Order Of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)

The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Latin: ''Ordo Militaris et Hospitalis Sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani'') is a Christian ecumenical fraternal order statuted in 1910 by a council of Catholics in Paris, France, initially under the protection of Patriarch Cyril VIII Jaha of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.de Jandriac. Les chevaliers Hospitaliers de Saint Lazare de Jerusalem et de Notre Dame de la Merci. Rivista Araldica, November 1913, XI(11):p.679–683 In the 1920s it expanded its jurisdiction enrolling members from other countries in Europe and in the Americas. It re-established the office of grand master in 1935 linking the office to members of the Spanish royal family. It assumed an ecumenical dimension in the 1950s to expand its membership to individuals of other Trinitarian Christian denominations in British Commonwealth countries.

Owing to an internal schism in 1969, the order became divided into two competing "obediences", known as the Malta Obedience and the Paris Obedience. In 2008, these rival obediences were reconciled and reunited into a single order once again, led by the late Grand Master Carlos Gereda y de Borbón, and with the spiritual protection of the (now former) Patriarch Gregorius III Laham of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Unfortunately, during the period of separation, the Paris Obedience had experienced further schisms, with the creation in 1995 of the United Grand Priories group of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus (led at that time by John Baron Dudley von Sydow von Hoff), and in 2004 of the Orléans Obedience (led at that time by Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans under the protection of Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris). The latter group then itself experienced schism in 2010, to create the Jerusalem Obedience, led by Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma.

Claims to regularity

The modern Order of Saint Lazarus claims to maintain the spirit and history of the medieval Order of Saint Lazarus and claims a historical continuity to the French branch of the medieval order through the 17th to 19th century Royal Military and Hospitaller Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united under the ''fons honorum'' of the Holy See until the publication of the Papal Bull ''De Equestribus Pontificus'' by Pope Pius X in 1905 which defined the future pontifical orders without formally abolishing any of the other previously extant orders. The promulgation of the 1905 bull led the Council of the Order of Saint Lazarus to re-organize itself and become secularized under the protection of the Melkite Patriarchy formally statuting these changes in 1910. The basis of the current Order of St Lazarus's origin, and the authority for its statuting in 1910, has attracted controversy.

In 1608/1609, the French branch of the medieval Order of St Lazarus was canonically linked with the newly pontifically created Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, forming the Royal Military and Hospitaller Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united under the patronage of the reigning French king. This administrative inter-relationship between these two orders, both under the ''fons honorum'' of the Holy See, was canonically recognised in 1668 by a bull issued by the Holy See legate for France, Cardinal Louis de Vendôme, and eventually by Pope Innocent XII in 1695. The united orders continued to enjoy royal favour until the turmoil of the French revolution (1789–1799) put an end to formal admission ceremonies to the Order of Saint Lazarus, though King Louis XVIII, previously grand master of the order admitted a number of knights while in exile. With the Bourbon Restoration, King Louis XVIII and his successor King Charles X both served as protectors of the order which continued to be function under the management of a council of officers.

In 1831, the order lost its royal protection but was not abolished, since being originally a papal-established order only the pope could exclusively abolish the order by a specific ''contrarius actus''. This has never been forthcoming and hence the regulations relating to the order fall under the precepts of canon law which allows for an order to become extinct 100 years after the deaths of its last member. The last living member admitted before the French Revolution died in 1856. Hence, according to canon law, the order would have only become extinct in 1956. It has been argued that this itself was sufficient to allow the existence of the order right through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Contemporary documentation confirms that the order was active philanthropically in the mid-nineteenth century in Haifa; while definite admissions were made in the late nineteenth century apparently by Pope Pius IX who used the award to reward his Zouaves supporters.

The historical events following the loss of French Royal patronage in 1830 can only be left to traditional history and conjecture. It is claimed that in the 1840s, the Council of Officers of the order sought patronage from the Melkite patriarchy. Tradition holds that this reorganization came in 1841 under the aegis of Francophile Melkite Patriarch Maximos III. The evidence for this, albeit quite plausible, is circumstantial due to the destruction of pertinent records during the 1860 Druze/Marionite Mount Lebanon conflagration and further ruination of Patriarchal papers at Al-Ain in the 1983 civil war. Nevertheless, a reorganization indisputably occurred under Patriarch Cyril VIII who became the order's protector for a while in 1911 as did later patriarchs——all safely before the canonical extinction year of 1957. The debate about the historicity of the 1841 Melkite protection is moot, as the Declaration of Kevelaer in 2012 issued by Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, the previous Melkite patriarch granting authority, confirms, by affidavit, the 1841 advent of the Melkite protection.

The 1910 reorganization is stated by the order to have been within the framework of the Roman Canonical continuation of the order (Canon 120 §1 and §2) which was never abolished by the Vatican. Consequently, St. Lazarus continued as a creature of canon law for 100 years after the death of the last knight admitted during the ''ancien regime'', the Marquis des Gouttes, who passed in 1857 assuring the order's continuation until 1957, arguably buying time to find a protector and to reorganize. It is relevant that no pope has ever ordered a Melkite patriarch to desist in this protection of the Order of St. Lazarus (which popes had previously done for other orders) and Peter van Duren emphasized that "only a papal interdict against the order of St. Lazarus or the Patriarch could have prevented him ny Patriarchfrom agreeing to become the spiritual Protector of the Order".Van Duren, Peter Bander. (1995). Orders of knighthood and of merit: the pontifical, religious and secularized Catholic-founded orders and their relationship to the Apostolic See. Gerrards Cross : Colin Smythe publishers A grand magistracy was re-established in 1935 with the appointment of Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre.

Notably, no matter if the modern establishment is to be attributed to 1841 under the patriarch, to 1910 under the council of officers, or to 1935 under the re-erected grand magistracy of Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre - whether considered laicized or not - the enact would arguably not strictly be contrary to canon law.

Present legal status

The Military & Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem has since its reunification striven to change its structure to suit the modern world organizing itself into a formal legal foundation to better function within the framework requirements demanded of associations and non-governmental organizations by the modern world. Since 2005, the order has operated as a registered company in the United Kingdom defined as an unincorporated or voluntary association constituted under the constitution adopted in 2006. In 2014, steps were undertaken to set up a private foundation to serve as a non-profit organization regulated by Spanish legal provisions. The International Hospitaller Foundation of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem serves to coordinate worldwide initiatives involving assistance, healthcare, attending the sick and needy, and promoting humanism and Christian values carried out by organizations of different nationalities under the banner of St Lazarus. To further ensure a legally-sound internationally functioning organization, the order has encouraged its various jurisdictions to ensure their legal status within the country they function and enter into a memorandum of association with the International Hospitaller Foundation.

International Commission on Order of Chivalry

The modern order is recognized by many ecclesial, royal, noble, princely and non reigning royal dignitaries. Nevertheless, private, self-appointed, non-governmental bodies such as the Académie Internationale d'Héraldique, International Academy of Genealogy, and the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry maintain that the modern Order of Saint Lazarus is only a revived self-styled order.

The International Commission on Orders of Chivalry (ICOC) does not include the MHOLJ on its ''Provisional List of Orders'' (2010) arguing that:

Accordingly, in France, the purported mother country of Saint Lazarus, the modern organization has been prohibited from using the designation ‘order’ and wearing chivalric insignia. Finally, the order was originally a religious foundation, established by papal bull and the grant of various privileges by successive popes, and the decision to allow the order to become extinct was not challenged by the Holy See which has repeatedly condemned the modern revival. Saint Lazarus, which thus cannot be considered an order of chivalry, carries out praiseworthy charitable, humanitarian activity producing numerous contributions to social works and therefore it might be included in a category of organisations inspired by chivalry.

Roman Catholic Church

The "condemnations" mentioned by the ICOC above were unofficially published in the ''L'Osservatore Romano'', possibly in contravention of canon law, as the MHOLJ existed as Canonical entity until 1956.

Although no longer a Roman Catholic order of knighthood, it is, in many nations and sub-national jurisdictions, by canon law, considered to be an association of the faithful. Such is the case, for example, with the order in the Czech Republic, Poland and France.

However the order's modern ecumenical structure today makes it extraneous to canon law, though since Second Vatican Council, in the spirit of promoting ecumenism, the Holy See has promoted the right of recognition to institutions that do not fall strictly under the precepts of canon law. The Holy See has repeatedly felt the need to clarify the fact that the Order of Saint Lazarus no longer falls under its jurisdiction. It is however pertinent to point out that the Holy See does not recognize any order but its own equestrian orders, or those under its protection (e.g., the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre). Consequently, even such undeniably ancient and legitimate house orders as the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George or the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, among very many others, are not formally recognized by the Vatican.

Internationally, the order's purpose is "care and assistance of the sick and the poor, and to the support and defense of the Christian faith and the traditions and principles of Christian chivalry." Some 5,000 members are divided under three grand magistries with strongly debated historical claims, yet carrying out "praiseworthy charitable, humanitarian activity". These widely lauded Hospitaller functions have led observers, like Augustan Society's Chivalry Committee chair Jean-Paul Gauthier de la Martiniere to declare that St. Lazarus is certainly "much more than a self-styled order."

In a note of clarification from the Secretariat of State, headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, the Holy See has made an official statement clarifying that it only recognizes its own orders:

Notwithstanding the controversy, ever since the statutes of 1910, a number of prominent Catholic prelates, including cardinals, have acted as chaplains in different positions of the order. The mainline united order enjoys as Spiritual Protector the Patriarch of Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Youssef Absi. On 27 May 2012, the previous Patriarch and Spiritual Protector of the order Gregory III Laham signed a declaration in Kevelaer, Germany, confirming the continuity of the order (under the now united Malta-Paris obedience) under the Patriarchs of Antioch since his predecessor Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum had accepted the role of Spiritual Protector of the order in 1841. Previously, Cardinal Basil Hume was a member of the order in England as is his successor Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell is a former national chaplain and member of the order in Australia. The present Ecclesiastical Grand Prior of the order is Archbishop Michele Pennisi EGCLJ, the Archbishop of Monreale, former Primate of Hungary, from 2004 to 2012. His successor was Cardinal Dominik Duka as Spiritual Protector and Chaplain General from 2012 to 2021. From August 2022, Spiritual Protector and Chaplain General of the Orléans obedience is Cardinal Antoine Kambanda.

In the Czech Republic bishop Frantisek prince Lobkowicz was spiritual prior until his death in 2022. In Poland bishop Jan Tyrawa is spiritual prior; and for the Grand Priory of Monaco Dominique Rey, bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, is the Prelate Grand Cross.

National legal authorities

In Spain, the order received recognition from the state through a number of legal documents, though this organisation is not listed in the Orders, decorations, and medals of Spain. Peter Van Duren further cites a formal Croatian government proclamation attesting that the order is "as an Order of Knighthood legitimately active in the sovereign territory of Croatia". The Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus has been recognized by the Hungarian Republic as an order of knighthood on 28 August 1993 (confirmed on 9 September 2008 and again on 5 July 2011 when the appointment of Countess Éva Nyáry (Malta-Paris obedience) as the new Head of the Representative Office of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem in Hungary was formally accepted).

The Orleans obedience enjoys perceived recognition as per a government communiqué and other cooperation efforts in and of Czech Republic.

Royal patronage

The King Juan Carlos I of Spain allowed his kinsmen Francisco de Borbón y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville and Carlos Gereda y de Borbón to accept the position of grand master of the order. King Felipe VI of Spain has allowed his kinsman Francisco de Borbón y Hardenberg to succeed Carlos Gereda y de Borbón.

The Orléans obedience claims the protection of Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris.Guy Stair Sainty, Rafal Heydel-Mankoo: World Orders of Knighthood and Merit, 2006, , vol. II, p.1859 In 2004, the count of Paris allowed his nephew Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou to take the position of 49th grand master of the order in the Orléans obedience. Following the schism within the Paris obedience in 2004 that led to the establishment of the Orléans obedience under Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou, Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris, head of the Orléanist branch of the House of Bourbon, re-established his temporal protection. In 2010, the prince resigned and since, the grand master of the Orléans obedience is Count Jan Dobrzenský z Dobrzenicz.

History

Proposed early history of 1830–1910

After 1830, the French foundation of the Order of Saint Lazarus allegedly continued under the governance of a Council of Officers.Bander van Duren, Peter (1995) ''Orders of Knighthood and of Merit-The Pontifical, Religious and Secularised Catholic-founded Orders and their relationship to the Apostolic See'', Buckinghamshire, ss. 495–513, XLV-XLVII

In 1841, according to later dated church authorities, the council of officers invited the Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church Maximos III Mazloum (1779–1855) to become spiritual protector of the order, thence re-establishing a tangible connection with the order's early roots in Jerusalem in the Holy Land.

Indications propose that members supported the rebuilding of the Mount Carmel Monastery in Haifa, Palestine, then under the responsibility of the Melkite Patriarch, while contemporary biographies indicate late 19th-century individuals as having been members of the Order of Saint Lazarus.

In the years that followed, according to the order's own accounts, new knights were admitted. These included admirals Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin and Louis Édouard Bouët-Willaumez (1853), comtes Louis François du Mesnil de Maricourt and Paul de Poudenx (1863), comte Jules Marie d'Anselme de Puisaye (1865), vicomte de Boisbaudry (1875), comte Jules Marie d'Anselme de Puisaye (1880 as a hospitaller while living in Tunisia), baron Yves de Constancin (1896), who was later to become commander of the Hospitaller Nobles of Saint Lazarus. The latter was also a knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and of Order of Saint Anna of Russia.

1910–1961

In 1910, a statute was promulgated by a Council of Officers composed of Catholics, subsequently including Paul Watrin, Anselme de la Puisaye, Alexandre Gallery de la Tremblaye, Charles Otzenberger-Detaille, as well as Polish Catholic priest John Tansky, among others. This statute explicitly placed the governance in the hands of the magistracy, whose decisions were sovereign and irrevocable, thus manifested as a laicised order, albeit with Patriarch Cyril VIII Jaha of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as confirmed protector.

The order continually attracted members from the French nobility. By the early 20th century, it was attracting knights from further afield, notably Spain and Poland.P. Bertrand de la Grassiere: L'Ordre militaire et hospitalier de Saint-Lazare de Jerusalem: Son histoire - son action. Peyronnet et Cle, Paris, 1960, +188p

In 1935, ''Don'' Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre, Duke of Seville, grand bailiff of the order in Spain and lieutenant-general of the grand magistracy since 1930, was appointed as grand master (allegedly authorised so by his cousin, King Alfonso XIII of Spain) – thus, according to the order's account, re-establishing the office, vacant since 1814 following the French Revolution. Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre remained grand master of the order from 1935 to 1952.

Since then, grand masters from the House of Bourbon have continued at the helm of the order, except for a short