History of the Order

The hospital of St Lazarus in Jerusalem is known to have comprised a distinctive religious community of monastic brothers and knights, many of whom were obliged to leave other orders because they had contracted leprosy. In caring for one another while supporting the crusades their activities were both military and hospitaller. The relief of leprosy remains a focus of the Order’s humanitarian activities today through the maintenance of leprosaria and dispensaries. It also provides primary healthcare by sending medical supplies to various missions in Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands. A recent thrust of the American Grand Priory has been the support of organ donation, led by its Hospitaller, the Deputy Surgeon General of the USA. The Order is also involved in care of the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill, and in several countries it operates volunteer ambulance services. Among the more noteworthy projects undertaken by the Order in recent decades has been the weekly transport from Germany of basic food and medical supplies to Russia, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and Croatia, in conjunction with the European Community and the Red Cross.

The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, like the other orders born in the Holy Land during the Crusades, had an honourable but turbulent beginning. It went on to make a major contribution to the extermination of leprosy in Europe during the middle ages, and had a brief naval period during the seventeenth century when it served with distinction attacking pirates in the Mediterranean, then membership becoming an honorific distinction bestowed by the King of France.

Gerard de Martigues, a Provençal, later known as the ‘Blessed Gerard,’ founded the Order of St John having been director of the Hospital of Notre Dame in Jerusalem sometime before the Holt City fell to the Crusaders in 1099. At first, Gerard directed the Hospital under the authority of the Abbot of St Mary. Later he and his companions left and created a special congregation, adopted a rule, took vows and were accredited by the Popes. The first bull in their favour is dated 15 February 1113 and refers to ‘Gerard, Founder and Governor of the Hospital at Jerusalem and his Legitimate Successors’.

Godfrey de Bouillon, uncrowned ‘king’ of Jerusalem was so impressed with the dedication of Gerard and his companions towards the sick and the wounded that he supported and gave them funds and facilities. Some believe that the Order of St Lazarus took on a separate identity in 1120 when Boyand Roger, Rector of the Hospital of Jerusalem was elected Master of the Hospitallers of St Lazarus. Those suffering from the ‘living death’ of leprosy regarded Lazarus of Bethany (John 11:1-44) or Lazarus the beggar (Luke 16:19-31) as their patron saint and usually dedicated their hospices in this name. The first written reference we have to St Lazarus as a ‘knightly’ order is a letter written by Henry II, King of England and Duke of Normandy, dated 1159, in which he makes a large donation to it, and refers to the ‘Knights and Brethren of Saint Lazarus’. However the "Livre au Roi" the legal code of the Latin Kings which was drawn up during the period 1198-1205 stated that a knight with leprosy should join the convent of St. Lazarus, so it was obvious that a monastic "order" was already in being by that time.

Five major orders were formed in the Holy Land in the late eleventh to early twelfth centuries: the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller (St John), Knights of the Hospital of St Mary of Jerusalem (Teutonic Knights) and Knights of St Lazarus. Templar knights who contracted leprosy were sent to the care of the Order of St Lazarus. These knights trained the brethren of St Lazarus in the military arts and were responsible for transforming the Order into a military one. William, Archbishop of Tyre, as well as other historians of the period, appeared unaware of the difference between the Orders of Saint Lazarus and Saint John, referring to them in their accounts simply as ‘Hospitallers’. By 1256 the Order of St Lazarus had grown considerably and its existence was recognized by Pope Alexander IV under the Rule of St Augustine. It acquired a church, a convent and a mill in Jerusalem and property near the Mount of Olives. It built a chapel at Tiberias and two hospitals for pilgrims in Armenia. It acquired more establishments at Nablus, Ascalon and Cæsarea.

In 1187 Saladin invaded and re-conquered the Holy Land. The Order lost its main hospital and convent, and a contingent of Lazarite knights perished in the loss of Jerusalem. In 1191 Richard Cœur de lion defeated Saladin at Azuf and recaptured Jaffa. He and Saladin made a treaty by which the sea coast from Tyre to Jaffa remained in the possession of the Crusaders, and Christians were allowed full liberty to visit the Holy Sepulchre. The Order relocated to Acre, built a hospital, convent and church, and carried on with its hospitaller functions. It was given sovereign rights over a section of Montmuset, the northern part of the city, taking over the defence of the most northery section of the city walls. Pope Urban IV confirmed these privileges in 1264. Acre fell to the Sultan of Cairo's greatly superior Mameluke forces in 1291 after a prolonged siege. All the knights of St. Lazarus were killed in the defence of the city, as were most of the Templars and Hospitallers of St. John. So also died Christian hopes in the East

The green cross of St Lazarus disappeared from the Holy Land after two hundred years. It moved to Cyprus, then Sicily, then returned to its French headquarters at Boigny near Orléans. The property at Boigny had been given to it by King Louis VII in 1154 and was erected as a barony in 1288. Many knights who had become used to the Mediterranean climate decided not to return to France and went no further than Sicily, where they established themselves on properties given to them by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick von Hohenstaufen. Their headquarters was in Capua, on the Italian mainland. These expatriates eventually became a completely separate branch of the Order under papal jurisdiction when in 1489 Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull giving the properties of the Orders of St Lazarus and of the Holy Sepulchre to the Order of St John, in effect dissolving the two. The branch of St Lazarus at Boigny refused to recognize the validity of the bull.

By the early sixteenth century the Order was moribund. Leprosy had been virtually eliminated in Europe. The Crusades were over and in papal eyes there was very little to justify the continued existence of St Lazarus. Though the knights of St Lazarus at Boigny continued to function as an order, as far as the Pope was concerned, the Order in France had ceased to exist The properties of the Sicilian branch had been transferred by the Pope to the Savoyan Order of St Maurice, which became the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. Originally created as a military order whose mission was to protect the Papal States’ shoreline from the Barbary pirates, it soon became nothing more than a distinction of the House of Savoy and after the unification of Italy, a state order in the gift of the Crown of Italy. Following the Second World War, from his exile in Portugal King Umberto exercised his right of fons honorum to proffer these Savoyan orders to many of his deserving friends. His son, Prince Victor Emanuel, continues to award the Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus.

On 25 July 1593, King Henry of Navarre abjured the Protestant faith in order to accede to the French throne as Henri IV. In 1608, two years before his assassination, he created with the blessing of Pope Paul V the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and named Philibert, Marquis de Nerestang, Grand Master of St Lazarus, as Grand Master of the new order. He in effect amalgamated the two orders, which then became known as the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Lazarus. The insignia of the new order was an eight-pointed Maltese cross with fleur-de-lys in the angles and quartered in the colours of both orders (purple and green), bearing on the obverse a representation of Our Lady and on the reverse of St Lazarus.

There is a good deal of controversy as to the King’s reasons for founding this new order and then joining it to St Lazarus. Some historians see it as a move to prove to the Pope that he was now a good Catholic fulfilling the vows he took to create institutions to glorify the Church and the Faith when he abjured Protestantism. Others hold that the King was being clever and his only desire was to prevent the considerable properties of a moribund St Lazarus from falling into the hands of the Hospitallers of St John and, in effect to revive St Lazarus (which Pope Innocent VIII had tried to dissolve in 1489). Since over the years he had made several efforts to have the Pope annul the 1489 bull, it is reasonable to assume that the truth lies somewhere in between. Historians of the Order claim that, although they owed allegiance to a common Grand Master, neither order lost its sovereign identity.

In theory the Order was military, but with the exception of a brief period in the seventeenth century when it manned ten naval frigates it played no military role after it left the Holy Land. It was composed of diplomats, high-level civil servants and members of the titled nobility and was limited to 100 knights. The King was the sovereign head and protector and chose the Grand Master. The Grand Master, however, was only recognized by the Pope as Grand Master of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and not of St Lazarus. During the reign of Louis XVI the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – not the combined order – was awarded to the top three students of the Royal Military School. The orders were separate though they shared the same Grand Master. Although the Order enjoyed a unique relationship with the French Royal House and was officially under the protection of the King of France, it was never a Royal Order. The King’s titles as Sovereign, Founder and Protector meant that he was Sovereign and Founder of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Protector of St Lazarus.

During the French Revolution. a decree of 30 July 1791 suppressed all royal and knightly orders. Another decree the following year confiscated all the Order’s properties (the Château de Boigny, the Military Academy, the commanderies and hospitals). Louis, Count of Provence, Grand Master of the Order, who later became Louis XVIII, continued to function in exile and awarded the Order, though sparingly. Supporters point out that while in exile in the Latvian province of Mittau he awarded the Order to Tsars Paul I and Alexander I of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Count Rostopchine and General de Fersen. They maintain that he even created an hereditary commandery in Sweden for Chev Olof Nilson which is still in existence. When the Count of Provence returned to France from exile to reign as Louis XVIII, he gave up the magistracy of the Order and became Protector, as had his predecessors, but appointed no Grand Master.

Shortly after Louis acceded to the throne in 1814, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France, forcing the King to leave Paris again to seek refuge in Ghent. During this period and after he returned to France, circumstances did not permit the King to summon a Chapter General to elect a Grand Master. The Order was governed by a Lieutenant-General, the Duc de Châtre, assisted by M. Silvestre, the Herald, M. Dacier, the historiographer, and Father Picot, a chaplain from Versailles.

King Louis XVIII, the Protector, and the Duc de Châtre both died in 1824. King Charles X succeeded his brother and took the title of Protector, and left the Order to be governed by a Council of Officers, headed by the Marquis d’Autichamps, and the Council of (hereditary) Commanders. Recruitment slowly resumed and promotions were made. In 1830 Charles X abdicated, and with his de jure successor, the young Duc de Bordeaux, who reigned from 2 to 7 August 1830 as Henri V, went into exile. King Henri V was the last de jure royal Protector of the Order. The Order did not enjoy the protection of the new King and was not listed thereafter in the royal Almanac. From 1830 the Order of St Lazarus was governed by a Council of Officers, who felt it was necessary for the Order to have a Protector. The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Maximos III Malzoum had for years been acquainted with the Order of St Lazarus. In 1821-23, whilst Archbishop of Myra, he spent three years living in France, where, with the support of King Louis XVIII, he founded the church of Our Lady of Myra. While living in Paris he brought the sufferings of Eastern Catholics to the attention of Louis XVIII and other members of the Order of St Lazarus.

Now Patriarch since 1833, Maximos III came to France again in 1841, after visiting Pope Gregory XVI in Rome. The Knights of St Lazarus made contact with the Patriarch during his second sojourn in Paris and asked him to be the Spiritual Protector of the Order. He accepted for himself and for his successors. The knights and hospitallers of the Order of St Lazarus, now confident that their traditions would be maintained, resumed their charitable work especially for the benefit of Christians in the East. Under the spiritual authority of the Patriarch, there was cautious recruitment to the Order, so that by 1850 it numbered some twenty knights. Among the Eastern prelates appointed to the Order were, notably, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishops Clement of Beirut (who became Patriarch in 1856), Mgr Agapi Dumani (appointed in 1864) and Mgr Antoine Sabbagh (appointed in 1871). In the West, recruitment of new members was restricted by the Patriarch’s position vis-à-vis the Ottoman Empire. Knights appointed up to the end of the nineteenth century included, in 1853, Admiral Alphonse Hamelin, who commanded the Black Sea squadron during the Crimean War, became Minister for the Navy and was Grand Chancellor of the Légion d’Honneur when he died in 1860. In the same year, Admiral Louis Edouard Bouët Willaumez, who became an Imperial Senator and died in 1871. In 1863, Comte Louis François du Mesnil de Maricourt, who became French Consul at Larnaca in Cyprus and died in 1865 while ministering to cholera victims; Comte Paul de Poudenx, who died in 1894; the Abbé Jean Tanski, who came to France after taking part in the Polish uprising, lived in Paris (where he was attached to the parish of Sainte-Marie-des-Batignolles), later became Almoner of the Order, contributed to its maintenance and died in 1913. In 1865, Comte Jules Marie d’Anselme de Puisaye, a Zouave in the papal armies; the Vicomte de Boisbaudry in 1875; Baron Yves de Constancin in 1896, who was later to become commander of the Hospitaller Nobles of St Lazarus, a Knight of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and of St Anne of Russia. A man of letters, he founded the Association of Parliamentary Journalists and was the director of the Revue Internationale, dying in 1914. In 1880, Comte Jules Marie d’Anselme de Puisaye, living at the time in Tunisia and desirous of involving the Order in a charitable and hospitaller project, founded in Tunis the Association de la Croix Verte, a society for aid to the injured and sick.

In 1902, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Mgr Cyrille Ghea, a member of the Order, became Patriarch Cyril VIII. Under his aegis, new members joined the Order, among them Mgr Grégoire Haggear, his successor as Melkite Archbishop of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Paul Watrin, Paul Beugnot, Charles Otzenberger, Jean-Paul Eyscher, Alexandre Gallery de la Tremblaye, Jean Georges de Guillet de Pardes de Fleurelles.

In 1910, the Patriarch, on Canon Tanski’s advice, decided to re-establish the Order’s Chancery in France, its historic seat. A Council of the Order was appointed: Paul Watrin, an advocate at the Appeal Court in Paris, was appointed Chancellor; Paul Beugnot as the Juge d’Armes and Canon Tanski as Chaplain. After this reorganisation Patriarch Cyril VIII wrote a long letter, dated 3 June 1911 from Damascus, to the Chancellor, in which he discussed the role of the Eastern Church in which the Order was interested, and concluded: ‘Finally, as a pledge of our recognition and affection, we grant our blessing to all the Order.’

When the Ottoman Empire was defeated, Demetrios I Cadi was elected Patriarch on 29 March 1919, and became the new Spiritual Protector of the Order of St Lazarus. Under his protectorate, recruitment resumed, Canon Pierracini became Chaplain of the Order and the Marquis de l’Eglise de Férier de Félix became Juge d’Armes. The Patriarch died on 25 October 1925, and Cyril IX Mogabgab was elected to succeed him on 8 December 1925. He was a great Francophile and a Commander of the Légion d’Honneur. The Order developed under his spiritual protection, and on 17 March 1926, the Patriarch wrote a lengthy letter from Beirut to the members of the Order, in which he said: ‘The work of the recruitment of priests and their support in poverty-stricken villages… accomplished by my beloved hospitaller sons of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, is a work of essentially missionary character and worthy of their traditions. God will assuredly reward them a hundredfold, for they shall have the merit of saving thousands of souls for God. In especially commending all these endeavours to you, I send to you and to all your confrères in the Order my paternal benediction.’

On 10 June 1926, Mgr Attié, the Melkite Patriarch’s archimandrite and rector of the Church of St-Julian-le-Pauvre in Paris, was installed as Chaplain of the Order. Recruitment intensified over the next two years. The year 1927 saw the official constitution under French law of the Association Française des Hospitaliers de Saint-Lazare, which then took the name of Association Française des Chevaliers de Saint-Lazare and which is now the Hospitaliers de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem. The Marquis de l’Eglise de Férier de Félix became its president. In 1929 the Order continued its onward progress. More than fifty people, French and foreign, joined its ranks, among whom were Cardinal Liénart, Bishop of Lille, Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York;. Bishop Dubowski of Lutsk, General de Castelnau, Admiral Lacaze, General Weygand, Don Francisco de Borbón y de Borbón, the Duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, the Marquis de Migré, the Marquis de Bellevue and Colonel Raoul Hospital. This period also saw increased recruitment outside France, notably in Spain and Poland. A new edition of the Order’s Rules and Statutes was also published in 1929, adapting its ancient customs to modern times on the basis of the Fundamental Statute of the Knights and Hospitallers which had been drawn up at the time of the resumption of the links with the Melkite Patriarchate in 1841. Articles on the Hospitallers of St Lazarus were being published in various journals and conferences were held on the subject.

The expansion of the Order in Europe was so successful that it decided to explore the possibilities in the New World. Here again the Order thrived; among those received into the rank of Ecclesiastical Grand Cross were no less than four American Cardinals and a Bishop. A former Chief Justice of New York’s Supreme Court was also awarded its Grand Cross, as were the Presidents of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Brazil, who officially recognized the Order.

In 1930 officers of the Order asked Don Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre, Duke of Seville, Grand Bailiff of the Order for Spain, to assume the governance of the Order, with the title of Lieutenant-General of the Grand Magistracy. The Duke, a descendant of the Kings of Spain and France, who distinguished himself on the field of battle during the Spanish Civil War and was known as the ‘Hero of Malaga,’ accepted the office. He worked for the revitalization of the Order by rallying the knights to its traditional double mission: aid to lepers and collaboration in the defence of the Christian faith. By a unanimous vote in 1935 he was elected as 44^th Grand Master, re-establishing the office which had been vacant since 1814.

After the Second World War the Order’s expansion reached its zenith. Membership grew as did its charitable missions. The Duke of Seville melded some of the Order’s ancient traditions with modern reforms with evident success. The Order, wishing to revert to its original mission, became actively involved in the care of lepers in Spain. In 1952 the Duke of Seville died. His son and coadjutor, Don Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón, was initially named Lieutenant-General and elected as 45^th Grand Master six years later. Because he was a serving officer in the Spanish army and resided in Spain, he was unable to devote himself fully to the Order. In 1956, he appointed Pierre Timoléon de Cossé, 12^th Duc de Brissac, a member since 1954, as Administrator-General of the Order. This move eventually resulted in the fragmentation which exists to the present day.

The French administration complained that Don Francisco Enrique was increasingly tied up by his military and personal obligations and was unable to fulfil his commitments, so that a de facto vacancy existed in the grand magistracy. Don Francisco Enrique immediately issued decrees annulling the appointments of the Duc de Brissac as Administrator-General and the other members of the Paris administration and reassumed the functions of Grand Master. Rather than heed the decrees, the Paris administration convened a Chapter General of all knights of the Order to depose Don Francisco Enrique and elected HRH Prince Charles-Phillipe d’Orléans, Duc de Nemours, Duc de Vendôme, Duc d’Alençon and First Prince of the Blood of France, as 46^th Grand Master. With the Spanish jurisdiction understandably remaining loyal to their compatriot, there were now two claimants to the title of Grand Master, the Duc de Nemours in Paris and Don Francisco Enrique in Madrid, whom the French entitled ‘Grand Master Emeritus of the Order and Grand Prior of the Spanish Grand Priory’. The Supreme Council re-established the Grand Magistry at Boigny, restoring it to the status it had held for 500 years before the French Revolution.

Educated in England, the Duc de Nemours was an ardent anglophile. He had married Margaret Watson of Virginia, USA, and the couple spoke English at home. Keen to expand the Order in the English-speaking world, the Duc de Nemours appointed Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gayre of Gayre and Nigg as Commissioner-General for the English Tongue to propagate the Order in Britain and the Americas. It was only natural that he and Gayre would soon become fast friends. This was resented by the Administrator-General of the Order and his entourage, and forebode another storm. When the Duc de Nemours appointed Col Gayre as Grand Referendary to replace the deceased Marquis de Cardenas de Montehermoso, the Duc de Brissac once again convened a Chapter-General and deposed the Duc de Nemours. This time the move was much more costly because Col Gayre, who had been very active in recruiting in the English-speaking countries, took with him a large proportion of the Order’s membership. The members in Paris appointed the Duc de Brissac Supreme Head of the Order, without naming him Grand Master.

Col Gayre and the Duc de Nemours moved their faction’s headquarters to the island of Malta where the Colonel lived, and appointed the Grand Master’s nephew, HRH Prince Michel de France, Comte d’Evreux, as coadjutor with right of succession to the Grand Magistracy. Col Gayre continued to travel and recruit extensively.

The Duc de Nemours died suddenly in Paris in 1970 and the group on Malta found itself without a Grand Master. As coadjutor, Prince Michel de France temporarily assumed the duties until a permanent replacement could be found, but chose not to take up his right to succeed as Grand Master. It was not long before Col Gayre decided to approach Don Francisco Enrique in Madrid and propose to him that he return to head both the Maltese and Spanish factions of the Order as Grand Master, which he did in 1973. This was the fourth scission but it resulted in the reduction to two obediences, Paris and Malta. However, it was not long before the problems of Grand Magistry and administration being in two different countries without a common language caused further tensions and Col Gayre opted to rejoin the Paris Obedience.

While there were no official contacts between the two obediences for several years, members of the rank and file of each side made efforts to convince their leaderships that the Order should be reunified, if for no other reason than to defend against the attacks on the division made by that segment of the European press which covered the activities of the European nobility, and others who specialized in heraldry and genealogy. Tentative contacts between members of each obedience were made, and it looked as if members of the leadership of both sides were coming around to the general principle of a reunification. The Canadians who had gone over to the Paris side and those Canadians who remained loyal to Don Francisco Enrique decided to set an example and joined forces, pledging allegiance temporarily to a commonly elected Grand Prior of Canada

The Spiritual Protector, Patriarch Maximos V Hakim, agreed to head a reunification committee but Don Francisco Enrique refused to nominate members of it, sensing a coup. Preliminary meetings took place at Philadelphia, Paris and London, to which Malta sent ‘observers’. These deliberations resulted in a meeting in Washington in 1984 which was attended by the Marquis de Brissac, representing his father, the Grand Master of the Paris obedience, and Don Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón, Grand Master of the Malta obedience. A joint declaration of intent to unify was drawn up at Washington which provided for both claimants to the title of 47^th Grand Master to step down and become ‘Grand Masters Emeriti’ so that an election could be held to select a Grand Master for a unified Order. The representatives of Paris signed the declaration but Don Francisco wished to retain the right to appoint his successor and returned to Madrid, saying he had to consult his advisers and constituents.

The Patriarch, as unquestioned Spiritual Protector of the Order, called for a chapter general of both obediences to be held at Oxford in 1986, but Don Francisco Enrique refused to attend and ordered his followers to boycott the event, although many disobeyed. The Duc de Brissac gave up the reins of his obedience to his son, the Marquis de Brissac, who was one of the three nominees at the Oxford election, Don Francisco Enrique and the Prince Ernst August zur Lippe being the others. The Marquis won by a large majority (the votes being 1134:57:138) and was acclaimed as the 48^th Grand Master by an overjoyed assembly, who thought they had at last healed the breach. However, the Malta Grand Master refused to acknowledge the validity of the election and resolved to carry on as before, nominating his son, Don Francisco de Borbón y Escasany, 5^th Duke of Seville, as coadjutor. The Malta obedience acclaimed him as 48^th Grand Master in 1996. Instead of a reunification, a realignment therefore occurred.

On the retirement of the Duc de Brissac in 2004, an attempt was made by the Duke of Seville's North American supporters to place the worldwide Order under the Duke's jurisdiction, but this was opposed on religious grounds by two thirds of the countries involved, and the majority (including the GP of E&W) elected instead HRH Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans as the 49th Grand Master, thus initiating a further split in the Order. (Prince Charles-Philippe has since been created Duc d'Anjou by his uncle, the Count of Paris, which has led to dismay in some French quarters, as it is believed that he had no right to do this. The matter is apparently to be challenged and tested in the French courts.) This means that the Order is currently divided into three factions: the largest, known as the Paris Obedience, acknowledges the Duke of Seville as its Grand Master designate - pending the decision by the Court of the Rota; the second is the Malta Obedience which has had the Duke of Seville as its Grand Master for some years; and, finally, the newly formed Orleans faction which owns Prince Charles-Philippe as its Grand Master.

In recent months several national jurisdictions belonging to the Orleans faction, (including England and Wales) have been horrified and alarmed by some of the recent autocratic decisions and perceived financial irregularities perpetrated by the Grand Chancellor, and supported by the Grand Magistry. As a result they have withdrawn their support from the Orleans faction. This action was taken very reluctantly, and only after protracted attempts to find an amicable solution to what can only be termed as very serious concerns. Currently the GP of E & W are conducting themselves as a fully independent jurisdiction abiding by the rules of the original constitution of the Order.

There is however a ray of hope on the horizon, as it now appears that the Paris and Malta Obediences have agreed at last to re-unify, with the possibility of the independent jurisdictions also joining in the process at some future point. Owing to its size and lineage, this unified body will be the de facto Order of St. Lazarus.

Bertrand de la Grassiére, Paul
L’Ordre militaire et hospitalier de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem
Son histoire - son action
Paris, 1960

Bertouch, Ernst von (Mittelstaedt, Axel, editor)
Mönchs- und Ritterorden
Kurzgefaßte Geschichte der geistlichen Genossenschaften und der daraus hervorgegangenen Ritterorden
1887, reprint München, 1984, p. 84 - 89

Biallo, Michele and Stefano
Ordo Militaris et Hospitalaris Sancti Lazari Jerusalem
Gran Priorato d’Italia
Castel di Sangro, 1995

Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung (editor)
Orden und Ehrenzeichen der Republik Österreich (ab 1945)
sowie weitere inländische Auszeichnungen, die zur Uniform des österreichischen Bundesheeres getragen werden dürfen
Wien, 1985 ff., part XI/4

Calendini, P.
Boigny
at: Dictionnaire d’Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastique, 1937, p. 520 - 523

Charter of St Lazarus of Jerusalem (documents)
(Privilegia Ordinis S.Lazari)
at: Archives de l’Orient latin, II.
Rome, 1566

Cibrario, Luigi
Breve storia dell’Ordine di San Lazzaro
at: Die Tempieri e della loro abolizione degli Ordini equestri di S. Lazzaro, di S. Maurizio e dell’Annunziata. Memorie storiche, Firenze/Torino, 1968, p. 217 - 255

Cibrario, Luigi
Précis historique des Ordres religieux et militaires de S. Lazare et de S. Maurice avant et après leur réunion
Lyon, 1860

Clermont-Ganneau, Claude
1. Seal of the crusading period, from the leper hospital of St Lazarus at Jerusalem
at: Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement for 1901, p. 109 - 113

Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, Robert
The Knightly Twilight
Malta, 1973

Grochol, Werner
Der Aussatz
at: Krisen, Ketzereien, Krankheiten im ausgehenden Mittelalter. Eine populäre Medizingeschichte. Berlin, 1994, pages 145-154

Hélyot, Hippolyt
Histoire des ordres monastiques, religieux et militaires et des congrégations séculières de l’un et de l’autre sexe, qui ont été établies jusqu’à présent
Paris 1714 - 1719, 1721, 1792, 1838

Hélyot, Hippolyt
P. Hippolyt Helyots ausführliche Geschichte aller geistlichen und weltlichen Kloster- und Ritterorden ...
Leipzig, 1763 - 1756

Jankrift, Kay Peter
Leprose als Streiter Gottes
Institutionalisierung und Organisation des Ordens des Heiligen Lazarus zu Jerusalem von seinen Anfängen bis zum Jahre 1350
Münster, Lit, 1996, (thesis)

Montilla Zavalía, Félix Alberto
Las Órdenes de Caballería y las Órdenes Honoríficas Católicas en la actualidad
(Una visión histórico-jurídica y política)
introduced by Dr. Isidoro J. Ruiz Moreno, Argentinian Lieutenant of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Editorial Dunken, Buenos Aires, 2001, p. 16

Morel, P. Gall
Älteste Urkunden des St Lazarus Spitals zu Seedorf im Lande Uri 1243 - 1518
at: Der Geschichtsfreund. Mittheilungen des historischen Vereins der fünf Orte Lucern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden und Zug 12, 1856, p. 1 - 51

Morel, P. Gall
Die ältesten Statuten für die Lazaritenklöster Seedorf, im Gfenn und in Slatte
at: Der Geschichtsfreund. Mittheilungen des historischen Vereins der fünf Orte Lucern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden und Zug 4, 1856, p. 119 - 158

Morris of Balgonie, Stuart H., Ygr.
The Insignia and Decorations of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
Perthshire, 1986

Mutuel, André
Recherches sur l’Ordre de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem en Normandie
at: Annales de Normandie 33, 1983, p. 121 - 142

Nasalli-Rocca, Emilio
Gli ospedali italiani di S. Lazzaro o die Lebbrosi
Contributo alla storia del diritto Ospedaliero
at: Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte 58, 1938, p. 262 - 299

Nasalli-Rocca, Emilio
Sulle origini e sulla natura giuridica degli Ordini di S. Maurizio e di S. Lazzaro
at: Studi di storia ospedaliera piemontense in onore di Giovanni Donna d’Oldenico, Turino, 1958, p. 207 - 225

Nimmergut, Jörg
Orden Europas
München, 1981, p. 11; 2nd edition 1991, p. 11

Novak, Hans (editor)
Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen
Schriftenreihe über das österreichische Bestattungswesen, part 3
Wien, 1983, p. 77 - 90

Nüscheler, Arnold
Die Lazariterhäuser im Gfenn bei Dübendorf und Schlatt
at: Mitteilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft Zürich, volume IX, special edition, 1855

Nüscheler, Arnold
Die Siechenhäuser der Schweiz
at: Archiv für Schweizergeschichte 15, 1866, p. 182 - 221

Pestalozzi, Johannes
Das Lazariterhaus in Seedorf
at: Neujahrsblatt der Zürcher Hilfsgesellschaft, 1835

Pétiet, René
Contributions à l’histoire de l’Ordre de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem en France
Paris, 1914

Poinsignon, F.
Die heilkräftige Quelle und das Haus des Hl. Lazarus zu Schlatt
at: Schau ins Land 9, 1884, p. 8 - 15

Pope Pius V
Bulla Pii V. et bullae antiquorum privilegiorum per nonnullos Romanos pontifices
Religioni et militiae sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani concessorum
Rome, 1567

Provedimenti relativi all’ Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazaro
Turin, 1855

Puy, Raymond du
Raymond du Puy, grand-maître de l’Hôpital, promulgue la règle de l’ordre
at: Cartulaire général, no. 70, p. 62 - 68

S. Lazari
at: Zeidler’s Universallexicon, volume 16, Halle, 1737, p. 1241 - 1243

Sauer, Elisabeth
Der Lazariter-Orden und das Statutenbuch von Seedorf
Freiburg, 1930 (thesis)

Schneller, J.
Jahrzeitbücher des Mittelalters der St Lazarus Brüder und Schwestern in Seedorf
at: Der Geschichtsfreund. Mittheilungen des historischen Vereins der fünf Orte Lucern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden und Zug 12, 1856, p. 52 - 67

Schulte, Aloys
Die Anfänge der Kommende des Lazaritenordens zu Schlatt im Breisgau
at: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Neue Folge 1, 1886, p. 462 - 470

Scott, W. S.
The story of the magistral house of the order of St Lazarus in England at Burton Lazars
at: Armorial 4, 1964, p. 179 - 184

The Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem – An Introduction
Commandery of Avalon

The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
A short history of the most ancient Order of Chivalry, past and present
The Grand Priory of the Western United States of America, 1941

Thomson, W. McL.
The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
at: The Medical Journal of Australia - December 1991: pages 778-779

Toussaint de Saint-Luc, F.
Mémoires sur l’institution, progrès et privilèges de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel et de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem
Paris, 1666

Urrisk, BrigGen Rolf M.
Die Traditionspflege des österreichischen Bundesheeres 1918 - 1998
H. Weishaupt Verlag, Wien, 1997, p. 256 - 258

Vignat, Eugéne
Les lépreux et les chevaliers de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem et de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel suivis d’une histoire de la commanderie Boigny
Orleans, 1884

von Holewinski, Dr. Felix
Heraldry and the Grand Priory of America (The Military & Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem)

Walker, John
The motives for patrons of the Order of St Lazarus in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
at: Monastic studies. The continuity of tradition, Bangor, 1990, p. 171 - 181

Walker, John
The patronage of the Templars and the Order of St Lazarus in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
University of St Andrews, 1990 (manuscript not yet published)

Weaver-Hazelton, Alan
The Order of Saint Lazarus. A Short History
1981

Westgaard, Thomas
Introduction to the Order of St Lazarus and Aspiration to the Ideals of Chivalry
1993

In addition there are a large number of ancient documents relating to the Order preserved at Paris:

National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale)
*   Confirmation des privilèges des Ordres militaires et hospitaliers de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel et de St Lazare par le Roy Louis XIV, avril 1664 (Fonds français 3886)
*   Recueil de pièces concernant les Ordres militaires de St Lazare et du Mont Carmel et du Saint-Esprit de Montpellier et Saint-Louis (Fonds français 20332)
*   Histoire de l’ordre hospitalier régulier et militaire de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem; M. de Guénégaud, commandeur de la commanderie de St Antoine de Grattemont (Fonds français 24967)
*   Armorial général des ordres Royaux, Militaires et Hospitaliers de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel et Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem; Doret de Chameulles, Secretaire général du gueule à 3 Croix ancre (Fonds français 32399)
*   Ordres de Chevaliers Religieux; Armorial de Saint-Lazare (Fonds français 32957), ~ 1650
*   Recueil de plusieurs privilèges des ordres roïaux militaires et hospitaliers de Notre Dame du Mont-Carmel et des Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem (Fonds français 33099)
*   Pièces sur l’ordre de Saint-Lazare; Mémoire de Mr. Le Marquis de Dangeau, Grand Maistre de l’ordre de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel et de St Lazare; Mémoire envoyé de Rome par S.E. Mr. Le Cardinal Janson (Fonds français N.A. 2486)
*   Julien de St Didier, Abrégé dommaire historique et chronologique des ordres royaux militaires et hospitaliers de Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel et de St-Lazare de Jérusalem (Fonds français N.A. 4132)

National Archives (Archives Nationales)
*   Vidimus en Mars 1324 de deux Chartes de Henri II., roi d’Angleterre et d’une de Philippe Auguste de l’an 1200 portant exemption de droits en faveur de l’ordre (M 31)
*   Chartre de Gui de Laval, viComte de Thouans, sur un donation de Jean de Ruotheys, valet, en faveur de l’ordre, 1294 (M 31)
*   Arrêt du Parlement concernant l’enregistrement des privilèges accordés à l’Ordre, Mars 1313 (M 31)
*   Extrait de l’origine et Institution de l’Ordre des Chevaliers de Saint-Lazare, tiré du livre des Ordres de Chevalerie, fait par M. M. de Bellay conseiller et Avocat général du Roy en sa Cour de Parlement de Toulouse, Imprimé à Montauban en 1604 (M 41)
*   Chronique abbrégée de l’ordre militaire de St Lazare par Jean-Marie de la Mure, Chanoine de Montbrizan, historiographe de France, 1660 (M 41)
*   Recueil des titres qui justifient l’antiquité, la succession, et les privileges de l’ordre de Saint-Lazare et son union à l’ordre militaire de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel depuis l’an 1100 jusques à l’an 1672; Jean Baptiste Box, chabcelier garde de sceaux de Saint-Lazare, commandeur de St Thomas de Fontenay en Poitou, 1672 (MM 202)

Circulus
Lazarus-Orden, Commende Berlin-Brandenburg
Berlin

De Orde van St Lazarus
The official Newsletter of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, The Grand Bailiwick of the Low Countries Amstelveen

Der Lazarus Orden
Kommunikationsorgan
Grand Priory of Austria
Kapfenberg

... Dienst am Menschen in ‘sozialen Nischen’
Annual report
Commandery of St Rupert - Salzburg
Salzburg

Grand Priory of England and Wales Newsletter

Lazarus Mitteilungen
Offizielles Mitteilungsblatt
Grand Bailiwick of Austria
Wien, 1983 . 1999

Ordens-Journal
Offizielles Mitteilungsorgan der Großballei Deutschland
Geisenheim-Johannisburg

The Grand Priory Bulletin
The Journal of The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, Obedience of Malta,
Priory of New Zealand
Wellington, 2000 -