Vatican. An Order Of The Holy Sepulchre Of Jerusalem, Commander For Gentlemen, Military Division, Type Iii (1907-1967)

Footnote: The Order claims descent from Godfrey de Bouillon and the knights who protected the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem at the time of the first Crusade. Eventually, the knights dispersed under Moslem attack. In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII suppressed the Order and commanded it be merged with the Order of St. John but in 1496 Pope Alexander VI restored its independence, though it subsequently sank into obscurity until the re-establishment of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 1847. Pope Pius IX restructured the Order and from 1847 to 1867 encouraged its growth worldwide. In 1868, he defined the classes of the Order and in 1888 Pope Leo XIII authorized the admission of ladies to the Order. In 1949, Pope Pius XII again restructured the Order and in 1977 a new constitution was promulgated. The Order is open only to practising Catholics.