# Order of Saint Agatha

The Order of Saint Agatha (Italian: Ordine Equestre di Sant'Agata) is a State order established on 5 June 1923 by the Grand and General Council of the Republic of San Marino. It is named after Saint Agatha, on whose feast day 5 February, Pope Clement XII reestablished the sovereignty of the republic in 1740.
The Order is awarded to foreign nationals deserving of recognition for charitable or other services to the Republic of San Marino.
Conferred by the Grand and General Council on the proposal of the Most Excellent Regency of the Republic of San Marino, the Order comprises 5 grades: Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight.
The badge of the Order is a cross with curved ends enamelled white and edged in gilt. Charged on one side with a round golden shield bearing the effigy of Saint Agatha and includes the inscription Sant'Agata Prottetrice (Saint Agatha Protector), on the other side is written the motto Bene Merenti (To a well-deserving person). The insignia suspends by a ribbon with five stripes of white, crimson and yellow.
The Order of San Marino is the next higher in order of precedence.

## Grades

The Order is presented in five grades:
* Grand Cross (Cavaliere Gran Croce)
* Grand Officer (Cavaliere Grande Ufficiale)
* Commander (Cavaliere Ufficiale Maggiore o Commendatore)
* Officer (Cavaliere Ufficiale)
* Knight (Cavaliere)
Order of Saint Agatha ribbon bars :
| Knight | Officer | Commander | Grand Officer | Grand Cross |

## Recipients

Prominent people awarded the Order of Saint Agatha
| Year of award | Recipient |
| | SMOM – Prince Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel |
| | Italy – Cardinal Pietro Gasparri |
| | Italy – Dino Grandi |
| | Italy – Giovanni Marinelli |
| | Italy – Giulio Onesti |
| | Belgium – Baron Robert Rothschild |
| 1925 | United States – Edgar Erskine Hume |
| 1932 | Vatican City State – Pope Paul VI |
| 1934 | United Kingdom – Edward VII |
| 1934 | United Kingdom – Edward VIII |
| 1935 | British India – Maharajah Jagatjit Singh |
| 1937 | United Kingdom – Sir Edmund Gabriel |
| 1944 | United States – Charles Poletti |
| 1946 | United States – Judge Juvenal Marchisio |
| 1948 | Italy – Giulio Andreotti |
| 1937 | France – Valery Larbaud |
| 1956 | United States – Avery Brundage |
| 1956 | United Kingdom – Sir John Wilson |
| 1958 | Italy – Giovanni Spadolini |
| 1958 | France – Vincent Delpuech |
| 1958 | Belgium – Roger Motz |
| 1958 | Belgium – Lucien Cooremans |
| 2002 | Italy – Dario Fo |
| 2010 | Monaco – Prince Albert II |
| 2012 | Italy – Sophia Loren |
| 2013 | South Korea – Ban Ki-moon |
| 2019 | Russia – Sergey Lavrov |
| 2020 | United Kingdom – Theresa, Baroness May of Maidenhead |
| 2020 | United Kingdom – Jeremy Hunt |
| 2021 | Lebanon – Nadey Hakim |
| 2021 | United Kingdom – Andrew Rosindell |
| 2021 | United Kingdom – George Holmes |
| 2022 | United Kingdom – Lisa Cameron |
| 2023 | United Kingdom – Sheryll Murray |

## Design

The Orders design is made up of a white-enamelled cross backed by a green-enamelled wreath of oak and laurel leaves. The central disc bears a painted image of Saint Agatha, the Orders namesake, surrounded by a white-enamelled ring. The ring bears the words; "SANT AGATA PROTETTRICE" (Saint Agatha Protector), while the bottom has a gold laurel wreath. The reverse of the badge shows a gold representation of the Coat of Arms of San Marino, surrounded by the Orders motto: Bene Merenti.
The ribbon of the Order is actually the colours of the flag of San Marino, used between 1465 and 1797. The ribbon is made up of the three colours, with a larger field of burgundy in the center, edged with smaller bands of white and orange on both sides.
* Grand Officer set.
* Grand Officer set.
* Star of the Grand Officer grade of the order.
* Reverse of the insignia of the Grand Officer grade.
* Close-up of the inner lid of the case of the Grand Officer showing the logo of Cravanzola, c.1940
* Commanders class of the order.
* Set of the Commander of the order.