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1. Introduction
LABARUM (CHI-RHO)
(from The Catholic Encyclopedia)
Labarum is the
name by which the military standard adopted by
Constantine the Great after his celebrated vision
(Lactantius, "De mortibus persecutorum",
44), was known in antiquity. The original labarum,
designed under the emperor's direction on the
day subsequent to the appearance of the "cross
of light", is described by Eusebius (Vita
Constant., I:26) as "a long spear, overlaid
with gold", which with a transverse bar formed
the figure of a cross. "On the top of the
whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious
stones, and within this the symbol of the Saviour's
name, two letters indicating the name of Christ
by means of the initial letters, the letter X
intersection P at the centre." These two
letters formed what is known as the monogram of
Constantine, so called -- not because it was the
invention of this emperor, for it had been a familiar
Christian symbol prior to his conversion -- but
because of the great popularity it enjoyed from
the date of its appearance on the imperial standards.
From the cross-bar of the spear, was suspended
a purple banner with the Greek inscription TOUTO
NIKA -- i. e. conquer by this (sign), usually
rendered in Latin "In hoc signo vinces"
(in this sign thou shalt conquer). This banner,
square in form, covered with a rich embroidery
of precious stones, and "being also richly
interlaced with gold, presented an indescribable
degree of beauty to the beholder". The part
of the staff immediately above the embroidered
banner was adorned with medallions of the emperor
and his children. Fifty soldiers of the imperial
guard, distinguished for bravery and piety, were
entrusted with the care and defense of the new
sacred standard (Vita Constant., II:8). Standards,
similar to the original labarum in its essential
features were supplied to all the legions, and
the monogram was also engraved on the soldiers'
shields. An idea of some of the deviations in
form of the standards furnished to different divisions
of the army may be obtained from several coins
of Constantine's reign still preserved. On one
coin, for instance, the portrait of the emperor
and his sons are represented on the banner instead
of on the staff; on a second the banner is inscribed
with the monogram and surmounted by the equal-armed
cross, while the royal portraits, though on the
shaft, are below instead of above the banner.
In form, the labarum of Constantine was an adaptation
of the already existing cavalry standard of the
Roman army; the pagan emblems were merely replaced
by Christian symbols. The term labarum, which
is of uncertain derivation, was probably familiar
in the Roman army from the reign of Hadrian. |
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According to its most
commonly repeated history, the original institution
from which the modern Order descends was founded by
the Emperor Constantine the Great to provide a guard
for the Labarum, or Standard, which had been carried
at the head of his troops at the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge in 312 a.d. [Note 1.2] This great victory over
the pagan forces of Maxentius led to the conversion
of the Roman Empire to Christianity and had a profound
effect on European history. It probably seemed appropriate
to sixteenth and seventeenth century historians that
such a momentous event should have been commemorated
by the establishment of an Order of Chivalry. [Note
1.3] Statutes dating from the sixteenth century, state
that the original rules were confirmed and amended by
the Emperors Isaac Angelus and Michael Paleologus, but
the only extant versions of these statutes date from
the sixteenth century. The Constantinian Order subsequently
received confirmation as a Religious-Military Order
from the Holy See and, with the Order of Malta, is the
only international Catholic Order which has maintained
this status unchanged to the present day. The Order
is dedicated to propaganda of the Faith, Defence of
the Church and support of the Holy See; the members
owe a particular duty of loyalty to the Pope and to
support the teachings and dogma of the Roman Catholic
Church.
The Constantinian Order
is also the only international Catholic Order with an
hereditary Grand Mastership. Since 1731 this has been
the inheritance of the Bourbon family descended from
Philip V of Spain and his wife Elizabeth Farnese [See
Bourbon Dynasty]. Although often described as a Neapolitan
institution, this is a mistaken view of the Order's
history. Before 1698 its administrative headquarters
was based in Venice, the residence of its Grand Masters,
or traveled with them. From 1698 until 1768 it was based
in Parma, even though the Grand Master himself took
up residence in Naples in 1734. The administration was
removed Naples and the separate administration of the
Order's Parmesan properties terminated in 1780; aside
from the period of the French occupation from 1797-99
and 1806-1815, the administration remained in Naples
until the downfall of the Two Sicilies Monarchy in 1860-61.
Forced into involuntary exile from his homeland the
Grand Master moved to the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The
nominal administration remained in Rome until 1960,
even though the Grand Masters themselves were resident
in Bavaria and Cannes, and a Constantinian chapel was
built in the Basilica of Santa Croce al Flaminio and
dedicated by Pope Benedict XV. His Holiness Pope John
Paul II celebrated Mass there on February 23, 1997;
HRH the Grand Master attended, accompanied by the Spanish
Ambassadors to the Holy See and the Quirinale and the
President of the Italian Commission of the Order, along
with a number of Constantinian Knights. This Church
is also the site of the annual Saint George's Day celebrations
and a monthly Mass for Knights and Dames of the Order.
The preponderance of
members from Southern Italy contributed to the belief
that it is a Neapolitan institution and, indeed, from
the last quarter of the eighteenth century onwards most
of the senior posts in the administration and a majority
of the knights were drawn from the nobility of the (former)
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Two Sicilies Crown
and Constantinian Grand Magistery, however, are entirely
independent of each other even though they were united
in the same person. The Constantinian Grand Magistery
is an inheritance by male primogeniture from the Farnese
dynasty. On the extinction of the latter, the succession
passed with Papal assent to the nearest male heir, the
Infante don Carlos de Borbón y Farnese (later
Charles III of Spain). In 1759, after the latter transferred
his Neapolitan Crown to his third son Ferdinand, the
Constantinian Grand Magistery was ceded in a separate
act ten days later, the young King Ferdinand being declared
"legitimate primogeniture male heir of the Farnese".
The succession to the
Constantinian Grand Magistery can only pass to males
and, on the extinction of the last male descendant of
Charles III, it passes to the Bourbon-Parma line. The
Two Sicilies Crown, however, must pass to the nearest
female heiress of the last male descended from Charles
III. Thus, even though the separation of the two successions
may seem unlikely, the very fact that they pass by different
laws is evidence of their mutual separation. Every historian
of the Order without exception, writing between 1860
and 1960, emphasized the complete independence of the
two successions. Indeed, it was the fact that the Grand
Magistery was independent of the Crown which led the
Italian Government to determine that it was excluded
from those acts suppressing the Two Sicilies Crown and
Orders. Had it been part of the inheritance of the Crown
of the Two Sicilies, it would not have survived 1860
in Italian law. Thus no act or decree concerned solely
with the succession to the Two Sicilies Crown can affect
the succession by male primogeniture to the Constantinian
Grand Magistery. The Order is regulated as a subject
of canon law, and the succession to the Grand Magistery
is governed first by the statutes of 1705, approved
by Papal Brief in 1706 and the Bull "Militantis
Ecclesiae" of 1718, and then confirmed in the statutes
of 1922 approved by Papal Placet (these statutes modified
in 1934, 1943, 1987 and 2004).
Today the Order flourishes
under its XIth Grand Master in succession from Francesco
Farnese, the Infante Don Carlos de Borbón-Dos
Sicilias y Borbón-Parma, Duke of Calabria, doyen
of the Knights of the Golden Fleece. There are nearly
2,300 members predominately of Italian or Spanish birth,
but also including Portuguese, British, German, French,
Swiss, Belgian, Austrian and American knights and dames.
NOTES
1.1. Adapted and updated from the chapters
on the Constantinian Order in The Orders of Chivalry
and Merit of the Bourbon Two Sicilies Dynasty,
by Guy Stair Sainty, Madrid, 1989.
1.2. Bernardo Giustiniani, Compendio,
Historico, dell'Ordine, .....Equestre, Imperiale, Angelico
Aureato Costantiniano di San Giorgio ..., Venice
1680.
1.3. An alternative hypothesis, proposed
without any documentary evidence to support it, was
that the original Constantinian knights were the Domestic
Protectors of the Imperial Palaces, who had formed themselves
into a confraternity at the time of the fall of Constantinople.
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