Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
A Vatican Run Operation
History
The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.
Very soon after, the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands.
The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem has always benefited from the protection of the Popes who, over the centuries, have reorganized it, augmenting and enriching its privileges. Clement VI entrusted custody of the Holy Sepulchre to the Franciscan friars in 1342, but that was still during an era when Knights alone had the right to create other members of the Order. Alexander VI declared himself the supreme moderator of the Order in 1496, and delegated to the Franciscans the power to bestow a knighthood upon nobles and gentlemen pilgrims on pilgrimage to the Holy Land (power of investiture). Confirmation of this Franciscan privilege, either verbally or by papal Bull, was renewed by Pope Leo X in 1516, by Benedict XIV in 1746, until the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by Pius IX in 1847.
Thus the pontifical delegation was transferred to the Patriarch when, in 1868, Pius IX issued Apostolic letters announcing the restoration of the Order. The Order of Knights opened up with the appointment of the Dames of the Holy Sepulcher thanks to Leo XIII, in 1888. Moreover, in 1907 Pius X decided that the title of Grand Master of the Order would be reserved to the Pope himself.
The darkest period of the Order's history began shortly after the pontificate of Alexander VI, when little is recorded of its work or activity. Throughout this prolonged era, with the blessing of the Holy See, the Franciscans of the Holy Land continued to welcome into the Order, under the emblem of the red Jerusalem cross, men of great faith and strength of character always willing to defend the faith, even to the shedding of their blood, and to death when necessary.
It Was not until 1847, after four hundred years of vacancy, that the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored and, with it, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre rose from its dormancy, from a period of occasional growth to its revitalization under the pontificate of Pope Pius IX. The ecclesiastical superior of the Order was then vested in the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who eventually assumed the title Grand Prior. The office of Grand Master still remained vested in the papacy.
In keeping with the customs of the royal houses of Europe prevalent at that time, Pius IX undertook a restructuring of all papal honors, which included the restructuring of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre so that it was more closely linked to the papacy and more formalized and uniform in structure. For twenty years, from 1847 to 1867, Pius IX fostered the growth of the Order throughout Europe. He removed the requirement that a knight be invested in Jerusalem. He also encouraged a structure to form, with both an ecclesiastical and jurisdictional hierarchy, so that investiture and other works of the Order could take place throughout the world.
Continuing to care for the rebirth of the Order, Pius IX, in 1868, redefined the new classes or ranks of membership in the Order, that of Grand Cross, Commander, and Knight. In 1888, Leo XIII permitted the Holy Sepulchre to confer membership upon ladies of 'society and noble birth,' the first international order so to do. Ladies were welcome in each of the classes of membership without prejudice. Actually, the first female member was the Contessa Maria Francesca di Tomas, who received the rank of Grand Cross in 1871, predating the 'official' welcome of female members by seventeen years.
In an attempt to assert its own unique identity in the world, the membership of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre petitioned the Holy Father (Pius XI) to nullify the terms identifying the Order as military and sacred, seeking a conferred sovereign status. The Holy See was neither prepared nor capable of doing so, as the Order did not enjoy diplomatic sovereign status. Agreeing that the appellation 'sacred and military' was commonly used by chivalric societies not closely linked to the Holy See, Pius XI conferred in their place the appellation 'equestrian.' At present, the full title of the Order remains The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
In 1932 Pius XI approved the new Constitution and permitted Knights and Dames to receive their investiture in their places of origin and not only in Jerusalem. In 1940, Pius XII named a cardinal as Protector of the Order and centralized the organization in Rome, as part of the Grand Magisterium, transferring the title of Grand Master to Cardinal Canali. John XXIII approved the new Constitution presented by Cardinal Tisserant in 1962.
With the renewal of the Second Vatican Council, a new Constitution was approved by Paul VI in 1977. Following this, John Paul II made the Order a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See. Today the Order seeks to garner the commitment of its members in local churches hopeful for their sanctification. This is the essential and profound reason that motivated the revision of the Constitution during the "Consulta" that took place in 2013.
Size of Order
Today there are more than 25,000 members worldwide organised into 52 Lieutenancies, 24 in Europe, 15 in North America, 5 in South America and 6 in Australia and the Far East. In Australia Lieutenancies exist in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia Victoria and Western Australia. The Lieutenancy in New South Wales was established in 1995.
Old Motto
Member Organizations
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Lieutenency of England & Whales Archive
Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Archive
Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Vatican Archive Old Archive
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre
of Jerusalem - Southeastern Lieutenancy of the United States of America Archive