Catholic Chivalric Orders

[PhillyMatt]

What’s up with Catholic Chivalric Orders? I came across this a few years ago when I found out that my favorite professor in college is a knight in the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George and the Sovereign Military Order of of Malta. From the websites I see that they are loyal to the Pope and defend Catholicism and are based around community service.

Any info?

 

[MulusChristi]

Hey PhillyMatt,
I’m not an expert on this, but here’s what I think I know. The Knights and Dames of Malta are what is left of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John. They were originally an order of monks who maintained hospitals and inns for pilgrims to the holy land. After the fall of the Christian kindoms in the the holy land, they transferred to Rhodes, were driven out there by a “religion of peace” (not quite fair because the hospitallers were raiding Muslim fleets) and settled in Malta, which they successfully defended against the same religion of peace some years later.

As time passed, they somehow became more of a lay organization.  I don't know what their juridical standing in the church is.  Also, I think at one point a Russian czar was the head guy of the Knights of Malta.  This is a little muddled in my mind.

I believe they helped at the battle of Lepanto

Nowadays, I believe they devote themselves to charitable work. The martial aspect of their work has faded, so in a sense, they have returned to their roots.

A similar military order was the Knights Templar. These were truly military monks who essentially acted as policemen and special forces troops during the Crusades. They made the mistake of getting involved in banking and were liquidated by a greedy French king (dont remember who) in the 1300s (?). These guys got a really raw deal from the state, and the church, to some extent. I’m sure alot of them are in heaven. Don’t believe the connection which Freemasons claim to have with the Knights Templar (which is mentioned in American Treasure and The Dumb Vinci Code).

The Knights of St. John watched the fate of the Knights Templar and tread verly lightly afterward.  

There were also the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic regions and I believe they had some religious connecion, but I never studied them.  They show up as the villains in the Stalinist movie Alexander Nevsky.

I sometimes wonder whether we need a few military orders nowadays…

 

[batteddy]

newadvent.org/cathen/10304d.htm