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre enjoyed many privileges, some of which
were of a rather peculiar character. They had precedence over the
members of all orders of knighthood, except those of the Golden Fleece;
they could create notaries public, legitimize bastards, and change a
name given in baptism; they were empowered to pardon prisoners whom they
happened to meet while the prisoners were on their way to the scaffold;
they were allowed to possess goods belonging to the Church, even though
they were laymen. In view of such privileges it is not surprising that
many aspired to the honor of becoming Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The
good Franciscan friars in Jerusalem, too, seem to have made a rather
generous use of their power to confer knighthood.
The history of the order in the last century was not less involved than
in the preceding centuries, especially with regard to the grand
mastership which shifted time and again. When in 1847 Pope Pius IX
re-established the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, he transferred the
office of grand master from the custos of the Franciscans to the
patriarch who from now on possessed the exclusive right of conferring
the knighthood. In 1868 the same pope approved new statutes whereby for
the first time membership was divided into three classes: knights grand
cross, commanders, plain knights, and stipulated the admission fee
according to rank. These contributions were used to defray the expenses
of the seminary and the outlying missions of the patriarchate. Because
this arrangement involved a financial loss for the basilica of the Holy
Sepulchre which up to this time had received the stipends connected with
the enrollment of the knights, Pope Leo XIII founded a cross of honor
which was not intended to confer knighthood but was rather a mark of
distinction bestowed on the pilgrim who visited Jerusalem. This cross
extended to three classes: gold, silver and bronze, and the revenues
derived from it went to the treasury of the basilica. In 1888, the same
pope also approved the establishment of a female branch of the order,
known as the “Dames of the Holy Sepulchre.”
Pope St. Pius X in a letter of May 3, 1907[27] took upon himself the
grand mastership, but delegated the patriarch as his lieutenant who, in
the name of the Holy Father, could appoint the knights. He was also
given the right to erect chapters in various countries. St. Pius X also
unified the use of uniforms and decorations. He gave the knights the
right to wear a mantle of white wool with the red five-fold cross
attached on the left-hand side. In view of the old claim that the order
was a military institution, the pope gave the knights permission to wear
the cross of the order suspended from a military trophy. In the case of
the ladies, the emblem was to be worn hanging from a golden loop.
The office of grand master continued to be vested in the Holy See until
1928, when Pius XI again appointed the patriarch of Jerusalem as “rector
et administrator.”
A complete reorganization of the order was made by Pope Pius XII. By
apostolic letter of July 16, 1940, he appointed a cardinal as the
“Patronus seu Protector” of the order. In a _Motu proprio_ of Aug. 15,
1945, he assigned the Church and the monastery of St. Onophrius in Rome
as the Order’s official center. Finally, by Apostolic Letter _Quam
Romani Pontifices_ of Sept. 14, 1949, the pope promulgated complete new
statutes for the Order.[28] If, up to that date, more and more the order
had assumed the character of an order of merit, this new constitution
gives it explicitly a definite purpose. The objective is “to revive in
modern form the spirit and ideal of the Crusades, with the weapons of
the faith, the apostolate, and christian charity.” More specifically the
purpose consists in “the preservation and the propagation of the faith
in Palestine, assistance to and development of the missions of the Latin
patriarchate of Jerusalem, providing for its charitable, cultural and
social undertakings and the defense of the rights of the Catholic church
in the Holy Land, the cradle of the order.”
The order, as a “juridical person,” is placed under the protection of
the Supreme Pontiff who appoints a cardinal as the grand master. The
order consists of five classes. The first—and very exclusive—class
consists of the “Knights of the Collar,” numbering no more than twelve
persons. In addition this same degree belongs by right to the grand
master, the cardinal secretary of his Holiness, the cardinal secretary
of the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental church and the Latin
patriarch of Jerusalem. Besides this special class there are four
degrees, both for knights and ladies: grand cross, commanders with
plaque (grand officers), commanders and knights.
The distinctive emblem, in its more or less elaborate forms according to
the various ranks, is the five-double cross which in the present
document is constantly designated as the cross of Godfrey of
Bouillon.[29]
Besides conferring knighthood, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre grants
three honorary decorations as marks of distinction: the “Palm of the
order,” “the Cross of Merit” which can also be bestowed on
non-Catholics, and the “Pilgrim’s Shell” which is given to those knights
and dames of the order who visit the Holy Land.
The creation of knights and dames of the order is reserved to the
cardinal grand master who transmits the diploma to the secretariate of
state of His Holiness for the visa and the seal. The patriarch of
Jerusalem, who is the grand prior of the order, has also the right of
nomination, but this right is limited to the canons of the basilica of
the Holy Sepulchre and persons residing in the territory of the
patriarchate. Moreover, the patriarch must notify the grand master of
these nominations and the latter then grants the diploma.
The order is divided into several chapters; in the United States there
are two lieutenancies.
The religious character of the knightly order of the Holy Sepulchre
comes to the fore not only in the description of its objective and the
required qualifications of its members, but also in the ceremonial
investiture of the newly elected knights which was approved by the
Congregation of Sacred Rites, Aug. 24, 1945. This ceremony combines a
profession of faith with the ancient ritual used for the dubbing of
knighthood. The candidates do not take monastic vows but promise to live
an upright Christian life in accordance with the commandments of God and
the precepts of the Church, in absolute fealty to the Supreme Pontiff,
as true soldiers of Christ.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD