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 LAZARUS

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LAZARUS

However these houses did not form a congregation; each house was autonomous, and supported to a great extent by the lepers themselves, wno were oUiged when entering to bring with them their implements, sjui who at their death willed their goods to the insti- tution if they had no children. Many of these houses bore the name of St. Lazarus, from which, however, no dependence whatever on St. Lazarus of Jerusalem Ls to be inferred. The most famous, St. Lazarus of Paris, depended solely and directly on the bishop of that city, and was a mere priory when it was given by the archbishop to the missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul, who have retained the name of Lazarists (1632).

The Question remains, how and at w^hut time the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem became a military order. This is not known exactly; and, moreover, the historians of the order have done much to obscure the question by entangling it w^ith gratuitous pretensions and suspicious documents.

The house at Jerusalem owed to the general interest devoted to the holy places in the Middle A^es a rapid and substantial gro^^'th in goods and privileges of •very kind. It was endoweii not only by the sot- ereigna of the Latin realm, but by all the states of Eu- rope. Louis VII, on his return fn)m the Second Crusade, |»ve it the Chateau of Broigny, near Orleans (1154). This example was followed by Henry II of England, and by Elmperor Frederick 1 1. This was the origin of the military commanderies whose con- tributions, called responsions, flowed into Jerusalem, swollen by the collections which the hospital was authorized to make in Europe.

The popes for their part were not sparing of their favours. Alexander I V recognized its existence under the Rule of St. Augustine (1255). Urban IV as.su reeen ceded ter- ritory by the Templars (1240), and where it received the confirmation of its privileges by Urban IV (1201).

It was at this time also that the Order of St. Laz- arus of Jerusalem, following the example of the Order of St. John, armed comL)atants for the defence of the remaining possessions of the Christians in Asia. Their presence is mentioned without further detail at the EEtttle of Gaza against the Khwarizmians in 1244, and at the final siege of Acre in 1291.

As a result of this catastrophe the leper hospital of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem disappeared; however, its eommanderies in Europe, togetner with their reve- nues, continued to exist, but hospitality was no longer practised. The order ceased to be an order of ho.-^ pitallers and became purely military. The knigiils who resided in these commanderies had no tasks, and were veritable parasites on the Christian charitable foundations.

Things remained in this condition until the pontifi- cate of Innocent VIII, who suppressed this usoU^ss order and transferred its possessions to the Knights of St, John (1400), which transfer was reueweil by Pope Julius II (1505). But the Order of St. John never came into possession of this property except in Germany.

In France, Francis I, to whom the Concordat of Loo X (1519) had resigned the nomination to the greater number of ecclesiastical benefices, evaded the Bull of suppression by conferring the commanderies of St. Lazarus on Knights of the Order of St. John. The hot nam«>d vainlv claimed the possession of these goods. Their chum was rejected by the Parliament or Paris (1547). XX.— 7

Leo X hims^ disregarded the value of this BuU by re-establishing in favour of Charles V the priory oi Capua, to which were attached the leper ho-spitallers of Sicily (1517).

Pius IV went further; he annulled the Bulls of his predecessors and restored its possessions to the order that he might give the mastersliip to a favourite. Giovanni de Castiglione (1565). But the latter did not succeed in securing the devolution of the com- manderies of France. Pius V codifietl the statutes and privileges of the order, but reserved to himself the right to confirm the appointment of the grand master as well as of t^e beneficiaries (1567). He made an at- tempt to restore to the order its hospitaller character, by mcorporating with it all the leper hospitals and other houses founded under the patronage of St. Lazh arus of the Lepers. But this tardv reform was ren- dered useless by the subsequent gradual disappearance of leprosy in Europe.

Finally, the grantl mastership of the order having been rendered vacant in 1572 by the death of Castig- Hone, Pope Gregory XIII united it in perpetuity with the Crown of Savoy. The reigning duke, Philibert III, liastened to fuse it with the recently founded Siivoyan Order of St. Maurice, and thenceforth the title of Grand Master of the Order of Sts. Maurice and I-.az- arus was hereditary in that house. The pope gave him authority over the vacant commanderies every- where, except in the states of the King of Spain, which included the greater part of Italv. In England and Germany these commanderies had been 8upi)ressed by Protestantism. France remained, but it was refrac- tory to the claims of the Duke of Savoy. Some years later King Henry IV, having founded with the appro- bation of Paul V (1609) the Order of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel, liastened in turn to unite to it the va- cant possessions of St. Lazarus in France, and such is the origin of the title of "Knight of the Koyal, Mili- tary, and Hospitaller Onler of Our Ladv of Mount C^fmel and St. Lazarus of Jerusalem", which carried with it the enjoyment of a benefice, and which was con- ferred by the king for services rendered.

To return to the dukes of S:ivoy: Gement VIII

grante(l them the right to exact from ecclesiastical

Ixjiicfices jwnsions to the sum of four liun<lred crowns

for the i)enefit of knights of the order, dispensing them

from celibacy on condition that they should oljserve

the statutes of the order and consecrate their arms to

the defence of the Faith. Besides their command-

erioij the order had two houses where the knights

might live in common, one of which, at Turin, was to

contribute to combats on land, while the other, at

Nice, had to provide galleys to tight the Turks at sea.

But wiien thus reduced to the states of the Duke of

Savoy, the onler merely vegetated until the French

Revolution, which suppressed it. In ISlC the King of

Sanlinia. Victor Emmanuel I, re-established the titles

of Kniglit and Commander of Sts. Maurice and

I^zarus, as simple decorations, accessible without

conditions of birth to both civilians and military men.

DE SiBKRT, Hi^oire de9 Ordrea myaux deXoire Dame de MtrrU- Carmcl tt dc St-Jjuzare de JCrumxlem (Pari*, 1772;; Fkiuiavd, PrC-in hiftlorique des Onlrea de Si-Ijazare et deSt-MnurireCl.yonH.

rizio 6 Lasaro (Turin, 1855).

Oil. Mof:ller.

Lazarus of Bethany, Saint, reputed fir.-t B:>h:p

with some holy women anrl otlurr'^ of 11:^: ^':i>V were put out to sea by the Jew^ ho-t I!*.' to ^^T*^}^ » in a vessel without sails, oars, or helm. ^fYofcc* tnimcuJouB y^yafe Und^^l in proven<» ** *