Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to its official tradition, the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George is the oldest international Roman Catholic order of chivalry; in reality the early history is legendary and it actually emerged in the middle of the 16th century. It has an hereditary Grand Mastership which passed to the Infante D. Carlos of Bourbon & Farnese, later King Charles III of Spain, in 1731.

On 16 October 1759 Charles III abdicated the Grand Magistry to his second surviving son, Infante D. Ferdinand, to whom he had abdicated as King of the Two Sicilies ten days earlier. The position as XIth (and current) Grand Master is disputed between Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro^[1] and his cousin Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria.^[2] There are approximately 1,500 members of the Hispano-Neapolitan branch and 4,000 of the Franco-Neapolitan branch. The motto of the Order is In Hoc Signo Vinces and is dedicated to support of the Catholic Faith and Defence of its teachings. In addition to supporting a variety of charitable and humanitarian endeavours, the Hispano-Neapolitan branch celebrates regular Masses at its Churches in Rome, Palermo and Milan, and occasional Masses in London, Lisbon, and Paris. The Franco-Neapolitan branch does equally, in Rome in the Church of San Giorgio al Velabro, as well as in Naples, and other Italian cities, and in Westminster Cathedral in London, and other cities in Europe, and in Washington, USA.

[edit] History

The legendary origins of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George takes trace its origins to an apocryphal order founded by Constantine the Great.^[3] Its incorporation as a Religious Order of the Roman Catholic Church hereditary in the House of Farnese and its heirs the Bourbons dates from the transfer to Francesco Farnese in 1698 and the Bull "Militantis Ecclesiae" of 1718. In 1731 the Grand Magistery was inherited by the Infante D. Carlos de Borbon y Farnese (from 1759-88, Charles III of Spain), eldest son of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth of Parma, who also inherited the duchies of Parma and Piacenza from the Farnese. After becoming King of Naples and Sicily in 1734 he was forced to surrender Parma in 1736 to Austria while retaining the Constantinian Grand Magistery, whose administration was transferred from parma to Naples in 1768 . This dignity was never united with the Two Sicilies Crown but remained, in the words of Charles III 's son and successor, King Ferdinand IV and III of Naples and Sicily (from 1815 Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies), in a decree of 8 March 1796 "In his (the King's) royal person there exists together two very distinct qualities, the one of Monarch of the Two Sicilies, and the other of Grand Master of the illustrious, royal and military Constantinian order, which though united gloriously in the same person form nonetheless at the same time two separate independent Lordships". It was this independence that enabled the Order to survive the abolition of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860.

In 1910 Pope Pius X appointed the first of three successive Cardinal Protectors and, in 1913, approved a series of privileges for the chaplains of the Order. In 1915 Pope Benedict XV dedicated the Constantinian Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Croce al Flaminio, which had been built with donations from the knights, who included Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII. In 1916 the Pope restored the Church of Saint Anthony Abbot to the Order - this church had originally been given to the Constantinian Order along with the properties of the religious Order of that name in 1777 but had been put under the direction of the Archdiocese of Naples in 1861. In 1919 new statutes received Papal approval and Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi was appointed Cardinal Protector, the last to hold this post. Following the intervention of the Grand Magistery of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in 1924, whose Grand Master the King of Italy objected to the award of the Order to leading Italian noblemen, the Holy See felt the close relationship with Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta may prove an obstacle to settling the Roman question, it was therefore decided not to reappoint a successor to Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi who died in 1927.

The succession to the grand magistery of this Order has been disputed since 1960, and is rooted in different interpretations of the so-called Act of Cannes of 14 December 1900 in which the Count of Caserta's second son, Prince Carlo (grandfather of Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria), promised that he would renounce his succession to the Crown of the Two Sicilies in execution of the Pragmatic Decree of 1759. This decree required that if the King of Spain or his immediate heir inherited the Two Sicilies Crown he would renounce the latter to the next in line; it did not explicitly allow for a renunciation in any other circumstances. Nothing in this act was said of the Grand Magistry of the Constantinian Order which a few claim was an entirely separate dignity.

Spaniards and Italians who have been granted the Constantinian Order by Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria may apply for and will receive authorisation to wear the decorations of the Order. The Italian Government has authorised members of the Franco-Neapolitan branch, bestowed by Prince Ferdinand Maria, Duke of Castro, to wear the insignia in Italy.

The Franco-Neapolitan branch recently appointed Michele Cardinal Giordano, Archbishop Emeritus of Naples to the post of Grand Prior. The Grand Prior of the Hispano-Neapolitan branch is Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos.