| Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George | |
| Type: | Dynastic order |
| House: | Bourbon-Two Sicilies Bourbon-Parma |
| Religion: | Catholic |
| Ribbon: | Light blue |
| Head Title: | Grand Master |
| Head: | Disputed: Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma |
| Grades: | House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: See all House of Bourbon-Parma: Senator Grand Cross with Collar Senator Grand Cross Knight/Dame Commander Knight/Dame 1st class Knight/Dame 2nd class |
| Motto: | In hoc signo vinces |
| Higher: | House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Royal Order of Saint Januarius House of Bourbon-Parma: None (highest) |
| Lower: | House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Royal Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit House of Bourbon-Parma: Ducal Royal Order of Saint Louis |
| Founder: | Constantine the Great (legendary) Andrea Angelo Flavio Comneno (actual) |
| Seat: | Santa Croce in Via Flaminia, Rome |
The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (Italian: Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio; Spanish; Castilian: Sagrada Orden Militar Constantiniana de San Jorge), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George[1] and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George,[2] is a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.[3] Currently, the grand magistry of the order is disputed among the two claimants to the headship of the formerly reigning House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as heirs of the House of Farnese, namely Prince Pedro and Prince Carlo. The order was one of the rare orders confirmed as a religious-military order in the papal bull Militantis Ecclesiae in 1718, owing to a notable success in liberating Christians in the Peloponnese. Together with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, it is one of a small number of Catholic orders that still have this status today.[4] It is not an order of chivalry under the patronage of the Holy See, but its membership is restricted to practising Catholics.[5] [6]
Although the order is alleged to have been founded in its original form by Constantine the Great in Antiquity and then restored under later Byzantine emperors, the actual origin of the order can be traced to the 16th century, when it was founded by an Albanian noble family named Angelo Flavio Comneno. Though this family, extinct in 1698, claimed to be connected to the Byzantine Komnenos and Angelos dynasties, such a direct familial connection cannot be proven; the family does, however, descend from a marriage into the Arianiti family that has several descents from past Byzantine imperial families. Chivalric orders were completely unknown in the Byzantine world, so much of the alleged history of the order was invented much later. Outside the generally recognized line of grand masters from its origin in the 16th century to the present day, there have been many people claiming to be grand masters who have been forgers and title-seekers hoping to gain support for invented lines of descent from ancient and medieval nobility.
See also: List of Grand Masters of the Constantinian Order of Saint George.
The legendary origins of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George trace its foundation to an apocryphal order founded by Constantine the Great .[7] Although it has sometimes been held that the order was restored/created by the Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos, any claimed connection between chivalric orders and the Byzantine Empire are pure fantasy, as chivalric orders in the modern Western sense were completely unknown in the Byzantine world. At best, any connection to some ancient group would be excessively indirect and abstracted.
The order was actually founded by Albanian nobles of the Angelo Flavio Comneno family (claiming a connection to the Byzantine houses of Angelos and Komnenos) in the 16th century, notably Andrea Angelo Flavio Comneno, and his brother Paolo Angelo Flavio Comneno, in 1545. In 1545, the brothers Andrea and Paolo were acknowledged as descendants of the Angeloi emperors (a claim seen as doubtful today) by Pope Paul III, this recognition being in part due to their familial connections with the Medici, Orsini, del Balzo and Riargo families. The brothers were also guaranteed the right to inherit territory in the former Byzantine Empire, should such territory be recovered from the Ottomans.[8] Their family remained grand masters of the order until 1698 when Giovanni Andrea II, who also claimed the titles of "Prince of Macedonia", "Duke of Thessaly" and "Count of Drivasto, Durazzo etc." as the last male member of his family, trasnferred the grand mastership of the order to Francesco Farnese, the duke of Parma.
Outside the generally recognized line of grand masters from its origin in the 17th century to the present day, there have been various claims to the title of grand master by imposters hoping to gain support for invented lines of descent from various Byzantine dynasties.
Its incorporation as a religious order of the Catholic Church hereditary in the House of Farnese and its heirs, the Bourbons, dates from the transfer to Francesco Farnese on 11 January 1698, an act confirmed in an imperial diploma, "Agnoscimus et notum facimus", of the emperor, Leopold I, dated 5 August 1699, and the apostolic brief, "Sincerae Fidei", issued by Pope Innocent XII on 24 October 1699. These confirmed the succession of the grand magistry to the Farnese family and its heirs as an ecclesiastical office (therefore limited to males) and, crucially, did not tie it to tenure of sovereignty of the Duchy of Parma. Among the first major acts of the Farnese grand magistry were revised, amended and expanded statutes, issued on 25 May 1705 and confirmed in a papal brief dated 12 July 1706; both these confirmed the requirement that the grand magistry should pass by male primogeniture. Following the order's contribution to Prince Eugene of Savoy's campaign to drive the Turks from the Balkans between 1716 and 1718, Pope Clement XI, a former cardinal protector of the order, confirmed the order as a religious order of the Catholic Church in the bull, "Militantis Ecclesiae", of 27 May 1718.
With the death of the last male of the House of Farnese on 30 January 1731, the grand magistry was inherited by Charles, eldest son of Elisabeth Farnese and King Philip V of Spain; Charles also inherited the duchies of Parma and Piacenza from the Farnese. After becoming king of Naples and Sicily in 1734, Charles was forced to surrender Parma to Austria in 1736, but he retained the Constantinian grand magistty and continued to exercise control of the Order even after his younger brother became duke of Parma in 1748. On 16 October 1759, Charles abdicated the grand magistry (ten days after abdicating from his Italian realms) to his second surviving son, King Ferdinand IV and III of Naples and Sicily (from 1815 Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). The administration of the order was transferred from Parma to Naples in 1768. although the Order in Parma continued to be under Neapolitan control until 1797 when the estates of the Order were seized by the French.
With the French occupying the kingdom of Naples from 1806, the Order was confined to Sicily but with the expulsion of the French it was not only restored to its former position but continued to function under Ferdinand I and his successor heads of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as a religious military Order with an expanding membership and the addition of many new commanderies. The independence of the Order assured its survival after the unification of Italy, confirmed in a declaration of the Procurator-General of the new kingdom of Italy and an 1871 decision of the highest Italian court. A decree of King Ferdinand dated 8 March 1796, stated: "In his (the king's) royal person there exists together two very distinct qualities, the one of monarch of the Two Sicilies, and the other of grand master of the illustrious, royal and military Constantinian Order, which though united gloriously in the same person form nonetheless at the same time two separate independent lordships".
Some of the Parmesan nobility had resented the Order being controlled by an absent monarch but when in 1748, Charles III's younger brother Philip succeeded as duke of Parma, he explicitly recognised his brother Charles and later his nephew Ferdinand as grand master in a series of decrees and official acts. Philip's son Ferdinand, after becoming duke of Parma, sent an emissary to the Spanish court to try to persuade the king of Spain to intervene with the king of Naples and Sicily and persuade the latter to give up the grand mastership, but without success.
The Parmesan Constantinian Order was a new foundation, instituted by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, in 1817 and following her death Charles I, Duke of Lucca, heir to the Bourbon-Parma succession, became duke of Parma under the terms of the Congress of Vienna and assumed the grand mastership which is today claimed by Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma. See the historical note authored by Paolo Conforte, a senior officer of the Parma dynastic order, who maintains that the Parma Order, despite its late foundation, is the successor of the original order; this view was explicitly rejected by the Holy See in 1860 and in 1913 the Holy See did not respond to a request from the Parma ducal family to accord their order similar privileges to those granted to the order of which Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta was grand master.
In 1910, Pope Pius X appointed the first of three successive cardinal protectors and, in 1913, approved a series of privileges for the chaplains of the order. In 1915, Pope Benedict XV dedicated the Constantinian chapel in the basilica of Santa Croce al Flaminio, which had been built with donations from the knights, who included Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII. In 1916, the pope restored the church of Saint Anthony Abbot to the Order - this church had originally been given to the Constantinian order along with the properties of the religious order of that name in 1777, but had been put under the direction of the archdiocese of Naples in 1861.
In 1919, new statutes received papal approval and Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi was appointed cardinal protector, the last to hold this post. Following the intervention of the grand magistry of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in 1924, whose grand master, the king of Italy, objected to the awarding of the order to leading Italian noblemen, the Holy See felt the close relationship with Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta might prove an obstacle to settling the Roman question. It was, therefore, decided not to reappoint a successor to Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi at his death in 1927.
The Italian Republic recognises the order as an Order of Chivalry under Law n° 178 of 1951; the authorisation to Italian citizens awarded the Constantinian decorations to wear was confirmed in a decision of the Italian State Council (number 1869/81), at first limited to awards made by the junior line claimant, Prince Ferdinand, but in 2004 extended to the awards by the Infante Don Carlos. Therefore those citizens lawfully awarded with Constantinian decorations can request permission to wear them on the territory of the Italian Republic by Presidential Decree or Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By a 1973 Decree of the President of the Republic, a National Italian Association of the Knights of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George was formed by Prince Ferdinando (whose father Prince Ranieri had died that year) [9] The order is on the Orders, decorations, and medals of Italy list.
The succession to the grand magistry of this order has been disputed among as many as three branches of Bourbons since 1960. The dispute is rooted in different interpretations of the so-called "Act of Cannes" of 14 December 1900 in which the count of Caserta's second son, Prince Carlo (grandfather of Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria), promised that he would renounce his eventual succession to the crown of the Two Sicilies in execution of the "Pragmatic Decree" of 1759. This decree required that if the king of Spain, or his immediate heir, should inherit the Two Sicilies crown, he would renounce the latter to the next in line. Whether the "Pragmatic Decree" applied to Prince Carlo's situation in 1900, and whether the grand magistry of the order was included in such a renunciation, are both issues in dispute, yet within the world of academia, the latter has been, almost without exception, ruled in favour of the Hispano-Neapolitan branch. The Act of Cannes literally states: This act was signed despite an official statement in the Spanish parliament (Cortes) by the minister of justice that no renunciation was necessary and if one was made it would be null and void.
Supporters of the late Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria and his only son and heir, Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria assert that Prince Carlo's renunciation was conditional on his actually inheriting both the Spanish and Two Sicilies crowns and/or that, even in that circumstances, such a renunciation did not include the position of grand master of the Constantinian order, which they regard as separate from the crown. When Charles III of Spain abdicated as king of Naples and Sicily after succeeding to their throne of Spain, he renounced the dignity of "primogeniture Farnese heir" and with it the grand mastership of the Constantinian Order in a separate act, ten days later. Indeed, the Act of Cannes never mentioned the order at all, although most authors argue that even if it had, its grand magistry is by nature a Farnesian family legacy that is not linked to the throne of the Two Sicilies. The Two Sicilies crown descends by semi-salic law, meaning that in the event of the extinction of the male line descended from Ferdinando II the crown would pass to the nearest princess to the last male, whereas the grand mastership of the Order would pass to the Parma line. This same point is made on official Spanish branch website, headed by Prince Pedro, which asserts that the renunciation was conditioned on facts that never arose, and that the order and the crown are governed by separate rules. Further, supporters of Infante Carlos argue that the "Act of Cannes" was legally defective and thus void. The Infante Don Carlos died on the 5 October 2015 and was succeeded by his only son, Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria.
Supporters of Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro reject all three positions advanced by Infante Carlos' supporters, and claim that the rival claimant's ancestor validly renounced both the crown of the Two Sicilies and the grand magistry.[10]
Each branch appoints a Catholic cardinal as grand prior. On 16 October 2012, the Vatican Secretary of State renewed its position that the Holy See does not recognise any order except the seven Papal Orders listed on their statement; this repeated a text issued by the Italian conference of Bishops which, in a note, had excluded those Orders authorised under the 1951 Italian law. The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George was included under the Italian 1951 law but was not one of those orders listed in the Vatican document.[11] Nonetheless, the Hispano-Neapolitan Order's use of a chapel in Barcelona Cathedral has twice been confirmed by the Apostolic Penitentiary [12] and the Hispanio-Neapolitan Order's Masses have been celebrated by the Order's Grand Prior Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller in the Major Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome, as well as in Naples, Palermo, London, and Philadelphia, while other senior Roman Curia cardinals [13] have also celebrated at investitures and other religious ceremonies of the Order.
Spaniards and Italians who have been granted the Constantinian Order by Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria and his heir Prince Pedro have applied for, and received, authorisation to wear the decorations of the order.[14]
In 1983 King Juan Carlos I instructed the head of the royal household, the Marquess of Mondéjar to request five high Spanish institutions to determine to "whom should descend the Headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies". The first of these to report was the Institute of Genealogy "Salazar y Castro" of the "Superior Council of Scientific Investigation" on 8 March 1983, followed by the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation on 6 May 1983. The next was the Department of Protocol, Chancery and Orders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that reported on 1 June 1983, followed by the Division of Grandeeships and Titles of the Ministry of Justice, on 18 October 1983 that in its conclusions also included the succession to the grand mastership of the Constantinian Order in its mandate. The final and longest report, summing up the other four and detailing its own conclusions was that of the Council of State, dated 2 February 1984. The reports were then conveyed in a letter from the Marquess of Mondejar, to "S.A.R. Don Carlos de Borbón, Duque de Calabria" stating "In the interests of historical truth and with the intention of clarifying the problem of to whom corresponds the Headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and the Grand Mastership of the Constantinian Order of St George, by order of His Majesty the King, and as Head of His Household, I have received the declarations and opinions of (then names the five institutions)... The unanimous agreement of the opinions and reports issued by the highest authorities and corporations of the Spanish State competent in the matter, recognise in the person of Your Royal Highness the title of the Headship of the House of Bourbon Two Sicilies and of the Grand Mastership of the Constantinian Order of Saint George."
In a decree of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Introductor de Embajadores, 28 November 2014, the Ministry stated that along with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Royal Order of Saint Januarius (of which Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria, is also Grand Master) "... la Sagrada y Militar Orden Constantiniana de San Jorge fueron tuteladas por la Corona de Espana o se hallan estrechamente vinculadas a su Historia, tal y como preve en este sentido el Ministerio de Defensa en su Instruccion General 06/12 sobre autorización de uso de recompensas civiles y militares."[15] ("...the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, came under the protection of or were linked to the Crown and history of Spain, as set forth by the Ministry of Defence in its General Instruction 06/12, on permission to wear civil and military awards"). The status of the Constantinian Order was again defined in a statement by the Introductor de Embajadores, dated 2 June 2017 and issued in Spanish, French and English - the latter read: "...Hereby Certifies That the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Royal Order of Saint Januarius are officially recognized by Spain as Orders historically tied to the Crown of Spain, pursuant to the Ministry's Circular Order 4/2014 of 28 November. The use of the insignias of these two Orders is subject to the appropriate authorization, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as stipulated by the Royal Decree of 5 June 1916, signed by the Introducer of Ambassadors, Ambassador-Secretary of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Civil Merit." The Constantinian Order awarded by Prince Pedro is explicitly authorised to be worn by the governments of Italy and Mexico and citizens of the Netherlands have also been authorised to wear it. The United States Department of the Army has included the Order among those for which authorisation may be given to wear the decorations on the official list of such awards, under Spain.[16]
In 1988 a letter dated 19 April 1987[17] was produced by the Neapolitan based chancery of the Franco-Neapolitan Order that purported to be the appointment of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri as personal representative of Pope John Paul II to the Order. Soon after another letter, dated 28 August 1985[18] was produced which purported to have earlier appointed Cardinal Andrzej Maria Deskur to the same post - it quickly became apparent that neither Cardinal knew anything about this and that these letters were forgeries, although the purported appointment of Cardinal Siri was published in several of the Order's publications. The then Sostituto of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Cassidy wrote to the Nuncio in Great Britain on the 24 October 1988, stating that Cardinal Siri had not been appointed the personal representative of His Holiness, and the Nuncio in Madrid wrote Prince Don Carlos, duke of Calabria, on 31 January 1989 stating that the "pretended" autograph letter from the Pope was false. Since the Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Agostiino Casaroli had written to Prince Ferdinand on 5 November 1987 to explicitly refuse the appointment of Cardinal Siri, it is difficult to understand why the claims regarding Cardinal Siri's status should have been published the following year. At the same time, another publication by the Order claimed that His Holiness had conferred the Supreme Order of Christ on Prince Ferdinand and the Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana (1988 edition) not only included the name of Cardinal Siri as personal representative of His Holiness in its listing of the royal deputation appointed by Prince Ferdinand, but stated that the then 25 year old Prince Carlo (the only son of Prince Ferdinand) had been granted the collar of the Ordine Piano, a Papal honour awarded only to heads of state (this was denied in a letter from the Nuncio in Madrid in a letter dated 29 April 1988). When asked to explain the source of this information, the editor of the Libro d'Oro (Roberto Colonello Bertini Frassoni) wrote on 5 January 1989 that it had been provided by Achille Di Lorenzo, grand chancellor of the Franco-Neapolitan Constantinian Order. In 1990 Di Lorenzo was asked to resign his post by Prince Ferdinand and two years later was expelled from the Order as a reprisal for having published a highly critical booklet attacking both Prince Ferdinand and his son. No-one has ever been publicly identified as the author of these forgeries.
Other documents circulated included the report of a supposed commission of Cardinals (mimicking the 1950s commission appointed to report on the sovereign status of the Order of Malta) which supposedly recognised Prince Ferdinand, although all the signatures of the supposed members were forged. Another letter dated 15 October 1987 distributed at the same time and supposedly from a Curia official, Archbishop, now Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, also stated that Prince Ferdinand was the grand a master and Di Lorenzo the grand chancellor; this letter was subsequently denounced by Re as a forgery and Cardinal Re has since become a member of the Spanish Order, several times celebrating Masses of the Order.
In the 1990s, under the authority of Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, the organization and activities of his version of the order were "revived" as the so-called "Delegation for Great Britain and Ireland of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George". This version of the Order was formerly led by a British Catholic public relations advisor as its "magistral delegate", and has awarded him other honours.[19] In August 2016, the Vice-Grand Chancellor of the Hispano-Neapolitan branch, Guy Stair Sainty stated that the order headed by Prince Pedro had no connection with this PR advisor, nor with his business activities, nor with the order of which he is described as “delegate”.[20]
Italian citizens who have received the Constantinian Order from Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro may apply to the Italian ministry of foreign affairs for authorisation to wear the insignia.[21]
In 2011, the version of the Constantinian Order headed by the Duke of Castro, became one of the 4000+ (as of 2022) [22] NGO's. In 2011-12 some 600 organizations applied for consultative status. On average between 100 and 150 applications are recommended by the Committee in each of its two sessions per year non-governmental organizations to hold consultative status at the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.[23] The United Nations recognises the organisation as qualifying for this status without acknowledging its historical claims or any particular character as an Order of knighthood.
In 2016, the branch of the Order led by the Duke of Castro was involved in controversy over the election of Patricia Scotland as Commonwealth Secretary-General.[24] It was alleged that Scotland used the Order's awards to influence votes in her favour through reciprocal exchanges of honours.[25] Investigations resulted in a knighthood granted to the Duke of Castro by the Governor General of Antigua being revoked.[26]
On 24 January 2014, the day before the Blessed Beatification of the Venerable Servant of God Princess Maria Cristina of Savoy (later Queen Maria Cristina, Queen Consort of the Two Sicilies), the two disputed heads of the house: Prince Pedro, Duke of Noto (on behalf of his father Prince Carlos, Duke of Calabria) and Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro signed an "Act of Reconciliation" at Naples' Excelsior Hotel.
This act appeared to have ended the longstanding differences over the titles used by the two branches of the House of the Two Sicilies. The signing of the act of reconciliation was done in the presence of the Duchesses of Noto and Castro, the Duke of Noto's mother, the Duchess of Calabria, the Duke of Noto's sisters, Maria and Inés, and their husbands, Archduke Simeon and Michele Carrelli Palombi, their aunt, Princess Teresa, Marchioness of Laserna, the Duke of Castro's sister, Princess Napoleon, Prince Casimiro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his wife Princess Margherita, and the Duke of Braganza. Owing to his state of health, the Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria was unable to attend the ceremony.[27]
The Act stated that the two branches will recognize each other's titles for the present holders and their successors; the titles of the senior, Spanish line, being Duke of Calabria, Duke of Noto and Duke of Capua, and of the junior line, being Duke of Castro and Duchess of Palermo and Duchess of Capri which were accorded to the Duke and Duchess of Castro's two daughters. The final intention was to work towards a future where the two branches might co-operate together (although the revival of the Order of Francis I has never been accepted by the senior, Spanish line.)
In May 2016 Prince Carlo unilaterally renounced the agreement and subsequently conferred the titles of Duchess of Calabria and Duchess of Noto on his daughters, declaring the former to be the heiress to the headship of the Royal House and the Constantinian Grand Mastership. This act has not been recognised by members of the branch descended from Prince Gabriel of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The legality of this has been disputed by Prince Pedro on the grounds that the succession to the Two Sicilies crown was established in two international treaties (Vienna 1737 and Naples 1759) as well as the Pragmatic Decree of 1759 and the nineteenth century Two Sicilies constitutions and therefore could not be changed by a unilateral act, even by an undisputed head of the royal house. The succession to the Constantinian Grand Mastership was confirmed by an Imperial Bull and a Papal Brief, and by the Bull Militantis Ecclesiae, and required that the Grand Mastership, an ecclesiastical office in canon law, could only be held by males and must pass by primogeniture to the heirs of the House of Farnese; the purported change to the succession by Prince Carlo has not been approved by the Holy See.
In the 18th century, the order was divided into Knights Grand Cross, Knights of Justice (nobles with four quarters of nobility), Donats (nobles with less than four quarters), Priests, Knights of Grace (commoners) and Esquires/Servants of Office.[28] Later, it was divided in the three classes of Justice (old nobility), Grace (new nobility), and Merit (commoners).
The name Grace was changed to Jure Sanguinis by Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, when Grand Master.
| Insignia | |||||
| width=33,33% valign=top align=center | width=33,33% valign=top align=center | width=33,33% valign=top align=center | |||
| width=33,33% valign=top align=center | Collar | width=33,33% valign=top align=center | Knight sash | width=33,33% valign=top align=center | Dame ribbon |
