|
For
the past several months we have received many inquiries pertaining
to legitimacy of the Order of Saint Lazarus and the 2004 Schism.
Following are the descriptions of the events prepared by the Grand
Chancellery of the Malta Obedience. While the Grand Chancellor
was eventually dismissed by the Grand Master, we
believe that these accounts of the event are most
accurate.
Events
leading to 2004 Schism and the aftermath.
During
the regency of the 44th Grand Master, H.R.H. Francisco de Paula
de Borbón y de la Torre, Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain,
the Order came to be run by the Spanish Marquis of Cardenas de
Montehermoso. He, as appointed Grand Referendary until his death
in 1965, effectively directed the Order's affairs. The Duke of
Seville died on 6 December 1952 and was succeeded by his son,
H.R.H. Don Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón, Grandee of
Spain, elected 45th Grand Master. Because he was an active
military officer in the Spanish army (Colonel) and resided in
Spain, he was unable to dedicate himself to the Order as fully
as he would have wished, so in 1956 he appointed the late H.E.
Duke de Brissac, living in Paris, as Administrator General.
The geographical separation of the
administration (Paris) and magisterial (Madrid) seats of the
Order became the source of much friction and misunderstanding.
This eventually resulted in one faction of the government of the
Order withdrawing its support from Don Francisco de Borbón and
summoning a "Chapter General" of the Order with the
result that on 20 May 1967 H.R.H. Charles Philippe de Bourbon-Orléans,
Duke of Alençon, Vendôme and Nemours, great-great-grandson of
Louis Philippe, King of the French, was elected 46th Grand
Master, and H.R.H. Prince Michel de Bourbon-Orléans, son of
H.R.H. Henri Count of Paris, was nominated Coadjutor. Don
Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón, who had strongly
contested the Chapter's decision, was named Grand Master
emeritus.
The action of this so-called "Chapter
General" was of questionable legitimacy because the
Constitutional Decrees of the Order, which had been universally
accepted before the split, state that once a Grand Master has
been appointed he can only be removed from the position by his
death or by his abdication. The Spanish knights remained under
the Grand Magistracy of Don Francisco. Later on the 45th and the
"illegal" 46th Grand Master came to an agreement, as
Don Francisco accepted the election of his "cousin".
Although committing itself in theory to ecumenism,
the official position of the Order on this issue remained rather
hazy. The 46th Grand Master saw the wisdom of change and opened
the ranks of the Order to all Christian denominations. As a
result of the initiatives of the late Robert Gayre of Gayre and
Nigg, an Anglo-Scottish Lieutenant-Colonel of the Education
Corps, the English Tongue had been founded, comprising the new
Jurisdictions of England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada, the
Commandery of Lochore and within the Commonwealth, the majority
of whose members belonged to Protestant denominations. Gayre's
energy and ability placed him in a central role in the Order's
government, he have been appointed Grand Commander of the Order.
All these reforms were badly received by
the officers in Paris. They resisted the Grand Master's
authority, which they viewed as an infringement of their own
rights. On 15 April 1969 an again dubious "Chapter
General" unilaterally elected the Administrator General,
the Duke of Brissac, as "Supreme Head" of the Order.
This unfortunate action created a schism in the Order. There
were now two branches, but a great number of Jurisdictions
continued to view the Duke of Nemours as the only legitimate
Grand Master. In view of the new situation in France and in
order to guarantee the Order international status and
independence, the Duke of Nemours decided to transfer the Grand
Chancellery of the Order to the island of Malta. He continued to
work effectively for the Order until his death on 10 March 1970.
The
vacancy in the Grand Magistracy continued for some time, as the
Coadjutor, H.R.H. Prince Michel de Bourbon-Orléans, did not
take up his rights to the succession. Proposed by the Grand
Commander, LtCol. Robert Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, H.R.H. Don
Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón, meanwhile retired
from his military duties, had been elected by a Chapter General
in 1973 as the 47th Grand Master. He appointed his eldest son,
H.H. Don Francisco de Paula de Borbón y Escasany, Duke of
Seville, as Coadjutor.
While each branch followed its own course,
many knights from both sides became even more concerned about
the situation which was prejudicial to its prestige, diluted its
good work and gave ammunition to its detractors. Partisans of
reunification from both sides of the Order negotiated the
conditions with prudence and determination. Recommendations made
from both sides led to a an agreement, named "Declaration
of Washington", which was signed 1979 by both Grand Masters
and most of the Heads of Jurisdictions of both branches. In a
spirit of knightly confraternity, it was decided that each side
would give up its vain quarrels and would work to achieve
reunification. Each side would retain its structure and
identity; that governed by Don Francisco de Borbón would be
known as the "Malta Obedience", and that of the Duke
de Brissac would be known as the "Paris Obedience".
The spiritual unity of the Order was to be assured by H.B.
Maximos V. Hakim, Greek-catholic Patriarch of Antioch, as
Spiritual Protector. After the death of one Grand Master the
other should resign and both Obediences should elect one new
Grand Master.
In spite of considerable hard work by many
people in both factions to bring about a reconciliation, the
attempt failed: The Grand Magisterial Council 1986 of the Malta
Obedience was due to be held in Oxford, England. Certain that
the goal of reunification would be attained at last that
proposed meeting was renamed by the organizers as "Joint
International Reunion". But contrary to the expressed
wishes of the Grand Master the culmination of the Oxford meeting
was a "Chapter General" to elect a new Grand Master
for the unified Order. This was also illegal, as such an
election obviously contravenes the Constitutional Decrees as
stated above. Don Francisco de Borbón forbade all members to
attend the Oxford meeting and according to the Constitution the
Spiritual Protector had no authority to call together such a
meeting.
The
result of this "Chapter General" was that H.E. François
Marquis de Brissac was elected as head of the Paris Obedience,
which called itself "United Order", whilst the true
Grand Master, H.R.H. Don Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón,
remained head of the Malta Obedience. Once again the Order was
split, but this time with different allegiances. Today there is
still controversy about the legitimacy of the Oxford meeting,
and thus the Grand Mastership.
H.R.H.
Don Francisco Enrique de Borbón y de Borbón died on 18
November 1995. He
was succeeded by the Coadjutor, H.R.H. Don Francisco de Paula de
Borbón y Escasany, Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain, who
was declared according to the Order’s Constitution 48th Grand
Master of the Malta Obedience in January 1996 by the Supreme
Council. Because of internal
problems regarding the international administration of the Order
in April 2004 the Grand Chancellor called together a working
meeting of Heads of Jurisdiction to settle these problems. The
Vienna Conference took place begin of May, attended by
representatives of 17 Jurisdictions. Some declarations have been
unanimously approved and signed by all participants and sent to
the Grand Master for his final decision, but no reply ever has
been received. Therefore in June 2004 the signatories of the
resolution expressed their motion of non-confidence to the Duke
of Seville and declared themselves autonomous.
Question of Central - Eastern
Europe.
During the entire communist era
there was only one Jurisdiction that was actually active within
the Order of Saint Lazarus. The Priory of Hungary. And even that
in exile. Immediately
after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia a two new
jurisdictions have been created. That was the Commandery of
Slovakia, and the Jurisdiction of Bohemia.
When we take into consideration that
Hungary was one of the countries that participated in organizing
the creation of the original Order of Saint Lazarus in Holy
Land, it is most peculiar that during the past three decades
there was a very little interest from the international administration
of the Order in overseeing the proper development of the
Order in that specific part of the world.
Today, when we search for various
publicly accessible references regarding the activities of the Order of Saint
Lazarus in Central - Eastern Europe we cannot find any credible
information, but on the other hand we find a great deal of misleading
information posted by various individuals on websites,
such as "Wikipedia":
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Saint_Lazarus
>.
I would like to quote: ... "Today, the revived organization
has been engaged in a major charitable program to revive
Christianity in Eastern Europe; Russia, Ukraine, Armenia,
Georgia, and Near East: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine. Millions of
dollars worth of food, clothing, medical equipment and supplies
have been distributed in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia."
...
While a specific European
Jurisdiction was responsible for delivering various gods to
needy into Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia, in no way did
the Order of Saint Lazarus was ever engaged in any charitable program to revive Christianity
in Eastern Europe; Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia. This
is completely misleading. We can emphatically state that from
our experience none of the local churches, Catholic, or
Protestant, in these countries registered any such activities.
In fact the majority of the churches were, and are very skeptical
of the Order of Saint Lazarus and it's foreign
administrators. While today several local church
charitable organizations receive gifts from various groups
operating under the name of the Order of Saint Lazarus, today's
situation is no different.
Post communist chivalry.
|
| After
expulsion of Turks from Carpathia Basin in 1683 the Order
reestablished itself on the entire territory of Kingdom of
Hungary. In 1710 Knights of the Order founded a hospital named
"Lazarethum" in Tabán, where infectious patients were
treated until the end of the 18th century. The extending
activities of the "Saint Lazarus Missionary
Society" were closely interwoven with the activities of the
Knights of the Order of Saint Lazarus. However the Missionary
Society worked mostly among the Catholics while the Knights of
the Order of Saint Lazarus, although most of its members were
Catholics, attended the poor and the ill without distinction to
their religion.
In the middle of 18th
century a joint Medical Mission Station was established in
Nagyszombat between the Missionary
Society of Saint Lazarus and the Sisters of
Charity. At the same time both groups were in charge
of the Seminary of the Diocese of Vác.
In 1781,
King Joseph II of Austria and Hungary, Holy Roman Emperor,
(1780–1790) ...
dissolved all Holy Orders (including the
Order of the Sisters of Charity) and thus he put an end to their
activities. However, the activities of the Knightly
Order of Saint Lazarus and the Missionary Society of Saint
Lazarus could not be stopped. Hungarian Knights
continued their work in Hungary, and in many other countries
around the world. Many of them, together with volunteers took
part in it. The highly esteemed missionaries, like Ignác Erdélyi,
Ignác Ürge, József Wilfinger considerably contributed in this
process. In 1870 a few Lazarists started to work in
Hungary again. Among them were Nándor Medits, Kálmán
Galambos and József Lollok. Due to their excellent work, in
1903 H.I.H. Prince Joseph placed at their disposal
his hunting palace at Piliscsaba. From that point on
mission stations and hospices were built, one after the other,
all over the country on behalf of the Order.
1903 - Budapest, Gát street;
church and mission station.
1909 - Budapest, 26 Nagyboldogasszony Street mission station.
The World War I. briefly
interrupted this process but in 1920 the Administrator General
of the Order converted the Hungarian mission stations into
Vice-Province, and in 1926 he established an independent
province of the Order and the new houses were built again in:
Budapest, Ménesi str. - Central
Headquarters of the Order
Szob, - Education Center
Lakócsa, (County Somogy) -Mission Station
Budapest, Csepel-Királyerdô- Mission Station and the Hospice
Budapest, Csepel-Szabótelep- Mission Station ion and the
Hospice
After the World War II. the Order
started to reorganize. However, this activities was stopped by
the communist regime for several decades. Communists decrees
prohibited all Knightly Orders and Missionary Societies from
carrying out their activities. Their buildings were nationalized
and their members persecuted or expelled from the country. |
