Custodes Fidei

Custodes Fidei (The Guardians of the Faith), also called Ordo Custodum Fidei. This religious Order was founded by Paulin Sinclair of Ramos on the 2nd day of February in the year 918 as a successor to the Little Brothers of Saint Ercon.  The Order was originally created to reform ecclesiastical education in Gwynedd in such a way that all Deryni would be excluded from Holy Orders.  It was given complete authority over all education in Gwynedd, including supervision of examinations for entry into the priesthood.  All seminaries in the land were immediately made over to the new Order, and all ordinations were halted until Lammastide (the 1st day of August following), by which time the Order was asked to issue an approved list of seminaries.  Its mandate was later expanded to ferret out and eliminate members of the Deryni race by whatever means possible.
The military arm of the Order, called the Equites Custodum Fidei (The Knights of the Guardians of the Faith), was intended to replace the Michaelines, and to defend the Church from its Deryni enemies. Peter former Earl of Tarleton was named the first Grand Master of the Order under the religious name of Albertus.  Also appointed were Marcus Concannon as Chancellor General in charge of the seminaries, Brother Serafin as Inquisitor General, and Father Lior as Serafin's assistant. Paulin Sinclair of Ramos was named first Vicar General.  Chapters were established in all cathedrals in Gwynedd.  The Order's principal seminary, the Arx Fidei Abbey (Citadel of Faith), was originally located just North of Rhemuth in the year 918, but was disbanded 10 years later and re-established in the year 948 at a new site across the River Eirian from Valoret, near the associated Abbey Church of the Paraclete.
On the 12th day of July in the year 928 the Custodes were ordered by Ailin Archbishop Primate of Valoret and All Gwynedd to reform their practices, and the Equites section of the Order was completely disbanded, as were individual Custodes establishments at Ramos and Rhemuth.
Brothers of the Order wore a cincture of braided Haldane red and gold knotted over a black cassock, which was a symbol of the Order's mandate to unify holy and secular law; their black mantles were faced with Haldane crimson to signify the special patronage of the Crown of Gwynedd.  The Grand Master was invested with a wide scarlet sash, tying over it the cincture plaited of Haldane scarlet and gold cords; his black mantle was lined with scarlet, clasped with a pair of haloed lion heads at the throat, and bore a larger version of the haloed-lion badge appliquéd over the left shoulder.  The Order's arms were: gules, a winged golden lion sejant guardant, its head ennobled with a halo, holding in its dexter paw an upraised sword. 
[The Harrowing of Gwynedd; King Javan's Year; "The Priesting of Arilan"].