The Knights of Our Lady are hoping to meet men (young and old, married and unmarried), interested in dedicating their lives to God through Our Lady, and serving the New Evangelisation through their family and their work. While a life in the Militia is demanding of generosity, it is one of happiness, sharing with others and personal fulfilment. The Militia Sanctae Mariae (MSM) is an authentic expression of Christian chivalry, and its knights are dubbed according to the mediaeval Benedictio Novi Militis rite, under its canonically approved Rule, Customary and Rituale.
The Knights of Our Lady were founded in France in 1945 by the late Dom Gérard-Marie Lafond, OSB, a young layman who subsequently became a monk and abbot of Wisques, under the patronage of Dom Gabriel Gontard, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of St-Wandrille. His aim was to create a new chivalry suitable for our times, regular and militant, adapted to the needs of the modern world, devoted to Mary, dedicated to the service of Church and neighbour, with a view to “enlarging on earth the frontiers of the Kingdom of God”.
The Holy See only recognises two Orders of Chivalry, namely the Knights of Malta and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The MSM, being neither ancient nor honorific, does not claim to be an order of chivalry in that sense, but is an ‘order’ insofar as it is a regular and militant company of men, and that this is the traditionally received English translation of the Latin ‘militia’. The MSM should thus be canonically understood as a lay confraternity in the spirit of the Apostolicam
Actuositatem Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (see Chapter 2, sections 5 through 8) which, after the Gospel and the Rule, is its fundamental charter.
The MSM was canonically erected in the Carolingian crypt of Notre Dame Sous-Terre at Chartres Cathedral by Mgr. Roger Michon, Bishop of Chartres, on 24th December 1964. It was similarly established in Germany by Mgr. Graber, Bishop of Regensburg, in 1968, in Switzerland by Mgr. Adam, Bishop of Sion, in 1969, in Portugal by Mgr. da Silva, Archbishop of Braga, in 1975, and in Spain by Mgr. del Val, Bishop of Santander, in 1984. There are members in a number of other countries, including in the UK, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Belgium, Austria, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The first British contact with the MSM was made in 1968 when Martin Blake met some French knights at the Lausanne Congress. He joined in 1969 and was dubbed a knight in Chartres Cathedral by Mgr. Michon in 1975. Since then the GB Preceptory has expanded and now numbers nearly ten members, living in different parts of the country, with a greater number of associates. The Order has been present in Canada, through its Magisterial Delegate Jean-Claude Bleau, since 1970. In the United States, the Magisterial Delegate, Jean-Paul Gauthier, had his first contacts with the Order in 2005. He joined in 2006 and was knighted in 2011.
The MSM promotes a profound spiritual and liturgical life among its members (including daily liturgy of the hours), who (through their vows of fidelity and obedience) vigorously defend the Church and the Sovereign Pontiff. Furthermore it supports whatever activities the Holy Spirit inspires: the right to life, aid to prisoners and the developing world, the christianising of political and social structures, the retreat movement, the Catholic renewal of the family, ecumenical dialogue and so on.
Membership is in two categories: Observantia (men who are brothers-at-arms, squires and knights, their wives who are sisters and ladies, as well as chaplains of devotion and honour) and Familia (‘Servants of Our Lady’, together with spiritual supporters and friends of the Order).
FURTHER INFORMATION may be obtained from:
Jean-Paul Gauthier in Washington DC, USA: +1.202.413.2581, gauthierjp@aol.com
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