Order of Saint Gabriel

(Ordo Sancti Gabrielis or Order of Saint Gabriel. This all-Deryni esoteric Order was based in the South Lendour Mountains at Saint Neot's Abbey. The Brotherhood was founded on the 24th day of March in the year 745 by Brother Junius Pollansus, and incorporated elements of earlier pagan Deryni movements that eventually died out by the 10th century. The Order was especially noted for its teaching and training of would-be Healers, and was generally considered to provide the most thorough instruction available in these arts.  Members of the Order wore cowled white robes with white cinctures and white mantles, and were sworn to non-violence; however, unlike monks of other orders, Gabrilites never used the tonsure as a sign of their devotion, but wore their uncut hair in a 4-stranded braid called a g'dula. When circumstances required that they cut this braid, a special ceremony was required to burn the hair and purge the celebrant of any ill effects thereof.
On the 24th day of December in the year 917 the Order was suppressed by "Rhun von Horthy the Ruthless" acting under the orders of the Council of Regents of Gwynedd, and many of the Order's brethren were slain, although some escaped through the portal at Saint Neot's Abbey's to Dhassa, and thence abroad.  The badge of the Order was a circled cross with flared ends, usually white or pale blue. Healers of the Order displayed a badge of a couped right hand, vert pierced in the palm by a white star of 8 points, being the reverse of the standard secular Healer's badge.  
Prominent members of this Order included Dom Emrys, the last Abbot of Saint Neot's, and Dom Queron. [Camber of Culdi; "First Session"; "The Examen"; Camber the Heretic; The Harrowing of Gwynedd].
Category:Religious Orders