The order fell into disuse by 1732 at the latest. In 1907, George Cyprian Alston, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia stated that the order died in the Middle Ages, soon after the death of its founder, Alphonse, while others, such as John C.L. Gieseler (also known by the German form of his name "Johann K.L. Gieseler"), argued that it only ever existed on paper. It was not, in any case, included among the royal orders that were nationalized by the Portuguese Republic after the Revolution of 1910.