Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Northwestern Lieutenancy

By Jose Leyva
[full article]

Nine centuries ago, the Knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem defended the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, fighting the Muslims with their swords, sometimes dying in the battle. Today, however, the order is engaged in a very different kind of effort: fighting to stem the flow of Christians out of Israel.

In the last two years, the society of the knights in New York City raised more than $15 million to support the few remaining Christian communities in the Holy Land. The money goes to monastic orders in Jerusalem such as the Franciscans or the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, as well as housing and schools for the Christian population in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

“Some people envision that some day there will be no followers of Christ in the Holy Land,” said Joseph Spinnato, who is part of the Grand Magisterium, the highest governing body of the order in Rome, directly supervised by the Pope. “That is something that we just don’t want to see”.

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Dear Members of the Northwestern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the
Holy Sepulchre,

Today, December 1, about 8:50 am, H.E. Sir John McGuckin died very
peacefully at his home surrounded by his dear loved ones. Please keep him, his
family and his friends in your prayers as we all suffer the loss of this very
gifted and generous man. Among his many contributions was leading the
Northwestern Lieutenancy to demonstrate the light of our Christian Faith in our
personal lives. He led us to numerous opportunities to manifest our support for our
Christian brothers and sisters in the Holy Land through prayer, pilgrimage,

[full article]
ROME, DEC. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Cardinal John Foley, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, delivered today at the beginning of a week-long planning session for the order. This consulta, which takes place every five years, will conclude on Friday with a papal audience.

News Letter VI No. X • DECEMBER 2007
The Order’s Projects in 2007
The Grand Magisterium approved eight projects during its meeting on 18 April 2007. Eight Projects have already been completed, while the other three have been delayed for technical reasons.
PROJECTS The Order’s Contribution
(US$ x 1000)
Beit Jala (Palestine)
School Extension
Rameh (Israel)
School
Jifna (Palestine)
Presbytery
T O T A L
Fuheis (Jordan)
School Phase I
Beit Jala (Palestine)
Furniture
for the Parish Hall
Aboud (Palestine) Furniture
for the Parish Hall
Patriarchate (Jerusalem)
Headquarters
Rafidia (Palestine)

By Barbara Stinson Lee - Intermountain Catholic
[full article]
TUCSON, Ariz. — The Holy Land of Israel is considered sacred by the three largest monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but as tensions continually rise there, the smallest community of the three, the Christian Community, many of them Palestinians, suffers from the violence and oppression as much as the two larger communities.

This document answers questions about proposing people for membership, and the process for Knights and Ladies to receive promotions.

January 2007 newsletter from the Vatican, containing numerous articles of interest to all Knights and Ladies.

In a special ceremony in the newly dedicated parish church of Muqueibleh, His Beatitutde Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, installed Very Rev. Sir Donald D. Fraser of McCall, Idaho, as an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The members of the Lieutenancy’s 2005 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land witnessed the ceremony.

The Patriarch bestowed this unusual honor on Canon Fraser in recognition of his continued support for the seminarians at the Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala, many of whom sang at the dedication liturgy. Canon Fraser spent his four-month sabbatical earlier in 2005 at the Seminary and is the author of “Behind the Wall,” a unique collection of email letters to his parish in Idaho. The only other American who are currently Honorary Canons are Rev. Monsignor Robert Stern of CNEWA and Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J.

By Sir F Russel Kendall

KNIGHT OF THE COLLAR, VICE GOVERNOR GENERAL

(From the Spring 1994 Newsletter of the Lieutenancy of Canada (Toronto)

Succinctly, the Knightly Order of The Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is a unique, ancient, chivalric, collective organization or Order of intensely Catholic people, both men and women, cleric and lay with a given apostolate entrusted to it by the wisdom and needs of the church under the solicitude and guidance of the Papacy and marked by honour, generosity spiritual and religious pursuit.

The Statutes or Constitution of The Order, (given to it by reigning popes and refined and amended throughout the ages from its inception at the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in the year 1099 by Godfrey de Bouillon, and confirmed as an Order by Pope Paschall II in the year 1113) governs and imparts a real corporate existence to The Order verifying it as a "True Order", in close fidelity to the Sovereign Pontiff and under the Protection of The Holy See, as distinguished from "The Honorific Societies" or "Honours" granted both by the popes as well as other sovereigns to individuals in recognition of past distinguished service.

The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem can trace its origins to Godfrey de Bouillon of the first Crusade, who gathered around him a group of knights who were entrusted with the protection of the religious Chapter of Canons who were present at the Holy Sepulchre of Christ.

For twenty years, these knights, and those who came to join their number, protected the Christian presence at the Holy Sepulchre, taking as their banner the red Jerusalem cross popularized by the crusading knights. By 1113, Pope Paschal II officially recognized their existence and purpose.

It was not until 1122 that Pope Callistus II issued a bulla establishing them as a lay religious community with specific responsibilities of guarding the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the city of Jerusalem in defense of Christianity against Muslim attack.