Order of St. Gregory the Great
| Order of St. Gregory the Great Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni |
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| Knight Commander's cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1841) | |
Awarded by  The Holy See |
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| Type | An honorary Order of Knighthood of the Holy See, but not necessarily of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| Motto | PRO DEO ET PRINCIPE |
| Status | Bestowed by authority of the Pope as the monarch of the Holy See and as the temporal sovereign of the Vatican City State entirely within the city of Rome, Italy, now. |
| Sovereign | His Holiness Pope Francis, as of April 2013 |
| Grades (w/ post-nominals) | Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the First Class Knight/Dame Commander with Star Knight/Dame Commander or Knight/Dame |
| Former grades | Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Second Class |
| Established | Established on September 1, 1831 |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | Order of Pius IX |
| Next (lower) | Order of St. Sylvester |
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| Ribbon bar of the order | |
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (Latin: Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni, Italian: Ordine di San Gregorio Magno), was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election to that seat by the College of Cardinals.
The Order of St. Gregory the Great is one of the five Orders of Knighthood of the Holy See. This special honor is bestowed upon Roman Catholic men and women, and sometimes in rare cases to non-Catholic males only[1]) in recognition of their personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through their unusual labors, their support of the Holy See, and their excellent examples set forth in their communities and their countries.
The eligibility of Eastern Orthodox Catholics to receive the The Order of St. Gregory the Great seems to be an open question as of the year 2012.
The Order of St. Gregory the Great has four "classes" in civil and military divisions:
- Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the First Class (GCSG/DCSG)
- Knight/Dame Commander with Star (KC*SG/DC*SG)
- Knight/Dame Commander (KCSG/DCSG)
- Knight/Dame (KSG/DSG)
The motto of the Order of St. Gregory the Great is Pro Deo et Principe (For God and Prince).
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History and appointment[edit]
The inaugural brief states, in part, that "gentlemen of proven loyalty to the Holy See who, by reason of their nobility of birth and the renown of their deeds or the degree of their munificence, are deemed worthy to be honored by a public expression of esteem on the part of the Holy See". The end of the brief states that they must progressively maintain, by continued meritorious deed, the reputation and trust they had already inspired, and prove themselves worthy of the honor that had been conferred on them, by unswerving fidelity to God and to the sovereign Pontiff.[2]
The awarding of the Order of St. Gregory the Great presents no particular obligations on the recipients toward the Roman Catholic Church – except for the general ones stated above.
The Insignia[edit]
An eight-pointed cross, the insignia of the Order, bears a representation of St. Gregory on the obverse and on the reverse the motto Pro Deo et Principe (For God and Prince). The cross is suspended from a red and gold ribbon. In ecclesiastical heraldry, laymen awarded the high rank of Grand Cross can display a red and gold ribbon surrounding the shield in their personal coats of arms, but the recipients of the lower ranks place an appropriate ribbon below the shield.[3]
Vestments and accoutrements[edit]
The difference between the civilian and military uniforms at formal occasions for the Order of Saint Gregory the Great is that the former group wears the cross hanging from a green crown of laurel, whereas the latter group wears the cross hanging from a trophy. A green uniform was later prescribed by Pope Pius IX. The uniform contains a black beaver-felt hat decorated with black silk ribbons, silver metallic twisted rope, buttons and black ostrich feathers. The jacket, made of green wool, is trimmed with silver metallic thread, and has a tail, nine yellow metal buttons in the front and three buttons on the cuffs and is lined with black satin. Finally, the costume contains suspenders, several yellow and red rosettes, white leather gloves, and a short sword with a handle made of mother of pearl with a medallion of the order at the end.
Knights Grand Cross wear a sash and a badge or star on the left side of the breast; Commanders wear a cross around the neck; and Knights wear a smaller cross on the left breast of the uniform:
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Notable members[edit]
- Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the First Class
- Sir George Bowyer, 6th Baronet, Knight Grand Cross.[4]
- Charles, Count of Limburg Stirum, Knight Grand Cross.
- Abdón Cifuentes Knight Grand Cross of the First Class
- João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha, Knight Grand Cross of the First Class[5]
- Rodrigo Augusto da Silva, Knight Grand Cross of the First Class
- George Forbes, 7th Earl of Granard, Knight Grand Cross.[4]
- Frank Hanna III, American entrepreneur and philanthropist
- Riccardo Muti, 2012, conductor, Knight Grand Cross of the First Class
- Thomas Stonor, 7th Lord Camoys, 2006, Knight Grand Cross, Lord Chamberlain
- Otto von Habsburg, Knight Grand Cross, Archduke Otto of Austria was the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary.
- Charles von Hügel, Knight Grand Cross[6]
- Knight/Dame Commander with Star
- Arthur Calwell, Australian cabinet minister and former Labor Party leader
- G. K. Chesterton, British essayist, poet, novelist, and historian
- Dolores Hope, philanthropist and entertainer (Dame Commander of St. Gregory with Star)
- Francis Martin O'Donnell, 2007, Ambassador and Knight of Malta, previously in UN service for 32 years
- Gilbert Levine, 2005, American conductor
- Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis,[7] 2008, Dame Commander with Star
- Wilfred Von der Ahe, 1998, Knight Commander with Star, founder of Vons supermarket chain
- Albert Gubay, 2011, Knight Commander with Star, founder of Kwik Save supermarket chain
- Knight/Dame Commander
- Carol Benesch, Silesian and Romanian architect, KCSG
- Patrick Burns, 1914, Canadian rancher, meat magnate, and senator
- Matt Busby, CBE, manager of Manchester United
- Roy E. Disney, 1998[8]
- Bob Hope, 1998, American entertainer (convert to Catholicism)[8]
- John Hume, 2012, Irish politician and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize[9]
- Maurice Gerard Moynihan, 1959, Secretary of the Government of the Irish Free State and Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland
- Charles Poletti, 1945, Governor of New York, Army officer in charge of post World War II civil affairs in Italy
- John J. Raskob, financial executive and businessman (DuPont, General Motors); built the Empire State Building
- Paul Salamunovich, 1969, American choral conductor and expert on Gregorian chant
- Jimmy Savile OBE, 1990, English Radio DJ and television presenter/broadcaster[10] (at present subject to a request for annulment from the Archbishop of Westminster)[11]
- Roger Wagner, American choral conductor
- Mordecai Waxman, 1998, Prominent rabbi in the Conservative movement
- Knight/Dame
- Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus
- Walter Annenberg, created TV Guide[12]
- Július Binder, 2004, civil engineer and member of Slovak parliament
- Thomas Bodkin, lawyer, art historian, art collector and curator[13]
- Joanna Bogle, 2013, British journalist and author
- Angelo Branca, 1977, Canadian judge
- Frank Carson, noted Irish comedian and philanthropist
- Henry Cooper, 1978, British boxer.
- John A. Creighton, 1898, businessman and philanthropist in Omaha.[14]
- John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute[4]
- Leo Crowley, 1929 director U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Isidore Dockweiler, 1924 - Philanthropist and statesman
- W. Patrick Donlin, American judge and Supreme Advocate of the Knights of Columbus
- Hermanegild Marcos Antonio Drago, Pakistani physician
- John W. Gallivan, publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune
- Hector P. Garcia, Mexican-American civil rights leader
- Henryk Górecki, Polish composer
- Myles Keogh, 1861, Irish papal soldier - served in Italy and the United States
- Leon Klenicki, 2007, American rabbi who advocated interfaith relations
- Kenneth Langone, American investment banker
- Dorothy Leavey, American philanthropist
- Ricardo Montalbán,[15] 1998, Mexican-born American-based actor and philanthropist
- Colin Mawby, 2006, English chorale conductor and composer[16]
- Adolfo Müller-Ury, 1923, Swiss-born American portrait painter
- Rupert Murdoch, 1998[8]
- Alfred O'Rahilly, 1954, Irish academic and author
- Frank Patterson, 1984, noted Irish tenor
- Dr. Manuel de la Pila Iglesias (1932), a Puerto Rican physician
- Gil J. Puyat, Senate President of the Philippines, Educator, Businessman, Philanthropist.
- Joseph Ryelandt, Belgian composer
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 2006, American, founder of the Special Olympics
- Michael Somare, 1992, Papua New Guinean, first prime minister of Papua New Guinea
- Ann Noreen Widdecombe, British politician
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ LA Times archive
- ^ "The Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great". Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain website. Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain of Piux IX, Saint Gregory and Saint Sylvester. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
- ^ Noonan, Jr., James-Charles (1996). The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church. Viking. p. 196. ISBN 0-670-86745-4.
- ^ a b c Converts to Rome by Gordon Gorman 1885
- ^ Diccionario bibliographico portuguez, 1859, p. 342
- ^ Charles von Hügel by Anatole von Hügel
- ^ Fürstin Gloria von Thurn und Taxis erhält päpstlichen St.-Gregorius-Orden, Bistum Regensburg.
- ^ a b c LA Times Archived Article
- ^ BBC News. "John Hume knighted by Pope Benedict". Retrieved 06/07/2012.
- ^ Tubb, Gerard (9 November 2011). "Fans Flock To Cathedral Service For Sir Jimmy". Sky News. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ^ "Savile was serial sex abuser of teenage girls, say police". The Times (London). 10 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012. Subscription required
- ^ http://www.nndb.com/honors/001/000102692/ accessed 14 September 2007
- ^ Unlabelled press clipping of contemporary obituary, in Royal Birmingham Society of Artists archives
- ^ "Count John A. Creighton Dead: Nebraskan Who Founded Colleges Was Enobled by the Pope," New York Times. 8 February 1907. Retrieved 1/22/08.
- ^ Gallantry magazine online accessed 31 January 2008
- ^ "Papal Honour for Mawby". The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland. 20 April 2006. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
External links[edit]
- Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain
- Photograph
- Catholic Knighthood article from Time Magazine, 25 Jun 1928, reporting an award of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
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