Order of Saint Stephen

For the Hungarian order, see Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary.

Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr
Badge of the order.
Awarded by Grand Duke of Tuscany
TypeMilitary and Religious order[1]
EligibilityNoblemen over 18, not descended from heretics
Grand Masterdisputed

Ribbon of the order

The Order of Saint Stephen (officially Sacro Militare Ordine di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire, 'Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr') is a Roman Catholic Tuscan dynastic military order founded in 1561. The order was created by Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany. The last member of the Medici dynasty to be a leader of the order was Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The order was permanently abolished in 1859 by the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Sardinia.[3] The former Kingdom of Italy and the current Italian Republic also did not recognize the order as a legal entity but tolerates it as a private body.[4]

  1. ^ Klimczuk, Stephen; Craigenmaddie, Gerald Warner of (2009). Secret places, hidden sanctuaries: uncovering mysterious sites, symbols, and societies. New York: Sterling Ethos. pp. 88–93. ISBN 978-1-4027-6207-9. Retrieved 7 December 2011. Order of Saint Stephen Pope.
  2. ^ Davies, Jonathan (2009). Culture and power : Tuscany and its universities 1537–1609 ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Leiden: Brill. p. 33. ISBN 978-90-04-17255-5.
  3. ^ Carmichael, Montgomery (1901). In Tuscany: Tuscan Towns, Tuscan Types and the Tuscan Tongue. New York: E P Dutton. pp. 173. The Order was swept away by the French Revolution but was revived again in a modified form in 1817. The Italian Revolution once more swept it away beyond hope of revival on 16 November 1859 and its Church and property became the property of the State. Alas that modern Italy should not be a little more tender of the memories of her past glories.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference GrandDuke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).