CROCIGERI OF THE RED STAR. - Religious order of Canons Regular that traces its origin to the Confraternity charged with the care of the poor in the hospital attached to the monastery of St. Francis of the Poor Clares of Prague, founded in 1233 by Blessed Agnes of Bohemia, daughter of King Ottokar. The hospital was endowed with rich bequests by Queen Constance and confirmed by Gregory IX with two bulls of 18 May 1235, one addressed to the abbess Agnes and the nuns, the other to the "rector and brothers of the hospital." It remained under the dependence of Agnes until the same Gregory IX, at the request of the abbess, with the bull Omnipotens Deus of 14 April 1237 transformed the Confraternity into a religious Order under the jurisdiction of the Holy See and gave it the hospital with all its goods.
The new Order conformed to the Rule of St. Augustine, adopted a red cross with six points, and had the care of the poor and of pilgrims. At first the C. were laymen, but later there were those who received the sacred orders and had care of souls. In a short time they took on ample development, and popes and kings enriched them with many privileges. At the time of the Hussite revolts the Order was almost destroyed, and there remained to it only the hospital with the church of St. Francis; but, once the storm had passed, it returned to its former splendor. During the Swedish invasion the C. placed themselves at the head of the people and shared their bread with the soldiers. When the archiepiscopal Curia of Prague was stripped of its goods, from 1561 to 1694, they supplied the archbishop with everything necessary, also because often the archbishop was the grand master of the Order. Today the religious are little more than 70, for the most part professed.
Bibliography
Silverio Mattei