Order of St. Januarius - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Illustrious Royal Order of Saint Januarius (Italian: L'Insigne Reale Ordine di San Gennaro) is an order of knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

hood bestowed by the head of the Royal House of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies. It was the last great dynastic

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

collar order

Order (decoration)

An order or order of merit is a visible honour, awarded by a government, dynastic house or international organization to an individual, usually in recognition of distinguished service to a nation or to humanity. The distinction between orders and decorations is somewhat vague, except that most...

to be constituted as a chivalric fraternity

Chivalry

Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...

, with a limitation to Roman Catholics, and a direct attachment to the dynasty rather than the state.

History of the Order

The order continues to be bestowed today by the Head of the Royal House of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies. The founder of the Order, Charles VII of Naples

Charles III of Spain

Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...

, who ruled from 1734 until 1759, was the first reigning monarch to reside in this kingdom since 1502. As a young monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

, Charles was considerably influenced by his father Philip V of Spain

Philip V of Spain

Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...

, who had proved a capable if erratic ruler, not only bringing peace to his kingdom but ultimately re-establishing Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

influence in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Although the Order's foundation had been planned for some time, the young king's marriage to Maria Amalia of Saxony

Maria Amalia of Saxony

Maria Amalia of Saxony was a German princess from the House of Wettin and was the wife of Charles III of Spain; she was the Queen consort of Naples and Sicily from 1738 till 1759 and then Queen consort of Spain from 1759 until her death in 1760...

provided a suitable opportunity. Its statutes and foundation both date to 3 July 1738 and the first promotions to the Order were announced three days later. These statutes limited membership of the Order to sixty Roman Catholic noblemen

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

, although non-Catholics have been admitted by successive Grand Masters in exceptional cases and the total complement of the Order has exceeded sixty on several occasions. As an Order of the collar and the highest Order of the Kingdom, it was intended to equal in rank that of the Golden Fleece

Order of the Golden Fleece

The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...

, awarded by Charles' father in Spain, and that of the Holy Spirit

Order of the Holy Spirit

The Order of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit, was an Order of Chivalry under the French Monarchy. It should not be confused with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost or with the Order of the Holy Ghost...

, given by his cousin in France. Indeed, it was frequent practice for the princes of each branch of the House to receive all three Orders. As they had discussed in their correspondence, King Charles reserved for his father the right to appoint up to six knights, emphasising the unity of the House of Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

.

The Catholic nature of the Order was particularly emphasised in the statutes, which limited the membership to sixty. Article VII laid out the obligations of the knights, beginning with the invocation to the knights to be ready to defend the glory and honour of the Holy Catholic faith at any cost. Knights were required to procure conciliation between members of the Order in dispute with each other; to swear inviolable loyalty to the Grand Master; to try to attend daily Mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

; to take Communion

Eucharist

The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

at Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

and on the Feast of Saint Januarius; to celebrate a Mass for the souls of deceased knights; not to offer or accept a challenge to a duel but refer the dispute to the Grand Master for his decision; and to attend the chapels of the Order, ranking according to seniority by date of reception. The Pope, Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...

, confirmed the foundation of the Order in a papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

of 30 May 1741, whose provisions were then slightly modified in a second bull issued 27 July of the same year. The dynastic and religious character of the Order and the papal authority given to its foundation purportedly served to protect it from abolition by the government of Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy in 1860.

King Charles VII inherited the Spanish Crown as King Charles III

Charles III of Spain

Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...

on 10 August 1759. By Article II of the Treaty of Naples of 3 October of that year, he was required to establish the Infante D. Ferdinando, his second son (third-born since the exclusion of the eldest who was severely retarded), as King of the Two Sicilies. The new sovereign received the Crown of Naples and Sicily as Ferdinando IV of Naples and III of Sicily (later, after the reunion of both the kingdoms, Ferdinando I delle Due Sicilie) by the Pragmatic Decree of 6 October 1759. This ordained that the succession should pass by male primogeniture among the descendants of King Ferdinando or, failing them, of his younger brothers, unless the Spanish crown should be united with the Sovereignty of the Two Sicilies, in which case the latter had to be ceded to a son, grandson or great-grandson of the prince who so combined both successions. In the event of the male heirs of King Charles III becoming extinct, the Two Sicilies Crown would pass to the nearest female heiress of the last King.

Structure of the order

Originally the order had four principal officers whose duties were to administer its affairs:

Chancellor
Secretary
Treasurer
Master of Ceremonies

These duties were limited by a reform of August 17, 1827 to certain ceremonial roles at the installation of knights, and no successors were appointed to the then holders of these offices.

The order today

King Carlo continued to make appointments to the order after leaving Naples, treating it as the second order of his new kingdom while still conferring it upon his former Italian subjects, until he passed the title of grand master to his son, Ferdinand IV and III of Naples and Sicily, on 9 December 1766.

Between the death of King Francis II on 27 December 1894 and the death of the Count of Caserta on May 26, 1934, only thirty-one appointments were made.

The order continues to be awarded today by the two claimaints for the headship of the royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet Italian branch of the House of Bourbon. It is thus descended from the Capetian dynasty in male line...

, Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria

Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria

Infante Carlos of Spain, Prince of the Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria, KOGF, KGCHS is the son of Don Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria and Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma .-Biography:Infante Carlos is one of two claimants of the dignity of...

and Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro

Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro

Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro is one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.-Early life and education:...

.

Since 1960, the order has been awarded sparingly and total membership has not exceeded eighty, most of the knights being members of royal houses, senior officers of the Constantinian Order or Italian Grandees.

The Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria, and his late father both followed the example of the nineteenth century sovereigns of the Two Sicilies in awarding the order not only to the heads of other royal houses (or reigning sovereigns), but also to their closest advisers, several of whom also hold high office in the Constantinian Order.

Insignia of the Order

The badge, worn suspended from a red riband 100 mm in width over the right shoulder across to the left hip, is a gold, eight-pointed Maltese cross in white enamel with red and gold rays extending along the arms, four gold fleur-de-lis between each arm and the gold image of the Bishop-Martyr Saint Januarius in red, white and blue enamel episcopal vestments rising from a gold cloud and holding in his left hand the open gospels on which rests two phials of his blood. The breast star is a silver, four-pointed star with the fleur-de-lis between the arms and the same image of the Bishop-Martyr as on the badge but with the motto (in gold on blue enamel), IN SANGUINE FOEDUS ("in blood, union") instead of the gold clouds.

The collar of the Order is composed of eighteen gold links between which alternate eight gold fleur de lis, two ornaments composed of the white enamel letter “C” (for “Carlo”) charged on two crossed white enamelled flags (for the Bourbons) on green enamelled leaves, two ornaments composed of a gold and black enamel castellated tower charged on crossed white and red enamelled flags, two ornaments composed of the open gospels in gold on which rest two phials of the Martyr’s blood in red enamel and placed upon green palm fronds, two ornaments composed of a crossed bishop’s crosier and chalice with the Blessed Sacrament all in gold, and one ornament (at the back of the collar) composed of a crowned and armed lion passant mounted on two crossed banners of red and white enamel. In the centre of the collar is a red enamelled bishop’s mitre over a cross and crosier from which is suspended the badge of the Order in gold and enamel. There is also a miniature collar composed of a pair of each of the C, tower and gospels ornaments between three pairs of fleurs-de-lis with the mitre and badge suspended from the centre. The miniature decoration is composed of the badge and mitre suspended from a red ribbon, while there is also a red buttonhole rosette (with the badge mounted in the centre). Officers of the Order who are not knights wear the same decorations but without the collar and with the image of the Bishop Martyr charged on the star in silver and enamels, instead of gold. Some antique breast stars and some modern stars, show the image of the saint in yellow enamel mitre and vestments. Since 24 March 1817, a regulation of the Order has accorded the title of “Excellency” and “D.” to all the members.

History of the Order

Structure of the order

The order today

Insignia of the Order

See also