Pontifical Equestrian Orders

PONTIFICAL EQUESTRIAN ORDERS. - These are the corporations instituted by the Roman pontiffs in order to reward persons of merit for services rendered to the Church (cf. Pius X, preamble to the brief Multum ad excitandos of 7 February 1905: Acta S. Sedis, 37 [1904-1905], pp. 565-71); they are five in number, namely:

I. SUPREME ORDER OF CHRIST (MILITIA OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST)

The institution of this pre-eminent pontifical decoration (not to be confused with the "Militia of Christ" founded by St. Dominic) is connected with the suppression of the Order of the Templars, when the sovereigns of Portugal, Denis I and St. Elizabeth, resolved in 1318 to replace it in their kingdom with a knightly Order, under the name of Christ, for the defense against the Moors, who were already pressing upon the borders of the Algarve. From Avignon, with the constitution Ad ea, ex quibus of 14 March 1319 (cf. Bullarium Romanum, IV, Rome 1644, pp. 277-84), John XXII confirmed it and established its rules, which were thereafter those of the Cistercians; he further provided that the new Militia of Jesus Christ should follow the same observances as the Order of Calatrava, and granted new properties in addition to those which "Ordo quondam Templi" possessed in Portugal and the Algarve. The new Order developed, extending in a short time also into Spain, France, Italy and Germany.

Eugene IV later had to settle certain jurisdictional disputes, further limiting by a bull of his the jurisdiction of the visitors and authorizing the knights to exact tithes on territories conquered from the Muslims; Callistus III invested the Order also with spiritual jurisdiction, with the right to confer benefices in the places dependent upon it. In 1499 Alexander VI, and then Julius II, freed the knights from solemn vows, granting them permission to marry. The Order thus came to lose its original character, becoming in this way a simple knightly order, which recognized the pontiff as its head, who was represented in Portugal by a perpetual administrator in the person of the Portuguese sovereigns themselves, upon whom there consequently fell the oath, according to a specific formula, of fidelity to the popes and to the Church of Rome. Others, on the other hand, maintained the duality of the Order, that is, the coexistence of a pontifical order and a Portuguese one, because it is certain that the Order of Christ was conferred both by the pontiffs and by the sovereigns of Portugal; and while the Portuguese knights were numerous, the pontiffs, on the contrary, were accustomed to grant such a decoration only to personages of elevated rank, whereby there has remained with the Order that high prestige which today makes it the greatest pontifical decoration. Such pre-eminence over all the other pontifical equestrian Orders was explicitly declared by Pius X in the brief Multum ad excitandois; the Pope further provided that the distinctive insignia of this Order should consist of a Latin cross of red enamel with a smaller white cross superimposed upon it, and should hang from the neck, attached, rather than to a red silk ribbon as before, to a gold chain, formed of alternating small shields, one bearing in enamel the cross of the Order, the other the pontifical coat of arms, joined to one another with gold knots; he at the same time made further modifications to the uniform and to the plaque, within which the cross was framed by a crown of gold laurel, tied at the bottom with a ribbon of red enamel.

The Supreme Order of Christ is of a single class, reserved to heads of state and to sovereign princes, for which reason it carries with it, unlike other supreme Orders, no special noble prerogative. At present, according to the Annuario pontificio for 1951, the recipients of this Order number eight.

II. ORDER OF THE GOLDEN SPUR (AURATA MILITIA)

The origin of this Order, reformed by Gregory XVI (brief Cum hominum mentes of 31 Oct. 1841: Acta Gregorii PP. XVI, III, Rome 1903, pp. 178-80), is uncertain. The Order was always invested with special privileges, such as the personal title of count palatine for the recipient and hereditary nobility for his descendants, granted already by Pius IV. But, beginning with Paul III in 1539, the privilege of being able to confer the Order was granted to high dignitaries of the pontifical court and to certain princely Roman families; this debased its prestige and brought about an excessive crowding of its ranks. Gregory XVI raised its fortunes again, and in 1841, with the aforementioned brief, he dedicated the Order to St. Sylvester, pope (who according to tradition had consecrated it), while nevertheless leaving it its ancient name of Milizia Aurata; he established that it should be composed of two classes, one of commanders and the other of knights, fixed their number, for the Pontifical State, at 150 and 300 respectively; established its exact insignia and reserved its conferral exclusively to the Holy See, revoking any delegation made by his predecessors.

A substantial modification was finally made to the Order of the Golden Spur by Pius X with the brief of 7 Feb. 1905, by which it was detached from the Order of St. Sylvester (v. below) and returned to forming a separate Order. Having placed it under the patronage of the Virgin Immaculate, Pius X wished it to be composed of a single class of one hundred knights, in the whole Catholic world, furthermore abolishing every privilege of nobility previously attached to it.

The Order is conferred on those who with arms, with writings and with distinguished works have benefited Catholicism, and it has as its insignia a golden octagonal cross with yellow enamel and with the golden spur hanging from it, bearing on the front a small white plaque with the name of Mary, enclosed in a small golden circle, and on the reverse the indication of the year MDCCCCV with the motto « Pius X restituit ». This cross is worn hanging from a red ribbon with white edges, looped around the neck. According to the Annunzio pontificio for the year 1951, the recipients of the Order of the Golden Spur are now thirteen.

III. ORDINE PIANO

Intended to reward individual virtues and merits, this Order was instituted by Pius IX with the brief Romanis Pontificibus of 17 June 1847 (cf. Pii P. M. IX Acta, I, 1, Rome 1854, pp. 43-45); and he called it Pian from his own name, at the same time reviving the ancient designation of the Pian knights instituted in 1559 by Pius IV. The Order comprised two categories of members, namely knights of the first and of the second class: the former enjoyed the privilege of nobility transmissible also to their children, and the latter only personal nobility. The insignia of the Order remained fixed as a gold star divided into eight blue rays, bearing at its front center a small white plaque inscribed with the name of the founding pope, Pius IX, surrounded by the motto Virtuti et merito, and on the reverse: Anno MDCCCXLVII.

By the knights of the first class, who could also adorn themselves, upon special authorization, with the plaque, the insignia was worn suspended from the neck, attached to a blue silk ribbon adorned at its edges with a double red stripe, while the knights of the second class pinned it to the left side of the chest. With a subsequent brief Cum hominum mentes of 17 June 1849, Pius IX confirmed the privileges of nobility attached to this Order, granted to all knights of the first class the use of the plaque, and established that for them the insignia was to be worn no longer suspended from the neck, but supported as a baldric from the right shoulder, by means of a long silk sash. Finally, with a decree of 11 Nov. 1856, In ipso, Pius IX established that the Order should consist of three categories: knights of the first class or grand cross, knights of the second class or commanders, and knights of the third class, further establishing that commanders should wear the insignia hung from the neck.

Pius X, with the brief Multum ad excitando, cited above, confirmed the practice that had come into use among certain commanders of adorning themselves with a plaque of smaller dimensions, whereby an intermediate grade came to be constituted, called that of commanders with plaque. Finally Pius XII, in order to bring the "Pian" into line with the other pontifical Orders, by the brief Litteris suis of 11 Nov. 1939 (cf. AAS, 32 [1940], p. 41), abolished the privilege of hereditary and personal nobility attached respectively to the first two grades of this Order, which nevertheless remains the third in importance among the decorations conferred by the pontiffs.

IV. ORDER OF ST. GREGORY THE GREAT

In 1831, Gregory XVI wished to demonstrate immediately his own gratitude to his subjects, who had been loyal during the preceding turmoils, by instituting a new knightly Order, which he dedicated to St. Gregory the Great. The relative insignia of the Order were established by the brief Quod summis quibusque of 1 September 1831, in a cross worked in gold in an octagonal shape and in red enamel on the surface, in the middle of which, as on a small plaque, the image of St. Gregory the Great with the golden dove was to be seen finely chiseled, surrounded by the inscription S. Gregorius Magnus; on the reverse, on a dark blue background, one reads the motto pro Deo et principe and, in a golden circle, the inscription Gregorius XVI P. M. Anno I. The Order was divided into four categories, namely "grand cross" knights of the first and second class, commanders, and simple knights. The "grand cross" knights were to wear the insignia supported by a large sash of red silk, edged in yellow, worn crosswise from the right shoulder to the left hip; these could also adorn their breast with another cross of larger size ornamented with rays and gems. The second-class knights, on the other hand, hung the insignia from the neck and wore the grand cross in the manner of a plaque on the breast; the commanders likewise wore it hung from the neck, but without the plaque; the simple knights wore only a small cross hanging on the left side of the breast. By a subsequent brief of 30 May 1854, Cum amplissima bonorum, the same Gregory XVI reduced the categories to three, so that there were only grand cross knights, commanders, and knights, and he established that for the Papal State the first should not exceed 30, the second 70, and the third 300. The Order comprised two classes, one civil and one military, which were distinguished respectively by the laurel wreath in green enamel bound at the bottom by a golden ribbon and by a trophy of arms in gold surmounting the cross. Pius IX provided a uniform for the recipients, and Pius X, by the brief already cited, confirmed the previous provisions.

V. ORDER OF ST. SYLVESTER POPE

Under this additional title Gregory XVI had revived in 1841 the ancient Order of the Golden Spur (v. n. II), which had declined from its former splendor, making of it almost a new Order, composed of only two classes. Pius X, with the brief Multum ad excitando of 7 February 1905, detached from the Golden Militia the Order of St. Sylvester, which remained divided, on the model of the Order of Pius and that of St. Gregory the Great, into three grades: knights grand cross, commanders and knights. The form of the insignia nevertheless remained the same, except that for the Order of St. Sylvester Pope, placed last among the pontifical decorations, it was deprived of the golden spur hanging below, being also enameled in white and presenting at the center, on the front, the image, with the name written around it, of Pope St. Sylvester, and on the back the papal coat of arms, and stamped in gold within a small blue circle the two dates of the Gregorian restoration and the Pian reform, MDCCCXLI-MDCCCCV.

This insignia is worn by knights grand cross on the left side, supported by a long sash of red and black silk with red borders; by commanders, hanging from a ribbon of the same colors worn around the neck; and by simple knights, hanging instead on the left side of the chest. The plaque of the Order, formed by the cross itself superimposed on the rays of a silver star, is exclusive to the first class, although a similar one, but of smaller proportions, may exceptionally be granted to those commanders who have distinguished themselves by particular merits.

The use of pontifical honors is authorized in Italy, by means of registration of the brief of appointment, which is carried out upon presentation of the brief itself and a written request by the interested party (art. 42 of the Concordat and R. D. 10 July 1930, n. 974).

Niccolò Del Re