The Ecclesiastical Orders of Knighthood

by James Herman Van der Veldt

The origin of the Knights of Santiago or Saint James of Compostella was slightly different. Compostella prided itself on possessing the body of Saint James the Apostle, who, according to tradition, stayed for a while in Spain to preach the gospel and consecrated the first Spanish bishops. After the Apostle had been martyred in Jerusalem, his body was transferred to Compostella, which for that reason ranked in the Middle Ages as one of the most venerable shrines of Christendom, with an importance surpassed only by Rome and Jerusalem. However, the numerous pilgrims from all countries in Europe visiting the Apostle’s tomb in this far corner of Galicia were often waylaid and robbed by brigands and Moors. For that reason a number of Spanish knights banded together to protect the pilgrims on the road to Compostella, and in 1175 this group of pious soldiers was canonically approved as a religious military order. The Knights of Santiago erected hospices and strongholds on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees as did the Knights of St. John on the French side. A fortified church erected by the Hospitallers at this time and still in a stage of good repair may be seen at Luz-St. Sauveur near Lourdes.

The origin of the Order of Christ and that of Monteza were quite different from that of the other Iberian military orders, as we shall see when we come to speak of the Pontifical Orders of Knighthood.

Although each of the Iberian military orders had, of course, its own, often fascinating, history, the general development of these institutions followed very much the same pattern. The knights lived in their convents and castles ruled by their grand masters; they showed great prowess in the wars against the Moorish invaders, and simultaneously they rose to power and political influence, accumulating immense wealth from the bounty of grateful kings and the pious faithful. Sometimes one order of knighthood confronted another on the field of battle, as happened when they took opposite sides in civil wars that so frequently occurred on the peninsula. This continued until most of the peninsula was under one rule through the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The reign of these two sovereigns, los Reyes Catolicos, marked the end of the Moorish occupation, but at the same time accounts for the decline of the religious military orders. After the surrender of Granada in 1492—the year in which Columbus first sailed westward from Palos—the Moors were definitely driven off the Iberian Peninsula, but by the same token the military orders lost their very raison d’être. The fact that the Portuguese Orders of Christ and of Avis kept the military spirit alive for some time by sending out expeditions to Africa to fight the Mohammedans in their own stronghold altered but little the inevitable course of events. The religious military orders on the Iberian Peninsula were doomed to die a slow death.

Ferdinand the Catholic administered the first blow in 1482 by assuming the grand mastership of all the Spanish military orders, with the exception of the Order of Monteza. Although this seizure was, canonically speaking, an infraction of the rights of the Church, the act was legalized some decades later, when the Pope put the military orders permanently under the Spanish crown. The Portuguese orders followed suit in 1551, when the mastership was vested in the Crown of Portugal. The only remaining independent order was that of Monteza which, however, shared the same fate in 1587. Thus all the military orders of the Iberian Peninsula lost their independence in the sixteenth century.

During the same century the religious nature of the orders greatly changed. True, the knights still took the monastic vows, but these vows came to have a rather indulgent interpretation. The vow of obedience meant, of course, obedience to the Crown. The vow of poverty was in most instances altered into a vow to lead an upright life (conversio morum). And the vow of chastity was changed into that of matrimonial chastity (castitas conjugalis). The knights were allowed to marry once, but the vow implied that if they committed a sin of impurity, they sinned not only against marriage but also against their vow. In the Order of Alcantara the vow of chastity was replaced by a vow to defend the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.[23]

Although the kings had taken over the title, office and privileges of grand master, the orders still enjoyed a sort of semi-autonomy, inasmuch as their possessions still belonged theoretically to the orders as such. But the ideas of the French Revolution in Portugal and the Napoleonic occupation of Spain delivered the final blow to the rapidly expiring military orders. They were completely secularized, and their properties confiscated. The Restoration almost succeeded in degrading the once proud knights of Calatrava, Santiago, Alcantara and Monteza to the role of “carpet knights” and court ornaments. However, not quite. There is still some difference between the military orders and the mere orders of merit of the Spanish State as, for instance, that of the Order of Isabel la Catolica. The organization of the Spanish military orders still maintains a number of elements that bestow on them a distinctly ecclesiastical flavor. (While describing the present status of the Iberian military orders we have limited ourselves to the Spanish; the Portuguese Order of Avis was suppressed by King Pedro in 1834 and the present condition of the Order of Christ will be spoken of later).

In the first place, the candidates eligible to these orders must be Catholic. An additional prerequisite, reminiscent of the original objective of the orders, is that candidates must evidence that neither Moors nor Jews are found among their forebears. The reception of the “habit” is accompanied by a rather elaborate Church ceremonial according to the ritual of each particular order. This investiture constitutes the candidates novices of the order. Most of them remain novices throughout their life, but a number of them take the religious vows—in the sense explained above (votum castitatis conjugalis). These professed knights have also the obligation of reciting some prayers daily, originally the equivalent of the Divine Office. Before the pontificate of Pius XI the professed knights were bound daily to say one hundred Paters, Aves and Glorias. Since then, however, this obligation has been reduced to one Pater, Ave and Gloria.

Another important link with the Church is the “Priory of the Military Orders” which actually is a bishopric comprising more than half a million Catholics. The establishment of the priory was intended to compensate somewhat for the loss of property which the Military Orders had suffered in consequence of the so-called desamortización laws of the prime minister, Juan Alvarez de Mendizabal. By a decree of Oct. 11, 1835, the latter suppressed most religious orders in Spain and confiscated their properties. These laws also affected the military orders, which had jurisdiction over a large number of abbeys, parishes, monasteries and churches throughout Spain and enjoyed the revenues of these properties. This infringement upon the rights of the Church was rectified by a substitute compromise in the Concordat of 1851. The Spanish province of Ciudad Real (19,741 square kilometers) is set apart as a “coto redondo,” literally a rounded-off territory, known as the Priory of the Military Orders. This priory is a “prelatura nullius,” immediately dependent on the Holy See. The prior is titular bishop of Dora, his official title being “Obispo Prior de los Ordenes Militares.” This dignitary is appointed prior by the Spanish King in his capacity of grand master, but the papal authority is required to elevate the appointee to the episcopal dignity. The former jurisdictional rights of the military orders are, so to say, grouped together in this diocese and vested in the prior. The emoluments of the ecclesiastical properties in the priory go to the diocese and the salaries of the bishop, canons, pastors and other parish priests are paid by the Spanish government, in the name of the grand master. The priests of the diocese of Ciudad Real must belong to one of the four military orders—an arrangement which reinstates the old division of the members of the orders into the classes of knights and priests.

Recently, on Aug. 27, 1953, a new concordat was concluded between the Holy See and Spain, and thus the status of the Priory of Ciudad Real was reconfirmed.[24] Article VIII of the concordat reads as follows: “Continuerà a sussistere a Ciudad Real il Priorato Nullius degli Ordini Militari.”

Since the office of Grand Master of the Military Orders, after the abdication of the king in 1931, is in abeyance, the bishop-prior is the acting head of the orders, inasmuch as he is the chairman of a commission whose task it is to prepare a project of law designed to put the orders on a more solid juridical basis. The military orders were suppressed by the Red Government of 1931-1936, but were re-established by the Franco regime. The task of this commission is to define with greater precision the rights and privileges of the Spanish military orders.