Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/54

 of their numbers placed them on a footing of complete equality with the elder institution.

In giving his sanction to this fraternity, the Pope directed that they should wear a white robe with a red cross, in contradistinction to the black robe and white cross of the Hospitallers. They were consequently known generally as the red cross knights and the white cross knights respectively. Although they did not undertake any charitable duties similar to those of the Order of St. John, their regulations for the maintenance of their monastic vows were, if anything, still more severe. In order to prevent the possibility of a transgression of the vow of chastity it was decreed that they were on no account even to look on the face of a fair woman; and as a still further precaution they were forbidden to kiss even their own mothers.

At about the same time another body, which in its original institution was of far greater antiquity than even the Hospital of St. John, also became military, and that was the Order of St. Lazarus. The old writers dated the origin of this association as far back as the first century; but this statement may be taken as a myth. The earliest period to which it can with any certainty be traced is the year 370. At that time a large hospital was established in the suburbs of Cæsarea, under the auspices of St. Basil, for the reception and treatment of lepers. The laws and customs of the East bore with frightful severity on those who were afflicted with this loathsome disease. They were entirely cut off from all intercourse with their friends or the world at large; the establishment, therefore, of a hospital for their reception was hailed as a general boon. The Emperor Valens, as recorded by Theodoret, enriched it with all the lands which he held in the province where it was founded. This charity proved of such great utility that similar institutions soon sprang up in various other parts of the East; and as they all took St. Lazarus as their tutelary saint, they became generally known as Lazarets. One of these hospitals was in existence in Jerusalem at the time of its capture by Godfrey de Bouillon. In addition to its charitable organization it was also a religious Order, following the rule of St. Augustine. When, however, the conversion of the Hospitallers into a military fraternity, followed as it was by