EAST ER 1977
NE VARIETUR TEXT (published by order of the Magisterium)
Translated from the French text of the Founder of the M.S.M., Dom
Marie-Gérard LAFOND O.S.B. of the Abbey of Saint Wandrille, by Martin Blake M.S.M., by
order of the Master Andre JOZAN, and dedicated to the memory of Father Malachy
LYNCH O.Carm., of Aylesford Priory.
Worth Abbey, Feast of Saint George. 23.4.1977
Nihil Obstat: Hugh O’Neill,
O.S.B.
Censor Deputatus
Imprimatur:
A. C. Iggleden. Vicarius Generalis
In Nomine Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. AMEN
Arundelliae
die 6a Aprilis 1977
NOTICE
Following a decision made by the XVth General Chapter assembled in
Chartres on the 12th August 1972, it is brought to the reader’s attention that
the term “Order of Knights”, as used in this Rule and in other documents
published by the Militia Sanctae Mariae, is the historic translation of the
Latin word Militia.
The word “Order” should not be understood in the canonical sense of
religious order, nor yet as an order of chivalry as defined by the Holy See in
regard to the Sovereign and Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, known as
the Order of Malta, and to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of
Jerusalem.
In several national languages the word “Order” is used in a variety of
non-canonical senses, and usually means an association whose members adhere to
certain rules and regulations for the promotion of the commonweal of society.
In the Middle Ages chivalry (i.e. all those Christians who had been dubbed as
knights) constituted an Order in that sense.
Mutatis mutandis, the Militia Sanctae Mariae uses the term “Order” in
the non-canonical sense of a company of knights governed by a Rule, and
organised towards the traditional ends of the Order of Chivalry: to serve the
Faith, to defend the Church, and to promote Christendom and Peace.
(Published by order of the
Magisterium)
CONTENTS
1. THE SPIRIT OF THE ORDER
Prologue
Chapter I: The objects of the Order of Our
Lady
Chapter II: The members of the Order and its hierarchy
Chapter III: The Duties of the Knights
Chapter IV: The service of Our Lady
Chapter V: Obedience
Chapter VI: Fraternal
Correction
Chapter VII: Penitence
Chapter VIII: Feasts of the Order
Chapter IX: Holy Mass or Eucharist
Chapter X: The Hours of Our Lady
Chapter XI: Prayer
Chapter XII: Spiritual Reading
Chapter XIII: The Rosary, Angelic Crown and the Angelus
Chapter XIV: Regarding the delicacy with which the
Holy Mother of God should be surrounded
Chapter XV: Attendance at Chapters
Chapter XVI: Works of the body
and of the mind
Chapter XVII: The Knight’s
family life
Chapter XVIII: The Knight’s
duty towards his neighbour
Chapter XIX: The duty of mutual aid and hospitality
Chapter XX: The service of the parish
Chapter XXI: Belonging to other organisations
PROLOGUE
1. The Christian who is about to read this Rule should try to detach his
mind for a moment from earthly cares, and fix his attention on the mystery of
God. It is in the sight of your Creator that you are invited to choose a new
way of Life, whose characteristic is complete fidelity to Our Lord For this
little book concerns not only your intelligence, but also your will your body
and your actions. If you accept the way of life which it proposes, you will
have to become a new man, a knight ready to fight hard battles for the honour
of God, and determined to build a Christian world in harmony with the divine
plan. If you fear the effort and seek only peace of mind, if you can stand by
and accept the reign of mediocrity, hypocrisy and vice, this book is not for
you: close it, and remain in your false peace. If not, then prepare to listen.
2 Jesus Christ, the eternal
Word of God and firstborn of all
creatures[1]
has been anointed King over all that exists. Nothing escapes His Empire,
everything comes from Him, and returns to Him, and exists for Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end[2] of
all things.
The universe created by God is
an harmonious whole ordained to the glory of Christ the King, and through
Christ to the praise of the most holy and indivisible Trinity. Creation is
light, order and hierarchy.
Sin alone, by a mysterious permission
of God, affects this harmony, upsets this order, and temporarily obscures this
light. In their revolt, the Powers of evil have dragged down a part of the
visible world, and this part groans in the shadows where the Sun of Justice no
longer shines.
But the Incarnate Word, born
of Mary the Immaculate Virgin, who died on the Cross and rose again to give us
life, has dealt the serpent the fatal blow. The world has become a huge
battlefield where the children of the heavenly Jerusalem, upheld by the sacred
host of the Archangel Michael, fight against the cohorts of the devil. Whenever
faithful members of the Church under the influence of divine grace do penance,
offer prayers, and bear witness to God, even to laying down their lives, the
Spirit is spread abroad, the forces of chaos are dispersed, the angelic army
routs the faithless hierarchies, and truth triumphs. When, however, the
faithful relax and lose their fervour, God allows the Powers of Darkness to
return to the offensive; whole peoples are separated from the Church or kept at
a distance from the Gospel, and given up to the bondage of Satan.
3. In this combat, without respite or mercy, are you going
to remain indifferent, and risk becoming submerged in darkness yourself?
Victory is within your grasp; Our Lord has said: Fear not, I have overcome the world[3] and
The victory which has overcome the world
is our Faith[4].
Since Christ our King has
chosen you, you must reject all softness and lukewarmness, all cowardice and
compromise, remembering that the Lord spits
the lukewarm out of his mouth[5].
On the contrary, you must prepare to fight like a man following the precept of
St. Paul: Put on the armour of God that
in the evil day you may stand firm, and having overcome all difficulties, remain standing[6].
Fear the prophet’s condemnation: Cursed
be he who does the Lord’s work half-heartedly! Cursed be he who refuses blood
to his sword![7]
4. Know that the sword is not a vain symbol; that which is
blessed by the Church and handed to the knight signifies a special mission
within the huge army of God, and the grace necessary to accomplish it. This
mission consists in enlarging the
frontiers of God’s Kingdom on earth[8],
in reversing the false order of Lucifer in the world to build on its ruins a
human society in submission to the Kingship of Christ and favourable to the
eternal salvation of its members.
For
the nation and the kingdom that will not serve God, shall perish and be utterly
exterminated[9] whereas the temporal glory of the earthly city
strengthens heavenly goods instead of destroying them, providing we see in it a
figure of our Mother who is in heaven.[10]
5. Hear the words of Mother Church; they will teach you
the heroic way of chivalry:
Take
this sword:
Establish
with it a strong justice,
Strike
down the power of injustice,
Defend
the Church of God and her faithful members;
Scatter
with her the enemies of Christ.
Raise
up what is brought low;
Preserve
what you have raised up.
Destroy
what is unjust on earth;
Fortify
right order,
In
this way, glorious and proud of the triumph of virtue,
Magnificent
in the cult of Justice,
You
will come to the Heavenly Kingdom, Where, with Christ whose likeness you bear,
You will reign eternally.[11]
6. Without confusing their respective roles, chivalry
re-establishes a link between the earthly and the heavenly city. Like the
flaming sword of the Angel at the Entrance to Paradise[12]
the sword of chivalry protects Christendom against the intrusions of the
profane world. Chivalry is an interior temple and an exterior fortress: it opposes
the growth of diabolical forces with the impregnable rampart of unfailing
fidelity. It is a force at the service of Right, to protect so many beautiful and holy things that God has wanted to
shelter behind the beauty and holiness of the Sword[13]
The whole world lies in the power of the
Evil One[14]:
with the sword of chivalry, you receive the mission and grace to save the
earthly city from the Evil One.
7. Christian heroism which is the basis of chivalry
constitutes a radical reversal of profane values: to the exaltation of the
individual who claims to be able to attain the absolute, is opposed the
abasement of God-made-man; to the love of power, humility; to human strength,
the power of the Cross[15].
It is to the Christian knight that this saying of Our Lord is addressed: My grace is enough for you; my power is at
its best in weakness[16],
and again:
to
shame what is strong he chose what is weak by human reckoning.[17]
8. You cannot fulfil this sublime mission without a
complete conversion of your whole being to God. You will become engaged in a
spiritual combat as well as in a temporal one. You will have no other ambition
than to serve Christ your King faithfully. You will spare no effort to; achieve
that end; you must be willing to break yourself, stifle your pride, and despise
your life in this world; in the school of Our Lady you will search for
humility, willing self-effacement, a total self-giving through generous love to
the point of sacrifice. You will utterly reject the spirit of the world in
order to acquire supernatural wisdom. You will learn to recognise in all
visible things a manifestation of the invisible, and you will strive to bring
to your fellow men a sense of the sacred. You will act in such a way that
nature, the family, work, science, art and even political life may once more
become transfigured and sources of grace for all people.
9. In the midst of the combat, remember the cry of the
prophet Jeremiah: A curse on the man who
puts his trust in man[18],
and put your trust In God alone; for it is written: Victory in war does not depend on the size of the fighting force; it is
from heaven that strength comes[19];
and again: The horse is equipped for the
day of battle, but on the Lord does the victory depend[20].
Furthermore dead or alive we belong to
the Lord[21]
and defeat in terms of the flesh is victory in terms of the spirit.
If you have been able to fight
wholeheartedly, you will have deserved to hear applied to you the sacred words:
You will rebuild the ancient ruins, build
on the old foundations. You will be called Breach-mender, Restorer of ruined
houses.[22]
And when Christ shall come
again in glory by Mary to take possession of his Kingdom as a victorious
knight, King of kings and Lord of lords[23]
you will be joined to the unnumbered heavenly host dressed in white robes, and
you will receive the portion of your inheritance; for He is faithful who has
promised: Those who prove victorious I
shall allow to share my throne, just as I was victorious myself and took my
place with my Father on his throne.[24]
To Whom be ascribed all glory,
praise and honour, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Church, now
and for ever. AMEN.
[1] Col
[2] (Apoc 22, 13 or)
Rev 22, 13
[3] John 16, 33
[4] I Jn5,4
[5] Rev. 3, 16
[6] Ephes 6, 13
[7] Jer. 48, 10
[8] Leon Gautier “La Chevalerie” (conclusion)
[9] Is 62, 12 - Office
of Christ the King
[10] St. Bernard
“De Laude Novae Militiae”, III, 6
[11] Ritual of
consecration and dubbing, IX Cent.
[12] Gen. 3, 24
[13] Louis Veuillot
(Catholic author and journalist )
[14] I Jn 5, 19
[15] “Principles for a
Charter of Chivalry”, art 2a
[16] 16. II Cor. 12, 9
[17] I Cor. 1,27
[18] 18. Jer. 17, 5
[19] 19. I Mac 3, 19
[20] Prov, 21, 31
[21] Rom.
[22] Is 58, 12
[24] Rev. 3, 21
No comments:
Post a Comment