The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-09-21

lips of a Christian monarch prove the
relations that existed between the
Church and knighthood; it proves that
the one is the source of the other,
and that when Christianity is lacking
there cannot be any knighthood.
The stamp of Christianity is i'm
printed upon knighthood. Its birth
place is Jerusalem where the Saviour
suffered and died. It's main purpose
is to keep watch around the Sav1our's
tomb and to protect the Christians OF
the Holy Land.
The articles and rules of the or
der are compiled, approved and sane
toned by ecclesiastical authorities.
The Church turned out not only lay
knights, but also religious ones who
lived under the three VOWS of obedi-
ence, poverty and chastity, to which
they added the fourth one to defend
the Cross against the Koran
This new departure of the Church
proved to be a stroke of genius. Not
only did she ushed an armed power
into the service of Truth but she in
stilled into the soldier passion for
an idea, creed, for the welfare OF
the human race identified with the
sacred cause of the Gospel.
She blended monastical life with
the life of the camps; she exalted the
sacrifice of human life by the eXcru-
ciating practice of higher morality;
she stepped from the sanctuary to
the field of battle. Such was the
master-scheme of the Church.
1t sprung from her heart, and
brought forth Christian knighthood;
it bore flowers and fruits on the path
of a glorious history that time shall
never destroy.
Two purposes guided Christian
knighthood in its activities; their
sub1imity was symboliZed in the words
of blessing that the priest proffered
over the sword of the candidate who
entered the ranks of knighthood:
Holy God, bless this two-edged
sword, that one of its edges punish
the infidel that persecutes the Church
of Christ, and the other chastise the
rich that Cypress the poor"
This was the mission of the Chris
tan knight: to defend the weak
against the mighty, to watch over the
olive-trees and the growing harvest
! to protect the cavalries by the way
side, to shield clerics, women, children
and defenseless old age, to guard from
, harm all those whose age, sex or call
ing forbade them from welding
| weapon.
1t was again the purpose of knight
hood to enforce the rights of asylum
| the Peace and truce of God. 1t was
commissioned to repair injustices and
protect alL~Weakness. We may won
der at the boldness of the Church
when she entrusted to the mighty
| the defense of the humble. 1t was d
plan unheard of before. The Church
placed the symbolical sword in the
hands of the Christian knight, and
charged him with that two-fold re
sponsibility to chastise the rich OPP
| pressing the poor and the intidel
prosecuting the religion of Christ.
The 500 years of warfare fought by
| the Christian knights against the in
fidels are filled with struggles of hero
ical magnitude. Here are the Knights
| of Saint John of Jerusalem in the days
of the Crusades. They fought like
| lions, far from the comforts of home
| and country. The battled neither for
gold nor earthly conquests, neither
for glory nor ambition but for Cross
! and tomb, that is to say, for one idea
for the salvation of men and the ad
| vance of Christian civilization.
o all the millions of Crusaders who
undertook the worthy plan of saving
the Holy Land from the Turks the
knights held the fort to the last and
were the last ones to depart from
Palestine.
In 1910 they took possession of the
Island of Rhodes and during 200 years
| they kept it free from the invasions OF
| the Saracens. To name their chiefs
| is to call a roll of honor: John de
Lastie, Peter D'Aubusson, Villiers de
lIsle Adam. Such names call forth
| heroes whose greatness surpasses the
greatness of all the heroes that have
been the boast of Paganism.
We have read of Villiers de fIsle
| Adam, at the head of 5000 soldiers
and 500 of his knights in his gallant
defense of the island against Solimar
II commanding 100000 men and zoe
ships. Crushed not by numbers, but
vanquished by treason, he abandoned
Rhodes with his 1000 men. He re
paired to the Island of Malta that had
been given to the Knights by Charles
V in 1850 and there again gigantic
struggle took place against the Turks
During four months the grand master
| La Valette, surrounded by a handful
| of braves defied all the forces of the
Ottoman Empire.
Through the long history of several
| centuries, in Palestine, Rhodes and
Malta, Christian knighthood was like
the bank of sand that stayed the
storms of the ocean; they prevented
| the wave of Mahometan barbarisn
| from submerging the occident. In
the South, the knights of the Tenn
! pie and of the Hospital held off the