History of the Order Today – Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy EOHSJ

The Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

History of the Order

faith, service, and dedication to the sacred heritage of Christianity

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organise the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.

The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valour and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.

Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.

The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defence of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.

In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.

In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernised the Order, issuing a new Constitution which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.

In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganised and revitalised the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-ordinated and more effective.

In February 1996, Pope John Paul II constituted the Order as a Public Association of Faithful under Canon Law. In 2021, Pope Francis approved a new Constitution for the Order. Following that approval, the Order promulgated a series of key documents addressing various aspects of the life or the Order and its Members, including General Regulations, a Formation document, and a Ritual Book for Celebrations. A specific focus of the vocational call to membership is Spirituality. Grand Master Fernando Cardinal Filoni wrote movingly and comprehensively about the spirituality of the Order and what Membership means in his book, “The House Was Filled with the Fragrance of the Perfume.” Rooted in Biblical texts, Cardinal Filoni reflects on the way in which Members can live their faith and service more deeply.

Over and above its historic connotations and its eventful progress in times gone by, the valuable and interesting aspects of the Order today lie in the role assigned to it, which it pursues within the sphere of the Catholic Church and through its administrative structure and its local organizations in various communities. Today, there are about 30,000 Members around the world, of which about half are in North America. Organizational regions in the worldwide order are called Lieutenancies or in some cases Magistral Districts, under the leadership of a Lieutenant appointed by The Cardinal Grand Master.

We are the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy – USA.

History of the American Lieutenancies

dedicated to supporting the Christian presence in the Holy Land

The American Chapter of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem was organized in 1926 by the Very Rev. Msgr. Michael Abraham D’Assemani, who served as the representative of His Beatitude Louis Barlassina, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Rector, and Perpetual Administrator of the Order.

The following history is recorded in Msgr. D’Assemani’s book, The Cross on the Sword.

On April 30, 1929, a formal dinner and reception were held at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City honoring the American Representative of the Latin Patriarch and other dignitaries of the Order who were present. At that time, the Statutes and By-Laws of the Order for the Province of the United States of America were drawn up and adopted with the approval of the Patriarch.

The magazine The Palestinian, published in Philadelphia, was adopted as the official organ of the American Chapter of the Order.

The first High Protector of the American Chapter was His Eminence Cardinal Dennis J. Dougherty, Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Formation of the Eastern and Western Lieutenancies

In June 1940, the American Chapter was divided into the Eastern and Western Lieutenancies by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Immediately following the organization of the Eastern and Western Lieutenancies, a brilliant reception and banquet was held in the appropriately decorated Jansen Room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The event honored His Eminence Cardinal Dennis J. Dougherty, who received congratulations on the fiftieth anniversary of his priesthood.

Cardinal Dougherty was seated in the chair which had been occupied by His Holiness Pope Paul VI in St. Patrick’s Cathedral when he visited New York as Cardinal Pacelli. To Cardinal Dougherty’s right was Michael Francis Doyle, the Lieutenant of the Order for the Eastern District who presided. To the Cardinal’s left was seated the Papal Marquis George McDonald.

Distinguished Speakers and Guests

Addresses were delivered by:

His Eminence Cardinal Dennis J. Dougherty
His Excellency Francis J. Spellman of New York
His Excellency Francis J. Kelley, Bishop of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Lieutenant and Prior for the Western District
Chief Justice Joseph T. Ryan of New York
Honorable Martin Conboy
Mr. Michael Francis Doyle

Musical selections were rendered by the double quartet of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of New York and by John Payne-Gasser, Knight Commander of the Order, and the Chicago Grand Opera Company.

The Mission of the Order

The addresses emphasized the purposes of the Order, pointing out that due to the devastation of the war throughout Europe, the responsibility of maintaining the Faith in the Holy Land must fall upon the American Knights.

Cardinal Dougherty recalled that after the wars which brought about the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Church, led by faithful leaders, helped in the formation of nations which later governed the world through faith in God.

Expressing the thought that it is only through Christian faith and works combined with faith that the world can be preserved against destruction through the evil forces of the present period, the Cardinal appealed for a spirit of sacrifice and a practice of virtue.

Archbishop Spellman referred to his devotion to Cardinal Dougherty and the attachment of the Diocese of New York to that of Philadelphia. He recalled that one of his predecessors, Archbishop Hughes, a Philadelphian, was the founder of St. Patrick’s Cathedral of New York.

Bishop Kelly, Prior of the Western District, paid a well-deserved tribute to Cardinal Dougherty’s able and eminent leadership.

At this gathering, the American Chapter decided to hold annual meetings.

Formation of the Lieutenancies of the United States

Year	Formation
1940	The American Lieutenancy was divided into the Eastern and Western Lieutenancies.
1963	The Western Lieutenancy was divided into the Southern and Northern Lieutenancies.
1965	The Northern Delegation was formed and became the Northern Lieutenancy.
1973	The Western States of the Southern Lieutenancy formed a new Western Lieutenancy.
1981	The New England States, except Connecticut, were taken from the Eastern Lieutenancy to form a Northeastern Lieutenancy.
1982	Puerto Rico Province was taken from the Southern Lieutenancy to form a Magistral Delegation and in 1996 became the Lieutenancy of Puerto Rico.
1986	The Northern Lieutenancy was divided into the Northern and North Central Lieutenancies.
1986	The Southern Lieutenancy was divided into the Southeastern and Southwestern Lieutenancies, with Washington D.C. and certain states of the Eastern Lieutenancies added to the new Southeastern Lieutenancy.
1993	Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and the Ambassadorial College were taken from the Eastern and Southeastern Lieutenancies to form the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy.
1993	Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, and that part of California north of but not including Santa Barbara were taken from the Western Lieutenancy to form the Northwestern Lieutenancy.