Bishop Kevin Vann will serve as Honorary Chair of the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Western Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem taking place Sept. 27 to Oct. 1. More than 600 Knights, Ladies and Clergy from the Diocese of Orange will attend the event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Garden Grove. The theme of the annual meeting, “Pilgrims Together,” is fitting as members of the Western Lieutenancy will come from Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Phoenix, Tucson and Utah areas.
History of the order
The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade in 1099, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. He founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre as he sought to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the newly freed territories. In 1103, the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of the Order, appointing crusaders who vowed to obey the Augustinian Rules of poverty and obedience under the command of the King of Jerusalem and to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Land to the Order. The Order ceased to exist as a military body of knights after 1291, although it continued to survive in the European priories, keeping alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, and charity toward others.
In 1847 Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new constitution that placed it under the protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role of upholding the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, while preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith was defined.
In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Headquartered in Rome, the Order is a Public Association of the faithful constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law. Today over 30,000 Knights, Ladies, and Clergy from around the world support the Order’s mission through various ministries and good works.
Good works of the order
The EOHSJ is the only lay institution of the Vatican State charged with the task of providing for the needs of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 2017 the Order provided financial support amounting to 87 percent of its budget. Funds were used to support students in 40 schools; to build new churches, convents, and rectories; to assist with parish renovations; to support orphans, the elderly and the sick; to sponsor seminarians; and to provide micro loans to Catholic Palestinian small businesses. Members of the Order are encouraged to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land and earn the Pilgrim Shell, the highest recognition of the Order. Throughout the year, members participate in monthly rosaries, Lenten retreats, Days of Recollection, Order feast day celebrations, interfaith educational events, Eastern Rite Catholic celebrations, midyear and annual meetings, and special projects in the Holy Land.
Full story at OC Catholic.
I find this group, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Malta, and similar organizations to be anachronisms. They obviously do good charitable work, and I’m not knocking that at all. Their costumes and regalia and titles “Grand Knight of the Third Order” or whatever… it seems rather silly in today’s world… a throwback to an era that’s no longer relevant. I mean, look at the picture. Who today would take people dressed like that seriously or want to join a group like that? Middle-aged grownups playing dress-up like they’re some sort of royalty and having an exclusive club where they strive for meaningless, higher-ranking, pretentious titles. Silly.
I’d say the regalia the titles and rituals (you missed those) are more important today than they ever were. In the cultural zeitgeist that exists today, there is no transcendent let alone sacred elements. Nothing material points to the holy and devine, only to gratification and validation of humans, which is a disordered inversion of the world. These organization boldly and unapologetically contradict that grave error. Their regalia is directed at the Kingship of Jesus Christ and they are merely part of His court. Plus they give enormous amounts of money sacrificially for acts of charity by the Church. Your dismissive point of view reflect a very secular and material worldliness. There is more to “stuff” than meets the eye.
I suppose you are also bitter lemons about chosen attire and behavior at most proms, graduations, courts of law and weddings? Certainly calling a judge “Your Honor” or a cardinal, “Your Eminence” is also archaic and equally silly. I bet you even find a bunch of women wearing crazy hats and loud outfits for the Kentucky Derby offensive. What’s wrong with it? It’s just human spirit to get dressed up once in a while.
BTW, you should probably do a little research on the Knight of HS and KM and KC before sounding off about playing “dress up”.
Amen Kate. Also, guessing by name you are female, you may not be able to join unless your husband sponsors you.
Say, for a round number, a member’s ‘full dress’ outfit cost $1,000, how many meals for the hungry would that pay for? What is the greater glory of God?
Mike M. This is simply not true. Females may freely join the Order of the HS and Order of Malta as dames…on their own dime. As to the expense of a one time uniform, it strikes me that you have zero idea of what these orders actually do for the Catholic Church and society in general, including donating millions to hospitals,refugee camps, the Franciscan custodiate of the Holy Land, orphanges, and homes for the dying, etc. In any event, your car probably costs 30k, why not get a 15k used car, and give the excess money to the poor? You and Kate above can donate to the Order of the H.S. and Order of Malta since you have unjustly condemned them.
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? — Judas Iscariot
Kate, I am sure many of those in the order are actually descended from some of those early European groups. It is all about history. Even many Filipinos with their Spanish and European surnames are descendants. People do not necessarily vie for the positions but work their way up, and often it is thrust upon them since there is no one else able to do the job. Every culture has what you call “exclusive” clubs. There really is nothing wrong with that as long as those of any race who helped the cause or were descended from those who helped in the cause or are married to those who were descended are allowed to be members. I do not feel left out because I cannot join a Swedish American Club or a certain trade union. Everything has its rules…
Cont: and exclusions. One cannot belong to an architect’s guild or a plumber’s association unless one is an architect or plumber.
People in such groups often help poorer members get their outfits. Men and women often give or sell at a lower price their used but good paraphernalia to those coming up the ladder as often was done for them. That sees that nothing is wasted but used.
The way you get into this order is that a member introduces you. Their website states:
Suitable candidates are usually identified on the basis of their contributions (in all senses) to their parishes and to the wider Catholic Church, and of their interest in the specific aims of the Order. The candidate must be a baptized Catholic, in good standing with the Church.
The primary duty is to fund the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy Land.
In my diocese, they are doctors, lawyers, financial advisers and their wives.
Kate: many agree with you. Groups such as the EOHSJ are mostly silly. They are a more adult version of fraternities and sororities. Certainly they perform many good works, but running around as knights and dames is just plain silliness.
I suppose they should just check with you first before they drop tens of thousands of dollars on a charity…just so they don’t look silly while doing it….money must go a lot further when donated your way?
Kate, you sound like so many liberals that do not like Tradition of any kind, especially if it evokes masculinity (you know, battles and knights and stuff that girls do not like). Not long ago, a very liberal woman politician wanted to get rid of the Marine Corps dress uniform: too masculine, childish, that sort of thing. She was looking for work soon thereafter.
Some “customs, rituals, and traditions” are worth keeping. I am assuming you disfavor Latin, and the formal Traditional Latin Mass (and priests in vestments, and nuns in habits, or how about rosaries)?
St Christopher: surely you are not equating the EOHSJ with the Tradition of the Church. The EOHSJ is not part of the deposit of Faith while the Tradition (i. e. The Sacraments, the Creeds, the teachings of the magisterium, etc.) most certainly is.
I found this interesting in one of the Orders’ prayer pamplets on adoration in Jerusalem.
The Armenian Catholic Church in Jerusalem is located in a special place for Christians: along the Via Dolorosa, between the third and fourth station of the Via Crucis, the street that marks the stages of the journey and the first fall of Jesus, but also the encounter with the Virgin Mary: the Church of Our Lady of the Spasm.
Great to hear this. Let us just Bless them