a Chapter of this Order in Madrid the 16. of April anno 1600. which ended the 30. of November following In which it was ordained that the Book Intituled La Regla y Establecimientos de la Cavalleriae de Santiago del Espadae c. should be printed This Book contains the Institutions whereby the Knights of the Order are to be governed together with all the Statutes Laws Rules and Ceremonies appertaining thereunto and now in use and at this Chapter many of the former Laws were abolished others amended and some new added The Order of Knights of St. Saviour in Aragon 15. About the year of our Lord 1118. was this Order erected by Don Alphonso called Emperor of Spain King of Navarr Aragon Leon Castile and Toledo who chose out of those Spanish and French Nobility that assisted him in his Wars against the Moors a certain number whereof he formed this Society and to the end he might be the better enabled to drive the Moors out of Saragosa and the whole Territory of Aragon he engaged them by this Honor to pursue the War against them to the utmost of their power Favin seems to place the Institution of this Order to the year 1120. but that was the year of King Alphonso's great Expedition against the Moors whom he vanquished and destroyed and for which Victory he had the Title of Conqueror given to him besides these Knights were Instituted upon design to engage with this King in that War of whose assistance he had not so great need as to give Institution to them if he had before overcome the Moors Some may possibly take this Order to be rather Military than Religious but if it be considered that these Knights succeeded the Templars in Montreall being by King Alphonso established in that place and had a Rule of living somewhat conformable to the Knights Templars save only the priviledge to marry which Rule Io. Mariana a Spanish Author of very great credit saith expresly was the Cistertian and for that Ios. Mich. Marquez another Spanish Writer informs 〈◊〉 that they profest conjugal Chastity and Obedience and were obliged to support the holy Church and Christian Faith against the Moors we need not scruple to place them in the ranks of Religious Knights Their Habit was a White Mantle on the breast whereof they wore a Red Cross Ancree but A. Mendo saith it was the Figure of our Saviour At length the like Fate attended this Order as did the Knights of St. Iames Alcantara and Calatrava for the Moors being driven out of Spain and the chief end for which they were instituted ceasing their rich Commanderies were at length united to the Crown The Order of Knights d'Avis in Portugal 16. Don Alphonso Henriquez first King of Portugal took from the Moors in the year of our Lord 1147. the City of Evora and to strengthen this Garrison he sent thither several gallant Commanders who assumed the Title of Knights of St. Mary of Evora as well from putting themselves under the protection of our blessed Lady as from the place where they were first seated Their first Great Master was Don Fernando de Monteiro Not long after they came to be called Knights d' Avis from a Castle of that name situate on the Frontires of Portugal which being conquered from the Moors by the said King Don Alphonso he gave it to Fernando de Yannes Master of Evora in the year 1161. but Fr. de Rades saith it was 1181. to which Castle he and his Brethren forthwith transplanted themselves from Evora This Order was confirmed by Pope Innocent the Third anno 1204. in the Reign of Sancho the First Son to King Don Alphonso under the Rule of St. Benedict and therefore in some Papal Bulls the Order is called of St. Benedict d' Avis but others say this Order had confirmation anno Dom. 1162. by a power which the Bishop of Hostia Legat in Spain for Pope Alexander the Third gave to Io. Zerita Abbot of St. Io. Tarroca The Knights profess Conjugal Chastity and Obedience In the year of Christ 1213. Don Rodrigo Garcez de Assa then seventh Master of Calatrava gave to the Great Master and Brethren Knights d' Avis their two Fortresses in Evora and some other lands possessed by them in the Kingdom of Portugal upon which Donation they submitted themselves to the Rule Statutes Visitation and Correction of the Order of Calatrava and their Successors but in the time of Don Iohn of Portugal natural Son of Pedro the Eighth King of Portugal seventh Great Master d' Avis after he had gained the Victory of Aljubarrato against Don Iohn the First of Castile he commanded this Order to cast off their acknowledgments to that of Calatrava which they thereupon did and afterwards refused to receive Don Gonsalo Nunez de Guzman Master of Calatrava who went to visit them Hereupon the Order of Calatrava complained to the Council of Basil who decreed that this Order d' Avis should continue subject to that of Calatrava and receive their Visits and Reformation to which purpose a Bull issued which yet remains preserved in the Archives of Calatrava but the Portugueses never submitted to it albeit those of Calatrava to preserve their preheminence have still nominated Visitors Nay afterwards when that Crown fell into the hands of Philip the Second King of Spain this Order d' Avis did nevertheless remain governed according to the Statutes of Portugal nor did the Council of the other three Orders of Castile take upon them to proceed in any Cause where this Order was concern'd The Badge of this Order is a Green Cross Flory such as the Knights of Alcantara wear and said to be given them by Don Pedro but before they used the like Cross with those of the Order of Calatrava two Birds being added at the foot thereof in allusion to the later name given to this Order as appears from the ancient Seal The Royal Council of Portugal make examination of the Extraction of such as are to be admitted into this Order that is of the Fathers and Grand-fathers Gentility both of the Fathers and Mothers side The manner of giving the Habit and making profession is agreeable to that of the Knights of Calatrava The Order of Knights of the Wing of St. Michael in Portugal 17. Don Alphonso Henriquez King of Portugal in whose Reign the Order d' Avi◠was instituted being very much opprest by Albara the Moor King of Sevil raised an Army to free his Country and being ready to give Battel he commanded all his Soldiers in a devout manner to address themselves to their particular Saints for the obtaining of good success himself imploring St. Michael the Archangel to whom he was greatly devoted When the Battels were joined St. Michael the Archangel appeared on the Kings right side and fought against the Moors
more than one Order at a time if it be of a religious Constitution and whensoever he obtains leave to change that Order he cannot be received into another without relinquishing the former Ordo Disciplinarum in Austria 32. Bohemia saith Micheli finding it self very much endangered by Turks and Hereticks the Kings thereof instituted this Order to suppress or at least to keep them under and to secure the Confines of that Kingdom But I suppose this Author means Austria in regard it appears immediately before to have been conferr'd by the Dukes of that Country The Collar of the Order had a White Eagle hanging thereat This and the former Order together with that of the Dragon in Hungary are said to have flourished in Germany in the Reigns of the Emperors Sigismund and Albert. Ordo de la Scama in Castile 33. This Order received Institution from Iohn the Second King of Castile about the year of our Lord 1420. to perswade and stir up his Nobility to fight against the Moors For he being overcharged with War designed this Order chiefly to awaken their courage for the defence of his and their own Estates which afterwards upon all occasions they performed so well and gave so great demonstrations of their Valour that in a short time the Moors were vanquished What their symbol or Ensign was or the reason of the Title de la Scama hapned to be so far worn out that Hieronymus Romanus who wrote the life of this King Iohn professeth he knew not what was meant or intended by it though he had been very diligent in the search thereof Yet Ios. Micheli informs us that their Ensign was a Cross composed of Scales of Fishes which does plainly enough demonstrate it to be derived from the Latin word Squama from whence comes the Spanish word Scama that signifies the Scale of a Fish Some that speak of this Order say nothing as to its beginning being ignorant of the Founder but it is generally believed to be Instituted by the foresaid King Iohn in whose time it flourished insomuch as there were few of his Nobility but were also Knights thereof The duty to which they were obliged was to defend the Kingdom of Castile against the Moors and to dye in defence of the Christian Faith besides which upon every occasion when the King went out to War they march'd before him Their Priviledges were given them by King Iohn as also Statutes and Rules to be governed by Upon whose death the splendor of this Order was eclipsed as many times it hath fared with other Foundations in the like case the Successors wanting the zeal and love for their continuance equal to that of the Founders for their Institution The Order of Knights of the Golden Fleece in Flanders 34. Philip the Second Duke of Burgundy of the second and last Line issuing out of the House of France surnamed the Good instituted this Order under the Title of the Golden Fleece in memory of the great Revenues he raised by the traffick of Woolls with the Low Countries Some will have it erected in commemoration of valiant Gideon who with 300 men vanquished a numerous Army of Midianites Or else according to others the Founder followed the example of Iason and his Argonautes whose Expedition to Colchus against Actes he perhaps might intend to imitate by a Voyage into Syria against the Turk Whatsoever the occasion was 't is certain from the preamble of the Statutes of Institution that this Duke out of the perfect love he bore to the noble estate of Knighthood founded this Order to the glory of the Almighty Creator and Redeemer in reverence of the Virgin Mary and honor of St. Andrew the Apostle and Martyr whom he made Patron thereunto to the advancement of the holy Faith the service of the Catholick Church and promoting of Virtue For the maintaining and upholding of which and for the increase of honor and fair renown no less than the correction of Vice several good orders set down in the Institution are appointed to be observed at the Chapter held on the last day of every Annual Feast of the Order The day of Institution was the 10. of Ianuary anno Dom. 1429. on which very day the Founder solemnized his Marriage with Elizabeth Daughter to Iohn King of Portugal in the City of Bruges in Flanders The number of Knights first chosen were 24. beside the Duke Chief and Supream who reserved to himself the nomination of six more at the next Chapter But Charles the Fifth anno 1516. encreased them to fifty And though the Founder at first resolved upon the Feast of St. Andrew annually for holding the solemnities of the Order nevertheless in consideration of the shortness of the days at that time of the year and how troublesome it would prove especially to aged Knights who lived at great distance to take a Journey in so cold a season it was afterwards ordained that the Grand Feast and General Assembly should be kept from three years to three years on the first of May in such place as the Sovereign of the Order should beforehand give competent notice of As to the Habit it was at first ordained that at the Grand Solemnity the Knights should wear three different Mantles to wit the first day of the Feast of Scarlet Cloth richly embroidered about the lower end with Flints struck into sparks of Fire and Fleeces with Chaperons of the same and the same day after Dinner to proceed to Vespers in Mantles of Black and black Chaperons The day following the Knights were to hear the grand Mass of our Lady clad as should seem good to themselves But Duke Charles Son to the Founder appointed them Mantles of White Damask for that days Ceremony and changed their Cloth Mantles into Velvet The great Collar is composed of double Fusils interwoven of equal bigness in form of the Letter B. with Flint-stones seeming to strike fire and sparkles of fire between them at the end whereof doth hang the resemblance of a Fleece of Gold enamelled in its proper Colours These Fusils are placed back to back two and two together thereby representing the Letter B both ways intending to signifie Bourgoigne they are also intermingled with Flint-stones in reference to the Arms of the ancient Kings of Bourgoigne but it was the devise of the Founder to ingirt them with sparkles and flames of fire To the Flint Paradine in his Heroical Devises ascribes this Motto Ante Ferit quam Flamma micet and to the Fleece this Pretium non vile laboris The Iewel is ordinarily worn in a double Chainet or Males of Gold linked together at convenient distances between which runs a small Red Ribbon and so is Philip the Fourth King of Spain representeâ— wearing his Jewel in a Picture at full length hanging in his Majesty's Gallery at Whitehall or otherwise it is worn
to Pope Iohn the 22. to give him his reasons why he did not These the Pope considering of as also that the Moors were very neer to Aragon gave way that these Revenues of the exauterated Templars should be applied to the Convent of Montesa where had been placed both Knights and Friars of the Order of Calatrava Hereupon this King in the year of our Lord 1317. Instituted this Order in the City of Valentia nevertheless subject to that of Calatrava as a member thereof and made choice of the Town of Montesa to give the Knights both name and habitation whom he obliged to defend his Kingdoms against the incursions of the Moors Their Colledge dedicated to the honor of St. George was built in the following year by the Pope at Montesa at the instance of King Iames Culielmus de Eril a valiant Soldier being constituted the first Master in the Convent of St Mary and St. George The Statutes of the Order almost the same with those of Calatrava were confirmed by the said Pope Iohn who gave to these Knights thâ— Cistertian Rule They vowed conjugal Chastity and the manner of their Investiture is as in the Order of Calatrava Their Habit is White and the Badge of the Order a plain Red Cross that is the Cross of St. George Patron of the Kingdoms of Navarr and Aragon This Cross was worn upon the breast by a priviledge granted to the Knights from Pope Benedict the Thirteenth To this Order of Montesa was incorporated that of St. George d' Alfama anno Dom. 1399. which union received confirmation from the Council of Constance A Catalogue of the Masters are recorded by Io. Micheli which great Office continues to this time in the King of Spain so doth the Revenue of thirteen Commanderies belonging thereunto amounting to 23000 Duckets per annum The Order of Knights of Christ in Portugal 31. As the Knights of Montesa sprung from the ruine of the Knights Templars in Valentia so did this Order of Christ or of the Warfare of Christ succeed them in the Kingdom of Portugal For the Knights Templars having been very serviceable to the Kings of Portugal in their Wars against the Moors the Kings gave unto them divers Lands and Revenues which when their Order came to be dissolved and their Estates confiscate King Don Denys surnamed Perioca sent to Pope Iohn the 22. then at Avignion to desire that the Knights Templars Lands might not be disposed of out of his Kingdom which though he did not readily grant yet he gave way for the King to render him â—he reasons of his request Hereupon King Denys sent his Embassadors to the Pope in the year 1316. not only to back his desire but withal to declare to his Holiness the great vexations and evils the neighbouring Moors in Algarves did to his Kingdom And forasmuch as the Town of Castro Marin was a Frontler of the Enemy and the site thereof very commodious for the building of a Fort to resist them he farther moved the Pope for Licence that an Order of Knights might be Instituted in that Town and withal offered to him the Rents and Jurisdiction thereof and all Dominion over it This request being thought just and the remedy so necessary the Pope did afterwards namely in the year of our Lord 1319. give Foundation to this new Order dedicating it to the honor of God and the exaltation of the Catholick Faith under the Title of the Military Order of our Lord Iesus Christ because of the miraculous apparition which this King had seen of Christ crucified when he went out to fight against the Moors He further commanded that the Knights of this Order should observe the same Rule with those of the Order of Calatrava which was Cistertian and enjoy the same Pâ—iviledges and Indulgences formerly granted to their Great Master and Knights In which respect he nominated Don Gil. Martinez for their first Master because he was a Knight profest and Master of the Order of St. Benedict d' Avis and appointed for their Visitor the Abbot of Alcobaza of the Cistertian Order This Abbot or his Lieutenant in succession was impowred to receive of the Master of this Order in the name of the Pope and Church of Rome the Oath of fidelity it being directed to be taken in the presence of the Kings of Portugal before he should enter upon the administration of his Mastership and the King was obliged to receive this Oath within ten days after the Master should tender it to him and in case the King did not in that time receive it from the Master then he might take on him the administration of his Office without it and further that each Knight before his admittance should take the same Oath of Fidelity before the Master of this Order All the Goods and Possessions formerly belonging to the Knights Templars within the Kingdom of Portugal were hereupon granted unto this Order and the Knights thereof particularly obliged to make War against the Moors in Baetica next neighbour to Portugal They had appointed to them for their chief Seat Castro Marin where their first Convent was erected but afterwards it was removed into the City of Tomar They went clothed in Black wearing upon their breasts a Cross Patâ—e of Red Silk and upon that another of White This Order as that d'Avis became at length annexed to the Crown of Portugal whose Kings have ever since taken upon them the title of perpetual Administrators of both The Order of Knights of the Passion of Jesus Christ. 32. Some years after the Institution of the precedent Order and towards the latter end of the thirteenth Century there was erected a religious Order of Knighthood by Charles King of France and our King Richard the Second which bore the Title of the Order of the Passion of Iesus Christ. And though we do not find any further progress thereof after it had received its Foundation yet considering the grounds whereon it was instituted and the nobleness and largeness of the design exceeding all other Religious Orders of Knighthood except those of the Knights of St. Iohn of Ierusalem and Knights Templars as also because one of our English Kings was a Co-founder thereof we conceived it worthy our pains to make an extract particularly relating to the causes why it was erected the frame of its Constitution its principal Structures and the Habit and Ensigns thereof out of an old French Manuscript written by Philip de Maisiere Chancellor of Cyprus wherein it is thus prefaced Forasmuch as by reason of the three deadly sins which began to reign among the Christians namely Pride Covetousness and Luxury God permitted the Saracens Enemies of the Faith to overcome Ierusalem and the Holy Land to the shame and disgrace of Christendom therefore to renew the memory of the Passion of Christ thereby to extirpate those deadly sins and to make
Countries fell into the hands of the Turks the Knights of this Order were ill entreated and driven away and the Order it self almost abolished Nevertheless some shadow thereof does still continue for such as travel to visit the Holy Sepulchre at Ierusalem do now and then likewise pass to this Monastery at Mount Sinai where in imitation of the Padre Guardian of Ierusalem the principal of the Monks of this Convent makes them Knights of the Order of St. Katharine the Ceremony being performed upon her Sepulchre or Tomb and the same Questions and Formulary are here used as are accustomed at the Holy Sepulchre in Ierusalem These Knights do now wear upon the left side of their White Habit the Cross of Ierusalem and Instrument of St. Katharines Martyrdom which I have caused to be engraven after the form of that Badge bestowed upon Andr. Favin by Mesiere Claude Daubray a Knight both of the Holy Sepulchre and of St. Katharine but according to others the middle of the Wheel is pierced with a Sword The Order of Knights of St. Anthony in Aethiopia 12. Shortly after the death of St. Anthony the Hermite which fell out about the years of our Lord 357. or 358. many of his Disciples remaining in Thebais a Country bordering upon Aethiopia followed the Example Rule and manner of life which he had left them and both they and their Successors lived for some time in great austerity and solitariness in the Desart and therefore called Anchorites until they were at length reduced to a more convenient and rational life by submitting to the monastical Rule of St. Basil and cohabiting in Monasteries but still under the Title and Habit of St. Anthony It is said that about the year of our Lord 370. Iohn Emperor of Aethiopia commonly called Prester Iohn erected these Monks into a Religious Order of Knighthood under the Title and Protection of St. Anthony Patron of his Empire and bestowed upon them great Revenues and many Priviledges And being thus instituted Knights they received the aforesaid Rule of St. Basil and submitted to his Constitutions The Habit of the Order is Black and the Cross Blue much like the form of the Latine Letter T but not like either the Samaritan or Hebrew Letter Tau which some say is like a Cross for the fashion and shape of either hath no likeness or similitude to a Cross at all as hath been observed by the Learned Ioseph Scaliger The chief Seat of this Order is in the Isle of Meroe where the Abbots both spiritual and temporal have their residence but in other parts of Aethiopia they have a very great number of Convents and Monasteries and not less than two Millions of annual Revenue The eldest Sons of Noblemen and Gentlemen cannot be admitted into this Order but the second Sons may and if a man have three Sons he is bound to assign one of them to be of the Order from which Law none are exempt but Physicians The effect of the Vow and Profession which these Knights make is to observe conjugal chastity to dye in defence of the Christian Faith to guard the Confines of the Empire to yield obedience to their natural Laws and their Superiors and to go to War whensoever and wheresoever they are commanded Moreover they take an Oath before the spiritual Abbot not to fight in Wars between Christians nor to receive any holy Orders or to marry without express License first obtained There are in this Order two sorts of Knights the one employed in the Wars the other being old are exempted from Military services and retire themselves under the Title and Profession of Monks to the Abbies where first they took their Habit. Of these there can be no more but five and twenty in one Abbey albeit while they remain Military Knights they have no certain number out of whom the most ancient in the Habit is chosen Abbot by the voices of his Fellows and called the Spiritual Abbot The Novices are taken in about sixteen or seventeen years of age and imployed nine years in the Wars to wit three years in the Garrisons about the Red Sea against the Arabian Pirats other three years in the Isle of Meroe against the incursions of the Turks and the last three years upon the Borders of Borno a neighbour Kingdom of the Moors These nine years being compleated they obtain Letters from their last Captain testifying the fulfilling those years in the Wars with honor and worthiness wherewith the great Abbot being made acquainted he directs his Letters to the Abbot where they are to receive their Habit to give them admittance accordingly But in case the Certificate of life and services be not sufficient which seldom happens their admission is prolonged to a further time When they come to be admitted into their Abbey they are introduced in their military Habit of which being disrobed and the religious Habit put on to wit a Black Gown reaching down to the ground lined with Blue described to be a Garment made with many Plaits in the neck and large sleeves such as the Basilians wear having a Blue Cross fixed to the Breast and over that a Black Cowle they then are led to the Church and before the Altar make their Profession Philip the Seventh of that Name Son to the Founder very much encreased their Lands and Priviledges and gave command that the Badge of the Blue Cross should be bordered with Gold which is observed at this day Such as are inquisitive after a further Account of this Order in Aethiopia may receive it from the afore-cited Author Ios. Micheli Marquez who is very large and particular upon this Subject In Italy France and Spain there are a sort of Monks that from some have the Title of Knights of St. Anthony these were commanded to observe the Rule of St. Augustine by Pope Boniface the Eighth and appointed to wear a plain Blue Cross like that in Aethiopia the Principals of these according to Favin wear a double St. Anthonies Cross of Blue Satin the one above the other but the rest of them only a single Cross. Their chief Seat is at Vienna in Daulphine of which place the General of the Order beareth the Title of Abbot the Monastery there having been erected into an Abbey by the said Pope Boniface anno 1297. in honor of St. Anthony whose body is reported to have been translated thither from Constantinople and all other places built in honor of his name were made subject to this Abbot by Pope Clement the Seventh anno 1523. Aub. Miraeus takes notice of this Order calling it the Order of Hospitalars of St. Anthony and to have taken beginning in France in the year 1121. from one Gaston a Nobleman of Vienna But Baronius saith it was in the year 1095. that this Gaston with his Son Gerin taking eight
Clement the Eighth in the fifth year of the Reign of this King Iames as is manifest from several authentick testimonies collected and alledged by Alphonsus Remon in his History of this Order The end of its Institution and the Profession and Obligation of the Knights was in effect the same with that vowed by King Iames in his Captivity to wit to gather Alms and to go in person to redeem Christian Slaves who either by Piracy the chance of War or other sad accident had fallen into the hands of the Moors This work prospered so well that Pedro Nolasco being first sent into the Kingdom of Valentia to make redemption of Captives redeemed four hundred within the space of six years after the Foundation of the Order This Pedro Nolasco was by the Founder constituted the first General or Head of the Order but as concerning the person that gave the Habit to him there are these three opinions First That it was by the hands of King Iames the Founder Secondly That Rerengario Pallovasino Bishop of Barcelona gave it Thirdly That he received it from Raymond de Penafort all which our Author sets down but there determines nothing only seems inclinable to the first opinion as most rational because the King was Founder and was so called by the blessed Virgin in the Vision and for that the Order it self was at first composed meerly of Laymen and wholly military and so declared by the Popes Boniface the Eighth and Clement the Fifth Besides their Laws are in favour of those that are of this opinion and exclude out of this Act judicially Kingly all Ecclesiastical ones and by the same reason the Bishop for saith the Canon of their Law A Priest ought not to make Knights But afterwards in another place he absolutely concludes that the King himself gave the Habit to Nolasco from the evidence he exhibits out of a Letter which King Don Pedro the Fourth sent to Pope Innocent the Sixth Such a like Habit as was given to Nolasco was also prescribed to the first Knights viz. a Coat and Scapular of a common sort of coarse White Cloth Their Coat was garnished with Cordons and Ribbons wherewith they fastned it about their necks and from the upper end thereof issued a Cap that covered half their head The Monks wore their Coats and Scapulars reaching down to their feet but those of the Knights were much shorter and the form of their Coat or rather Mantle and Cap was the same as they now wear When the Government of the Order became both spiritual and temporal as well the Knights as Monks were commanded by order of Chapter to keep the manner and form of their Habit apart according to the intention of the first appointment In the time and upon request of Gulielmo de Bas the second General of this Order King Iames the Founder by his Diploma dated at Saragosa the 15. of Iuly anno 1251. granted unto him and all the Fraternity of the Order That they should wear upon their Scapulars an Escotcheon of Aragon viz. Or four Pales Gules and above that the White Cross of the Church of Barcelona in a Red Field which two Coats being joined together per Fess in one shield were so born for sometime but afterwards came to be encompassed with a Border The Knights wore their Escotcheon of Arms sixt on their Scapulars but the Monks on their Mantles and both before upon their Breasts The Founder by his Diploma dated at Valentia the 14. of March anno Dom. 1254. granted particular Priviledges to the Order which he confirmed by another royal Instrument dated at Lirida the third of March anno 1275. Besides these Royal Grants this Order received approbation from the Papal See namely from Pope Gregory the Ninth in the eighth year of his Papacy on the day of St. Anthony the Abbot who prescribed to the Master and Fraternity the Rule of St. Augustine It was afterwards confirmed by Alexander the Fourth as appears by a Bull of his wherein he granted them several Indulgences and dated at Naples the 10. of April in the first year of his Papacy These Knights professed conjugal Chastity and Obedience to their Superiors In time this Order also which was at first solely under the Government of Knights came to be as well Spiritual as Temporal and at length fell into the power of the Monks and Priests For the Knights and Priests falling at variance about the election of a General of their Order upon the death of Arnoldo Rosiniol their seventh General who died anno 1317. the Knights having chosen Berengario Hostales and the Priests Raimundo Alberto they appealed to the Pope Iohn the 22. then holding the Chair who it seems the 17. of November in the year aforesaid declared That the Order seeming inclinable to be governed after the manner of Monks he thought it convenient for them to have a Master General which should be a Priest and that for the future no Lay-man should be elected General and so determined the controversie on the behalf of the Priests This Judgment gave the Knights so great discontent that one of them being Kinsman to the Governor of the new erected Order of Montesa offered to bring over to that Society all the Knights of Merced being then threescore in number which being accepted of he did so and from henceforth they became incorporated with the Knights of Montesa So that ever since the whole Fraternity have been only Priests and no Lay or Military person among them and therefore Andr. Mendo reckons this Order among those that are extinct The Master General is also a Priest and hath his residence at Barcelona by the Decrees of Popes Clement the Fifth and Iohn the 22. Raymond de Penasort the Founder's Confessor called also Raymond of Barcelona because it was the place of his Birth who had a powerful hand in the Institution of this Order and devised the Statutes lived neer to the age of an hundred years he was canonized for a Saint and the 7. of Ianuary appointed for his Anniversary by the Bull of Pope Clement the Eighth On the 12. of Iuly anno 1664. the approbation of the Colledge passed for making the 29. of Ianuary the Anniversary of Petro Nolasco Confessor the other great assister and first General of the Order The Office appointed for that day may be seen in the Missale Romamum printed lately at Paris in the large Volume This way of Canonizing holy men by the Popes is said to have been first used by Leo the Third anno Dom. 803. who then solemnly Canonized Suibert Bishop of Werden To conclude the charitable and pious work for which this Order was erected hath been carried on from the time of its Institution and managed by the Fraternity thereof with all religious care and faithfulness very great sums of Money being