Wednesday 4 January 2012

MSM Rule: Chapter III -Duties of Knights

CHAPTER III - THE DUTIES OF THE KNIGHTS

1. Whoever has entered the Order of Our Lady has taken up the Cross and offers his life in sacrifice to Christ, accepting in advance the struggles, contradictions, humiliations and death which the Lord Jesus, in His immeasurable love for all men, has voluntarily taken upon Himself, and shares with His friends. As his guide he receives the chivalric Code of Honour, which is the expression of his absolute fidelity to God:
  1. The knight fights for Christ and for His reign.
  2. The knight serves his Lady the Virgin Mary.
  3. The knight defends the Holy Church even with his life.
  4. The knight maintains the good traditions of his ancestors.
  5. The knight strives for Justice, Christian Order and Peace.
  6. The knight wages war against the Prince of this World.
  7. The knight honours and protects the poor, weak and disinherited.
  8. The knight despises money and the power of this world.
  9. The knight is humble, magnanimous and loyal.
  10. The knight is pure and courteous, ardent and faithful.
2. According to St. Bernard’s conception, the knight of Our Lady is a soldier of God: he unites the contemplative life to the active life that he may strike the enemies of Christ with the two-edged sword, one natural the other supernatural.

3. He is a soldier in the sense of Saint Timothy, the bonus miles Christi Jesu[1]. (52) He must reflect in himself the unswerving decision of the early Christians faced with a pagan society, for he has the problem of con­verting his life in a world which has largely renounced Christ. Faith in Christ, in faithfulness to His Church, is the solid rock on which he bases himself, not a mutilated, anaemic, colourless faith, but one full of integrity, purity and strength. His first victory must be over himself by means of a genuine conversion; thus his first objective is self-conquest. Then, and only then, can he directly attack the visible enemies of the Church and Christendom, with the certainty of winning.

4. The stages in this conversion have been described in the mystic tradition of chivalry as the Quest of the Holy Grail, which is nothing else than the search for God himself and for the Divine Wisdom hidden in the Heart of Christ.

This spiritual quest begins with filial fear, as it is written: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom[2](53). It presupposes a life of recollection and intimacy with Our Lord and Our Lady, and a willingness to sacrifice worldly pleasures, unsuitable spectacles, frivolous conversations, and an unregulated life. It shuns noise and movement and unfolds in an atmosphere of interior silence. It makes progress only by means of assiduous prayer and frequent meditation on Holy Scripture, by the renunciation of the mentality of the world, and by penitence. It triumphs over many difficulties by faith and patience. Finally, it leads to contemplation: the knight who has found Wisdom sees the world through purified eyes, and becomes capable of discerning the grand design of God’s living love and of co-operating with it perfectly.

5. The knights of Our Lady should not live in soft luxury but simply like pilgrims on the move or like soldiers ready for the battle

They should keep for their own use only what is necessary - practical and in good taste - and get rid of all the rest; they should avoid becoming attached to material objects, even when they are of sentimental value. Their principle attachment is to Christ whose cross they have taken up. Let, them so far as possible be despoiled of all goods[3]. (54) They know that their possessions are on loan from God and that a portion is owed to the poor[4] (55)

6. They will preserve a great purity of body and soul whether in the state of celibacy or else in marriage, so as to be worthy to follow Christ wherever He goes[5] (56), and so they will be the temples of the Holy Spirit like the Glorious Mother of God.

7. The knights of Our Lady will love the Church with the same love with which they love God’s Mother. This will be for them a source of abundant grace and also a sure sign of predestination. For, as Saint Augustine tells us, we receive the Holy Spirit if we love the Church, if we are united in charity, and if we delight in the Catholic Faith and name. Believe me my brothers, for as much as someone loves the Church, by so much has he the Holy Spirit within him.[6](57)

 8. Guardians and defenders of Christian tradition, the knights of Our Lady will try to eradicate from themselves all traces of materialism, naturalism, liberalism and modernism. They will hate the perverse will of men who wish to build a world without God. They will refuse with all their energy secularisation, under whatever guise it may present itself. They will reject deceptive ideologies, and false revolutionary liberties, as defined and condemned by the Roman Pontiffs. They know that the real friends of the people are not revolutionaries, nor innovators, but traditionalists[7] (58). For them this ancient rule remains sacred: Nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est[8] (59). They apply themselves therefore to think with the Church[9] (60) in every field, and to live their lives according to their faith.

9. The heirs to fifteen hundred years of Christian civilisation, the knights must be deeply civilised in the best sense of the term. They will show great politeness and courtesy to one another and to their neighbours, following the precept of Saint Paul: Outdo one another in showing honour[10] (61).

They will avoid all vulgarity of speech, knowing that a man accustomed to coarse language will never reach Wisdom[11] (62). In fact, bad language is forbidden to them; they will study to speak courteously and to do good[12]. (63) Finally, they will reveal the dignity of their life by an irreproachable attitude and behaviour, following the words of Saint Paul: Glorify God in your body.[13](64)

10. They will be both gentle and violent, for the Lord has said: Happy are the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage[14] (65) and Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart[15] (66); and it is also written The kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm[16]. (67) Thus they will love God with all the violence that such a love requires; they will hate the devil and evil without ceasing to be gentle towards sinners.

Above all, they will seek peace, but will not hesitate to wage merciless war against the enemies of Christ. For if the Lord has said: Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give[17] (68), he has also told us: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword.[18] (69)

11. Chivalry is not a matter of decorations, nor an excuse for vanity, nor a right to the consideration of the world; the knights will keep in sight only the duties and obligations to which their state of life binds them. To the extent that they respond to their vocation and to the grace conferred by dubbing, they will be able to show themselves proud to be knights, following the words of Saint Paul: If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord[19] (70). Let him realise in advance that the knight is the servant of all, and particularly of the weak. Humility is one of his chief virtues; it is the most humble who have the first place in the hearts of Jesus and Mary[20] (71). And the Lord has said: Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man Himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many[21](72). Let them therefore ponder often in their hearts the noble motto of the Knights of the Temple: NON NOBIS, DOMINE, NON NOBIS, SED NOMINI TUO DA GLORIAM[22] (73).

12. Saint Gregory the Great anticipated the way of the knight when he said: If you are searching for the summit of true honour, make for the heav­enly Kingdom[23]. (74) The whole law of chivalric honour is contained in the word Fidelity, the virtue par excellence of the knight to whom the Lord gives this commandment and makes this promise: Be faithful unto death, and I shall give you the crown of life[24]. (75)
 



[1] 52.         II Tim. 2, 3
[2] 53.         Eccles. 1, 16
[3] 54.         Rule of Our Lady of La Salette
[4] 55.         Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 69
[5] 56.         Rev. 14, 4
[6] 57.         Tractatus in Joannem, 32, 8
[7] 58.         St. Pius X, Letter on le Sillon, 25-8-10
[8] 59.         St. Stephen I, Pope (254-7), quoted by Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi
[9] 60.         “Sentire cum Ecclesia”, St. Augustine
[10] 61.       Rom. 12, 10
[11] 62.       Eccles 23, 15
[12] 63.       Rule of Templars (reception of brothers)
[13] 64.       I Cor 6, 20
[14] 65.       Mt. 5, 4
[15] 66.       Mt. 11, 29
[16] 67.       Mt. 11, 12
[17] 68.       John 14 ,27
[18] 69.       Mt. 10, 34
[19] 70.       II Cor. 10, 17
[20] 71.       Rule of Our Lady of La Salette
[21] 72.       Mark 10, 43-45
[22] 73.       Ps. 115, I
[23] 74.       St. Gregory, Hom. 15 in Evangelio
[24] 75.       Rev. 11, 10

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