Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/52

22 THE ORDER OF THE STAR CROSS.

The House of Austria has always boasted of being in possession of a small piece of the genuine Cross of Christ; and the Emperors Maximilian and Frederic III. used to wear that relic about their persons, enclosed in a cross of gold. After the death of the latter, Leopold I. his successor, presented it to the widowed Empress Eleonore, daughter of Duke Charles II. of Mantua, to comfort her in her widowhood; she kept it very carefully locked in a small box, adorned with crystal and enamel, and covered with silk. It happened that in the night of the 2nd February, 1668, a fire suddenly broke out in the Imperial Castle at Vienna, just below the apartments of the Empress Eleonore, and it soon reached the Imperial apartments, from which she escaped with considerable difficulty, before they were entirely consumed. On the following day search was made for the relic, and it was discovered amongst the ruins fortunately untouched by the conflagration, with the exception of the metal which was partly melted.

The Empress was so rejoiced at the incident, that she ordered a solemn procession on that occasion, and resolved to found a Female Order, not only—as the statutes say—to commemorate the miraculous event, but also to induce the members to devote themselves to the service and worship of the Holy Cross, and lead a virtuous and religious life in the exercise of religion and works of charity.

Pope Clement IX. confirmed the new Order and its rights in his Bull: 'Redemptoris et Domini nostri' (28th June, 1668), confiding to the Prince Bishop of Vienna, its spiritual management. The Emperor Leopold I. not only sanctioned its statutes, but took the Institution under his special protection;