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Pope
Pious IX on 17 July 1851, by his Brief Maxima et præclarissima,
recognised the Grand Master of the Constantinian Order,
Ferdinand II King of the Two Sicilies. He also issued
his Brief Quæ in rei sacræ on 17 September
1863, by which – due to the political changes
in Italy in 1860 – he established that the Constantinian
Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Naples and all the Constantinian
assets there kept would fall under the temporary rule
of the Ordinary of Naples until the Holy See deemed
this necessary.
Also Pope St. Pious X took care of the Order, by his
Brief of 7 March 1910 in which he appointed Cardinal
Domenico Ferrata as Protector of the Order, and by his
Placet of 22 March 1911, by which he approved the elevation
of the Abbey Church of Santa Maria a Cappella, also
called Chiesa delle Crocelle, in Naples, as seat of
the Order; and on 7 April 1911 and 2 April 1913, he
gave his Placet to the magisterial decrees granting
special insignia and other privileges to the Ecclesiastic
Knights Chaplains of the Orders; on 3 December 1913
he appointed Cardinal Francesco di Paola Cassetta as
new Protector of the Order.
In 1913 the Constantinian Order was a member of the
Committee charged with the celebration of the XVI centennial
celebration of the peace and freedom of the Church (Constantine
Edict) and, by will of Pope St. Pious X, erected a chapel
in the Church of the Holy Cross at Ponte Milvio, inaugurated
on 22 May 1918 by a donation of the Ecclesiastic Knight
Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pious XII; moreover, the
Committee reconstructed the Constantinian labarum that
would be blessed by Pope St. Pious X on 29 December
1913 in the Vatican before HRH the Duke of Calabria
and now kept in the Seat of the Grand Chancellery of
the Order in Naples.
Also Benedict XV showed benevolence to the Order: by
his Brief Ad futuram rei memoriam of 13 December 1916,
he made reference to a Brief of 17 September 1863 issued
by his predecessor the Blessed Pious IX, and ruled the
return of the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate to the Constantinian
Order and recognised the then Grand Prior (and his successors)
as Abbot of that Church with jurisdiction over the Constantinian
Clergy for those things relevant to the Order; by his
decree of 9 July 1919, he granted the Privilegium Officiorum
to the clergy of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order,
and approved the modifications made to the Statutes
of the Order; then, by his Brief of 9 June 1919, he
appointed Cardinal Vittorio Amedeo Ranuzzi de' Bianchi
as Protector of the Order.

His
Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon Two Sicilies
Duke of Castro
Head of the Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies
Grand Master of the Dynastic Orders and Orders of
Knighthood of the Royal House of the Bourbon of
the Two Sicilies |
Ettore
Gallo authoritatively wrote: «From
a general analysis and comparison of the above
mentioned papal documents, the doctrine could
make some important considerations: first of all
the constant acknowledgement and gratitude of
the Holy See towards the Constantinian Order;
moreover, they show the assignment to its Grand
Master – called many times as "perpetuus
administrator Militiæ Auratæ Constantinianæ"
in the papal documents - of the powers to appoint
the Knights, to lead the Order and to interpret
its ancient Farnese Statutes» . |
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