Order of St Lazarus Malta Newsletter Volume 6 issue 2

Ordo Sancti Lazari Newsletter: Grand Priory of the Maltese Islands incorporating the Commandery of Gozo Volume 7, Issue 2

April 2012

APPEAL FROM OUR SPIRITUAL PROTECTOR

Inside this issue: Easter Statuary Exhibition

2

News and Activities

2

Pauline Pilgrimage

2

Historical titbits

3

International Pilgroage

4

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Senior Officers of the Grand Priory Grand Prior: Chev. Dr Joseph R. Pace Chancellor: Chev. Michael Ciavola Commander of Gozo: Chev Paul Banavage

Editor: Chev. Prof. C. Savona-Ventura

Email: saven@vol.net.mt

Unsigned articles are written by the editor. Any relevant news items or articles are solicited. Kindly send material in electronic format to the editor.

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OR D O S A NC T I LA Z AR I

Easter Statuary Exhibition

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During Easter week 28th March to 7th April, one of the long‐term members of the Grand Priory Chev. Dr. V. Camilleri organises an ex‐ cellent exhibition of Statues depicting Christ’s Passion through the Stages of the Cross. Besides its artistic element, the exhibition further sets the religious tone for the Easter Season. The president will visit the Exhibition on Monday 2nd April at 5.30 pm.

The exhibition has been slowly built up since 1997 and now con‐ tains 260 statutes. The statutes are in three different sizes, the small‐ est being one foot high, the highest nearly two feet. There are 22 large statutes depicting 18 biblical personages. Donations collected during the exhibition will go towards the Order of Charity.

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17th March 2012: The Commandery of Gozo organised a get‐together to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This special event started when all members from the com‐ mandery joined by members of the Grand Priory and new postu‐ latns to be attended Holy Mass at the Santa Marija sanctuary in Zeb‐ bug Gozo. Reverend father Peter Chappel Chaplin of the Commander celebrated mass along with the Archpriest Rev, Father Reuben Micallef assisted by father Noel. After mass, the group proceeded to Marsal‐ forn and enjoyed the eve‐ ning together at Pings Chi‐ nese restaurant.

News & Activities from the Grand Priory •

28th January 2012: The Grand Priory commemorated World Leprosy Day with a fund‐raising event aimed at supporting the Order of Charity—the affiliate arm of the • Grand priory that deals with philanthropic activities to‐ wards relieving sufferers from Leprosy. This event in‐ cluded a lecture by the Grand Priory’s historian‐ hospitaller Chev. Prof. C. Savona‐Ventura about the his‐ tory of leprosy in Malta, followed by a fundraising Dinner.

31st March 2012: The Grand Priory and the Commandery of Gozo organised a reception in order to introduce the new postulants scheduled for admission in the next investi‐ ture. The Reception was held in Castello Lanzun which served as the headquarters of the Order and the adminis‐ trative headquarters of the Commandery of the Castello headed by the Grandmaster.

Next Investiture of the Grand Priory of the Maltese Islands will be held on the 21st of April 2012 •

5th February 2012: The Grand Priory together with the Commandery of Gozo held their Annual General Meeting where reports were presented relating to the manage‐ ment and activities of the jurisdictions and their affili‐ ates—the Order of Charity and the Step‐by‐Step. The meeting was followed by a buffet lunch at the Grand Ho‐ tel Excelsior that presently serves as the administrative headquarters of the Grand Priory.

• 12th February 2012: The Grand Priory organised a Pauline Pilgrimage for its members and friends to commemorate the visit the apostle St. Paul and evangelist St. Luke made News & Activities to the Islands in 60 AD. The Pilgrimage included visits with on‐site prayers and celebration of the Eucharist at Tal‐ Hgejjeg Church [where the ship’s crew and passengers landed and St. Paul was bitten by the snake], San Pawl Milqi [the Roman period olive factory belonging to St. Publius where St. Paul performed his healing miracle], and St. Paul’s Grotto where the apostle is said to have resided during his stay in Malta. This was followed by Lunch in a restaurant facing St. Paul’s Islands where the ship hit the reef. The occasion also included a visit to one of the de‐ fence towers of the Order of St John ‐ Wignacourt Tower.

St. Paul’s Pilgrimage

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Historical titbits—A Parisian Guide to the Order of Saint Lazarus A visit overseas is generally tightly booked with a planned sched‐ ule [often organised by one’s spouse and includes a visit to what I call “the museums of modern clothing”!] to see as much as possible of the area one is visiting. As a member of the Order of Saint Lazarus with an interest in its history, I generally keep an open eye for fea‐ tures that relate to the Order’s history [re Budapest and Jerusalem see previous newsletters]. With much of the history of the Order being intertwined with that of France, it is not surprising that Paris offers an excellent opportunity to remind one of the Order.

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church originally sited in the com‐ mune of Saint‐Denis, now included as part of the northern suburb of Paris.

Founded in the 7th century by Da‐ gobert I on the burial place of Saint Denis, a patron saint of France, the church became a place of pilgrimage and the burial place of the French Kings. "Saint‐Denis" soon became the abbey church of a growing monastic complex. In the 12th century the Ab‐ bot Suger rebuilt portions of the ab‐ bey church using innovative struc‐ tural and decorative features that were drawn from a number of other sources. In doing so, he is said to have created the first truly Gothic building.

The first link of the Order to the basilica and the locality dates to the 12th century. King Louis VII of France viewed the Second Crusade as a penitential pilgrimage and before setting out on the crusade in June 1147 had visited a leprosarium sited in the borough of Saint Denis supported by the Basilica. After entering with only two com‐ panions leaving the rest of retinue outside, the king remained in the house for a “long time” before proceeding to the monastery to re‐ quest the vexillum – a vermillion banner on a golden lance that the abbot of St Denis gave to the king as the Count of the Vexin when he went to war. This leprosarium had been previously established

by Queen Adelaide and King Louis the Fat. During that visit, King Louis VII granted that house the right to collect firewood from the Vincennes forest. On his return to France after completing the cru‐ sade, the king bestowed this leprosarium with the church and ad‐ joining old palace to the Order of Saint Lazarus. After his death, Louis VII was interred in the Basilica. His son King Philippe Augustus, also interred in the Basilica, in 1200 promulgated a charter confirm‐ ing the privileges and exemptions made in favour of the Order of Saint Lazarus by the Kings of England and their vassal, and accorded the Order the right to unload duty‐free their ships at the port of Aigues‐Mortes.

The most important link to the Order is however the fact that the abbey is the "royal necropolis of France" where the kings of France and their families were buried for centuries. All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains here, originally placed in cadaver tombs but thrown into a mass grave during the French Revolution. Many of these monarchs have been staunch supporters of the Order. Fortunately, the rav‐ ages of the French Revolution were limited to the human remains and the tomb effigies depicting the various kings and queens were saved through the intervention of the archaeologist Alexandre Le‐

noir claiming them as artworks for his Museum of French Monuments.

A walk through the basilica with serve to remind one of the 16th‐18th century history of the Order.

Thus one meets up with King Philippe IV le Bel who in 1308 issued a Royal Letter to frater Tho‐ mas [de Sainvelle] magister generalis Militie Sancti Lazari in Jerusalem, & alii fratres Ordinis supradicti according his protection to the Order.

Tombstone effigy He continued to support the Order and in 1317 of Philip IV he reconfirmed the ownership of the holdings in Boigny to the domus Boigniaco Sancti Lazari Hierosolimiani – actions that contrasts with what the same king did to the Order of the Temple [Templars].

Besides the effigies of the subsequent French kings who during their reign exhibited a continuing supportive role to the Order of Saint Lazarus in France, a more important and close relationship was that of two of the 18th century kings who served as grandmasters and/or pro‐ tectors to the Order. These include Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII. These are buried in the crypt below the Basilica. However memorials have been set up in their honour. The bodies of the beheaded King Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette of Austria, and his sister Madame Élisabeth were not initially buried in Saint‐Denis, but rather in the churchyard of the Madeleine, where they were covered with quicklime.

During the Bourbon Restoration, the tombs were exhumed and the few remains – a few bones that were presumably the king's and a clump of greyish matter containing a lady's garter – were brought to Saint‐Denis and buried in the crypt. A memorial to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, sculptured by Edme Gaulle and Pierre Petitot, was set up.

King Louis XVIII, upon his death in 1824, was buried in the center of the crypt, near the graves of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The bust me‐ morial to the latter king actually depicts two breast stars, one of which belongs to the Order of Saint Lazarus.

Effigies of

Philip IV Louis XVIII

Château de Versailles The Château de Versailles started being built by King Louis XIII in 1624 and was ex‐ panded so that in 1682 it became the French Royal Court under Louis XIV. A walk through the halls of the palace will again remind the visitor of the kings who were benevolent to the Order since the halls display painted, sculpted, drawn and engraved images illus‐ Bust of Charles X trating events or personalities of the history of France since its inception. Included are a series of effigies, real and imaginary, depicting the kings of France and other important personalities. There are also paintings of Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVII who served as grandmasters to the Order, and depic‐ tions of King Charles X who served as protector to the Order.

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—> continued from pg.3 École Militaire Royale

École Militaire Royale

The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem Grand Priory of the Maltese Islands Commandery of Gozo Further information about the Grand Priory can be obtained from the homepage

www. www. stlazarusmalta.org stlazarusmalta.org Visit us also on Facebook

International Pilgrimage to Kevelaer On the Grand Master’s initiative, the Order will conduct a Pilgrimage to the ancient and historic site at Kevelaer. Kevelaer is an ancient place of religious life—a site of consciousness, where one can find a new spiritual home and shelter. Activities will be centred in the city. The St. Lazarus pilgrimage will begin on Thursday 24th May 2012 and conclude on the Pentecoste occurring on the Whitsunday 27th May. The Grand Priory will be represented by a num‐ ber of its members led by the Grand Prior.

The École Militaire Royale located on the Champs de Mars in Paris is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities. It was founded by Louis XV in 1750 with the aim of creating an academic college for cadet officers from poor families. Construction began in 1752 on the grounds of the farm of Grenelle. The school opened in 1760. The Comte de Saint‐Germain reorganised it in 1777 under the name of the École des Cadets‐gentilshommes, which accepted the young Napoleon Bonaparte in 1784, graduating in only one year instead of usual two. In 1779, the relationship of the Order of Saint Lazarus with the École Militaire was enlarged with the privilege being given to three cadets, to be chosen from the six best qualified at the school, to be received as knights of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This right was of some significance not simply because such worthy cadets automatically became novice members of the united Orders, wearing the small Cross suspended from the old purple ribbon rather than the green, but be‐ cause they were exempted thereby from proving eight degrees of nobility, only having to prove four degrees for the École Militaire. The last admission ceremony for the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel took place in 1788 since the Royal Mili‐ tary College of Paris was abolished by royal decree in October 1787. The building previously used as the École Militaire Royale was purchased by the Order of Saint Lazarus with the authorization of King Loius XVI dated September 1788. The same authorization allowed the Order to obtain from King Louis XVI seigniorial rights on the fief of Grenelle. The property was lost to the Order in the aftermath of the French Revolution.

Cloître et Église des Carmes Billettes The Cloître et Église des Carmes Billettes was built in 1745 after the designs of Frére Claude. The building formerly belonged to a body of Carmelite friars. The order of Saint Lazarus in France had established very close links with the Carmelite Order and a significant number of activities and functions of the Military Order were held in the Carmelite Church of des Billettes. Formal association between the Carmelite Order and the joint Orders of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of St. Laza‐ rus of Jerusalem was agreed upon during the Chapter General of the Carmelite Order held in Rome in 1666. In 1790, the convent was suppressed and in 1808 the church was bought by the city of Paris and in 1812 given to the Lutherans.

Cloître et Église des Carmes Billettes