Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)

This article is about the order statuted in 1910. For the history of the medieval Catholic military order, see Order of Saint Lazarus. For other uses, see Order of Saint Lazarus (disambiguation).

Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
AbbreviationOSLJ
Established1910
TypeConfraternal order
Legal statusIncorporated in various countries, but disputed by some historians
Purpose"Care and assistance of the sick and the poor, and to the support and defense of the Christian faith and the traditions and principles of Christian chivalry"
Headquarters
Membership
open to Christians by invitation
Official language
Spiritual protector
Secessions
  • 1. Orléans obedience (2004)
  • 2. Jerusalem obedience (2010)
Website

The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Latin: Ordo Militaris et Hospitalis Sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani) is a Christian order that was statuted in 1910 by a council of Catholics in Paris, France, initially under the protection of Patriarch Cyril VIII Geha of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.[7] During the 1920s, it expanded its jurisdiction and enrolled members from other countries in Europe and in the Americas. It re-established the office of grand master in 1935, linking the office to members of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon. It assumed an ecumenical dimension during the 1950s to expand its membership to individuals of other Trinitarian Christian denominations in British Commonwealth countries.

Owing to an internal schism in 1969, the order became divided into two competing "obediences", known as the Malta Obedience and the Paris Obedience. In 2008, these rival obediences were reconciled and reunited into a single order once again, led at that time by Carlos Gereda y de Borbón as grand master, and with the spiritual protection of the (now former) Patriarch Gregory III Laham of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. However, during the period of separation, the Paris Obedience had experienced further schisms, with the creation in 1995 of the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus (led at that time by John Baron von Hoff), and in 2004 of the Orléans Obedience (led at that time by Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans under the protection of Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris). The latter group then experienced a schism in 2010, resulting in the creation of the Jerusalem Obedience (led by Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma).

  1. ^ "International Organisation". st-lazarus.net. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Le pèlerinage des chevaliers de Saint-Lazare, une tradition". La République du Centre. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Contact the Order". saint-lazare.org. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  4. ^ "The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem – Constitution". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Constitutional Charter of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem" (PDF). Orderofsaintlazarus.com. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  6. ^ a b "The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem – Senior International Officers". St-lazarus.net. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  7. ^ de Jandriac. Les chevaliers Hospitaliers de Saint Lazare de Jerusalem et de Notre Dame de la Merci. Rivista Araldica, November 1913, XI(11):p.679–683