Order of the Holy Cross

ORDINE DELLA SANTA CROCE. - Sull'origine dei Canonici Regolari della S. Croce non si

have certain information; however, it is commonly admitted that they were founded by Theodore of Celles, around 1210, near Huy in Belgium. The regular life, which began in the church of St. Theobald, was organized in 1248, when the statutes of the Fratres s. Crucis received canonical approval from Card. Pietro Capozzi, deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro, legate of Innocent IV in Belgium. From that time dates the propagation of the Order in Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, England.

The religious lived a life of asceticism and contemplation, with particular veneration for the Holy Cross and the Passion of Christ. Following a noticeable relaxation of the inner life, in 1410 the master general initiated an effective reform that brought the Order to great splendor and a marvelous flowering of works.

With the advent of Protestantism in England, under Henry VIII there was the suppression of the monasteries existing there; with the French Revolution those of France and Belgium were suppressed, and with Napoleon the flourishing provinces of the Rhineland also disappeared. Only two convents remained standing in Holland, where, however, until 1840, it was forbidden to receive new subjects.

The energetic government of the master general Henry van den Wijmelenberg, in the last century, led to a very promising rebirth, with a marked direction of active life according to the needs of the times. The Order today counts eight houses in Holland, five in Belgium, four in the United States, two in Brazil, and two apostolic vicariates in the Belgian Congo and in Bandung in Indonesia.

ORD. DELLA SANTA CROCE - ORD. DEL S.MO SALVATORE E DI S. BRIGIDA