The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-07
suRopE.s SOVEREIGN ORDER.


That Of 81. Scia ~ Jexuss.zem Reccessy
Conferred ca ca-dlns. vAughAs.
The order cs Sc. yskr " -cs,ssx.cu,
OF OF Malta. wS;eh hxs JUS. been ecs-
fcr-ed upon ,ae English Cardinal
Vaughan, At Rome. must rot &c COR
founded by Amesicar readers with the
masonic order Of tho game ssis9 which
exists in this country. Il has nc pcssi-
BILE connection tAerswitt. The crder
that the cardinal has received is tho
only one in Europe which is saown a.
u sovereign order and which IS regard
ed b. the various courts and govern
meats of Europe as an independent
sovereignty, hy virtue Of which right
it maintains duly accredited ministers
plenipotcSssary and diplomatic repre-
sentatives 8. the court of Vienna and
several ether continental courts Pos
seSscd of immense revenues ana vass
landed estates, the order is divided into
five is1guss or branches. one OF which
is in France, one III Austria one in En-
gland, cEe in Italy and one in Spain.
AT the EeSd OF each one of these
langues is n baili. or chief prior. who,
III Tic case " Il the NOunE.
duke OF Orleans, his deputy being the
duke de Moachy, of the iilustrious
house of De Noailles In order TO be-
long 20 the order il is necessary to
prove gentle blood on the paternal side
for sixteen generations back. and on
the maternal side for eight generations
that is TO say, gentle blood, unfair
nished by any pleoeian strain.
II is astonishing how few members,
even of the grandest nobility of Europe.
are able to fulfill these conditions. and
even the duke of Norfolk, the premier
peer of the British realm and the head
of the ancient biue-blooded house OF
Howard, is debarred from admission To
the order by reason of the mesaliiance
of one of his ancestors. In England
there >are only some two hundred
knights of the order of St John who are
entitled to wear its peculiar uniform.
which consists of scarlet coat with
black or white facings. according to
the rank of the knight in the order On
the golden capulets and on the buttons
are embossed tine Maltese cross. sur
rounded by crown of thorns. The
sword belt. too. is embroidered with a
golden crown of thorns. The trousers
are white with broad gold stripe. The
hat is of the ordinary cooked species,
adorned with short. black ostrich
feathers, and the mantel of the order is
of black velvet lined with white satin
and with a large white cross on the left
shoulder. The badge of the order, worn,
around the neck appended 10 a black
ribbon, Consists of a white Maltese cross
surmounted by a crown. while in the
four corners formed by the bars of the
cross are gold lions in the ease of the
English laDgue, fieur de- lis in that of
France and Spain, eagles in that OF
Austria and Greek cross in that of
Italy. This is the one decoration in
Europe which cannot be conferred by
the favor of any sovereign, but which
can only be claimed a. right by those
whose genealogical antecedents are in
strict accordance with the requirements
of the statutes of the association The
order constitutes a badge of blue blood,
and as such is antique in its kind and
as a social breyet throughout
the old world. -Philadelphia Press